Recipes for Chicken Marsala with Mushrooms

There are very few food items which can be termed as wonder food. Chicken and mushroom are certainly on that list. These two food items can go with anything and everything and they taste good with almost every flavor.

Different types of mushroom are available in the market but the most common ones are button mushrooms. I just got some fresh button mushrooms picked out of my backyard and now I am thinking what to cook from them. I am looking at them like they are my prey. There are so many recipes of chicken which can be made in combination of mushroom. 

Today, I will share one such recipe which is made with mushroom and chicken and very close to my heart because this is my father’s favorite recipe. I hope you will also like this recipe as much as my father do.

Ingredients:-

• 2 boneless chicken breast (cut in half)
• 3 tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp. unsalted butter
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 5 big button mushrooms (cut in thin slices)
• 1 cup chicken stock
• ½ cup marsala wine
• 3 shallots (thinly sliced)
• Salt & pepper (to taste)
• Parsley (for garnishing) 

Methods:-

• Mix salt and pepper well and season the chicken. Once done, coat the chicken with all-purpose flour and dust off the excess.
• Take a heavy base pan and melt the 1 spoon butter in it. Once it’s melted, add olive oil in the pan and mix well. Now put the chicken and cook it on a low-medium heat for about 3 minutes each side. After 6 minutes, remove the chicken from the pan.
• In the same pan, add the rest of the butter and add shallots and sauté them for a minute. Turn the heat on high settings and add mushrooms. Let them get cooked for about 3-4 minutes.
• Add marsala wine and bring it to boil. Post that, add the chicken stock.
• Once the chicken stock is boiled, add the chicken. Season the gravy with salt & pepper as per your taste.
• Give resting time of 10 minutes to chicken in the gravy before serving!
• Before serving garnish it with parsley

This dish can be cooked in less than 20 minutes and if you want, you can serve this with dish on the bed of cumin rice as well. There are so many other recipes for chicken marsala with mushrooms, but that I will share in my future post. For now, I hope you will all enjoy cooking this dish!!

Who says soups are for winter? I say, soups are for every season

My mother always used to say that soups are the nectar for winters but last summer when she came to stay with us for a while I also served her the soup. She was amazed, she though that I had lost it big time. When I told her the concept of summer soups, she was totally zapped.

I love soups and I don’t think they should be restricted towards winters only. I think they should be taken in all the seasons because soups from immunity to our body which is not required in the winters but in spring, summer etc. as well.

So, today I am sharing my best 3 summer soup recipes in this blog. Let me know what you feel about summer soups, perhaps I may think differently about them-

1. Spicy corn summer soup- this soup is very similar to the Indian dal soup we order in the restaurants. I like it hot but you can also cook this with less spices. It takes about 25 minutes to cook and you can add the ingredients of your choice. If you have limited knowledge about Indian spices than I would suggest to stick to the ingredients mentioned here only. This is a standalone soup or if you want you can serve this with bread loaf. Either ways, you will love this soup. Click here to get the recipe of this soup.  
2. Cucumber and yogurt soup- this soup is actually ready in 10 minutes but then it also depends how much cold soup you like. I liked mine chilled so I keep this in a freezer for about 20 minutes. This soup is very refreshing as it has lemon, yogurt, cucumber, mint, olive oil etc. It is so healthy that it can be eaten on regular basis especially in the afternoon. You can get the complete recipe of this soup by here.
3. Apple and fennel soup- from the name only, it gives the feeling of the summer soup. This soup is an amazing combination of apple, fennel, mint leaves, thyme etc. to my kids, this taste likes the apple smoothie with mint. I also serve this dish at my younger son’s play date. All the other kids just love the combination of flavors which this soup has. This is also a very interesting way to feed your kids with healthy fruits as they really don’t make funny faces while drinking this soup. To get the recipe of this soup, click here.

Try anyone of the soup and then tell me whether soups are only meant for winters? You all will fall in love with this soup and that’s my promise. My mother cooks a summer soup regularly now. I will share some of her invented recipes in my future posts as well. 

