Fruit Turkey Appetizer

This is a fruit arrangement that I saw on Familyfun website. It looked so much fun that I decided to make it for my son's kindergarten Thanksgiving potluck lunch. Needless to say, it was a big hit with the kids (they just loved looking at it) and the parents (its fruit, right!).

What you need:
1 medium sized cantaloupe
1 bosc pear
A couple of raisins
10-12 skewers (or more)
grapes, strawberries, cheese and clementine slices for the skewers

Cut the cantaloupe from the bottom, so that it stays firm in a platter, as the turkey's body. Use a skewer to attach the bosc pear as the head of the turkey. Make eyes using raisins, and cheese for a beak.

On the skewers, arrange orange slices, grapes, strawberries and cheese. Fix the skewers to make the turkey's tail.

Vegetarian green bean and broccolli couscous

Last night, I was looking for something light and easy (and off course healthy) for dinner for my son and I, and as usual I was looking for someway to incorporate some vegetables into dinner - I had green beans, broccoli and mushrooms in my refrigerator, so I decided on a couscous dish with these vegetables. (Following in the color tradition we set at Halloween, my son calls it the green couscous).


Ingredients
1 cup whole wheat couscous
1/2 broccoli - cut into small pieces
15-20 green beans washed and sliced thinly
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup thinly sliced white onions
1/2 tsp butter
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tbsp cooking oil
Lemon juice to garnish

For couscous
Boil a cup of water and add salt and 1/2 tsp butter. Then add the couscous. Let it simmer for a couple of minutes. Then shut off the heat, cover and leave. Open after 7-8 minutes, and stir with a fork.


For the vegetables
First steam the broccoli and green beans till the are tender. In a pan, heat the cooking oil, add sliced onions and mushrooms. When the onions turn slightly golden, add the broccoli and beans. Add salt and pepper to season. And cover the pan. Allow the vegetables to cook on low heat for 7-10 minutes, stirring 2-3 times.


Serving
Place the couscous on a plate. Add vegetable on top. And garnish with lemon - fresh lemon juice gives a great flavour to the dish.
(Needless to say, it was a hit with my son! ?Yay!)

Halloween 'Tikki'

I am always trying to make my 5 year old eat vegetable, and most moms know this is a hit-or-miss most days. Sometimes, I try to add new vegetables to dishes he already likes, and it usually works!

My Halloween Tikki experiment was something on those lines. My 5 year old likes mashed potato tikkis (a cutlet of sorts), and I made these with red beets and ricotta, added to potatoes. We called them Halloween Tikki because they were red (like blood), and we had them for breakfast on Halloween.

Red beets are a very healthy root vegetable - they contain vitamins A,B,C, E and K, and also potassium, folic acid and manganese. (For more nutritional information : visit www.shedyourweight.com/the_health_benefits_of_red_beet_nutritional_value_of_red_beet.html)

This recipe serves 3 people. It can be served with whole grain bread or as is with tomato sauce and/ or mint sauce.

Ingredients
4 medium sized potatoes, boiled, peeled and mashed
1 and a 1/2 medium sized beets, steamed and grated
100 gms ricotta cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
1 table spoon of gram flour

Mix all mashed potatoes, grated beets and ricotta in a bowl. Add salt and pepper, and the gram flour (this hold the Tikki together, and does not allow it to break into crumbs). Make balls out of the mixtures, and flatten them with your hand. (I let my 5 year old try it, and he had a great time!.). Grease a pan with 1 tsp of oil, and place the flattened Tikkis on the pan, and let them cook. Keep turning them over, till both sides are nice and crisp (You might need to add some more oil, while cooking).

Remove from pan, and serve.

Vegetarian Rice and Cheese Manicotti

Today we got manicotti shells from the store, and tried to cook these. I looked up some recipes on the Internet, and settled to try one of our own.

This recipe is for 6 manicotti shells.
For the filling:
1/2 cup boiled rice
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 red onion finely chopped
1 tomato chopped
1/4 cup steamed peas
1/2 bell pepper finely chopped
1/2 tsp Italian herb seasoning

Also you will need Pasta sauce (I used store bought tomato and basil, but you can make your own - or mix, more on that in another post!), 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese and extra virgin olive oil.

Mix the ingredients, and add about 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning, and salt to taste. I noticed that most manicotti recipes suggest adding egg in the filling, but I think the rice does a great job of holding the filling together too.

First boil the manicotti shells for 5-6 minutes, or as per instructions on the box. Strain and keep aside. Stuff the shells with the filling prepared earlier.

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a sheet-lined baking dish, first spread a layer of pasta sauce. The lay down the stuffed manicottis side by side. Cover with a layer of pasta sauce, shredded cheese and drizzle some extra virgin olive oil on the top. Bake for 20 minutes.

Serve with bread sticks or as is.

Bottle Gourd dumplings in tomato and onion curry

We are trying to add more vegetable to our 5 year old's diet. And he is such a picky eater. This is one recipe of bottle gourd which he eats happily. So I am sharing it on the blog.

A note about bottle gourd: It is a greenish vegetable (the peel is greenish), usually in the shape of a bottle. It has a white pulp and white seeds embedded in the spongy flesh. It is low in fat and cholesterol and high in dietary fibre. It is rich in iron and has vitamins C and B complex. For more nutritional information, visit www.tips4net/2008/11/health-benefits-of-bottle-gourd-lauki.html

Serving size: Serves 3 people
Can be served with Indian roti or naan.

For the dumplings:
1/2 medium sized bottle gourd grated finely
2 tablespoons on chickpea flour
Salt, garam masala and paprika to taste

Bottle gourd releases some of its own juices while grating. Adding the chickpea flour and the spices to the grated bitter gourd will make the mixture a semi-liquid paste, which can be made into dumplings and shallow fried in a pan with vegetable/ sun flower oil. (Add more chick-pea flour if the mixture seems too wet). The dumplings should be fried till they are golden-brown in colour.
1/2 medium sized bottle gourd should give you about 17-20 dumplings.

For the curry
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
2 medium sized tomatoes pureed
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp roasted cumin powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
Paprika and Salt to taste
1 tbsp whisked yogurt

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan and fry the onions till they are golden brown. Add the tomatoes and the spices, and cook till the oil seems to be separating from the gravy. Add yogurt and cook for 2 more minutes. Then add 1 and a 1/2 cups of water and bring to boil. Add the dumplings to the gravy, and cook for 4-5 minutes on low heat.