Broiled Burgers with Beets,Oats and Acorn Squash

I was think healthy and I was thinking fast foods and I was thinking "I have that acorn sqaush sitting in my fridge for over 2 weeks and I must cook it today!" And I was thinking too that I must thank Farmville for introducing me to some incredible veggies - growing them on a virtual farm actually made me go out and buy some these and i realize what I've been missing out on - Acorn Squash is one of them - Hey, Farmville has amounted to something ;-))
Now that I've spilled all my thoughts to you, let me get on with this new recipe - Another no oil recipe, except to grease the pan - I feel a deep sense of achievement every time I don't need to use much oil :-)

In Words
Ingredients
1 small acorn squash (you can sub this with sweet potatoes or potatoes or any other veggie available. Even peas and carrots will work well
2 cans of red beets drained / or 2 fresh beets, peeled, boiled and drained
Oats
Bread Crumbs
Parmesan cheese
1 red onion
3-5 green chillies (not for the faint-hearted)
curry leaves
2 teaspoons curry powder
Oil for greasing the pan

Preparation
Cut and boil the squash so that it can be squishy
Drain the beets and keep
In a bowl mash the two veggies
Add some of the onions and the chillies and curry leaves
1 teaspoon of curry powder and salt mixed in with the veggies
Add 1 tbs of oats and mix in

In a plate, take a handful of instant oats and bread crumbs
Add a tbs of dry parmesan cheese
Some salt
1 tsp of curry powder

Grease the pan and keep ready

Now make some ball with the veggies and drop it into the plate with the oats mix roll it around to coat the ball and then gently flatten and transfer to greased pan
Repeat until all are ready

Broil for 15 minutes on high. Flip it over and broil for a couple of minutes.
You have yourself some fine veggie burgers, perfectly healthy, with 0 guilt - how about that?!!

Serving tip: These can be stand alone patties had with ketchup or mint/coriander chutney, lemon-squeezed onions OR
find yourself some Sara Lee 100 calorie flat buns, whole grain, toast them in the toaster - add Mayo (or not) some ketchup and some of onions and enjoy like burger.

In Pictures

                                                 Acorn Squash

                                            with beats and oats

                                            making the patties

                                           the oats and breadcrumb mix

                                          roll and cover over patties

                                          oven-ready

                                          and out, ready!

                                          daughter posing with a burger

 

                                           the 100 calorie flat rounds I use

                                           dress it up with ktechup, mayo or your good stuff

                                         Another one ready for biting into :)

I am kick-starting my event with this dish and also entering this also for Priya of Easy n Tasty recipes CWF event

Now Serving is Participating in...

December Guest Host: Priya of  http://mharorajasthanrecipes.blogspot.com
Host Susan of The Well Seasoned Cook http://thewellseasonedcook.blogspot.com/

Now Serving is sending the following recipes to this event
http://priyasnowserving.blogspot.com/2010/12/black-bean-cucumber-salad.html
http://priyasnowserving.blogspot.com/2010/10/bountiful-black-bean-soup.html
http://priyasnowserving.blogspot.com/2010/10/simply-sun-delicious-lima-beans.html
http://priyasnowserving.blogspot.com/2010/10/sugar-snap-peas-in-snap-please.html
http://priyasnowserving.blogspot.com/2010/12/kathirikai-rasavangi-eggplantbrinjal-in.html

Black Bean-Cucumber Salad

It is 1:30 pm, I haven't had a decent breakfast and now I am really hungry and I want something spicy, hot but healthy. I open the fridge - the veggie draw - 1 cucumber among other things I did not care for was making goggle eyes at me. Just plain cucumber salad - No! BORING! I open my pantry to see if there was some ready to eat packets - Cans of black beans were the first thing to strike me - Pulled one out... Good I had my cuke and I had a can of beans - how can i make this interesting? I open the fridge again and I see the beautiful remains of an orange and yellow bell pepper - The idea is becoming clearer - I am now back at the pantry swiping a can of dice tomatoes. The rest was instinctual! Exactly 10 minutes start to finish, since when you do decide to make this, you already have a plan :-)

Ingredients

I used 1 can of black beans (washed and drained)

1 cucumber

1/4 each of red and yellow bell pepper

1/4 can of diced tomatoes or 1 fresh tomato

2 green chillies

Some tortilla chips (optional)

Cheddar cheese and Cilantro to garnish

Preparation

Add the tomatoes, beans and chillies to a pan with a teaspoon of olive oil. 

Toss them around

Add some salt 

Put it in a bowl, 

Arrange peeled and diced cukes around

Add the peppers in a similar manner

dress it up with shredded cheddar and cilantro

OR crush some tortilla chip atop

There is a certain satisfaction to have the hot beans with the cold cucumbers and peppers...Satisfies the temperature needs as well.

Note: if you want more spice, you can add some salsa and mix it in to the beans

Last Word: Don't forget the key ingredient - LOVE 

Blog Event

Fast food not Fat food

Take a fast food, in fact your most favorite and make a healthy version of it – If it’s a non-veg item, kindly make a veggie, healthy version of it - Sides, main entrees, Salad Dressings, and desserts welcome 

Rules:
Only vegetarian entries

A healthy version does NOT mean a less appealing version

Only 2 entries allowed
The first entry should be a new one and the second can be an older post

Recipe can be your new innovative concoction or

It could be a recipe that you have been meaning to try out or have bookmarked to try
One sentence at least to explain how your recipe is healthier is a MUST

Linky too will be provided for you to link your entry to my blog

AND Please use the Logo on your blog and link back to http://priyasnowserving.blogspot.com/

I am off to India on Thursday for 3 weeks, but would love to come back to a whole host of incredible recipes – Please forward to your other blogger friends who may be interested in participating – Non bloggers welcome ….

