Pasta and Vegetables with White Sauce

These days, I make Pasta atleast once in a week for my son's lunch box. It's really so easy to make Pasta if you use frozen vegetables.

From past couple of months, I have made Pasta and Vegetables with White Sauce following the recipe from Fat Free Vegan blog .

Susan Voisin, a vegan from past 19 years is behind the amazing blog -Fat Free Vegan . I decided to thrive on vegan fare, after I saw all the delicious food at Fat Free Vegan . Many Americans are going meatless and the number of people thriving on plant-based fare is increasing every year, and I 'm sure Fat Free Vegan is playing a very important role in inspiring and enticing people to try plant-based dishes. Thank You Susan, for the great blog - Fat Free Vegan.

Pasta and Vegetables with White Sauce was delicious! The recipe calls for basil, oregano and nutritional yeast. Since, I don't have these ingredients, I tweaked the recipe. I use fresh orange juice and sometimes use fresh lemon juice to jazz up the Pasta. After coming back from school, my son says, "I did not like the Pasta, but I ate it!" It is so funny, and I happy that he eats his Pasta. If you make Pasta, you should really try this recipe.

Fluffy Vegan Pancakes

I roll my eyes when people use eggs to make pancakes. In United States, pancakes and eggs go hand in hand! I recently made vegan pancakes by following the recipe in Madhuram's blog Eggless Cooking .

Madhuram is based in Canada, and her blog Eggless Cooking is awash with recipes for vegan muffins, vegan cookies and vegan cakes.

The  vegan pancakes were fluffy and delicious. I ate it with maple syrup. My husband also liked the pancakes. However, my son did not like it.

Easy Vegetable Biryani

 I love vegetable biryani and vegetable pulav. In restaurants, they usually add lot of butter and the flavor of the amazing spices is missing. If you like rice dishes, you should try Easy Vegetable Biryani and Vegetable Pulav.

These days I'm making rice based dishes atleast twice in a week for my son's lunch box.

I made Easy Vegetable Biryani following the recipe from Nagalakshmi's blog , cooking and me

Easy Vegetable Biryani was so tasty and brimming with flavor. If the link does not work, go to google and type - Easy vegetable biryani , cooking and me . Americans who love Indian food, but are overwhelmed with variety of spices, should try this recipe. Just make sure you use -cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and chilli powder.

I also made Vegetable Pulav, by following Shilpa's recipe in Aayi blog . Vegetable Pulav was green in color and was really very tasty. My son who is a picky eater, also liked it!

In a few weeks, I plan to make Vegetable Biryani and Vegetable Pulav, with quinoa instead of white Basmati rice. Or I should I try using 1/2 cup of Basmati rice and 1/2 cup of quinoa , instead of 1 cup of Basmati rice. I hope my son likes it!

Vegan Recipes , Cruel-free Recipes for Diwali

In a couple of days, millions of Hindus across the world will celebrate, Diwali - Festival of Lights.
Milk and milk based products such as ghee , butter, paneer(Indian cottage cheese) , are used to make sweets. It's time to share sweets with family and friends.

According to Ayurveda(India's traditional medical science), milk and milk product such as ghee,
belongs to Sattvic (Goodness), group. According to Ayurveda, Sattvic food, such as fruits, vegetables, freshly cookes beans and lentils ,and milk promotes spiritual growth and guides people to follow the right path. Sattvic food is also known as ahimsa food(non-violence).

Unfotunately , the condition of milk producing cows in India and across the world is filled with pain
and suffering . In India, cows are induced with oxytocin harmone to produce more milk. In western countries, cows are repeatedly impregnated so that cows keep producing milk for a long time.
In short, cows are treated as "milking machines" .

In this day and age, milk and ghee no longer belong to Sattvic food. Milk and milk products such
as ghee and yogurt belong to "Tamasic foods", which is the result of non-violence. Meat , fish and eggs belong to Tamasic food group.

In this day and age, milk and ghee, no longer promotes spiritual growth.

I'm a vegan and I enjoy Diwali by making vegan sweets. I feel so happy to see my family and friends
relish my vegan burfis, kheers and halwas.

You too can make delicious sweets without using milk , ghee and butter. Visit Vaishali's blog
holy cow to find vegan recipes
for carrot halwa, burfis , firni , adhirasam , and many more mouth-watering recipes.

Show me the Curry

Show me the Curry, is a classic Indian cooking website with many vegan recipes. You can find recipes for curries , rice dishes , pickles and chutneys , and desserts.

Hetal Jannu and Anuja Balasubramanian are the ladies for the amazing Show me the curry website.
If you like Indian food, then this website can be a great guide. If you are a vegan and like Indian food, then you will find many vegan recipes for rice dishes, snacks, and curries. Howerver, most of the desserts are milk based. For vegan Indian desserts visit  Richa's blog 

My son no longer taking boring bread and jam sandwich to school. Every day I
make simple rice based dish for his lunch box. I  have made spinach and carrots pullao and methi pullao a couple of times. Both these rice dishes were easy to make and tasted great!

Vegan Beetroot Halwa

I love to eat warm halwa when the temperature drops down. Halwas are Indian dessert made with milk and sugar. If you are a vegan, you can eat many dishes in Indian restaurant, but you can never eat carrot halwa, as they are made with milk and khoya(similar to whey)

I recently made beetroot halwa by following Shilpa's recipe in aayi's blog   . I used canola oil to saute the beets and used vegan sugar -sugar in the raw , to make this delicious halwa. The halwa was so tasty and if you have food processor, you can make this halwa in a snap.

I also made lauki halwa (opo squash)  along the same lines as beetroot halwa. I used canola oil to saute the grated squash and I garnished the halwa with fried cashewnuts and raisins. The halwa was really so YUM!

Mahatma Gandhi's Views on Cow's Milk

Mahatma Gandhi, a great leader was born on October 2 in India, more than a century ago.
Millions of people everyday are inspired by this noble man- Mahatma Gandhi.

Mahatma Gandhi achieved his goals through "Non-violence". Mahatma Gandhi worked for
the welfare of people. Mahatma Gandhi worked hard to remove pain and suffering from the community.

Mahatma Gandhi led a simple life. He ate simple vegetarian food. Gandhi had a strong
disgust for cow's milk when he came to know that cows and buffalos were subjected to a
cruel process, known as Phooka, to increase the production of milk. These days, in India,
many farmers inject the cows with oxytocin drug to increase the production of milk.
Read this for more information .

If Gandhi was alive, he would be very sad seeing the horrible condition of cows across India.
I'm sure Gandhi would eat vegan food and advocate vegan diet, as ahimsa diet (cruel-free diet).