Tell Me Your Dreams by Sidney Sheldon

Sidney Sheldon has been one among st  my favorite authors , I've always loved his work, I recently read "Tell me your dreams" and was completely engrossed in it. i started this book on Friday and was done reading in two days .I just couldn't keep the book down.

"Tell Me Your Dreams." This novel tells the story of 3 women - Ashley, Toni and Alette - all of whom are suspected of committing a series of brutal murders. The truths begin to unfold resulting in a suspensful, engrossing read. The pages rapidly turn while the heart beats quickly. This is Mr. Sheldon as he shows us he can create well-developed characters and surprising plot developments. Once again I am looking forward to the next Sidney Sheldon novel.

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Butter Popcorn

Its a snack which all of us munch and pop while watching movies: Pop corn. A home made, easy to cook pop corn and its fresh.Thanks Ankur for sharing your recipe with me :)

Ingredients :-

1. 1 cup Corn seeds (make sure they are for pop corn)
2. Butter
3. 1/4 spoon turmeric powder
4. Black salt (if possible), if not normal salt to taste.

Method:-

1.  Put some butter into cooker while its heating on medium flame.    Alternatively oil can also be used.
2.  Once butter melts and cooker is heated, put the corn seeds, turmeric and   salt in it and shake / stir it well so  that all corns and butter is spread equally.
3.  Cover the lid of cooker leaving a small opening for steam to flow out. This is to avoid corns popping outside.
4.  As the pace of popping slows down, which means its done. Enjoy home  made butter pop corns.

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The New Kindle Touch

I Love to read books, so having an e reader was one of my desires.After reading lot about various e readers watching numerous videos , reviews asking my friends understanding difference between wi-fi and 3g-wifi. I finally decided on buying a kindle 3g wifi.


Again I had one more choice to decide on what color, graphite or white .white or graphite after breaking my head so much on it (I liked both) I decided to buy the white one.


I was elated once I laid my hands my brand new Kindle :)  i was looking for various books to read, there are so many free classics and many more books it's absolute fun for any book reader.


But Today Amazon came out with touchscreen Kindle and its just a little over a month since my purchase .I really wished I should have delayed my purchase then probably I would have been having my kindle touchscreen :(


I called up Amazon so as to see if I can return my current device and upgrade to the new touchscreen but the answer was negative as it was past one month since I purchased my e reader.


Now I just stay with my current kindle and use it for a while and then probably I can upgrade to a newer one.


But I love my Kindle :)

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Strawberry Smoothie

I had a recent visit to a farmer's market in Boston this weekend and I saw these fresh strawberries I was so tempted to buy it.Today I was thinking I must make something from it many ideas crossed my mind from Ice cream , cake ( Both very fatty ) so I thought let me make something healthy and thought about Strawberry Smoothie.It's easy to prepare and can be had anytime in a day and an excellent source of Vitamin C.

Ingredients :-

1. 8-10 strawberries
2. 2 tbsp honey
3. 2 tbsp vanilla essence
4. 2 cup milk
5. 1/2 cup crushed ice

Method :-

1. Wash and chop the strawberries
2. Take a blender, add Strawberries, milk, Vanilla essence,crushed Ice and Honey.
3. Blend it until smooth.
4. Strawberry Smoothie is ready.

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Gram flour Dosa ( Besan Cheela)

It was a Friday evening and I was not sure what to cook we wanted to have something light, so my husband came up with the idea of making Besan Cheela, it's light and hardly takes time to cook.So I collated all things I would need to make it and we made it together.

Food items prepared with gram flour are very tasty.It tastes mildly sweet, it’s also gluten free and famously known for its anti-diabetic properties.After bajjias and pakoras, my next favorite item with besan is dosas. Besan Dosa is a traditional Indian breakfast and evening snack item, prepared by mixing gram flour with a variety of finely chopped vegetables. The dosas are usually served with chutneys, It's  quite easy to prepare and one can experiment with ingredient quantities quite liberally.They are not that good when they get cold, so prepare them just before mealtime.
 

