Sesame roasted green beans

Ingredients
- about 20-25 trimmed green beans
- 1 tbsp sesame oil or sunflower oil
- soy sauce
- sesame seeds
- minced garlic or garlic powder

Preparation
- heat a shallow pan with some oil
- once hot, throw in some sesame seeds and roast until color slightly changes
- add garlic now if using fresh.
- add green beans and soy sauce and turn pan to higher than medium
- cover and let cook for 1 minute at a time and keep turning until soy sauce is completely absorbed.
- if using garlic powder, add now and toss quickly.
- remove from heat and enjoy

Beets soup with roasted onion and mushroom

Ingredients
1/2 beets
1/2 carrot
5 mushrooms
1/2 onion
1 pod garlic

Method:
In pot, boil the beets and carrot in water and make the broth.( Boil for 10-15 mins until the beets are tender)
Take a sauce pan, season it with parsley and  roast the onions/garlic//mushroom
Add the roasted ingredients to the boiling pot.
Take a portion of the boiling mushroom and beets and grind them along with a table spoon of corn flour and pour it back to the pot and boil it for another 2 mins until the soup thickens.
Throw in some salt and serve hot with fresh ground pepper.

Mexican Tortilla Soup

Ingredients

• 6  Tomatoes
• 1/2 cup corn
• 1/2 cup cooked Red kidney beans ( Rajma)
• 2 Cloves garlic
• 1 Jalapeno
• 1/4 tsp jeera
• 1 Onion
• 1 tsp oil
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste

Method

Pre soak the kidney beans ( rajma) overnight and pressure cook for 3 whistles or use canned ones.

Blanch the tomatoes in hot water and remove the skin and chop roughly. Take a pan, add oil, jeera, garlic, jalapeno and onions and saute for a min or so. Then add  the tomatoes, corn and red kidney beans, saute them nicely with enough salt and then add water or vegetable broth and allow to boil. Do a taste test and adjust the seasoning. Enjoy it with or without tortillas..:)

Note : If you have time and patience, you can broil the tomatoes to get more flavor. you can add more jalapenos depending on your spice level. 

Tomato Basil soup

Ingredients
- 1 can of diced tomatoes
- 1 can of broth (same size as the tomato can you are using)
- 1 can of water (use the empty tomato can to measure)
- 1/3 cup of coconut milk
- 4-5 cloves of garlic
- 1 Serrano chilli
- Pam spray or Olive oil
- Salt to taste
- Need a blender


Preparation

• Put a deep sauce pan on medium heat and pour in the tomatoes, broth and water
• Salt a little and cover to cook for 20 minutes 
• Uncover and let boil for about 5-6 minutes at least
• Cut the garlic and chilli into chunks
• Spray Pam on a shallow pan and turn to high on the stove
• Throw in the garlic and chilli and toss around
• Leave it on the heat for a few seconds at a time to get some nice roasted color on it (darker the better roasted taste)
• Once roasted, add the garlic and chilli to the tomato mixture and let it boil another 2-3 minutes
• Let it all cool
• Take your blender out and blend this as smooth as possible
• Transfer back into the deep pan and bring back to medium
• Pour in the coconut milk and add salt as desired
• Close and let boil for about 6-7 minutes
• Top with basil leaves if you have and serve

GM soup

Ingredients

1/2 cabbage (green)
1/2 cabbage (red)
2 tomato
1 red pepper
1 tsp salt (use less salt)
2 tsb rasam powder
( you can add any vegetable )

Method
Bil all the ingredients with more than 5 cups of water in a large pot , simmer it for 45 mins

Chipotle chicken salad

Ingredients

Chicken breast pieces - 2

Romaine lettuce shredded - 2 cups

Avocado - 1/2

Cherry tomatoes - 6/7

Red onion - few slices

optional

Canned Corn kernels (if using frozen, steam them for couple of minutes)

Canned pinto beans

Tortilla chips

Shredded mexican cheeses - 2 Tbsp

For dressing

Cilantro - 1/2 cup

Olive oil- 1/3 cup

lime juice - 1/3 cup

green chilli- small piece

salt, peper to taste

Method

Cut chicken into strips and marinate with store bought chipotle seasoning for an hour. Meanwhile cut the romainne lettuce leaves into shreds. Peel avacado and cut half into slices. Cut cherry tomatoes and few onion slices. In a blender add all the dressing ingredients and blend. Grill the chicken pieces browning them on both sides and cook them till they get grill marks. Slice them into bite size pieces if needed. Arrange the veggies over the lettuce and then the chicken. Top with tortilla chips and cheese. Pour the dressing and enjoy.

Barley Vegetable Soup

Ingredients

1/2 cup of Barley
2  to 21/2 cups - cut vegetables ( mushroom, yellow squash, zucchini, carrot, cauliflower etc. anything you have)
1 - medium sized onion
1 - large tomato
3 pieces of garlic
few sprigs of basil or 1 teaspoon freeze dried basil
a teaspoon of chili flakes
salt, pepper
1 vegetable bouillon cube

Method

Boil barley with water in a pressure cooker for 3/4 whistles and keep it at low for 15 minutes. You could alternatively just open boil it for 40/45 minutes.

In a pot saute onions in oil. Add garlic after few minutes. When onions are soft add tomato and saute for few minutes. Add the cut vegetables and saute them till they are soft and when the water from the vegetables are released. Now add chili flakes, salt, pepper, basil. Pour enough water and add the bouillon cube. Boil for few minutes. Add the cooked barley to this. Boil for few minutes. The barley and bouillon give the creamy texture for the soup. Garnish with fresh basil.

