Hot Cheesy Spinach Dip with Garlic Toast

Its snack time at USMasala again. And talking about snack time, it is just in time for the weekend to gather around your big flat screen with your favorite people and favorite snacks and just have a good time. Now I don't claim to be a big fan of the game, heck I barely know how it is played. I am still at heart the good old girl from that part of the world that lives and breathes a good game of Cricket. But watching a great game with family and friends gathered around definitely brings back some vivid memories. Just remember to handle this ever popular dip with care. It comes out of the oven really hot and just so flavorful and yummy with all that creamy spinach goodness ready to be scooped up with your favorite chip or a nice crunchy garlic toast that if you got too much into the game you might be scraping the bottom of the bowl - no pun intended.
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Mushroom Spinach Lasagna Rollups

Lasagna is many things to many people. For some it would be a daily deal, for some, a dish that they only make when their kids ask for it, for some it is an exotic dinner they have only when they visit their local fine Italian restaurant. I simply think of it as comfort food. Super easy to put together yet super impressive in the way it sounds and looks. If you love Italian food this is definitely for you, something you will most definitely want to try. It is fancy - hey it's 'Lasagna' - loaded with fresh goodness of spinach, mushrooms, creamy ricotta - hearty and beyond good! The simple twist with this preparation is that instead of the lasagna sheets being layered, the sheets instead are rolled into a... well... rollup. This is a meal you are going to remember on how well it came out and your 'customers' can be a regular feature of your weekend brunch.

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Semiya Pulao/Indian Style Stir Fried Noodles

uss free food is always welcome but quite often these recipes are very underrated. We make them quite often whenever we are racing against the clock to put food on the table but when it comes to showcasing your work we often put them in the back burner as 'yeh to ainvayi hai'. This is one such dish atleast in my household. I cannot remember how many times I have made it. Many different occasions - be it a quick lunch or dinner, pack something in a hurry for hubs occasional lunchbox or on kiddo's sudden demand of 'noodles'.  Every time I made it I always got applauded on how good it was. Never gave it much thought. Gradually it started to grow on me. The proverbial last straw was when I saw several foodies on the world wide web talking about how their semiyan got soggy and sticky when they tried this dish. That is when I decided it was time. So here goes - a savory indian noodle dish kicked up a notch with indian spices and ready in no time.

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Roasted Baby Potatoes Indian Style!

here is something to be said about the versatility of potatoes. Fry 'em, bake 'em, roast 'em, saute 'em, cook 'em in a curry, mash and stuff 'em, well just mash 'em, heck if you fermented them right, you could even drink 'em :) There are a few people I have come across that don't like them but I can count them on my fingers. The biggest potato lover I have seen among them all is hubs, so much so that his friends tease him of being one. This will give you an idea - I made these roasted potatoes this past Sunday afternoon intending them to be a side with lunch. He ate a whole piled plateful and he emphatically declared that to be his lunch.
It wasn't just his love for potatoes, this recipe is out of this world. Very simple and elegant yet completely full of flavor with an added twist of Indian masalas. This recipe is out of a cookbook from the celebrity Indian chef Suvir Saran. I recently became a proud owner of one of his best work, (incidentally) named 'American Masala'.
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Minty Fresh Berries and Fruit Couscous Salad

y
hubs is not the biggest fruit lover. Just about the only fruits he likes (read: can eat) are banana,
guava and ripe mangoes. I on the other hand love all kinds of fruit
(except banana and mangoes, go figure) and can live on the fresh fruit
juice and salads for a few days. Also, because of all the goodness of
fruit, I try to incorporate them in our meals at-least once a day. Hubby
always takes one or two bites and I am the one left to finish my plate and his. Same with my little one. She is even stranger with her fruit
habits. She only likes fresh pineapple and orange juice. Her reasoning
why she doesn't like a particular fruit is because of the color,
watermelon is too red, papaya is too yellow, guava is too green. But
then who's to argue with her that my dear pineapple is yellow too, lol!

Anyway,
thats a little 'fruity' detail about my family, back to the post. Summer brings in colors, brightness, vibrancy, fresh fruits and vegetables and 
also the sun and the heat. The local markets got crates of fresh berries and fruits and mostly on sale nowdays which means I completely go crazy and bought us more than we could handle. It was not possible for me alone to finish
(although I did finish most of them all by myself). Now, hubs is a salad fan mainly couscous salad and last weekend I was all set to make some veggie salad and I opened the fridge and saw the rack full of fruits wanting to get my attention and hence this recipe. Some time back I had a similar kind of salad at the salad bar of the local Whole Foods market so this is slightly inspired from that. Mixed in a
few home grown organic mint leaves and a lite lemony dressing. To
my surprise both hubby and kiddo loved it. It was refreshing, gorgeous
and a great alternative to regular salads and helps with your daily fruit intake as well.

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Paneer tikka kathi rolls

 

I love the idea of wraps n rolls... fun easy and a welcome change from the usual. These rolls make a complete meal by themselves. Great for picnics, casual lunch parties, these are always the first ones to go. They are also great for a nice cozy weekend brunch. All the goodness of paneer tikka, spicy marinated roasted paneer with tomatoes, onions bell peppers rolled inside a soft toasty chapati roll. B L I S S.
Here's how I make it-

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