For the past two years, I have been in Kottayam for Christmas and joining in on the fun. I bet Christmas baking is being planned and done in your homes too and I hope this quick short list of 12 Christmas cakes and cookies will help you out. Have a Merry Christmas, everyone! Pin Fruit Cake Pin Orange Cake Pin Snowball Cookies Pin Lemon Cake Pin Eggless Choc Sponge Cake Pin Chocolate Biscotti Pin Choc Fudge Cake Pin Almond Cookies Pin Choc Lava Cakes Pin Eggless Oreo Cheesecake Pin Chocolate Crackle Cookies

If you eat a mostly plant-based diet, there’s a good chance you’ve had some sad vegan sandwiches. I know I have! Soggy lettuce. Soggy bread. Zero flavor. Yeah…no thanks. But luckily for us, vegan sandwiches don’t have to be like that. Sure, they aren’t made with meat or cheese, but that doesn’t mean they have to skimp on flavor. Try making vegan sandwiches with different sauces and spreads, roasted or pickled veggies, and/or fresh herbs, and you’ll find that they’re just as tasty as their traditional counterparts....

In my opinion, every home cook needs certain kitchen essentials. These basics make cooking easier, more efficient, and—best of all—more enjoyable. With the right tools and equipment, you’ll have more flexibility in the kitchen. You can whip up a creamy pureed soup with a great blender, get a perfect sear in a cast-iron skillet, and make pancake batter or cookie dough with good measuring cups, mixing bowls, and a trusty silicone spatula....

If you’re looking to refresh your repertoire of game day snacks this fall, look no further: these air fryer onion rings are exactly what you need! They’re crispy on the outside, melty in the middle, and filled with sweet and savory onion flavor that will keep you coming back for more. In my opinion, they’re just as good, no, better, than regular onion rings, and they’re way less of a hassle to make at home....

I love cooking with avocado, especially after the doctor recommended a moderate portion of it in both TH’s and my diet to bring up the levels of good cholesterol. We both love guacamole but I have found other ways to add avocados in our diet, including: avocado mango milkshake grilled guacamole cheese sandwiches avocado egg salad sandwiches avocado milkshake and these delicious eggless chocolate cupcakes using avocado Avocados have more potassium than bananas and are very high in good fats and fibre, both of which are helpful for balancing your diet....

Pin When I was pregnant with Sameera, I had a ton of people comment on the amazing food and snacks i going to be fed (cooked by her food blogger mom, of course!). Even if I didn’t intent to be this mom who made most if her kids’ snacks and meals from scratch at home, I didn’t really feel like I had a choice in the matter. Well, actually I am kidding....

When I lived in Austin, I got a tofu banh mi sandwich from two different Vietnamese restaurants as often as I could. Stuffed with sweet and tangy pickles, herbs, creamy mayo, and more, the sandwiches were hearty and comforting, but still refreshing. My mouth is watering just thinking about them! Since we’ve moved, I’m still searching for a great banh mi in Chicago (let me know if any of you have suggestions!...

We couldn’t help ourselves. After Taco Stuffed Shells and Sausage and Spinach Stuffed Shells, we were craving another version of stuffed shells. Since Adam has been contriving various ways to make hot wings again, he suggested that all those flavors go into their own shell. More buffalo chicken inspired recipes: Buffalo Chicken Pizza Sticks are easy and everybody loves them. Or try this healthier spin on chicken wings: Baked Buffalo Cauliflower Wings....

We probably don’t need to tell you how wonderful shortbread cookies are. They’re rich, buttery cookies that are simple to make and sturdy enough to be kept for days (if not weeks when chilled). There’s minimal ingredients required and no mixer! Just a bowl and spoon are needed, here. We use melted butter for our shortbread cookies and go for a long bake time at a low temperature. By baking low and slow, the cookies become addictively delicious....

I tend to make cabbage thoran more often than cabbage poriyal but the key advantage to a poriyal is that you don’t have to grind the coconut while for thoran, in my opinion, the coarse grinding of coconut with jeera and shallots and green chillies males all the difference in taste. Some weekends, we just crave a simple South Indian meal and a bowl of hot rice with mor kuzhambu and poriyal hits the right spot....

