Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese

Quite often what I make is driven by what I feel like making. At times however I find myself coming up with ideas just to use up whats left in my fridge from my previous ideas. This time around it was pickled jalapenos that I had shared with you a few days ago. Now I am a big fan of jalapenos, especially the pickled ones. My pizza always has to have some and so do my sandwiches. I made two big jars and have been working through them but still had quite a bit left of the last jar. That is where these sandwiches come in. Pickled jalapenos done popper style between two slices of bread grilled to perfection.
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Homemade Bagels with Jalapeno Cream Cheese spread

This is another one in the line of my attempts to recreate at home a commonly available preparation that I thought for the longest time nearly impossible or at least too difficult to create at home. The humble bagel definitely proved to me it sure is a little tricky and requires attention to detail to get the best result. I speak from experience. The first time I tried it, it got too chewy and tough. After much I though I figured out where I was going wrong. To get the right taste and texture, you have to be very mindful of how long you boil the dough, the right pinch of baking soda and finally baking it just right. Once you get it how you want it, and not to mention with the easy-to-put-together but outta this world jalapeno spread, a fresh out of the oven hot bagel with a spicy spread will be close to if not the best kind of bread you ever had.

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Saag Paneer Calzone/Spinach Paneer Curry Calzone (whole wheat)

love Italian food! Love eating it and love cooking it. Love the different layers, flavors complex yet simple, exotic yet rustic just like Indian food. You can sense the rich culture and the legacy from the food .
Our (indians) love for indo-chinese is well known but another cuisine that has come in from across the shores and become a part of the cuisine... is Italian. With its pastas and pizza and other goodies and use of herbs, five star restaurants as well as hole-in-the-wall stores near every street now have some kind of “pizza” on their menu! It keeps the essense of pizza that is a thick bread smothered in tomato ketchup topped with melty cheese, but almost always has a local (desi) touch to it whether it be use of paneer or chicken! Lots of fusion recipes have been born, you can easily find panner pizza even butter chicken pizza in any pizza hut franchise in india - I have few on my blog too. This time around I took my classic saag paneer recipe and tucked inside a calzone and the result was a beautiful marrige of two of my favorite cuisines - a fusion food heaven!
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Chocolate cupcakes with nutella frosting ( wholewheat and eggless)

omorrow, February the 5th is named as the 'World Nutella Day'. Needless to say I felt the urge to make something to pay my tribute to this fabulous on-of-a-kind spread. Since I discovered Nutella some time back, I have been totally hooked. For a while I thought I was one of very few who was totally crazy about it. Little did I know that practically anyone that likes chocolate and has had a taste of Nutella is a fan. This became more obvious from all the feedback I got from my Nutella based recipes. Here's another one in the line. Also, as a tribute here's links to some of my other Nutella based recipes.
Nutella brownies, Nutella cold coffee, Mini chocolate bundt cake with nutella ganache, Dark chocolate nutella Truffles, Molten Chocolate Nutella Cake :)

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Whole Wheat Blueberry and Oats Eggless Muffins

Eating Oatmeal for breakfast is our everyday ritual, except for the weekends.

My hubby is really fond of oatmeal.. me.. well not so much.. but due to all the awesome benefits I still also eat them. This time I wanted to put all the goodness of the bowl of oats in a muffin for a change and here is what I came up with. Packed with oats, whole wheat flour, wheat germ, no butter, these light and flavorful muffins are ideal for breakfast and perfect to kick start your day.

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Paneer tikka Pan Pizza

I love pizza.. regardless of crust or toppings (of course without meat) - pan, handtossed, deep dish, brooklyn style, thin-crust even the bread and bagel pizza :-) a soft chewy bread loaded with veggies and other toppings loaded generously with cheese! Just can't stop raving about pizzzzzza.. I had my first ever pizza at Pizza Hut a few years ago after I got married and came here.. and boy.. I was completely hooked :-) Ahh good old days.. we used to order delivery, be total couch potatoes and sit in front of the TV for hours watching the 24 hrs special law and order marathon episodes :D
Never tried making them at home (r u kidding, never ever made even a simple daal before getting married) pizza was sooooo out of my comfort zone, but then I started getting comfy in the kitchen trying, tweaking, started baking and all.. and one good day made pizza.. I was jumping all around the house.. it was so good so perfect (now I make different kinds). Today I will talk about pan pizza.. I don't use a cast iron pan but instead use my round non stick baking pan (read about it in some food magazine).. yeah you heard me right, a regular baking pan. It comes out so perfect every time. You have to try it to believe me. Can be made using any kind of topping but my love for paneer and pizza is behind this recipe. In fact Pizza Hut has  a paneer pizza on the menu in India. Also I use whole wheat flour instead of the traditional all purpose flour to reduce the guilt ;)

Here goes.

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