Simple Ground Beef Recipe: Chili Crowned Potatoes

There are many recipes of ground beef and there are plenty of ways of making this meat. Starting from warm chili to sloppy Joes, to the most famous meatloaf recipe. There are plenty of ground beef recipes available on online cooking sites and as well as in cooking books.

Recently, I was surfing internet for some work and an email came across containing this amazing recipe. The concept just hits me at the very first place. Chili topped potato, a perfect combination of baked potatoes and hearty chili recipe. This recipe is surely satisfying and super scrumptious. One more worthy thing about this recipe is that you can store this recipe and the leftovers, they just need to be reheated before serving. 

Although I have made quite a lot alternations as per the spices. The original recipe potato takes away the spices. This recipe itself is a completely meal as instead of mashed potato you served baked potato and chili recipe over these potatoes. This recipe can be made even in a busy weeknight.

Anyways without wasting any time let’s start cooking this amazing recipe – 

Pork Chops with Sautéed Apples

People those who suffer from diabetes are the one who are mostly confused on what to eat and what not to eat. In today’s post I am sharing a recipe for the people who are suffering from diabetes. Well, it doesn't mean if you are not suffering from this symptom you can’t eat it. In short, this recipe is healthy – it just have 297kcal of calories per serving, and fat just about 12g and carbohydrates is about 9g per serving. This simple recipe is healthy, yummy and absolutely delightful. You can in fact make this recipe even for parties and get together if you want.

The most amazing thing is it’s a pork recipe, still its fit for weight watchers and dieters. So now you don’t have to dissatisfy your taste buds. Explore the flavors and richness in food and still be fit and healthy!

If I talk about the diabetes, approximately 90% (in type I and type II diabetes) of people are suffering from type II diabetes. In this, person has high blood glucose (blood sugar) due to inadequate insulin or when body cells do not respond to this insulin properly. Overweight and obese people have a much higher risk of developing type II diabetes compared to those with a healthy body weight.

From a research done by medical association, 8.5% of the US population have diabetes - 25.8 million children and adults and 18.8 million people have been diagnosed with diabetes. :O. I don’t want to scare you all here, but just want to acknowledge that a healthy lifestyle is key to a healthy body. Avoid junk foods and fast foods instead go for home cooked meals. Nevertheless, let’s start cooking our healthy recipe for all.

Almost Merry Christmas – My Christmas Dinner Menu!

Christmas is here and we all are damn excited about the fact. In California Christmas is not about snow and sledge. It’s about Santa and Sea. Soaking in the sun and enjoying the pleasantly cold weather. And if you feel like surfing on the surf board and sing carols. LOL :D

Anyways California is famous for its amazing weather for 12 days of Christmas holidays. If I talk about my family then my relatives come all the way from different places to California to enjoy this weather, soak in the sun and definitely to spend some memorable moments with each other.

For us Christmas dinner and lunches are like having a picnic. Everyone in the family make something this day so I am mostly out of the kitchen and rest members contribute. My husband also wears the chef cap although I have to arrange everything so that they don’t make my kitchen a mess. *ahh I can’t stand in a messy kitchen*

So, what we do is plan the menu beforehand, I ask everyone what all they can cook or want to cook. There is brainstorming, suggestions and ideas in short a complete ciaos even in planning our dinner menu and even for lunch ideas. I mostly jot down the ideas in paper and later make a final menu what all we are making for day.

MY CHRISTMAS MENU FOR 2013 is –

Soup Recipes – The goodness for 12 Months

Soups are best delight you can have for all around the year. Soups are healthy, nourishing and if you make low-fat versions of soup recipes then it also helps in losing those extra pounds quickly. You can have vegetarian and as well as non-vegetarian soups as per your need. Soups are ideally served in first-course of dinner but you can also have one bowl soup which can be served as a main dish. Such soups are filling and satisfying and don’t make you feel hungry certainly.

For me soups are ideal for fall and winters. It helps you to keep warm and cozy. It’s been said, if you drink a bowl of chicken soup it help you to get rid of common flu and cold. In today’s post, I am sharing few soup recipes that you can try in this fall and even for the Christmas dinner –

Kids Learn Something New this Season!

Simple DIY tips for Crafts and Recipes that your kid can try this festive season. I am sharing 5 simple recipes especially for Christmas celebrations and  craft ideas that you can try with your kids.

Keep looking this space for further details and methods to try this out!! 