TH and I like a thicker gravy for our curries and I use the usual suspects to get that consistency – cream, cashew-paste, coconut milk, or sometimes thickening agents like cornflour, rice flour, etc. I’ve stopped adding cream to my homemade curries now, except in this delicious paneer batter masala recipe, because then it tastes like what Indian restaurants serve you. Cashew nuts, on the other hand, don’t overpower your dishes and lend a lovely creaminess and thickness which allows you to add water to bring the dish to the consistency you prefer....

Christmas Sugar Cookies | Christmas Cookie Recipes Makes 15 medium-sized sugar cookies What I Used: Softened butter – 2.5 tbsp Sugar – 5 tbsp (Add more if you like sweet cookies, after all they are called sugar cookies!) Egg – 1 Flour – 1 cup Baking powder – 1/2 tsp Vanilla essence – 1/2 tsp Salt – one pinch How to make Christmas Cookies: Sift flour, salt and baking powder till all three have mixed properly....

These cinnamon pancakes are everything we love about a big, warm, gooey cinnamon roll wrapped up into pancakes. We start with the fluffiest cinnamon pancakes and drizzle sweet cream cheese glaze on top. The cinnamon makes them warm and spicy, and the glaze makes them sweet and gooey. Amazing! How to Make the Best Cinnamon Pancakes The batter for our cinnamon pancakes has a whole tablespoon of cinnamon added. The extra spice from the cinnamon is delicious, especially since we’re topping them with a sweet cream cheese glaze....

Other recipes with mushrooms and/or peas you may want to try: Mushroom korma Dingri dolma (with mushrooms and paneer) Mushroom peas curry Mushroom tikki Gobi mushroom masala I went through a phase of making dry vegetable dishes with minimum spices and lots of onions with a dash of kasuri methi. I made this mushroom peas masala during a similar time when we used to hit the fresh farmers’ market every weekend in Sydney....

Fennel is totally underrated, and I’m hoping some of our fennel recipes on Inspired Taste are helping to change that! Fennel is naturally sweet and has a mild licorice flavor. In this braised fennel recipe, we lean into the licorice flavor and add fresh orange. It’s so good! I know some home cooks find fennel a bit intimidating, but I’m here to say that if you’ve never cooked with it before, it’s a delicious and super versatile vegetable!...

When I first started making pastries and pies, the crust stumped me. It was too crumbly and not flaky and just didn’t do it for me. After some time in the kitchen and, I’m not embarrassed to admit, a few failed attempts, we are happy to share this easy, basic recipe for pastry dough. We also love this slightly updated pie crust recipe with a how-to video. This recipe calls for 100% butter, not shortening (I like it that way)....

It’s no secret that we love lasagna around here. I mean we’ve already shared an epic sausage and beef lasagna, this popular vegetable lasagna, and this ultimate cheese lasagna (made with five cheeses). So why are we sharing another lasagna recipe with you? Well, even though we love all the recipes mentioned above, we felt the blog was missing a no fuss, classic lasagna that anyone can make. It’s so easy, you guys!...

We are in serious withdrawal. It was only five days ago that our plane touched down at after a trip to Paris. Things were buttery, perfectly flaky, brewed properly and poured generously. Wow, did we have a wonderful time. As we try to get back into the swing of non-buttery things at home, we made these carrots with a twist – pomegranate! The pomegranate glaze is tart, but against the sweetness of the carrots, works so well....

It’s delicious and not as difficult as it is time-consuming but when you can get a similar result in 10 mins, I am not picking the longer route. I am just not that kinda girl! You may also like the following quick and easy Diwali sweets: Step by Step Rasmalai Recipe: I used a lemon squeezer to make the job easier. Be gentle though, otherwise the rasgulla will crumble. You don’t have to squeeze the life out of them, just get most of the syrup out so that our milk mixture can get in and soak up the ragullas nicely....

Happy Saturday, friends! Fall is in the air, and although it’s not exactly crisp outside here, I’ve made crisp inside to make up for it. Apple crisp is hands down my favorite fall dessert. I love apple pie too, but I love it more when other people make it for me. This vegan apple crisp recipe is simple and straightforward – you can mix everything together and get these little guys into the oven in no time....