Macaroni Salad

I am not a big fan of sugary gooey macaroni salads. So I came up with this one which uses the left over ingredients from the fried egg sandwich I created the other night. Feel free to increase, decrease, add, remove the ingredients the way you want. This is all about your personal taste and style :).

Ingredients:

Macaroni - 2 cups cooked
Onion - 4 Tbsp. minced
Tomato - 1/4 cup chopped roughly
Sun Dried Tomatoes - 1/4 cup chopped
Garlic powder - 1/4 tsp.
Dried Basil - 1/4 tsp.
Olive oil - 2 Tbsp.
Salt and freshly ground pepper - per taste

Procedure:

- Mix everything except macaroni in a bowl. Set aside for 5 minutes.
- Add macaroni. Mix well. Adjust seasonings and serve.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts

I am very disappointed in me for not trying this vegetable years ago. I cooked it first time today and boy was it good. This is definitely going on my veggie shopping list and will be on top. This is so easy to make.

Ingredients

Brussel sprouts - 1 lb washed, trimmed and quartered ( you get 4 pieces out of one)
Olive oil - 1/4 cup
Coarsley ground mustard - 1 Tbsp.
Dijon Mustard - 1 tsp.
Red Chilli Powder - 1 tsp.
Black pepper - 1/2 tsp. freshly ground
Garlic powder - 1/2 tsp.
Turmeric - pinch
Salt - to taste

Procedure

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees.

Wash the brussel sprouts, trim edges and cut them into quarters. In a mixing bowl, add all the ingredients and mix well. Add the brussel sprouts to this mixture and mix till the veggies are completely coated with the marinate.

Transfer them into a roasting pan and into the oven they go for 25 - 35 minutes. Check in between to turn them around so they get brown on all sides.

Mom and I added these in to the pre-made greek salad we bought from costco. It was delicious.

Beans with Almonds

Mom and I are on a diet. Doctor told her she has to get her wight down a little. So I told her, I will be her personal chef and also be her partner, so she doesn't feel alone :).

She is a vegetarian. All these years she kept eating rice and stuff for lunch. So we cut down the rice. She now has organic whole wheat roti with curry and pappu(lentils). I also cut down the amount of oil I use in my cooking. Today I made steamed green beans with almonds ( I read that almonds are good to lower your cholesterol and have protein in them).

Ingredients:

Green beans - 3 cups cut in 1/2 inch pieces
Almonds - 12 slivered
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp.
Senagapappu (Chana Dal) - 1 tsp.
Turmeric - Pinch
Red Chilli Flakes - 1 tsp.
Salt - to taste
Oil - 1 tsp.

Procedure:

STeam the green beans till they are tender and set aside. Heat oil in a saute pan. Add mustard seeds, senagapappu, turmeric, red chilli flakes. Once mustard seeds start to splutter, add the almonds and saute for 30 seconds. Add green beans. Season with salt and cook for few minutes.

This actually tasted nice by itself:).