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Another Dollar Tree Bloom

Isn’t it pretty? I thought it was dahlia but it’s Zinnias. I found more flower seeds and now am thinking they were 4 pack for dollar. It’s a deal and you will have so many plants .

Enjoy!

Updating with new picture. It got brighter and prettier.

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Persian Yellow Split Pea Stew

When comes to travel, everyone I hear wants to travel to Europe. Europe is huge and so diverse. I wonder if ppl know what they want to see, experience. One of my dream travel is Iran. Until I visit , at least I can make food and eat. May Buddha blesses me.😊 Since am making all this Persian food, hope Iran will invite me.

Recipe I followed is here:

https://turmericsaffron.blogspot.com/2017/11/khoresh-gheymeh-kadoo-sabz-iranian-lamb.html

Since am vegetarian, I omitted meat. Here’s how I made it.

  • Soak yellow split peas in water for an hr so will cook fast. They are available at most of the American grocery store.
  • Cook them in water and a stick of cinnamon until just done and are not mushy.
  • On the side, heat olive oil and sauté zucchini sticks like seen in picture for few mins. Cook them lightly and remove on a plate.
  • Sauté chopped onion with crushed garlic. Add red chili powder, turmeric, black pepper powder. Add chopped tomatoes and mix.
  • Add onion tomato mixture to dal and simmer on low heat. Add salt.
  • Add zucchini sticks at the end just before serving.
  • Enjoy!
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Chia Pudding For Potluck 

When you want to take some thing healthy, new and easy to potluck , chia pudding is good. I took this to work today for our monthly birthday celebration. It looked good presentation wise. Here’s how I did it:

  • Take chia seeds, little bit oatmeal, raisins and coconut flakes in a bowl.
  • Pour unsweetened almond milk over it and keep it in fridge overnight.
  • Garnish with some nuts and fruits. Mango will be really good .
  • If you like more sweeter , mix honey before garnishing but I would recommend skipping. There’s enough sweetness from raisin and fruits. 
  • Enjoy !
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Randhan Chhath, Shitala Satam Festival 


Month of shravan or August has many vrats in India where ppl will fast or eat 1 time. Shravan month also is a very rainy month and hence digestion is poor and there might be lot of sickness too due to it. So our seers arranged all these routines .Seer meaning who can see. 

Randhan Chhat and Shitala Satam is celebrated in Gujarat big time . Let’s see if we can decode it. On Randhan Chhat day, several dishes are prepared that will stay good next day without fridge. And hence all fried food which doesn’t get spoiled easily. After food is all cooked, stove is cleaned and ppl do Pooja. In olden times, earthen hearths were used and they were refurnished with cow dung. My grandma had 3 of them and I had pleasure of seeing and eating food cooked on it. Next day Shitala meaning cold food is eaten.

So what does that mean? When you apply cow dung , it takes time to dry and you cannot cook on it right away . I also wonder if it deinfected hearth. And so food was prepared in advance and eat cold food next day.

Now in today ‘s world our stoves are cleaned and deinfected everyday and we also have fridge to store things . 

We can still enjoy festivals and have fun with them. But it’s good to know thought behind it. 

By the way, picture is of fig jam I made . Yum ! No recipe needed. It’s sugar and figs with some cloves , cinnamon.

Enjoy !

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Pineapple Fried Quinoa 


As I mentioned last time, I did try pineapple fried quinoa. Exactly same way but I ran out of fresh pineapple. Oops. I did use all veggies, coconut oil, soya sauce and chili garlic sauce.

Quinoa is rich in protein and good iron too which is always good for vegetarians. Makes a good lunch to take to work or for school kids too. Easy to eat and got all good things in it. Or a very good option for breakfast too.

Enjoy ! (While I go out to buy some fresh pineapple on sale.)