I haven't abandoned this space like my other food ventures. I am pretty sure that this blog is here to stay. I am battling heat in my part of the world. I am not a fan of summers (not Indian summers). They are too harsh for my liking. I am trying my best to stay hydrated and taking best care of myself.. My cooking is all about shortcuts these days and I am definitely giving my oven a break.
Today morning when I woke up it was relatively cooler. Well I don't know about you but over here 39 degrees feel cooler in the summer months. I instantly decided to bake something. The thought of baking a cake was tempting but then it gets difficult to store it. Leaving it out in open in this weather is not a good idea and I don't like refrigerated cakes. This reason was enough to get me back to baking cookies. It can be stored for longish time. It does not need enormous kitchen time and if you are bored you always have the option of freezing your dough and baking it later.

My cookies always used to turn out crunchy. I like chewy cookies so I decided to take the matter in my hands and get on with it. I researched every website, every recipe and every book and then came up with my recipe after a few rounds of trial and error..



Ingredients
1 Cup Flour
1/4 tsp Baking soda
2 eggs (or 1 large)
50gms Amul Butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cane sugar ( Use Brown sugar if not available)
1/4 cup Chocolate chunks (I prefer chunks over chocolate chips)
1 tbsp Black strap molasses
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Method
Set your oven to preheat at 200 degrees and prepare your baking tray with well greased butter paper
Sift flour and Baking Soda together and keep aside

In a pan brown your butter on a low heat. When the froth appears and the color changes to pale brown switch off the gas. It gives a very nutty flavor to the batter

Let the butter cool down, add sugar, cane sugar, molasses and vanilla and whisk them together, add eggs and whisk until mixed properly

Add the flour mixture in 3 parts mixing well each time. DO NOT OVER MIX

Add chocolate chunks

Put the batter in the fridge for 10-15 minutes. Use a tablespoon to scoop out batter and place it in the tray (You can use an ice cream scoop as well).
Tip: Form dough balls and leave enough space in the baking tray to allow them to expand
Once inside the oven, after 7-8 minutes I tapped the balls with the back of a tablespoon to flatten them (Read: No patience)

Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Take the tray out and let it cool for a couple of minutes. Take the cookies out gently and place them in the oven on the wire rack directly for a couple of minutes.
(The cookies become crunchy if left for too long)

 It feels so good to be back..

I added a new tag to my ever growing collection of hashtags on Instagram. It is called #DinnerForOne. I know that cooking for  single person is a challenge and esp if you don't believe in leftovers. This is a perfect, no fuss recipe and I strongly recommend it.

I wanted to eat Salad for dinner and was at my laziest best on Saturday. I also didn't want any fancy dressing and yet I wanted a comforting salad because hello Sundays are #LongDistanceRun days. Yes, that's how complicatedly we do things around here. The dinner recipe idea had started forming in my head by 8 PM. I looked in the fridge and picked the most fresh ingredients and decided to give it a shot and yes I was done with my dinner by 9:20.. #SoComforting..

When I was in Germany my standard meal/ side meal every day was a plate of roasted vegetables.
I love the flavor of roasted vegetables. It brings out the sweetness of every vegetable and how they all end up infusing with each other. So Beautiful. *sigh*.

So here is my recipe of Oven Roasted Vegetable Salad.


Sorry for a very shabby picture. Hopefully this is the last shabby picture on this blog. 
I am getting a new phone soooooon.

Ingredients:
1 Zucchini sliced thinly
2 Medium sized tomatoes sliced thinly
3-4 Garlic Cloves
1 Onion cut in to chunks
1 Carrot diced
1 Yellow Bell pepper cut in to strips
1 cup cooked spaghetti ( I used approximately 40 gm spaghetti and I broke the strands)
Olive oil for greasing and sprinkling 
Salt
Black Pepper
White Pepper
Chilli Garlic oil ( Can use Olive/ refined)
1 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
Herbs to sprinkle ( I used crushed rosemary, dill and paprika powder)
A few parsley leaves to garnish
1/4 cup grated Parmesan (Optional)
Note: You can select herbs of your choice

Method
I greased the baking tray with olive oil and placed the cut vegetables (except onions) on it with garlic cloves and sprinkled salt and crushed black and white peppercorns on it.

I sprinkled a little olive oil, a little chilli and roasted them in the oven for approximately 20 minutes.
Cutting vegetables thinly helps speed up the process and zucchini was really crispy when I took it out from the oven.. Yum!

In a pan I added chilli garlic oil and sauteed onions, I then added herbs and the roasted vegetables.
I kinda mashed the vegetables a bit using a spatula (Not too much.. just a bit)

When I was done with my light mish mashing I added cooked spaghetti, vinegar and mixed everything thoroughly. I then added grated parmesan.

I garnished the salad generously with chopped parsley..

Note: I have tried different variations and played around quite a bit with it and it was delicious every time.