Food

Chocolate Grilled Peaches

June 23, 2015

Walking into the grocery store during summertime is such a treat. It just looks so bright and colorful. The produce section specially, is over flowing with berries, cherries, peaches, melons and so many fresh fruits (most of them are on sale too). My mind starts racing with ideas on different ways to use them and put a spin on the classic recipes. I’m thinking cocktails, pies, tarts, jams, salads etc. Today I’m making ‘Chocolate Grilled Peaches’ with a cereal crumble and sprinkles as toppings. They’ll be a great appetizer for a summer party or even a tasty poolside snack paired with a crisp prosecco or a fizz. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
Fresh Peaches, Semi-Sweet & White Chocolate Chips, Cereal, Milk or Creme and Sprinkles
How to:
Cut the peaches into medium-sized wedges (not too thin). You can grill them on an outdoor grill or use a grill pan. Remove them once you get good solid brown grill marks. Let them rest on a cooling rack. Meanwhile you could start melting the chocolate till it looks like a ganache. Add about 1 to 2 table spoons of milk or creme to make it smooth and easy to work with. Let this mixture cool. Grind the cereal in a mixer until you get a crumble. Now all you need is to assemble. Dip the peaches n the chocolate then in the crumble and arrange on a platter/tray. Add the sprinkles from top. Refrigerate them till the chocolate sets and hardens a little bit.

Asparagus Egg Fried Rice

June 3, 2015

I have been trying to eat healthy for some time now, however tend to go off the track on vacations and sometime on weekends too. But I guess it’s okay to have a donut or a slice of pizza once in a while, right? But these days if you go to the super market, the produce is so fresh and colorful that I go overboard and have to stop myself from buying too much. If you are lucky you may even have a farmer’s market close to your house. One of my favorites veggie is Asparagus! grilled, sautéed, blanched .. I love it in any form. Today’s asparagus egg fried rice recipe is a healthy one with brown rice and a secret ingredient you can use for any kind of fried rice recipes you make in future ! so follow along.

Emoji Snack Box Diy

May 22, 2015

Hey you guys, the long weekend is here and I’m sure many of you will be planning trips/picnics/ getaways with friends and family. So today’s DIY project is all about making your snack boxes fun and interesting. This is something kids would enjoy making as well. Don’t worry even if you are not going anywhere , this emoji snack box diy will be a hit even for your backyard party!
I’m guest posting the tutorial on lemonthistle.com today so head over there for more fun pictures and all the details!!
If you plan to make these or any other DIY projects inspired by the one’s on this blog please share them with #DFSprojects on instagram and I will feature them on the blog. I would love to see what you are making . It always nice to see other people getting inspired !

Have a great weekend!
xo, varsha

Rainbow Citrus Sherbet with Macarons

May 8, 2015

Okay so I need to give you guys little back story before we talk about today’s delicious looking blog post. Last Sunday me and my husband were driving back from grocery store and we had forgotten to buy ice-cream which was on our list . It was pretty late at night and we stopped by the Walgreens store a block away from our house to buy some. Unfortunately, they were running low on ice-cream stock and dint have any of the flavors that we liked. So I just picked two choco bars and just then I saw this sherbet flavor called ‘Rainbow’ by good & delish . I had never tried this one before and let me tell you I will never be having any other sherbet flavor again ( unless it’s homemade of course ). My husband asked me at the checkout counter ‘what’s the difference between a sherbet & sorbet?’ We’ll come to that answer just in a bit.

Naked Carrot Cake

April 30, 2015

Hello friends, its almost Friday 🙂 and Mother’s Day is just around the corner. Continuing this week’s mother’s day theme on designforsoul, today we are making a naked carrot cake with cream cheese frosting!!! yum. I know baking a cake for your loved ones is a cliche but common doesn’t it always work? Carrot cake is one of my mom’s favorite’s and although she stays thousands of miles away from me, I plan to show her the cake via skype this year.

Mini Paprika Potato Bites

March 20, 2015

Hey guys, its FRIDAY already ! This week really went by very fast for me. Today I’m sharing one of my favorite snack recipes. Its simple, fast and you can totally try it over the weekend. Its spicy and tangy.. two of my fav savory flavors.

You Need: Small sack of mini potatoes, Paprika ( I am using one from McCormick ), garlic, mint, lemon, thai green chillies, coriander, salt, pepper and olive oil.

Procedure:

Pre heat the oven to 500F. Boil the potatoes till almost cooked. If you are using the microwave just cling wrap it and cook for 4 mins. If boiling in a pan, make sure you have the potatoes covered about an inch. Once done let them cool down and them smash them gently with with any flat object. I used my kitchen knife itself ( I love this 8inch knife from cuisinart ). Line a baking sheet with foil and spread the smashed potatoes on it. Apply olive oil and sprinkle with chopped garlic, salt and paper. Bake for about 10-15 mins till the edges turn golden brown and the cover is crisp. Once done arrange them in the serving dish and sprinkle paprika from top.

For the Mint Chutney:

In a blender mix together 1 cup coriander leaves, 1 cup fresh mint leaves, 1tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice , a pinch of salt and 2-3 small thai green chillies. If you do not like the taste of coriander you could use 2 cups of mint instead.

P.S. I love pairing this dish with some chilled coconut water to cut the heat from the spices.

Find more recipes and/or food styling posts right HERE!

Happy weekend y’all!

5 DIY Centerpieces

March 5, 2015

Have you ever been in a situation where you had to plan a dinner or host an event last minute ? You run around , plan the menu , get all the things together and when you start setting the table you remember that you forgot about the centerpiece. Last min solutions are usually flowers but here are some ideas which can quickly pull together by gathering stuff already lying around in the house and make something beautiful out of it.

Believe it or not fruits and veggies can make great impact when it comes to decor. I specially love the citrus family . Just zest them a little bit and they create a great aroma. I’m also using my Christmas decor , the one I used to make an unconventional wreath ( find the tutorial here ) along with some oranges, blueberries ( put them on a skewer) and one of favorite candle holders from pottery barn.

For the last one , I am using a small piece of Styrofoam in the center. Hope you found it useful. Just play around with whatever you have , there are no rules to be followed here , use whichever fruits and veggies you like and enjoy. I haven’t use any glue or scissors here so that its super easy and fast.

Happy entertaining.. and have a great week ahead!