Pecan Sandies & Happy Holidays !

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Happy Holidays to all you dear readers of Collaborative Curry! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones.

Whole Wheat Zucchini Carrot Bars

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How are you all ? How is the holiday preparations coming along? Are you planning to travel during holidays ? Are you planning to bake a fruit cake or something special for this Christmas ?

Our Christmas decorations are ready. My dried fruits and nuts bathed in rum, are waiting to be mixed in the batter for fruit cake. We have a Christmas tree for the first time. Till last year we were not sure whether the lil monkey in the house would let it stay, so we waited till we were sure that he wouldn't do any harm to the tree or himself and he very much enjoyed decorating with us.Now he is super excited that he eats and plays right beneath it ! Hope he wouldn't sleep there as well !

I am really slow in updating here but I am glad that I am still doing it.Thanks for all the messages and mails asking about it, you guys make me keep me going ! When the real life gets hold of you, one hardly gets any time for the virtual world, don't you agree ? This week is no different, it's my daughter's band concert in school and my son's holiday concert in a nearby church. In spite of being super busy, I really enjoy this holiday season and the spirit in air !

This post has been lying in my draft for quite a while now. When I say these zucchinis are from my garden, you could imagine. Better late than never. If you happen to have some zucchini and carrots, and wondering about a healthy after school snack, don't hesitate. My picky eaters loved it, so did we. Hope you will enjoy these super delicious bars as much as my family did !

Preparation Time: 30 min
Baking time:20-25 min
Yields: 36 small bars
Adapted from : Here

Ingredients:

Eggs- 2, slightly beaten
Brown sugar- 3/4 cup
Vegetable Oil- 1/2 cup
Honey- 1/4 cup
Pure Vanilla Extract- 1 tsp
Grated carrot- 1 1/2 cup
Grated Zucchini- 1 cup
Chopped Pecans/ Walnuts- 3/4 cup
Whole Wheat Flour- 1 cup
All purpose flour- 1/2 cup
Baking Powder- 1 tsp
Baking Soda- 1/4 tsp
Salt- a pinch
Nutmeg powder- 1/8 tsp
Cloves- 1/4 tsp
Cinnamon- 1/2 tsp

Cream Cheese frosting: (optional)

Low fat cream cheese, at room temperature- 8 oz
Powdered Sugar- 1 cup
Vanilla extract- 1 tsp

Method:

1.Preheat the oven at 350 degree F. Grease a 13 by 9 inch rectangular dish and keep aside.
2.In a mixing bowl whisk together the eggs, brown sugar,vegetable oil, honey and vanilla.
3.Fold in carrot, zucchini and nuts.
4.In another bowl whisk together the flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
5.Mix with the wet mixture until just combined.
6.Spoon into the prepared dish and bake for about 25 min or until a tester inserted comes out clean.
7.cool on a wire rack.
8.Prepare the frosting by mixing the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Spread and serve.Refrigerate any leftovers.

Triple Chocolate Espresso Brownies

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Hello everyone ! Hope you are all doing great. No, I didn't quite forget about this space. Just got tied up with some personal matters. Meanwhile I have been cooking a lot, though I couldn't take a lot of pictures. But sooner or later, you will get to see more recipes from me,I promise.

Chocolate Overdose Cake and 3rd Anniversary !

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Collaborative Curry turns 3 this month ! I can't believe it ! I am so grateful to you all, for being with me in this wonderful journey. Things were a little different when we started this blog. The cofounder, Sunitha doesn't blog here any more.

Whole Wheat Blueberry Crisp

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I found this recipe in my Facebook news feed, on a fine summer after noon. I had some extra blueberries and strawberries, waiting to be rescued,in my fridge. So I clicked through the link, Saveur magazine had on their Facebook fan page, with a title, 'summer berry treats'. This easy blueberry crisp caught my attention and I was in my kitchen, in no time, to bake it !

Peach, Lime and Coconut Pops- A Guest Post By Soma

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Collaborative curry is truly honored to have Soma here,as today's guest ! Most of you know her through her amazing blog, ecurry.ecurry is a wonderful blog with amazing photos and great recipes. Her pictures are beautiful and inspiring. I adore her photographs and love her Bengali recipe collection.I have tried this simple potato fry with quintessential bengali five spice mixture,panch phoron and it is great. She has quite a lot of baking recipes too.The flavor combinations that she uses in baking are quite intriguing.She has a number of cake recipes with oranges and once I ask her whether she has an interesting recipe for a cake, to use up the bunch of blood oranges I had at home .She was so sweet to share this recipe,even before she published it in her blog.She typed the recipe and send me in a message. It is a perfect combination of orange and chocolate flavors,you must try it.

