mayurisjikoni

A simple dish of boiled pasta can be made into a tasty, delicious, satisfying meal with the addition of different sauces. FoodieMonday/Bloghop group members made 9 different lip smacking pasta sauces for the their #134th theme which was PASTA SAUCES. Click on the name of the pasta sauce and it will take you directly to the recipe. Spinach Sauce  Spinach Basil Almond Pesto Basil Pumpkin Seed Pesto and Tomato Sauce Roasted Pepper Sauce Three Cheese Sauce Lentil Bolognese Coriander Mint and Cashew Nut Pesto Marinara Sauce Alfredo Sauce

Sun, Sand and Sea    For the past couple of days I've been spending some relaxing and fun time with my family at Watamu. Watamu is a small coastal town just outside Malindi. We're here to celebrate my aunt's(foi, bua) 90th birthday which is today. Yes, you read right, 90th. I decided to treat all my 3 aunts to a foot and arm massage at the spa run by Medina Palms. As I was filling in the form of questionnaires for her, when I came to the part of if she's taking any medication, she says very sadly ' yes, the doctor has prescribed Vitamins and Iron pills. Write that down". So I go but that's good for health and they only ask if you've got health issues. Basically, at 90 she's healthy, walking without a stick and has all her natural teeth intact. I seriously hope I have her genes. It's after a very long time I'm spending some rest and relaxation holiday with my family. All of them couldn't make it, but we're 13 of us, the youngest is 30...

Ideal Workplace lunch Theme: Healthy Weekday Lunches BM#77 Week 4 Day 2    During my visits to Bangalore, I've prepared healthy and filling salads for my daughter to carry to work. She doesn't like me adding fruit to the salad. The salads have to be filling and yet not too heavy. Pasta salad is one of the salads I prepare just not for her but also for myself. Hot days usually means salads for lunch. I pack the dressing separately so that the salad stays crispy and one can choose the amount of dressing they want to add to the salad.    This parsley and walnut pesto tasted so amazing. Since it was a simple salad, the star is the pesto sauce. Initially I thought that the taste of parsley would be overpowering but believe me it was not... and I had to use the curly parsley instead of the flat one. Usually pestos call for a copious amount of olive oil. I decided to reduce the amount oil and used a bit of water instead. If you add water, the pesto stays good only for a few...

aroma therapy   While the bread was baking, the whole house was filled with the aroma of basil. My neighbour smelt basil all the way near the lift of our floor. She came to check what was cooking. Remember in my last post I mentioned that I made some pesto, well I used it to make some delicious bread which I wanted to bake for such a long time. Using biga to make the bread was the other temptation. Using biga makes the bread more flavourful. It gives more strength to weak flour. So the plain flour that we get in Kenya and India is quite weak compared to the ones available in the western countries. Its also amazing how two pinches of yeast can ferment a whole loaf of bread. Biga is the Italian word for preferment. Traditionally, bakers use a bit of the previous fermented dough to make a new batch. At home its easier to mix flour, water and a pinch of yeast to start the biga.The biga should appear wet and sticky. The biga is left covered with cling film at room temperature for 6 to 2...

  a different kind of pesto  Most Italian restaurants serve a basket of bread before the starters and main dish. To cater for the Indian taste buds most restaurants  have chilli oil or chillis in olive oil served with the bread. For the not so chilli taste buds they serve a dip which I have been trying figure out what it contains. Not that its a big secret but most restaurants refuse to name the ingredients let alone hand out the recipe. The first time I had the dip at La Veranda in Mombasa, it tantalized my taste buds. Some would mislead us by saying oh there are too many things that are put together, one even mentioned corn. But finally I have figured out what it is..... its not just a dip but it is a sweet pepper pesto. I made some a few days ago to go with the home baked bread and thought to myself... its so easy and why why didn't I figure out what the ingredients were long time ago. Oh well, I guess things happen when they are meant to happen... at the right moment....

A quick dinner idea    I just love mushrooms and whenever I see a punnet at the market or the vegetable shop, I have to pick it up. What to do with them, the idea comes later but buying mushrooms is a must! So this time its an open pie, very fast and a very satisfying meal.Serve it as a snack,or for dinner or lunch with some salad. Did you know that mushrooms are rich in Vitamin D? Well, yes they are.Like humans when exposed to the sun they produce Vitamin D.They are also a good source of the B Vitamins. Mushrooms are rich in selenium which helps to boost the immune system.Mushrooms can be eaten raw or cooked. PESTO MUSHROOM PIE Makes 10 pieces 300 g ready rolled puff pastry 2 cups mushrooms cut into quarters 2 cups zucchini diced the same size as mushrooms 1 tsp garlic paste 2 tbsp  olive oil ½ tsp salt 1 tsp dried mixed herbs 1 tsp coarse pepper powder or chilli flakes Pesto sauce: 1 cup chopped fresh basil ¼ cup lightly roasted pine nuts  ¼ cup olive oil ½ cup g...