Phew! I am back.  My computer was down with the flu.  I should have taken better care when I went out in a hurry searching Google for Manisha Koirala's marriage photographs.  I know! It cannot get any worse, stupid or silly.  No disrespect to actors, since you can see I must like her to be gawking at her pictures, but now on I will think a million times before I go to gawk at pictures online. 

     I hope you will enjoy this refreshing dip as much as I.  Dip into it with some vegetable flavored Ritz crackers or spread it on your fajitas and  Enjoy!



Ingredients:
Avocado                      - 1
Shallots                        - 1 small
Garlic                           - 1 small pod
Thai chili                       - 1, seeded and chopped fine
Olive oil                       - 1 tspn
Black pepper               -  a little to taste
Salt                              - to taste     
 Method:

Cut the avocados and put in a bowl with the rest of the ingredients and mash
Serve with crackers or with rolls.

Contributor: Sunitha

Baklazhanaya Ikra, a popular vegetarian spread prepared specially with large eggplants and this dish ressembles tastewise quite like our Indian Baingan Bharta..This caviar is prepared simply by grilling eggplants in oven from which their flesh is taken and prepared along with onions, canned tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, salt and pepper powder..Chopped tomatoes brings them a beautiful colour and this Russian eggplant spread tastes fabulous simply when served along with any bread eventhough Russians goes for their famous rye bread...This spread take an important role in most of Russian home, as this eggplant caviar is known well in Russia as the Poor Man's Caviar...This thick pureed mixture of roasted eggplants and vegetables goes directly to AWED-Russia guest hosted by RV, event by DK...




1no Eggplant(large)
1cup Onion chopped
6tbsp Olive oil
1tsp Garlic (chopped finely)
2no Tomatoes (large & chopped)
1/2tsp Sugar
Salt
Pepper powder
Lemon juice

Preheat oven to 425 degrees...Bake the eggplant on the middle rack for about an hour, turning it over once or twice untill the eggplants turn soft..Meanwhile, cook the onions in 4 tablespoons of the olive oil in medium heat untill they are soft but not brown...Add the garlic and cook for few minutes, put off the stove...Remove the skin of the egplant with a sharp knife, then chop the pulp finely as a puree..

Add this pureed eggplant to onions and stir in the tomatoes, sugar, salt and pepper powder...Heat the remaining olive oil in the pan in medium heat and pour in the eggplant mixture.Bring to a boil, stir constantly, then turn the heat to low, cover the pan and simmer for an hour.

Remove the cover and cook for another half-hour, stirring from time to time, until the mixture turns thicks.. add the lemon juice as per taste, give a stir...Transfer the mixture to a bowl...

Serve with bread..

Hope you are doing well and in high spirits welcoming spring, those who are in this part of the world. I am  good enjoying the sun shine and the occasional rain showers even though they sometimes turn to snow showers.  That's Colorado for you!



  The last time my kids wanted to have a special dessert after lunch, I was wondering what I could make in less than 5 minutes.  Ransacking my pantry and fridge I spotted the lonely cream-cheese pushed to a corner.  The main ingredient in the easiest recipe for a fruit dip. This is the best treat you can give your kids or serve at a kids party.  It's highly unlikely that a kid doesn't like cream cheese and you need hardly sweat!


Ingredients:

Cream cheese- 8oz
Brown sugar- 1/4 cup
Granulated white sugar- 1/4 cup
Pure Vanilla extract- 1 tsp
Pistachios or walnuts (coarsely chopped)- to garnish





Method:

1.Bring the creamchese to room temperature.
2.Beat well with the sugar until soft.
3.add the vanilla extract and beat until mixed well.
4.Spoon into the dipping bowl and garnish with chopped nuts.
5.serve with chilled fruits.




Contributor: Namitha

While i was planning to make out something creamy, delicious, simple and easy dip to whip out, my choice went immediately to avocado chunks and greek yogurt which i spiced up with chaat masala,red chilly powder, amchur powder, pepper powder,sugar and salt..This dip takes hardly few seconds to whip out and tastes fantastic with a mild sour taste and bit spicy..The greek yogurt i used to make out this dip helped a lot to turn out this avocado dip really creamy and rich..We enjoyed having this tempting and delectable indianized avocado dip with some home made peanut butter and rice crackers with cumin seeds which i will be posting very soon... Those crunchy baked crackers with this creamy dip totally turned out our snacks fantastic and prefect, that to when its cold outside we definitely need something to munch while watching TV or for simple evening snacks, obviously this dip and those baked peanutbutter rice crackers turned out snacks completely awesome... Needless to say that this Indianized avocado dip goes directly to Siri's Healing Foods-Avocado, Think Spice- Think Amchoor guest hosted by Bhagyasri of Taste Buds,event by Sunita and finally to Pj's No Cook Event and to my own event Hearts for St Valentine's Day..


2nos Avocados
2cup Greek yogurt
1/2tsp Amchoor powder
Chaat masala (as per ur need)
1/4tsp Chilli powder
1/4tsp Sugar
1/3tsp Pepper powder
Salt

Scoop and chop the avocados flesh and mash slightly with spoons to give them a chunky aspect...take the greek yogurt, chaat masala, amchoor powder, chilli powder, pepper powder, sugar, salt as per need, whisk until the everything get well mixed..

Add the avocado chunks and mix everything well.. serve chilled with any sort of crackers, biscuits or simply with veggies..

