Homemade Chocolate Fudge Sauce

For the final day of this week's marathon under 'bookmarked recipes', I have this delicious Chocolate Fudge sauce. I made it couple of months ago and finally got a chance it post it here.

 Recipe is from Brown Eyed Baker. This chocolate sauce keeps for a very long time in the fridge and is great to drizzle over ice cream or fruit or pound cake or just eat it by the spoonfuls.

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Peach Ice Cream (Eggless Recipe)

Blogging Marathon#65: Week 4/ Day 3

Theme: Bookmarked Recipes 

Dish: Peach Ice Cream

I didn't know that peach ice cream existed until I had it at a dairy farm last summer. It tasted so fresh and full of peach flavor. I was looking for an opportunity to make it and when I saw peaches on sale in our local grocery I bought and made this yummy ice cream.

When buying peaches, look for fruit that smell like what you want them to taste like. One good thing about peaches is that they ripen even after they have been picked. So you can buy them slightly ripe and finish ripening at home. But make sure to buy peaches that are heavy for their size but are not too hard (these will never ripen).

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Sweet Milk Ice Cream

Here's a recipe for ice cream that tastes like the kulfi we are used to eating in India. This recipe for Sweet milk ice cream is from King Arthur catalog. It is one of the few recipes that I made the same day I saw it.

Fortunately I had all the ingredients on hand and the ice cream base came together in no time, though I had to wait overnight to freeze and make the ice cream. This recipe is made from a predominantly milk base instead of a custard base (with eggs) but it is creamy and almost gelato-like. The tapioca starch takes the place of the eggs to stabilize the base, lending it a rich, creamy texture to the finished ice cream.

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Homemade Caramel Sauce

Blogging Marathon#65: Week 2/ Day 1

Theme: 1 Sauce -- 2 Dishes

Dish: Caramel Sauce

We are starting a brand new week of blogging marathon today and my theme for this week is '1 Sauce -- 2 dishes using that sauce'. I clarified with Valli if the sauce had to be savory and she said sweet sauces are also fine. I made this caramel sauce couple of months back and it has been in my drafts. So posting the recipe for caramel sauce today and I have 2 absolutely decadent recipes using this sauce coming up in the next couple of days.

Making caramel has always intimidated me, I burnt quite a few pans and quite a bit of sugar that I even stopped trying. But then happened to see this easy to make caramel sauce recipe on Food52 and I gave it a try.

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Norwegian Apple Trifle for #Food of the World

We are going all the way to Norway for this month's #Food of the World event. I have little knowledge of Norwegian cuisine, so I went looking for recipes online. Thankfully I found this amazing blog, Nordic Diner, written by Trude who lives in Oslo now but spend her childhood in Northern Norway.

I was spellbound by her photos of Norway, the greenery, the mountains, the clear blue water, everything looks so pristine and picturesque. So Norway has been added to my bucket list now :-)

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Ambrosia Parfait

Today I have a no-cook, no-bake dessert that is quick and easy to make. It is called Ambrosia Salad aka fruit salad. Ambrosia literally means 'food of the gods'  in Greek & Roman mythology. But this dish is very much American and from what I've read it is a very popular dessert/ salad that is served around holidays in the Southern states.

It is quite a simple dish to make -- lightly sweetened whipped cream is mixed with fresh fruit and grated coconut. Even though it sounds so easy, the resulting dish is light and absolutely delicious, hence the name - Ambrosia.

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Vegetable Makhani Rice

Blogging Marathon# 58: Week 1/ Day 2

Theme: Bring on your Rice

Dish: Vegetable Makhani Rice

After yesterday's South Indian rice dish, I have this North Indian rice dish. Makhani gravy is a reddish tomato based gravy made with butter and cream (hence the name makhani), commonly used in North Indian dishes. It is very popular on restaurant menus and paneer makhani is quite famous.

Here the makhani gravy is mixed with basmati rice to make this creamy and delicious rice that is equally good to perfect to serve at dinner parties or as a quick weeknight meal. Recipe is from a Telugu cooking show.

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Pumpkin Ice Cream (Eggless Recipe)

I don't want to say it loud but it has been a mild fall so far. Temperatures have been warmer than usual and we are occasionally still sporting our summer sandals and half sleeves. But the daylight hours have started to get shorter and the trees are changing into beautiful shades of red, yellow and gold.