Till my next post….enjoy summer. Go out, play, spend time with your family and spread smiles… J. Take care!!

Sunday Brunch And Grilled Pork Chops Are Perfect For This Summer Season

Summer is already knocking on the door and my family has already taken out their surfing board, swimming costumes, BBQ grills etc. Every weekend we plan for something and go out. I think this is the perfect season to get yourself indulge in some outdoor activities.

This is also the perfect season to hold backyard family Sunday brunches. My husband has a huge family. I mean like 5 brothers and 3 sisters so, whenever we have a backyard Sunday lunch the house becomes so noisy which is actually fun.

We really like to spend some time with the family and that is the reason we pick the dishes which can be cooked in the garden. We marinate and prepare the seasoning the night before, so that we have enough time to spend with our loved once.

Grilled pork chop is our family favorite. Everyone in my family likes this recipe and hence, I am sharing this recipe with you all today. My family likes some extra sauce to go with the chop, you can create the amount of sauce as per your requirement. Let’s start grilling. 

Ingredients-

• 2 large bone-in pork chops
• ½ a cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 garlic gloves (finely chopped)
• 2 tbsp. of olive oil
• Salt to taste

Five Different Variants of Our Humble Pumpkin Soup

Pumpkin soup is one of the dishes which can be served in any occasion. I mean it is hit for the party and for a nice quite family dinner. What more, pumpkin soup is a hero during Halloween time. There is no hard and fast rule for making pumpkin soup however, so many variants of pumpkin soup are available online and otherwise.

I like to experiment with my pumpkin soup and over a period of time, I have got a great understanding of the flavour which go well with pumpkin. Cold and hot, both the variants are available in this soup. You can pick as per the season. I mean, hot-creamy pumpkin soup can be delight to have in a harsh winter evening. 

Easy Chilli Recipe - Beginners Can Also Cook This Easily

Everyone likes to eat chilli but most of us gets overwhelm when we read the recipe of this dish or when we see it online. However, it is actually easy to cook this dish. All you have to do is to find some easy alternatives to cook this dish and you are good to go.

In this post, I will be sharing a very easy chilli recipe which even a beginner can cook without any help and hassle. Let’s do all the talking later and start cooking. I hope you all are wearing your aprons.

Ingredients-

1. 500 grams ground beef (minced)
2. 2 big onions (red)
3. 2 bell peppers (these are optional however, they give amazing flavor to the dish. Any color)
4. 1 tin of kidney beans
5. 2 tbsp. of tomato ketchup
6. Cooking oil (any vegetable oil)
7. 1 tin of tomatoes
8. Salt & pepper as per taste
9. Beef stock cube
10. 1 tbsp. of chilli paste
11. Coriander and cheese (for garnishing)

Method-

1. Take a heavy base pan and heat oil in that. Once the oil is heated, put the beef in the pan and cook it for about 10 minutes on the medium heat. Stir continuously and keep breaking the beef.
2. Drain the excess fat from the cooked beef and now add chopped onions and peppers in the same pan and keep cooking.
3. Now add the tomatoes with the sauce and kidney beans (drained) in the pan. Make sure that you are stirring the mixture continuously and cooking it in a medium heat.
4. After 5-10 minutes, add the stock cube to the pan and if needed add some water as well.
5. Season this well with chilli paste & pepper (my stock cube has salt and that’s why I don’t put salt, you can check your stock cube for the same)
6. Cook this mixture for about 30-40 minutes. Keep checking the pan for the right consistency as burns.
7. Garnish them with coriander, cheese or just with green chilies.
8. Serve it hot!!

So, you see it’s actually not very difficult to cook this dish. All you have to do is to make sure that you are using all your ingredients effectively. It is true that this dish takes about an hour and a half to cook but once it is cooked, no one can resist the taste of this dish.

I cook this dish in abundance because I also like to have this as a leftover for the next day. You can also adjust the hotness of this dish as per your liking. I do not like my dish too hot and hence, I do not use any chilli flakes etc. You are free to use all of them. Happy cooking!!