Its has been a quite long i was planning to make hummus at home with store bought tahini and avocado...Today i tried out at home by using canned chickpeas, garlic and lemon juice along with avocado chunks...Its really quite  easy to prepare this greeny tempting and delicious hummus which tastes marvellous with tortilla chips, pita breads and y not with fresh veggies..I can eat avocados and enjoy it directly with mayonnaise, but its not something i usually crave for thats y i prepared hummus this time with avocados...This hummus is quite an another delicious dip to enjoy with breads and we loved this green hummus...All the ingredients used in this recipe can be increased or decreased as u desire...My avocado hummus was dominated by avocado flavour than garlic as i prepared this hummus with two big avocados...Another delicious way to enjoy avocados, am sending this avocado hummus to Siri's Healing Food-Avocado & Pj's No Cook Event also goes to RV & Sudeshna's FFSL-Healthy Fast Foods...


1can Chickpeas (small one)
2nos Avocados (cut as small cubes)
1tbsp Tahini paste
2tsp Lemon juice
2tsp Olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Drain and rinse the chickpeas with enough water, add all the ingredients  in a blender or food processor and grind as fine paste..

Serve as dip along with some veggies or with chips or breads...finally this avocado hummus goes to MLLA-20th helping guest hosted by Rachel of The Crispy COok, event started by Susan..

I have some leftover dill leaves in my fridge and i wanted to prepare something easily with laughing cow cheese...I prepared this carrot and dill dip through microwave oven quite easily...As we know that dill leaves are very strong in flavour, instead of adding directly to the dip, i cooked the chopped dill leaves with carrot chunks in microwave oven with a cup of water...Microwave cooking retains the colour of both cooked carrots and dill leaves and this dip looks fantastic with mild orange colour with green dill leaves..This dip goes awesome with toasted breads or simple dip with veggies or with meats...We enjoyed having this delicious cheesy carrot and dill dip with toasted breads for our dinner..Sending this dip to Vegetable Marathon-Carrots guest hosted by PJ, event by Silpa..


1cup Carrots pieces (chopped finely)
1/4cup Dill leaves (chopped)
4nos Laughing cow cheese
1/4tsp Pepper powder
Salt

Take the chopped carrots and chopped dill leaves in a microwave safe bowl with some water, cook everything in high for 10minutes(stir twice) until the carrots get well cooked..once the carrots get cooked, let them get cool and take the cooked carrots, dill leaves, laughing cow cheese, pepper powder and salt in a blender and blend everything as bit coarse paste..

Enjoy with toasted breads or simple veggies...

If you are a die hard fan of red bell peppers and u really want to whip out some quick dip to serve along with ur bread toast,veggies or meats, you should definitely give a try to this chunky bellpepper & cream cheese dip...Yes i prepared this dip by cooking the veggies in microwave oven for few minutes and prepared this chunky bellpepper dip by adding cream cheese, which tastes fantastic and delicious...We enjoyed having this chunky & cheesy dip with some toasted breads as starter for our sunday lunch and everyone at home enjoyed this colourful, flavourful dip...With simple ingredients, this dip is ready to serve within less than 15 minutes..I enjoyed making and am sending this fabulous dip to MEC-Dips & Spreads guest hosted by Superchef of Mirch Masala, event by Srivalli and to Sunday Snacks-Cheese guest hosted by Superchef and to RV & Sudeshna's Food for 7stages of Life-Healthy Fast Foods...


1cup Red bellpepper (cut as small cubes)
1no Onion (chopped finely)
1/2cup Cream cheese
2nos Garlic cloves (minced)
2tsp Parsley leaves (chopped)
Salt
Pepper powder
1tsp Olive oil

Take the olive oil in a microwave safe bowl and heat for a minutes in high in microwave oven, now add the finely chopped onions,salt and minced garlic cloves to the hot oil and cook for 5 minutes (stir once in between) in high again in microwave oven..finally add the red bell pepper pieces and cook for 8-10minutes again in high..take off the cooked veggies and let them cool..

Add the cream cheese, parsley leaves,pepper powder to the already cooked veggies and blend as chunky dip with a hand blender..

Serve them immediately or chiled..

Most of the peanut sauce are made with peanut butter, this Thai peanut sauce is prepared with roasted peanuts, blended with soya sauce,tamarind paste, packed brown sugar,water,garlic cloves and sesame oil..This thai peanut sauce is quite easy to prepare and can be served very well as dip with veggies or as a sauce to meat dishes or can be used along with satay sauce,y not finally to make out nutty cold noodle salad, we enjoyed having this peanut sauce with spring rolls and also i prepared cold noodles salad with japanese udon noodles..A delicious and easy as well as quick peanut sauce with simple ingredients stay prefect upto 2weeks if conserved in refrigerator..Am sending this thai peanut sauce to MEC-Dips & Spreads guest hosted by Superchef of Mirch Masala, event by Srivalli, MLLA-19th Helping guest hosted by EC, event by Susan and finally to my own event Cooking with Seeds-Sesame Seeds..


1cup Peanuts
2nos Garlic (minced)
1tsp Dark soya sauce
2tsp Sesame oil
1tbsp Brown sugar
1tbsp Light soya sauce
1/2tsp Tamarind paste
1tsp Thai chilli sauce
Water as per need
Few Sesame seeds for garnishing

Roast the peanuts (dont overcrowd) in microwave oven for 10minutes (stir in between twice) until they get well roasted...Grind all the ingredients with enough water as smooth sauce..transfer the smooth peanut sauce in microwave oven for 3minutes in high until the sauce turns foamy..

Serve warm with meats or at room temperature as a dip with fresh veggies, or any other finger foods...