This pumpkin ice cream is perfect for this time of the year. Fall flavors with not so fall weather calls for an dessert like this. I tasted my first pumpkin flavored ice cream on one of my recent farm visit with few of my blog buddies. It was a pumpkin-vanilla soft swirl and I loved it. Also my son randomly asked for pumpkin ice cream recently, so I've been looking for a recipe.

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Carrot Halwa Ice Cream

Blogging Marathon# 55: Week 4/ Day 3

Theme: Bookmarked Recipes

Dish: Carrot Halwa Ice cream

Did you ever eat warm carrot halwa with a scoop of vanilla ice cream? That is one extremely rich and decadent dessert to have (also a calorie bomb -- but you are allowed to indulge once in a while, not everyday, mind you!!). My mom and sister love this combination.

This ice cream combines carrot halwa and vanilla ice cream to make a flavor that is sure to be a hit at a Indian themed parties. Recipe is from here and it is just as it sounds, make some carrot halwa, make a vanilla ice cream base -- mix them both and churn.

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Dulche de Leche Ice Cream (Eggless recipe)

Blogging Marathon# 55: Week 4/ Day 2

Theme: Bookmarked Recipes

Dish: Dulche de Leche Ice cream

Next ice cream I made this summer is this Dulche de Leche Ice cream. I had a bottle of dulche de leche in the fridge that my husband got from Argentina. It needed to used up and this ice cream from Smitten Kitchen sounded like the right recipe to make.

This is one of the most easy ice cream recipes I've made. All it needs is bringing milk and cream to boil and then stirring in dulche de leche and setting aside to chill, then churning it in the ice cream machine to finish making the ice cream. I swirled some dulche de leche while putting it into a container.

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Cookies and Cream Ice Cream (Eggless Recipe)

Blogging Marathon# 55: Week 4/ Day 1

Theme: Bookmarked Recipes

Dish: Cookies & Cream Ice cream

My theme for the final week of this month's blogging marathon is 'Bookmarked Recipes'. Since it is almost the end of summer (sigh -- why does it have to end so soon!!!), I thought it is time to post the ice creams that I made during summer.

First up is 'Cookies & cream ice cream'. I read somewhere that 'Cookies & Cream' flavor is one of the most popular ice cream flavor and I told this little tidbit to my son. From that point on he started pestering me to make it for him (thanks to the summer vacation, he had too much free time on his hands to pester me).

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No-Bake Nutella Cheesecake

Blogging Marathon# 55: Week 2/ Day 3

Theme: Nutella Galore

Dish: No-Bake Nutella Cheesecake

Here's another lip smacking dessert using Nutella, a no-bake cheesecake. I usually plan the dishes to make for the marathon, well ahead of time. But for this week except for the muffins I made for the first day, I had nothing planned for the next 2 days. I was able to make the s'mores based on my son's tv show, but I was clueless as to what to make for today.
Clueless because there are sooooooo many dishes that can be made with Nutella and I'm sure every single one would taste amazing. I was very tempted to make Valli's Nutella mousse in chocolate cups, but was too lazy to make the chocolate part.

Then I saw this no-bake Nutella cheesecake on Pinterest and made it right away to make sure I don't change my mind :-) Original recipe used frozen whipped topping, but I didn't want to wait for the whipped topping to thaw, so I whipped fresh cream and folded it into the nutella-creamcheese mixture.

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Vegetarian S'mores with Nutella

Blogging Marathon# 55: Week 2/ Day 2

Theme: Nutella Galore

Dish: Vegetarian S'mores with Nutella

This is probably the most loved theme I have ever chosen. My kids are beyond excited with everything that they got to eat in the name of blogging marathon :-)

For the 2nd day, I made a quick and easy vegetarian S'mores. Traditional s'mores are made with graham crackers, roasted marshmallows and melted chocolate. But my vegetarian version is made with graham crackers, banana, nutella and whipped cream.

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Creamy Pesto Pasta

Blogging Marathon# 54: Week 1/ Day 3

Theme: Vegetarian Italian dishes

Dish: Creamy Pesto Pasta

Kids sure are very unpredictable. My son is the picky eater in the house and my daughter is an adventurous eater, but they are slowly reversing their likes. The little one is becoming too picky and doesn't want to try anything new.

I made this creamy pesto pasta for dinner one day and since I wasn't sure if the kids would like it, I made them something else too. But my son declared that pesto sauce is his second favorite pasta sauce right after marinara sauce. Then my little one tried a little bit and wanted to eat it for her dinner too. So the kids ate most of the pasta and the adults ended up eating what I made for the kids.

