Varada's Kitchen and Garden

Last year in December I went looking for challenges around the web. I found two I liked - the Reddit 52 week food challenge and a photography challenge. I stuck with the first and not the second. Over the course of the year the food challenge got difficult with weekly themes not always suitable for a vegetarian. But I stuck it out and always found a way around. For 2015 I decided I did not want to do that again and was looking for something new.  I found the Foodies Read Challenge. It is a very interesting challenge for a food blogger. If you are intrigued and want to find out more visit their website here . I have decided to join this challenge as the Cordon-Blue Chef and read more than 19 books this year. I know it is ambitious but I think I can make the time. These are the books I have reviewed so far -

On this last day of the year all the memories that made this year good and bad come flooding back. The year started on a sad note. We had to put down our beloved 11 year old cat, Blossom . Blogging provided an outlet, something to keep the mind occupied. Early last year in my first months of blogging I joined several groups of bloggers. One group called the Blogging Marathon opened the door to friendship and camaraderie. I have virtually met a great group of women and they are a great source of motivation. With this group, last September, I posted 132 recipes in one month with a meal a day from 26 different countries. I participate in other groups like the Sourdough bakers, Bundt Bakers, Kneading Bakers, Daring Bakers etc. Yes, most of them are related to baking. In fact my most popular post this year was baked gulab jamoons . It got 4000 hits in a day. The next on the list were the baked versions of Diwali sweets and savories . With blogging my photography skills have

I am celebrating the first anniversary of this blog this month with a food photography challenge. This is the first event ever hosted on this blog and it was a learning experience too. I had asked fellow bloggers to link their best picture of the month to this event. I also asked them to explain why they thought this was their best picture. I got eight beautiful entries and I am grateful to all those who participated. Let me start with my post and best picture for the month. I chose baked gulab jamoon as the post with the best picture. It was the first time I was able to click a picture of liquid in a bowl without reflections. I was even able to add flatware to the picture without it reflecting the camera. I used manual aperture mode but what I think did the trick was the brightly colored fabric in the background. Here is the picture, you decide. The following entries were from fellow bloggers. Each had a different explanation for the picture they chose. Srivalli and Archa

Oatmeal is part of our everyday breakfast. We usually buy the old fashioned Quaker oats from Costco. The other day after transferring the contents of the bags to my cereal bins I flattened the box of oatmeal and placed it on the kitchen table to be taken to the recycling bin in the garage. My daughter happened to see the box while she was setting the table for breakfast and noticed this oatmeal raisin recipe. She asked if we could make the cookies. I told my husband to leave the flattened box indoors so we could use the recipe. Then I forgot all about it. I was looking for something sweet to end the year and remembered the cookies. I fished out the box and since we had all the ingredients at home I made them right away. The original recipe was for 48 cookies and used two eggs. I wanted to make 12 and could not really use half an egg so I substituted the egg with applesauce. The next time I try them I will make 24 and use an egg. I see a lot of substitution for butter in cook

This year after a long break the ladies in my neighborhood decided to have a cookie exchange. Everyone was to bring 3 dozen cookies. I wanted to bake a cookie that looked special but I did not want to use frosting. My first thought was swirl sugar cookies rolled in sprinkles. Though the cookies look festive I was not sure I wanted to use food color. My next thought was chocolate dipped squares. But I rarely bake cookies and do not have a square cookie cutter. I had no time to go out to buy one so that was out. Then I thought of making these checkerboard sugar cookies and that worked just right. The checkerboard pattern made with cocoa powder and plain cookie dough was festive enough to not need any frosting or food coloring. I had made swirl cookies for the fourth of July. I used the same basic recipe for these cookies. I divided the dough into two portions by weight and added a tablespoon of cocoa powder to one half to color it. I left the dough overnight in the refrigerator an

Potatoes are served as part of a good, filling well balanced breakfast all over the world whether it is in the form of hash browns, roasted potatoes or potato paratha. I have wanted to make roasted potatoes for a while now. My daughter loves potatoes in any form or shape and I knew she would love this version. She is on winter break so I wanted her to have an elaborate breakfast, something that does not happen often in the rush to make it to school on time. She wolfed everything down very quickly which was a pleasure to watch. You can add additional spices if you like the potatoes spicy. We liked them with salt, black pepper and a little cayenne pepper. You will need 1 large Russet potato 1/4 large red onion 1/4 red bell pepper 1 tbsp olive oil 1 tsp. cayenne pepper salt and pepper to taste Preheat oven to 425 F. Wash, peel and chop the potatoes into one inch chunks. Chop the onions and the red bell pepper. In a mixing bowl mix the the vegetables with the remaining ingr