A to Z- Information about Margarine

Lots of people talks about the benefits of healthy margarine, some talks about the ill-effects of margarine but no one really knows about how the margarine was invented and how it became the household name of twentieth century.

To begin with, the production of margarine was started in 1860’s when napoleon asked the people to find the substitute for butter as during the war time it was impossible for the soldiers to produce the butter but it was necessary for them in terms of nutrition. Margarine is made from the vegetable oil unlike the butter which is churned out of milk.

Margarine is the combination of 2 or more oils churned together. The most common type of oils are corn and soybean oil which are used in margarine production. The best benefit of margarine is that it has less fat and carbohydrates. It is rich is good cholesterol which is required by the human body in order to function properly.

Surprisingly, one ounce of margarine can fulfil up to 35% of your body’s daily Vitamin K’s requirement along with the 20% of your daily requirement of vitamin A. most of the margarines have 80% of fat. It is the combination of saturated and unsaturated fats. The margarines which are made from coconut and palm oil have higher saturated fats in comparison to the margarines made from canola and sunflower oils.

Margarine contains omega-3 acids, these acids have proven results in lowering the cholesterol level in human body. They also reduce the inflammation. Some of the margarine companies also add flax seed oil and fish oil while production in order to increase the amount of omega-3 acids.

These days market is filled with different different types of margarine and one can purchase the margarine tub as per their choice and body requirement. There are so many people who are now convinced with the fact that margarine is better than butter as it contains less fats and higher omega-3 acids.

People are now openly accepting margarine as part of their recipes because it does not only provide better taste to the food but it is also little and less fatty in comparison to the butter. For baking, no other oil or spread can beat margarine because it brings that golden and crispy texture to the food which is to die for.

Lots of bakers are swearing these days by the magic of margarine. The margarine provide the puffiness to the food without making it too heavy and dense. Even internet these days are filled with the amazing recipes which can be created with margarine.

I sincerely hope that through this article, I will be able to bust some of the myths which are revolving around margarine.

Summer Chicken Salad – Simple Chicken Pasta Salad Recipe

Summer and salads always goes hand in hand. They are cold, easy to digest and more importantly- healthy. But personally we all avoid salads even kids don’t like it. However, when it comes to pasta salads, the picture changes completely to its new horizon. Everyone loves it.

If we talk about Italian cuisines, pasta recipes are most accepted recipe after pizzas. There are plenty of pasta recipes. Amongst this, pasta salads are the favorite summer food of many of the people. And when it is served with barbecued meat and vegetables, you have always seen people going for the second serving too. Typically it got legumes, vegetables, seafood, chicken, nuts, herbs and spices etc. There are so many types of recipes that you can try with this salad recipe. However, Chicken Pasta Salad is the one which is loved by all from kids to adults.

Chicken pasta salad is a complete meal by itself. It got chicken, veggies and pasta. But traditionally, pasta salads are served cold. So, if you like to eat chilled food than you can have a bowlful of this recipe and can stay satisfied for long. This salad is often tossed in a vinegar, oil or mayonnaise-based dressing. And it can be served as both as an appetizer and a main course. 

You can also give this to your kids in their lunch and they don’t even need to reheat the stuff as it’s absolutely scrumptious even if it’s cold. You can also store this recipe for few days in the refrigerator. Stocking such easy recipes always save time and energy. And it is helpful when you just don’t feel like cooking at all. Just take it out from the refrigerator and dig in to. 

One should remember, the main elements of a pasta salad should be oily in character, not vinegary. This is important because most deli pasta salads have an edgy quality that only comes from a bland vinaigrette. One of the most important tip one should remember while boiling the pasta noodles that it should not be over cooked, always refer the directions given over the package. When you start making the pasta salads always start with dried pasta (not fresh). If you are using fresh pasta, cook them off quickly after rinsing them in cold water in a colander and toss noodles in olive oil and lay them in a single layer on a sheet pan, and cool them in the fridge.