I am so lucky to have Soma as a friend.I always enjoy our conversations in Facebook and Twitter, and I hope to meet her when she makes her next visit to Colorado as she has promised me. I feel great to have you here Soma,Thanks a bunch ! Though you were so busy with your personal matters,you took time to finish this post and I really appreciate it.I can't wait to make these pops for my kids.

Ada Pradhaman - Happy Onam !

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Wish you all a very happy Onam ! Hope you are celebrating the festival of togetherness wherever you are, with a grand sadya.

Happy Onam and a visual treat of God's own country- Kerala

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Kerala, better known as "God's own country", is my native place. Onam is the biggest festival in Kerala, celebrated by one and all, with no religious barriers. It falls during the month of "Chingam" ( August - September ). Various festivities include intricate flower carptes ( pookkalam ), banquet lunch ( sadya) boat races etc. See our previous post about Onam here. As we celebrate Onam, I thought is fun to share some pictures with you all from our recent visit to Kerala.

Berry Lassi with Flax Meal

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For the last couple of days,I see the mercury level dropping down in early mornings. It was such a hot summer and I can't believe it is almost Fall now ! Even now the maximum day time temperature is in 80s,but it is no longer Summer here in Colorado.

Chocolate Crinkles

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Hope you are all enjoying the last few days of summer. If I say I am super busy these days,it would be an understatement ! All the activities for kids,parties,some hiking etc is taking all my time, which makes me wish that we had more holidays during summer, something like a 2-3 days long weekend. Though the days are longer in summer,it's just not enough for my family ! I guess most of you will agree with me on this thought !

Almond Shortbread Wedges

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Hello everyone ! How is it going? It's been ages,I know ! I really missed you all and the blogging, a lot.

I had a wonderful vacation in Kerala. Though I got back a couple of weeks back,it took me this long to jot down something here. I could give you zillion reasons for that,but I don't want to waste your precious time. In a nutshell,it goes something like this : a long jet lag,a birthday,a sick kiddo,a lazy mom,the heat etc. etc.

Chakkakkuru Manga Aviyal- A Guest Post By Honey

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Honey doesn't need an introduction from me. Most of you know her as Sarah Naveen. She is the author and all in all of "Vazhayila.com", the wonderful blog dedicated to Kerala recipes. Honey has an amazing collection of recipes from Kuttanadu,the backwater region in central Kerala. Kuttanadu has its own cuisine, which is quite popular among the foodies around the world.She has a collection of Kerala Syrian Christian specials as well. Check out her scrumptious Chicken olarthiyathu and lip-smacking Kuttanadan Fish Curry.

Honey is like a sister to me. When we started talking I told her that Sunitha and I think that she is one of our juniors from our degree college, where we had so many great juniors as friends.She is a wonderful person ,an amazing photographer and a great cook. I am so happy to have her here to share her grandma's recipe with the readers of Collaborative Curry.This is one of my favorite recipes. Welcome to Collaborative Curry, dear Honey. Thanks so much for doing this post, in spite of your busy schedule and a fever.I am so grateful to have great friends like you.



Rarely do I come across such people who leaves a profound impact on me ; who is so much fun to talk to ; who spreads joy and comfort around, and at times who acts like a sister . Namitha is one such person.
I don't know exactly when I started talking to her, creating a new bond, an "unseen" friendship from miles away. Unseen - I am yet to see her in person; Unseen - I never saw myself crafting a friendship with a person, I have known only through blogging.
We don't talk everyday or every week,but never less than an hour :)

Butterscotch brioche bread pudding- A guest post by Nisha

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I am so excited to have the first guest post in Collaborative Curry by lovely, Nisha of "Look Who's cooking Too". She is so full of energy,very friendly and as she herself says, an open book.I love her writing and the variety in the recipes she pots in her lovely blog. She is a freelance writer too, based in London.If you haven't visited her blog so far, you must do it now. She has a splendid collection of recipes and you will be amused by the variety.I have tried her condensed milk pound cake, but never got around to blog about, it was such a big hit so I'll make it again sometimes soon.Don't forget to check out her Indian recipes ranging from Goan Prawns curry to Fish molee.

I so want to make this pudding as soon as I get back from India. I am sure you will also enjoy this recipe ! Hearty welcome to Collaborative Curry, Nisha. I am so grateful that you agreed to do this post !