You can find the details over here -  http://www.blogher.com/kids-learn-something-new-season


Love
Sylvia

Sweet Potato Halwa – Vegan Indian Pudding

I always talk about simple sweet potato recipes and its goodness that how they are healthy to have, how they are good for your body etc. This time I am sharing an Indian delicacy that one of my Indian friend sent me via email. This recipe is for the people who have craving for eating something sweet after every meal. Today I am making “sweet potato halwa” (Indian name to an eggless pudding). *This could be great dessert recipe for Christmas dinner too, healthy and nourishing dessert*

This recipe is not just healthy but she has sent me a recipe which is less in fats and calories too. So what else you want; it fall under perfect healthy recipes. The spices and ingredient used are Indian but they are easily available in any shop. It’s a best and sweetest example of mashed sweet potato recipe. I have tried this recipe and believe me it was super yummy and scrumptious.

One more thing, the recipe she shared with me was altered for diabetic people and she used artificial sweetener instead of sugar. I am using normal sugar here, because I have read somewhere artificial sweeteners are not good for kids and babies. Well I will share both things so you can try this quick and easy recipe anyway you want.

This recipe is simple and quick to make which that can be prepared in just 10 minutes. Moreover, this can be served warm or cold any which way you want. Its rich in fiber, potassium, calcium and other vital nutrients minus the extra added calories and fats. So, let’s quickly go through the preparations and method –

Crunchy Baked Green Bean Fries

I made this recipe before and it’s like my favorite recipe, it’s crispy, delicious and moreover it’s healthy. This recipe is such a hit that I am planning to serve this in Christmas dinner as a side dish with Chicken. This recipe is even approved by the picky eaters like my husband. Today’s recipe is simple and really easy to make.

I am going to use whole green beans. Green beans are very low in calories; I guess it’s about 31 kcal per 100 g of raw beans and contain no saturated fat (good for weight watchers). Nonetheless, this lean vegetable is a very good source of vitamins, minerals, and plant derived micronutrients. It’s an excellent source of Vitamin-A, Vitamin-B6, thiamin, poly phenolic antioxidants and Vitamin-C etc.

So, if you are looking for a healthy and tasty appetizer this could be one solution. This recipe is damn simple and you can serve this as an appetizer or side dish for lunch or dinner recipe. You just need 3 basic ingredients (excluding salt and pepper) and you are ready to go for this recipe.

Healthy BBQ Pulled Pork with Tangy Coleslaw

Who don’t like bacon or pork recipes? But although we all love bacon and egg it’s important to consider health too. Today in market you find leaner pork meat available, opting this meat option is always healthy and nutritious. Anyways one fine day I was eating pulled pork with burger and potato wedges and at that moment I realized how can I transformed this recipe into a healthier option.

Making pork in a BBQ style with some healthy options (i.e. without adding fats and other calorie stuffed dishes can indeed make this recipe healthy and nutritious. I guess best way to make a juicy pork recipe is with using slow cooker. A crockpot cooks the meat slowly which makes it really tender and juicy and it maintains its juices and flavors too. Traditionally, in southern part of America the pork is cooked in barbecue set outside your house. But today BBQ has no geographical boundaries; you have plenty of electric BBQ appliances available in the market. These devices are really great for your kitchen as some of them are even smoke-free. *it’s a god sent appliance, I swear!*

This recipe is delicious protein packed low carb recipe and instead of potato wedges I served it with low-fat tangy coleslaw. If I talk about calories than its 1 servings provides up to 250 cal/serving and protein of 34g. So, let’s start cooking –

Warm Slow cooker Crab Dip

One of the best winter delight is warm slow cooker crab dip. This dip recipe got the perfect blend of delicate flavors of crab meat, cream cheese and bit of sour cream and light mayonnaise. My friend has sent me this recipe quite a long back although the recipe she has sent me was little sinful filled with loads of sour cream and cheese so I tried to made this recipe little healthier by opting healthier options to make this recipe. I made home-made cream cheese for this recipe which is healthy and fat-free too. The best thing about this recipe is that it is a slow cooker recipe means a no-worry dish.

I also used light sour cream and light mayonnaise to keep the healthy content on top however I make sure that I won’t affect its flavor and taste at all. So that you can have the scrumptious creamy dip without having a doubt. Note – munch dips like dips and not like main course it helps in not maintaining that lean waistline. 

Let’s make the cream cheese first and later the wonderful warm dip –

Healthy Fettuccini Chicken Alfredo with Broccoli

December is here, Christmas is just around the corner and we all are busy organizing everything at home. Everyone is busy in shopping and buying presents for everyone. Mostly we spend our time in buying new stuffs, deciding menus, making list of important things that need to be finished off before Christmas etc. However, by the dinner time we get so tired that we hardly like to cook anything. So, what we mostly do is order some pizza for family. But eating pizza all day long doesn't make any sense. So, what can be an alternative, try some quick and easy recipes instead. 

