Peanut butter and Oreo Cupcakes

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone! 

You don’t need a special day to celebrate the special people in your life.

But often, we get so consumed with the mundane routine of everyday life; we inadvertently put our cherished relationships on the back burner. Take a moment…smell the roses…bask in the warm sun. Not literally (since there are no roses growing in Chicago and definitely no warm sun either)…but you get the point.

It’s the simple pleasures and the small joys that make life so beautiful. And a yearly reminder of sorts doesn’t harm anyone! J Well, neither does a little bit of cupcake goodness!

I saw this recipe online a few weeks back and decided today was the perfect day to try it.

Ingredients:

1 box of chocolate cake mix (any brand will do)
24 Oreo Cookies
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

The recipe:

§  Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a 12 muffin cup baker with paper liners.

§  Prepare cake mix according to package directions.

§  For each cupcake cup spread 1 teaspoon of peanut butter over 2 Oreo cookies and stack them on top of each other.

§  Place oreo stacks into the cupcake lined muffin cups.

§  Generously spoon cake batter over each stacked oreos and let it run down the sides of the cookies.

§  Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until cupcakes are cooked through.

§  Let cool completely.

Looks super cute and tastes yum yum yum!

Serve warm with a scoop of your favorite ice-cream on the side!

Miu baby enjoyed it J and the happy look on her face was the best V day gift ever!! 

Chilli Garlic Mushrooms

G.U.I.L.T.Y.

I’ve been lazy and busy. And most times, I’ve been both!

This is precisely why I love New Year resolutions J

Identify your shortcoming, come up with the obvious solution you are most likely already aware of, and make it a New Year resolution.

Guilt Out; New Year fervor in! 

As simple as that.

I have decided to blog more this year.  I was brimming with ideas when I decided to go on a self probation of month long vegetarianism. Hmnn! Not exactly helpful! Especially if you are an avid (avid might be putting it very mildly J) meat/ seafood eater like me.

But a resolution is a resolution is a resolution. So, I’ve been trying different recipes…especially to make my culinary life more interesting for this month.

My younger sister is a fabulous cook and she shared this recipe with me. I gave it a try and loved it.

Ingredients:

Mushrooms 

Corn starch  

Ginger- Garlic Paste ½ tsp

Green Chilli paste ½ tsp

Soy sauce

Salt (to taste)

For the Sauce:

Fresh Ginger 1 inch cube

Fresh Garlic 3 pods

Green Chillies 2

Soy Sauce 2 tbsp

Red chilly Sauce 2 tbsp

Tomato ketchup 2 tbsp

Spring (green) onion 1 bunch

Corn starch 2 tbsp

Recipe:

Take mushrooms in a bowl.

Add Ginger- Garlic paste, green chilli paste,soy sauce and salt, and mix it well.

Let it marinate for around 20 minutes. 

Coat with Corn starch and deep fry them. You could also shallow fry them (as I did)

For the sauce -

In the same oil, add finely chopped Ginger and garlic.

Add finely chopped green chillies and fry for a couple of minutes.

Add Soy sauce, Red Chilly sauce, Ketchup and salt and mix well.

Add Fried mushrooms and saute for a couple of minutes.

Separately, mix corn starch with a spoon of water and add this to the sauce mixture.

Cook till sauce just coats the mushrooms. This should take a minute or two. Don't overcook. 

Garnish with chopped spring onions. I cheated and used cilantro since I didn’t have any spring onions.

Chilli Garlic Mushrooms are ready!

It makes for a great appetizer and can be served as an entrée too. Goes great with Fried Rice.

The one thing Anshuman and I miss India for (food wise, that is J), is good Indo-Chinese. I have a feeling he is not going to complain about that anymore...for a while, at least!