Collaborative curry was one of those first blogs that I stumbled upon, when I was new to the whole blogging scene; and Sunitha was the first food blogger I ever spoke to. We had a loooong skype session once and it was so so much fun:). Again, like I have mentioned before, I have a list of food bloggers I'd like to meet some day, and Namitha and Sunitha definitely make the list. But till then, I guess we will just have to make do with FB, skype, chats and blogs.

Strawberry Mint Lemonade

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It is almost Summer ! My daughter had the last day in her elementary school yesterday . I still can't believe that she is going to be in Middle school next year. She was just a baby yesterday and today she is almost a young lady ! How I wish I could just freeze time.

While talking to her a couple of days back, I was reminding that she has only a couple more days left as a 5th grader. She started, "Oh yeah, I will be in Middle school for next 3 years and then in High School for 4 years and after that I will be in College". I said "Whoa, slow down young lady, not so fast. I am trying to digest the fact that you are going to be in middle school, when the school reopens next fall and you are already talking about college !" So is our kids, they just want to grow big (and less adorable!)

Masala Chai - Indian spiced Tea

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I should be writing this post in winter,I know. But I thought this tea will be an appropriate drink for rainy evenings in the Spring. I know people who loves this and also people who hates it ! I just love masala chai, but TH hates it. So I make this tea for myself, or when I have a guest who loves this.

Soon after our marriage,we went to Mysore and Ootty. That wasn't exactly a cliche honeymoon trip. M had a conference to attend in Mysore and we thought we will take a couple of extra days and visit some places. In Ootty we visited a small local tea factory. They have different kinds of tea mixtures in packet, and they have tea samples too. After sampling, M didn't say anything in objection, when I asked him whether I could take a packet of masala tea.So we got one of those mixtures and some dried tea leaves to take home. But after reaching home, I realized that he hates it and it took me a long time to finish off that packet myself. That was a lesson learned and I never got a masala tea packet ever.No I never stopped drinking masala chai,I started making a mixture of masala tea myself,whenever the craving hits me.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake With Pecan Streusel Topping

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Hello everyone ! Hope you all, the wonderful moms and moms-to-be out there had a terrific mother's day . I was supposed to post this before Sunday and wish you all a happy mother's day, but it just got late. I am not going to tell you all the silly reasons,why I couldn't do it on time. Here I am,with a great coffee cake recipe to wish all the moms, a wonderful journey throughout your motherhood !

I would love to share with you,two posts about Mother's day, that really touched my heart ! Most of you might have seen them both already. I am not going to tell anything about these posts, because you must read them yourselves if you haven't done so.'What I really want for mother's day' is a very beautiful post written by lovely Monica Bhide and this link will take you there. And the second one is from The little Red House.

Shrimp Masala -Kerala Style (Konchu Ulathiyathu)

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Finally Colorado got some much-wanted rain showers. As I have mentioned before this year March and April was so dry. Colorado is such a dry place and if it doesn't snow and rain much,the possibility of wild fires are high and there could be drought in some parts of the state. Hope we will get more rains and we get a wet Summer this year !

When it is almost the end of school year, I start to get extremely busy and this year is no exception. And add to that we will be going to India in June . So many things to be done before that ! It has been going so hectic for all of us and we needed a break so badly in between our activity-crammed schedules. If you know my family well, you might have already guessed what we would have done to relax ourselves. Yes, we went hiking !

Mocha Cupcakes with Espresso Butter-cream Frosting

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This is exactly what I would make if I want to please each and every palate in my small family. TH likes the coffee in this whereas kiddos love the chocolate flavor in this, and I love this classic combination of chocolate and coffee,so definitely a keeper recipe for me.

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

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This week has been a really busy one for me ! Spring days are always like this ! So many happenings and so much chores. The one thing I don't like about Spring is weed picking ! With one light shower comes a truck load of weeds.But this time ,it is so warm for a Spring here ! Isn't mother nature acting so weird this year ? I feel so. I really hope we get some nice rain showers soon,though I'll have to break my back to get rid of all the weeds

Mango Rice with Cucumber Mint Raita

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How are you all? Hope you had a great week end ! We had a fabulous week end with lots of good food,good company, fun and laughter.Food tastes great when you share it with somebody,don't you think?

Katharine Hepburn's Brownies

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This is such a popular version of brownies, I don't need to tell you much about it ! The legendary actress, Katharine Hepburn shared her family's signature brownies recipe during an interview with a magazine and ever since they published it in 1975, so many, including Saveur magazine and n number of blogs reprinted it. Here is my version slightly adapted from Epicurious.