Ingredients :-

1. 2 cups of gram flour
2. 1 big onion,
3. 2 green chillies,
4. 2 tbsp of cilantro - finely chopped
5. 1 tomato finely chopped
6. 1 cumin seeds
7. 1 tsp of carom seeds
8. 2 tbsp of roasted semolina
9. salt to taste

Method :-

1. In a Bowl add cumin, ajwan,semolina and salt. Mix to combine.
2. Add the finely chopped vegetables. By gradually adding water, about 1 to 2 cups, mix and prepare besan batter to a medium-thick pouring consistency, like idly batter.
3. Heat a non stick pan  grease it with half-cut whole onion.
4. When the pan is hot, pour ladleful of batter and spread into thin round. Sprinkle half teaspoon of oil or ghee on the top. Wait for bubbles to appear. When the underside starts to brown, gently lift and turn to other side. Cook the dosa until the second side is lightly browned. 
5. Serve it with Chutney Or Ketchup.

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Onion Paratha

I wanted to make something for Shivam so that he can take it for lunch, I remembered about Onion Partha having had it so many times and yes it was always mom who made it.I wanted to give it a try myself and result wasan't bad :)

Onion paratha is delicious recipe made by mixing the finely chopped onion along with green chillies and spices in to the wheat flour. This recipe can be served with curd or pickle.


Ingredients :-

1. 1 cup whole wheat flour
2. 1 onion finely chopped
3. 1/4 cup chopped coriander1 tsp of cumin seeds
4. 1 1/2 tbsp chopped green chili
5. 1/2 tsp of asafoetida (hing)
6. salt to taste
7. oil for cooking

Method :-

1. Combine all the ingredients in bowl, add water and knead to a soft dough.
2. Divide the dough into equal portions.
3. Roll out each portion into medium round thick size paratha.
4. Heat the pan and shallow fry each paratha using little oil and cook on both the sides till it is golden brown in colour.
5. Serve hot.

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Tomato Hyderabadi Chutney

This is a tangy and spicy tomato chutney and a famous Hyderabadi accompaniment Though a very simple recipe, this chutney is lip-smacking yummy.

Ingredients :-

1.     6 tomato
2.     1 tsp cumin seeds
3.     5 garlic cloves
4.     4 dry red pepper
5.     2 tsp red chili powder
6.     8 curry leaves
7.     2 tsp mustard seeds
8.     salt to taste
9.     1 tbsp oil

Method :-

1. Chop the tomatoes and set aside.
2. In a pan/wok add oil once its warm, add  mustard, cumin, dry red chilies and curry leaves.
3. When the mustard seeds pop, add garlic cloves, cook it for about 2 minutes.
4. Add chopped tomatoes.
5. Next add the red pepper powder and salt. You can add a little water if tomatoes are not very ripe,
6. but if you are cooking with red ripe tomatoes, skip the water. Now let it slow cook on a low flame for a long time. 
7. Slow cooking is an important part of the recipe, this process makes the tomatoes infuse with spices and form a
8. concentrate.Make sure you stir often to avoid it sticking to the bottom of the pan.
9. When the oil in the dish starts to rise on top, you know the chutney is cooked.

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Oats Upma

Oats Upma is a very easy recipe and can be had for breakfast or as a light snack.When I tried Oats Upma for the first time, I wasn’t expecting it to come out too well and taste too good. It is easy for the whole Upma mixture to become soggy, soft and tasting bad if care is not taken to see the whole preparation receives the right amount of water when heating in the pan and while roasting the oats.It should be stirred continuously when you are roasting the Oats.





Ingredients :-

1. 1 cup oats
2. 1 medium Onion Finely Chopped
3. 1 medium tomato finely chopped
4. 1 medium capsicum finely chopped
5. Curry leaves and coriander leaves
6. 2 Green chili
7. 1 tsp mustard seeds
8. 1 tsp cumin seeds
9. 1 tbsp lime juice
10. 1/2 cup water
11. salt to taste
12. 1 tbsp oil

Method  :-

1. Take a wok/pan Fry oats, dry roast the oats for about 5 min on a low flame, till you get a nice aroma of oats.
2. Heat oil in a pan.Add mustard and cumin seeds, Once it splutters, add green chili and curry leaves and saute it for about 2 mins.
3. Add onion and salt and let it cook for about 5 -7 mins , till it turns golden brown.
4. Add capsicum and tomato to this and let it cook till all veggies become tender.
5. Add oats to this and stir it well, add 1/2 cup of water and let it cook for about 5 mins by covering it with a lid
6. Serve oats upma with a dash of lime.garnis it with freshly chopped corainder leaves.

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Wheat , Almond and Honey Cake

I wanted to make since many days and finally I made it.This cake is made of Wheat and I added honey to make it sweet so its  healthy and won't make  us lot guilty when we eat it. Here goes the recipe for it.