Hot chocolate and winter go hand in hand. If you like chocolate chances are you will like hot chocolate too. I say 'chances are' because I know a few people who love chocolate but are not fans of the beverage. I like chocolate, period. So I enjoy my cup of hot chocolate on a cold winter day. It was dreary, cold and rainy the day I made the hot chocolate. My normally bright kitchen looked dark and gloomy even at 10 in the morning. It was the kind of day you want to spend snuggled in a blanket with a good book, a cup of hot chocolate and a warm cat curled on the lap. The cat on the lap is wistful thinking on my part. Mine does not spend more than 3 minutes on my lap, even a warm blanket on a cold day does not entice her. She would rather sleep curled up on the rug in the weak beam of sunlight streaming through the window. But I have only myself to blame. At the shelter I picked the almost unadoptable spitfire over the cuties hovering at my feet. As such the three minutes of

When the mercury dips we love spicy cookies. These ginger, cinnamon and cloves flavored cookies are perfect for winter. They also happen to be my childhood favorites. The mercury never really dipped too low where I grew up but I loved the taste of ginger in the cookies. I am not really a tea or coffee person but I think they would be great with a cup of tea. If you have never tried them before but like the taste of ginger spice you will love them. These are not soft cookies. They have a snap to them. At the same time they are not hard either. They are thin cookies that crumble once you take a bite. Heating the butter is the trick to getting the texture just right. Heating helps take out the moisture from the butter just enough to keep them going soft. I baked these to make a base for a pumpkin tart . I thought the ginger and pumpkin flavors would be great. My daughter had other plans. She insisted on taking them to school as a snack. And I have been asked to please not

A few months ago I tried Turkish pide (pizza) for the first time. Everyone in the family loved it. I decided to make the pide again this week and accordingly bought the feta cheese and a large tub of baby spinach. Unfortunately, I used up the spinach for something else. The sourdough was ready but I had nothing for the stuffing. There were some shitake mushrooms in the refrigerator that I had bought for a different meal. I used those with the feta cheese and roasted red bell pepper paste. No spices except some black pepper. I added basil for some additional flavor. The kitchen smelled really good so I knew it would taste good. My daughter took it as packed lunch and I got a text sometime in the afternoon letting me know that lunch was very good. In fact she has asked me to forget about the spinach recipe and make this filling again. These pide were prepared and baked early in the morning before sunrise. The pictures were taken on a cloudy morning just after sunrise. I am a comple

Green bean casserole is another must have at our Thanksgiving table. My daughter absolutely loves it and insists I make it every year. This year she made it herself. It is a dish that I am not particularly fond of. If I had my way I would stop making it. Instead I always make it as a double batch so she can have leftovers. When I first started gathering recipes for the Thanksgiving meal I picked this recipe as it was easy to put together. Over the years I have tried to talk my daughter into letting me make the mushroom soup instead of using a can but she won't hear of it. She is afraid I will ruin the taste of the casserole. Even though I never buy canned soup, this is my one exception. You will need 10 ¾ ounces (1 can) cream of mushroom soup (I use Campbell) ½ cup milk 1 (16 ounces) bag frozen green beans, not thawed or cooked 1 1/3 cups French-fried onions, divided Preheat oven to 350F. Do not thaw the beans before use. They will become soggy. Use directly from the

Mashed potatoes with chives is one of our must have recipes at the Thanksgiving table. I got this recipe several years back when I started looking out for recipes for a traditional Thanksgiving meal. My daughter loves potatoes and mashed potatoes are her favorite. This is one of the original recipes that has not changed at all over the years. I have offered to make the cream from scratch using fresh chives but my daughter will not allow it. And so every year we go looking for the cream cheese with onions and chives before the stores run out. Luckily, we all like the recipe and it is also liked by the visiting extended family. Thanksgiving would not be complete without it. These mashed potatoes taste best with Yukon gold potatoes. They are available in every supermarket before Thanksgiving. However, just before Thanksgiving they usually sell out. One year I forgot to stock up early and had to go looking for them the day before Thanksgiving. I had a very hard time finding them. I ha