Chakkayada (Jackfruit preseve Dumplings made on banana leaves) and Happy Vishu !

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Wish you all a very happy Vishu/New Year ! May this year be filled with fun, love,hope and happiness !Below is a picture of "vishukkani", the first view one should have on a Vishu morning. We believe that it brings us luck and prosperity.Elders cover the eyes of kids, and lead them to the room where this is kept. I will tell you about the traditional way of keeping all this ready some other time.

Vishu makes me nostalgic, just like any other big festival we celebrate in Kerala.I have told you a lot about Vishu and my stories here and here. But I can tell you even more stories ! A fresh morning after a rain the day before, or the anticipation of 'vishukkaineettam" ,or the big family get together and the 'sadya' and so on. As a child I used to relate Vishu to Summer vacation and also to mango/jackfruit season .Wonderful memories, down the lane !

Whole Wheat Focaccia

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I am trying out a lot of whole wheat baking for my little family. I did not get around to take pictures of most of it, but from now onward I promise you that I will try to keep a record of recipe and pictures to share with you all. I really enjoyed baking this bread and sharing with my family.They even commented that this tastes better than this classic Focaccia I often bake.The lil guy was keeping on coming back to kitchen to snack on this. I must tell you that he is such a picky eater when it comes to cakes and bakes !

Strawberry Trifle

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It is snowing here,today ! I know I was complaining how unusually dry it was in March, in my last post. But this may not be good for our little pear tree which is full of bloom.The snow is giving an extra coat on the white flowers and the branches are drooping a bit. Hope it gets warmer soon and we get more rain showers instead of snow.This is so expected in this place, if you know a little bit about Colorado weather. The temperature was in late 80s till Sunday and on Tuesday, it went down to 30s !

{Warning: Loads of pictures coming up ! I got carried away ,forgive me. If you don't want to see them all, just scroll down to the bottom, for the recipe }

Meyer Lemon Bars

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I am happy that we have an early Spring this year ! But one part of me is worried that it didn't snow much this year in Colorado, and that might induce a lot of wild fires and drought in some parts of the state. But for time being, I am keeping those worries aside and enjoying the beautiful days.

Pecan Logs- A Guest Post For Ambika's Kitchen

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I am so happy and honored to be a guest in Ambika's Kitchen, beautiful vegetarian kitchen ! Thanks Ambika,for this opportunity to get to know your readers.Also thanks for patiently waiting for this post even past the deadline,you are a sweet heart !

I have been blogging for almost 3 years now and I am so happy and proud about it. Blogging has given me a lot of new friends and opportunities to learn so many new things every day.I am so glad to be a part of this wonderful community !

Kerala Fish Curry- Meen Curry,Central Kerala Style

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To teach a Malayalee, how to cook fish curry, is like teaching a monkey, how to climb the trees ! It is such a basic recipe in any household, in the place where I come from. But it took a long time for me to post this here, even after so many repeated requests from the readers. If you blog, you know, the most common dishes you make might take the longest to get in your blog !

Tender Coconut (Ilaneer/Karikku) Pudding

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This is a post I have been postponing for a while,just because I wasn't satisfied with my pictures. This is my friend,Bindu's recipe. I told her ,when I made this for the first time,that I will post it in a week or so.Since she is one of the nicest persons I know, she never asked why I didn't post.Even now, I am not quite happy with the pictures, I thought I will post this, as this is the zillion-th time I made this and it is high time that I must tell my friend how much my little family loves it and I would recommend this to anyone I know.

Roasted Coriander powder

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This week has been a really hectic one with so many happenings and so much work to do at home. The week started normal and then I found out that ,using the blog feed someone is copying the entire content from Collaborative Curry and publishing in their site.That means this post will also appear on the site of those shameless creatures as soon as I post here ! There was a huge discussion going on in my Facebook page.I do not want to give those people any more unwanted publicity. So I am not giving a link here on this page,but the name of that site is "desifoodbuzz" which clearly shows they couldn't even create a site name themselves and copied that too ! If you would like to know more about it,ask me. I can send a message.

Whole Wheat Flaxmeal Banana Bread

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Whenever I have some over ripe bananas,I bake banana bread or if I cannot make the bread immediately, I store them in ziploc bags in my freezer,until they are pulled out and squished into a banana bread batter. Sometimes, I wait patiently for bananas to go over ripe,so that I can make banana bread. Now you got it, I love baking and eating banana bread !