 Looking forward to a FAT Volume of participation :-))))))

Cocktail Veggies and Paneer hor d'oeuvres

...Just in time for Christmas! Parties and potluck galore and this could dish will certainly stand out for its healthfulness amidst all the decadently yummy desserts that will crowd the tables.
It is a simple, laissez-faire recipe... You can concoct your own marinade and pick your own fav veggies to serve
Mine usually come about with the veggies in hand ...
Here's how I went about it  using NO oil except to spray the pan.

                                                          Brussel Sprouts
Prep time - about 1 hour, start to finish

In Words
Veggies:
10 Fresh Brussel Sprouts, halved
1/2 Red and Yellow Peppers cut in long strips
1/2 head of Broccoli
1 Nanak Paneer bag (can substitute with extra firm tofu)

Other options: Mushrooms, green peppers potatoes and Cauliflower...

Marinade
I was inspired by my niece's marinade, in that I made yogurt my base
2 tsp of Dhaniya powder
2 tsp of Sambar powder
A inch of ginger powder
Some fresh crushed rosemary and garlic chives
Salt

Keep Ready - a box of toothpicks

Preparation
Set your oven to broil
Dip each kind of veggie, separately (much like you would for bajjis)
Lay them on a greased oven pan
Broil in high heat for about 6-8 mins
To know if they are where you want them to be, look for the slight browning of the veggie skins

Stick a toothpick through each and serve with chutney of choice or as is - It is fully marinated, remember :-)

In Pictures

The veggies and paneer

the batter

                                           marinated paneer

                                           broccoli

                                            peppers and

                                            brussel srouts

                                            out of the oven, armed and ready to serve

Bon appetitte!

Last Word: Be sure to generously sprinkle, LOVE, the most important ingredient 

My 50th recipe is ....(And More Awards)

# 50 -Badam/Kaju Vadais or Almond-Cashew Falafals
Thanks to all of your support, I have hit a first milestone :-)
Two of my great blogger friends, Nithu and Priya won First and Second place in November contest of Manjula's kitchen and I am super happy for them. When I was at Manjula ben's website, I saw her Dec contest posted - Should I or should I not - try? I was racking my brain to come up with a badam or kaju recipe (since we don't normally cook much with pista or walnut for that matter-which is a salad/pie ingredient) I Googled and scoured some recipes online but they were all mostly sweet! I knew she was calling for desserts but I decided that this was not going to be one -I will come up with another for the event and save this recipe for another nutty event :-) -  And it is about 4pm by now, mind you and I had a salty snack on my mind! I decided to get innovative - or go rogue, Palin style (no-never- just kidding) We all know how deliciously tasty both almonds and cashews are and no matter what you do, you cannot go too wrong...

So I plunged headlong with the hope that I could turn out a bloggable recipe - When my son pronounced them "REEEALLLY good", I felt confident enough to go for it ... I did not want a run-of-the-mill recipe for the 50th - To come up with something somewhat unique was a thrill.

Ingredients

1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup of raw cashews
1/4 cup of besan/kadalamavu - chickpea flour
2 teaspoons of rice flour
1/2 med. onion
4 green chillies
1/2 teaspoon of ginger powder (grated ginger will work fine too)
Oil to fry

                                                powdered mix

                                              add the lightly fried onions and knead

                                               Get the vadais ready

                                                 Fried and served

                                                Another take :-)
Preparation

First, in a blender, powder the almonds and cashews to a gravel consistency
In a bowl, dry mix the nut powders and the flours -
(there will be a few nuts which are half ground - which is fine add to texture)
In a teaspoon of oil, lightly fry the onions
Add to the mix along with the green chillies
Add about 1 teaspoon of oil to the mix and knead
Last, add about 1 teaspoon of warm water and knead
Make balls and keep ready
Fry and serve HOT

Got this COOL Award from Akhila - Thanks a lot dear :-) Enjoyed participating!

Another AWESOME award, I did not realize I had got until today Thank ou Priya (BonAppetit)

Pad Thai

This is a dish we initially liked a lot when we went to our local restaurants. But sadly for us, the whole restaurant smelled kinda fishy and for those who love those smells, that would be heaven. But like I do mostly, I checked out the flavors of the dish and carried the memory of it on my tongue.
Usually when we buy cabbage we are thinking Chinese/Thai food
This again is an "oh so simple" recipe which from start to finish takes 45 minutes

Ingredients:
1 cup shredded cabbage
1 cup carrots - diced thin French-fry style
1 handful of peanuts
2-3 green chillies cut long
cilantro for garnish
1 tablespoon spicy Schezwan stir-fry sauce
1 Tbs Penang peanut sauce
1 teaspoon of white sesame seeds
2 cloved of crushed garlic
(Other options: mushrooms and tofu, spring onions) which i did not have handy that night :-(

1 pack of  no yolk eggnoodles / you can use egg-less or rice noodles

Preparation
Cook noodles in boiling water, strain and set aside
In a wok stir in the veggies and spices and cook in high heat.
In about a minute or 2, add the sauces and keep stirring
Add the noodles to the stir fry and let them soak up the sauce.
Garnish with peanut crumbles and cilantro - Enjoy :-)

                                             Veggies waiting to be cooked :-)

                                              the noodles cooking in the sauce