Ingredients :-

1. 2 Cups of whole Wheat flour
2. 2 eggs
3. 1 1/2 cup of milk
4. 2 tbsp baking powder
5. 1 cup Honey
6. 6  - 7 peeled and finely chopped
7. 10- 15 Raisins
8. 2 tbsp vanilla essence
9. 1 tbsp of salt
10. 1/4 cup of Butter

Method :-

1. Take a bowl and beat 2 eggs 
2. Add 2 cups of wheat flour in it and mix it properly.
3. Add 1 1/2 cup of milk to this mixture and mix it well.
4. Add Salt, Honey, Vanilla essence, Raisins and Butter and mix it well .
5. Add chopped Almonds to this mixture.
6. Coat the over tray with Butter or oil and add this mixture to it 
7. Heat the over at 375 Degrees and let it Bake it for about 35 minutes.
8. Once done we will do a knife test, take a knife and insert into the cake if it comes out plane our cake is done

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Moong Dal and Spinach

Ingredients:-

1. 1 small cup moong dal/split yellow dal
2. 2 cups chopped spinach (palak)
3. 1 onion, chopped
4. 1 tsp ginger-green chili paste
5. 1/2 tsp red chili powder
6. 1 tsp turmeric powder
7. salt to taste
8. 2 cups water, approx

For seasoning

1. 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
2. 1/4 tsp of heeng
3. 1 tbsp ghee or oil
4. 1 tsp of crushed garlic

Method :-

1.  In a pressure cooker, add 2 cups of water, moong dal, palak, salt and turmeric and pressure cook up to 2 whistles. 
2.  Heat ghee in a heavy bottomed vessel, add cumin seeds and as they splutter, add hing and stir fry for few seconds. Add ginger-green chili paste and saute for 3-4 mins.then add garlic to this mixture
3. Add the pressure cooked dal along, add about 1/2 cup of more water if required.
4. Serve with rotis or white rice.

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Rasiya Dhokla

This Recipe is contributed by my friend Ankur and his wife Preeti and its real delicious and easy to make.Here is the recipe for it.

Ingredients :-

1. 1 cup rice boiled and cooked
2. 1/2 cup of Gram flour (Besan)
3. 3/4 cups of butter milk
4. 1/2 tsp of red chili powder,
5. 1/2 tsp turmeric  powder
6. 1/2tsp dhaniya ( coriander) powder
7. 1/2 tbsp of lime juice
8. salt to taste

For seasoning :-

1. 2 tbsp spoon oil
2. 1 tbsp spoon sesame seeds
3. 1/2 tbsp mustard seeds
4. 1 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves

Method :-

1. Let the cooked boiled rice cool. Spread it on a plate so as to help it cool.
2. Now 
3. Mix gram flour, red chili powder,turmeric powder, dhaniya powder and salt with the cooled rice. Add little water to it so that it becomes wet (as if making a chapati dough). Make sure its not too sticky. Once done make round-oval small balls of the rice (10-15 approximately can be made). Leave this aside.
4. Squeeze the lime into the butter milk. Sprinkle some gram flour and stir it.   In a deep pan/wok add oil, mustard seeds.Once they start to crackle, pour the butter milk in it and cook it on a low flame.
5. Cover the pan and bring it to boil. Now add the balls of rice into the buttermilk slowly.Cook it by covering it with a lid on a low lame for 6-8 min. 
6. Let it boil, once its reaches a boiling point, take it off the burner.
7. Sprinkle coriander on it and serve hot.

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Cabbage Paratha

Cabbage paratha recipe is simple made by adding cabbage and seasoning to the wheat flour. It is a quick breakfast recipe and are best enjoyed with a bowl of fresh curd.



Ingredients :-

1. 3/4 cup shredded cabbage
2. salt to taste
3. 3 cups whole wheat flour 
4. 2 tsp chopped green chili finely chopped
5. 1 tbsp chopped coriander
6. ghee/ oil for cooking

Method :-

1. Combine the cabbage with little salt and keep aside for 10 minutes. Squeeze the excess water from the cabbage.
2. Mix Cabbage, dough, salt, coriander and green chili together, knead into a soft dough, using very little water.
3. Roll out chapati using little flour for rolling.
4. Heat a tava and cook each paratha, using little ghee, till golden brown spots appear on both the sides.
5. Serve hot.

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