I have tried several different variations of the classic banana bread. But I haven't posted them all here, except this strawberry-banana-nut bread.I share only the best with you, because you deserve only the best ! This bread recipe is a keeper and I recommend you all try this. And for the health nuts,there is no better way to bake a moist banana bread as healthy and tasty as this.Flax-meal makes this bread super moist even when it has only half the quantity butter in it,compared to the original.

Everyone in my family,including my lil monster loves banana and banana bread.

Everyday Chocolate Cake

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One fine Wednesday, I suddenly started craving for a chocolate cake.Without thinking much, I googled for "simple loaf chocolate cake" and yes,I was exactly looking for a not-so-calorie-rich, simple as in "one bowl", chocolate cake that I can whip up in a jiffy.I was so happy to have found this recipe ! Now I wonder why didn't I ever search for such a thing before ! If I knew, I would have made this a thousand times, well almost,by now. If you are looking for a cake that you can have without much guilt and without much fuss,this is the cake for you !

I didn't have much time left before I took my son for his swimming class that day,and I had to hurry up with the pictures. With my lil buddy around,taking pictures is exactly like, or shall I say worse than,someone pointing a loaded gun at your back and you are asked to do something within matter of seconds.When he was smaller,he used to grab everything and sometimes eat the food ,his mom,a desperate blogger,rather than a desperate housewife,would have neatly kept,ready for the camera.

Red Velvet Cake Pops

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Happy Valentine's day everyone ! Hope you are having a beautiful day, with your loved ones,whether you celebrate this day or not. As I have told you before, this day is like any other day for me and my DH, everyday being Valentine's day. Ok, I agree that we have our not-so-good days, just like any other sane couple in the world,but there is always love,no matter what kind of day it is.Said that, I'm going to paint this space pink today,for you all !

We celebrate this day for the kids.They love all the goodies I make,and home-made valentines they get to share with their friends.For lil imp,this is the first Valentine's day celebration with his friends at preschool. Every year I think, I get the ready made valentines and cards for the kids to share with their friends. But, the fun of making them at home, with kids, is priceless ! So,as always,we as a team, made valentines for 5th graders and preschoolers, at home this time as well.This time we made some lovely bookmarks, with Tattoos for the boy and with chocolates for the girl,for sharing with their pals.

Nutella Pannacotta

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Did you make something special to celebrate World Nutella day? I made this beautiful pannacotta, but could not take the pictures or blog about it on that day. In fact, I wanted to post this for last year's World Nutella day ! Now you got me, I am a great procrastinator ! I made this a few times after that, but never got around to blog about it, till now. So here is a post that was supposed to be on the web on last Sunday and I hope you don't mind, since I believe, any day is Nutella day, for those who love it .

Spinach and Egg Stir Fry (Cheera-mutta thoran )

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How are you all? Those who are in US might be getting ready for super bowl Sunday. What are you planning to cook for watching the exciting game? For us, it will be mostly Indian.

After reading my Facebook status last week,about the chance of an early Spring, mother nature decided that Colorado needs more snow. Today we are having a big big snow day.While I sit here,there is an accumulation of 18 inches of snow and it is still snowing. This might be one of those days which will be in the history forever, if the predictions are right.We will have more than 2 feet of snow by tomorrow, which is not usual for a day of February in Colorado.

Apple Tea Cake With Lemon Glaze

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The weather is getting warmer in Colorado, well, most of the days. As I type this, I see snow flakes falling on trees,like floating feathers. But still, it is unusually warm for a January in this ski country. As I have told you before, winter is my favorite excuse to bake something nice. This tea cake is no exception !

Tapioca Chips

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I wasn't quite sure about posting this while I was frying these chips. There is nothing much to be explained about this dish. Then I thought about the people who may not be familiar or comftorble with frying the chips and decided to post it here to teach all ! So the experts out there, please bear with me !

Dry-roasted Coconut Chutney (Thenga chuttaracha chammanthi)

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This is a recipe that has nostalgia as a main ingredient ! As a Malayalee, I love anything coconut and a chutney like this, is a part of everyday diet, back in Kerala.We have this with our breakfast, as a side for puzhukku (mashed yuca or jackfruit mostly),with our lunch (rice, thoran etc) and also with our dinner (if it is kanji aka rice porridge). I guess you got how much we, Keralaites, love these semi-dry chutneys,because they match with almost everything we eat.

Mocha Cake With Mocha Buttercream Frosting

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Happy New Year, beloved readers ! Hope you all had a wonderful New Year week end. We had a fun time with some great friends and lots of good food. The weather here is unusually hot for January in Colorado.Though I am relieved that I don't have to drive on icy roads, I'm a bit concerned about this weird weather change.