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Roasted Strawberry Ice Cream (3 Ingredient Recipe and No Ice Cream Maker required)

Blogging Marathon# 53: Week 3/ Day 3

Theme: 3 Ingredient Recipes

Dish: Roasted Strawberry Ice Cream

For the final day of this week's marathon, I made this amazing 3-ingredient Roasted Strawberry Ice cream that needs no ice cream maker. I did a happy dance when I found this recipe while looking for 3 ingredient dishes. I had all the ingredients on hand and it just sounded too good not to try right away.

I already have 2 strawberry ice cream recipes on the blog -- one with strawberry puree and the other with condensed milk, orange liquer etc. If you click on the links and see, you'll notice that the first one looks a little icy whereas the second one is quite creamy. The second recipe is very easy to make -- just mix all the ingredients and then churn in the ice cream maker.

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Pasta with Curried Vegetable Sauce

Blogging Marathon# 50: Week 3/ Day 3

Theme: Different Pasta Sauces

Dish: Pasta with Curried Vegetable Sauce

Final day of this week's 'Pasta Sauces'  is an Indian-Italian fusion dish. I was wondering what to make for the 3rd day and then saw this recipe in Tarla Dalal's newsletter in my inbox, so curried vegetable sauce was served for dinner that day.

I think curry powder works well in a lot of dishes, so it's not out of place in this pasta sauce. Also adding lot of veggies makes it colorful and filling too. I used peppers, broccoli and corn along with tomato puree in this dish. A splash of cream or half-n-half is added to make the pasta just a little bit creamy.

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Hot Chocolate (Using Ganache)

Blogging Marathon# 48: Week 2/ Day 2

Theme: Kid's Delight -- Holiday Specials

Dish: Hot Chocolate

I have another kid friendly drink for the second day of this week's blogging marathon. Both my kids love chocolate milk and I have been making hot chocolate for them once in a while this winter. They love it so much that they would do just about anything to drink (clean the room, finish homework -- anything at all, gets done in no time).

I have 2 hot chocolate recipes on the blog already, one with unsweetened cocoa powder and the other with soy creamer. This hot chocolate recipe is made with ganache that can be made ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator, so the kids can have their favorite hot chocolate in no time.

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Mini Éclairs with Strawberries & Cream

Blogging Marathon# 47: Week 4/ Day 2
Theme: Bookmarked Recipes
Dish: Mini Eclairs

For Day 2 of this week's marathon, I have these cute little mini eclairs I made back in April for the Easter party at home. I was always under the impression that eclairs are very difficult to make, on the contrary these are quite easy to put together and are sure to impress the guests.
The first time I heard the word 'Éclair', I thought it the Cadbury chocolate eclairs we used to eat as kids. But this one is actually a French pastry that is made with choux dough filled with a cream and topped with icing. It is very interesting to know that the word comes from French éclair 'flash of lightning', so named because it is eaten quickly in a flash.

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Creamy Tomato Pasta Sauce

Blogging Marathon# 47: Week 2/ Day 2
Theme: Kid's Delight Event -- Pizza & Pasta
Dish: Creamy Tomato Pasta Sauce

Like I said in my yesterday's post, my kids love pasta and I'm always in the look out for interesting sauce recipes. Today's creamy tomato pasta sauce comes from Pioneer woman's site. I love Ree Drummond and her recipes are always easy to follow and have been a big hit in my house.

This pasta sauce could not be simpler because it uses canned tomato sauce as the base. I always have all kinds of canned tomatoes (chopped, puree, paste and so on) in my pantry, so this would be something I can see myself making quite often. Creaminess comes from the addition of heavy cream and since this dish is for kids, I was liberal in adding it to the sauce :-) If you are concerned about the calorie intake then reduce the quantity of heavy cream or use half-n-half or even milk for a lighter version.

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Individual No-Bake Chocolate Cheesecakes (in a bottle)

Summer is officially here and we are already in the middle of serious Grilling season. With 4th of July approaching real fast, I thought I will share some of my favorite dishes that can be made for your next backyard bbq or bring them to a potluck or even a picnic. 

First up is a no-bake cheesecake with layers of cookie crumbs, chocolate cheesecake filling, toffee bits and chopped nuts. Doesn't that sound delicious. These are a big hit every time I served them at parties. They are easy to make and can be made ahead of time, so you are ready to chill and enjoy your party.

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