Chicken Alfredo with Broccoli could be an option. We all have tried many varieties of this recipe in fact I have made this recipe like millions of time. And in all these attempts I really liked this recipe which I am going to share today. This recipe is simple and can be made in less time. For the Alfredo sauce, I am using a prepackaged pasta sides from Knorr as it is simple to make and the flavors are just perfect for this recipe. Add some grilled veggies and you are good to go.

I tried to make this recipe healthy. So, I used skimmed milk instead of whole and I completely omitted parmesan cheese from this recipe. For more flavors I used homemade chicken broth for this recipe. This recipe can be made in less than 30 minutes including the preparation time. Let’s not waste more time and start with cooking –

Indian Chicken Recipe: Tandoori Chicken in Oven

Who don’t like tandoori chicken and chicken tikkas! These are the most scrumptious Indian delicacies that we eat quite often in the Indian restaurants. So, I thought let’s give it a try at home. My friend has sent me this recipe and said this recipe was just voted best tandoori chicken in San Francisco by a "completely unbiased" review panel. And believe me, when I made this recipe it was finished in just few minutes. Whoa!!

I served this recipe with another Indian delight i.e. mint and yogurt chutney (Dip). To make this recipe, you need ½ of a cup of mint leaves, ¼ cup of cilantro, 1 green chili pepper, ½ red onion, 3 tablespoon of fresh lime juice, 2 garlic cloves, ¼ cup plain yogurt, salt and pepper to taste. Just put all the ingredients (expect lemon juice) in a blender and blend until it’s a smooth dip. Add lemon juice from the top and mix. Simple recipe isn't it!

You can make this tandoori chicken with a whole chicken but if you are a fitness freak and really concerned about weight management, then just use the chicken breast for this recipe. This tandoori chicken can fall under the categories of Easy chicken breast recipes too. Simply yum!

Let’s not waste time and start cooking –

5 Easy and Quick Meals to Start Your Day

If I talk about my college life, I’ve never been a big breakfast eater. I usually used to skip breakfast because I never used to get up on time and to make up for the lost time I had to rush to college. My quick meal defines as just a cup of coffee with 2 cookies-that’s it! I am just not hungry when I wake up in the morning, in fact I still don’t feel hungry in the morning.

However, after years of skipping my breakfast I realized my body needs energy for every activity and since my body and brain is not getting that significant energy my metabolic rate was high and I used to get tired easily. In fact, I used to feel sleepy for a whole day. So, around 11 or 12 in the afternoon I used to feel super hungry and end up eating all junks which was available starting from burgers to fries for lunch to sodas. Even though I was always aware of the fact that breakfast is the most essential meal of the day I used to skip it because I was too lazy to make a breakfast. But, today I am sharing 5 easy and quick meals for breakfast so that you won’t skip your meals. Now I don’t skip my breakfast for sure –

Less-Guilt Fried Chicken Breast Recipe

Fried Boneless Chicken breast recipe, sounds astonishing but also make us little conscious about that increasing waist line. So, what should be a solution to it? Well, try for some healthy alternatives instead of the traditional method and make this recipe less-guilt if not totally guilt free for 100%.

There is always a confusion whether to marinade the chicken pieces or not! Some says marinating is important but there are some people who don’t believe in marinating. They says it hardly affects the taste of chicken. Anyways I fall under the category who believes in marinating. It helps chicken to absorb that extra moisture and flavors plus it also helps in making the chicken juicy and tender. There are many ways to marinade a chicken recipe. Starting from simple seasoning with salt, pepper and lemon juice to alcohol marinating. What I like the most is, marinating in buttermilk or yogurt.  It turns any simple recipe into a scrumptious, juicy and delightful recipe. Additionally, it’s healthy too!

Okay for this recipe, I’m using electric fryer you can also use traditional skillet pan for frying. In an electric fryer what I like the most is that you can control the temperature and frying can be done in a perfect temperature which don’t make any recipe over-cooked or over-fried and it maintains the juiciness and crunchiness on skin at the same time.

Anyways let’s begin the journey of this less-guilt chicken breast recipe –

Stuffed Bell Pepper with Baked Chicken and Rice

One of my favorite side dish for Thanksgiving is Stuffed Bell Pepper with baked chicken and Rice. It’s not just simple to make but it’s scrumptious too. The flavors and herbs are not very bold but it just melts in the mouth. All you need is some baked chicken or you can use leftover chicken pieces too.

Thanksgiving is all about turkey but making some simple dishes like baked chicken recipes are also worth for this day. I prefer chicken dishes in the side dishes. Believe me once you will try this recipe you will make it each day, it’s that yummy. Ideally you can use brown rice or wild rice for this recipe, but I used Chicken fried rice and added baked chicken pieces into this with some veggies and simply stuffed them in bell peppers and baked it for 20-25 minutes. The aroma and flavors are such that it can beat any Chinese restaurant near you.