Kale and Roasted Chickpea salad

Some version of a recipe given to me by my colleague Emily

Ingredients

• Bunch of Kale (as much as you want)
• 1 Red Pepper
• 1 can of chickpeas
• Sriracha or any hot sauce you would like
• juice of one lemon
• olive oil (as needed)
• salt 
• pepper
• crushed chillis (optional)

Preparation

Roasted Chickpea prep: This can be a healthy snack on its own. So make more if you want to store

Preheat Oven to 425F

Drain the can and wash thoroughly and lay out on a towel or napkin to dry. 

Once dry, take a ziploc bag and coat on the inside with PAM spray or Olive Oil 

Pour in some hot sauce (not too much as we do not want the chickpeas to get soggy)

Drop in the chickpeas and toss it around once you have sealed the bag

Lay out the chickpea in one layer on a cookie sheet or pizza sheet and put it in the lower rack of oven for about 10-12 minutes. Turn over or toss around in the middle

Salad Prep

Chop or tear Kale into small pieces and remove the stem as thoroughly as possible

Cut Red Peppers into strips

Dressing prep

Pour in 2 Tbsp of Olive oil, juice of one lemon, salt, pepper and chilli flakes as desired. Give it a good whisk with a fork or a small beater

Toss together kale, peppers and chickpeas with the dressing and enjoy

Mixed Veggies Tomato Soup

Ingredients:

Veggies of your choice - Carrots, beans. zucchini, broccoli,
Mushrooms
Tomato Paste
Vegetable broth or water
Green chillies
Garlic
Onions
Salt
Pepper

Preparation:

Heat Pressure cooker, Saute Onions, green chillies, garlic in olive oil
Add mushrooms and saute for 2 mins
Add all the veggies of your choice and saute for 2 mins
Add Tomato paste (I used 1 small can of tomato paste. you can also grind fresh tomato to a paste and add to it ) and mix well
Add in vegetable broth or water and salt
Close the pressure cooker and cook until 1 whistle
Before serving, add pepper

Quinoa Salad

A hearty meal filled with loads of proteins and veggies...:)

Ingredients

1. Quinoa - 1 cup
2. Garlic  -  2 cloves
3. Cumin  seeds -  1/2 tsp
4. Capsicum - 1
5. Carrot - 1
6. Onion - 1/2
7. Red Chili flakes - acc to taste
8. Mint leaves - few springs
9. Salt - to taste
10. Almond slices - few ( optional)
11. Olive oil - 2 tsp


Method

Cook the Quinoa in stove top or in pressure cooker. The ratio for water is 1:2 (1 cup Quinoa and 2 cups water). After it is cooked fluff it with a fork and keep it aside. In another pan , pour 2 tsp of olive oil. Add the cumin seeds after it crackles add the garlic and onion in order and saute for a min or so. Then add the capsicum, carrots and salt and saute it , till it is half done. Then add the cooked Quinoa and red chili flakes and mix nicely. Do a taste test and adjust the seasoning according to taste. Finally add the mint leaves, give a final mix and remove from firm. Before serving add the sliced almond slices and serve.

Pesto soup

Ingredients
1/2 onion
1 pod garlic
1 green chilies
1 tbsps of wheat flour
1/2 can broth
5-6 leaves of fresh basil
10-12 small cubes of chicken breast/ vegetarian can add any veggies to substitute chicken
5-6 mushrooms
6-7 leaves of spinach

Method:
Saute the onion,garlic,green chilies, basil and grind them with the flour and broth
Boil it for 2 mins and then put in the chicken and mushroom.
Throw in some salt.
Allow it to boil for about 5-6 mins until the chicken is done.
Put in the spinach and boil for another minute.
Serve hot with fresh ground pepper

Carrot, Celery, Mushroom and Spinach Soup

This one was given to us by Meenu

Ingredients

• Celery
• Carrots
• Mushroom
• Spinach
• 1 spoon wheat flour
• Salt (as needed)
• Black pepper

Preparation
Boil the celery, carrots and mushrooms with some salt
Take a portion of the boiled vegetables and grind with water and tbsp of Wheat flour to smooth paste
Pour the paste back into the boiling pot
Put in some Spinach leaves and let boil until the soup becomes thicker
Serve hot with ground pepper

Chipotle Style salad bowl

This one can be customized to include any ingredients you would like!

Ingredients
Makes 4 portions

• 1 Green Pepper
• 1 Red Pepper
• Half a Red Onion
• 1 Jalapeno
• Half a can of Corn thoroughly washed
• 2 cloves of garlic
• Pam or olive oil spray
• Greens (I bought a large box of mixed greens from Whole Foods)
• Salsa 

Preparation

Cut the peppers (including Jalapeno) and onions into even pieces. You can either dice them into squares or slice them into strips, but they should all be the same type for even cooking/coating

Mince the garlic as small as possible

Heat a pan on the stove and spray some Oil spray just to coat the bottom of the pan

Throw in the garlic and let it take on some color. 

Then throw in the peppers and onions in the pan together and coat it well with garlic oil. Toss for a few minutes. The peppers and onions should not get too soft. The color should should still be on them

Then throw in the corn and coat with the oil

Once completely mixed, remove from heat and store. 

Eat over a bed of Greens and topped with Salsa