Simply baked chicken breast pieces in an oven seasoned with salt and pepper and prepare the chicken fried rice as instructions given in the package. For this recipe, you can use any bell pepper whether it’s green, yellow or red. The added veggies, not just improves the flavors but it make the recipe healthy too.

Let’s not waste anymore of time and jot down the ingredients first and later the procedure –

Lip-smackingly Juicy and Easy Meatloaf Recipe

What’s for dinner, honey? I guess we ladies almost hear this every day. Tell them that you made something called broccoli or kale and then you get to look at their weird and funny faces.  My daughter makes the best excuse when she don’t want to eat spinach or okra, she has this fixed excuse of stomach ache. Ahhh... these kids! But then you tell them that you had prepared a meatloaf for dinner and  her sparkling eyes are filled with joy.

Who don’t like meatloaf recipe? We all love meatloaf and we all have our very own style of making this recipe. I like variety, I never stick to one recipe in fact each time I add something new or some special ingredient in the recipe. As we know that – “variety is the spice of life”! There are plenty of ways to make a meat loaf and there are plenty of recipes for meatloaf; starting from our granny’s cookbook recipe to the Italian style of meatloaf. From home style meatloaf to the restaurant style baked meatloaf. Each recipe has its own style, ingredients and procedure.

For an easy meatloaf recipe, we need ingredients like ground beef, onion, mushroom, bread crumbs and egg etc. last time when I made this dish I was looking for some interesting twist in the recipe. I had the packet of Knorr Onion soup, the one you use to make French onion soup. This soup has perfect flavors of onion, savory herbs, vegetable and garlic flavor which uplifts the recipe completely to the different level. I had no idea that a simple soup recipe can uplift the dish so incredibly.

Keep reading for the recipe.

Classic Chorizo & Black Bean Quiche Recipe

One the most popular French cuisine is Quiche recipe. This recipe is mostly famous in Britain for breakfast specially, but you can have quiche recipeeven for dinner. It is an open-faced pastry crust with a filling of savory custard filled with cheese, meat, seafood, or vegetables. In Britain they also serve this recipe as a party food and it can be consumed cold or hot.

Today I am making an easy quiche recipe that my friend has sent me via email. I made few changes and added few spices and vegetables to bring more color and flavors to the food. It got chorizo sausages, diced tomatoes, onion and black beans. I tried to make this recipe as healthy as possible and instead of sour cream or any cream, I used Greek yogurt. Greek yogurt is healthy and fat-free but if you don’t like Greek yogurt you can also add skimmed milk into this recipe.

Note: To make this recipe healthier; you can also add Asparagus, Spinach, mushrooms etc. the veggies and topping are absolutely your wish. If you have kids at home such recipes always help to make them eat the veggies.

The recipe is here –

Healthy General Tso’s Chicken

This dish was named after General Tso Tsung-tang. This is one of the popular chicken recipes available in the North American Chinese restaurants. It is a sweet, slightly spicy and deep-fried; however to make it healthy we are just going to use olive oil (or coconut oil) for frying. Sesame oil can be used to.

Personally, I love Chinese food and this is one the easiest recipe I have tasted so far. And if you like Chinese food, this is worth a try!  In this, the sauce is plenty sweet, hot, spicy, and tangy, just as you’d expect it to be. It comes in very ample amount, too, which I don’t hate at all. It could be a bit stickier maybe, but still, I say it’s extremely satisfying as it is.

For the Recipe - 

Healthy Halloween Soup Recipe: Witches’ Brew Chicken Soup

Insisting your kids to eat is quite a difficult task, the best way to make them eat veggie is through soups. Kids just love soups. So why not to make a healthy soup recipe this weekend. Halloween is around the corner, and I got this really spooky and awesome recipe for kids called Witches’ Brew Chicken Soup.

This is a simple chicken and vegetable soup and kids love this soup. I got this recipe from My Recipes but I have made few alternatives to it. I have added more veggies to make this soup healthier. This is one of the simple soup recipes that you can try for Halloween and this recipe feeds up to 12 servings. You can increase the quantity by adding more ingredients and so.

What’s more good thing about this soup is; it will keep them full, warm and satisfied for long. So, fill your little pixies' bellies with Witches’ Brew Chicken Soup before sending them out to trick-or-treat. A piping-hot bowl of this healthy soup makes a delicious dinner and it is an easy lunch for the next day too.

The chicken breast used in this recipe is rich in protein and low in fats, so all those who are real calorie conscious can definitely try this soup by just avoiding the sour cream, cheese and other fatty things. In the coming posts I will be posting some easy chicken breast recipes which are boon for weight watchers.

Anyways without wasting much time lets dig into the recipe section