My Aunt's Lemon Pie

I'm not an individual who is typically big on sweets or any type of baked goods. I'd prefer an actual meal to candy, pies and cakes. But in the spirit of Thanksgiving and to feel closer to my family, I made one of the only pies that I could eat for days, my Aunt's lemon pie.

Now this is so unlike a typical lemon or lemon meringue pie. Like my sweet potatoes, it's simple and easy to make. I love how the simple things in life bring the most joy. The same can be said about food. I've often found the best tasting foods are not elaborately made or filled with a million and one ingredients and steps.

Try this one out and let me know what you think.

Ingredients

• 1 small tub of regular Cool Whip
• 1 can of sweetened condensed milk
• 1 8 oz block of Philadelphia Cream Cheese
• Lemon juice
• Lemon extract
• 1 regular sized pie shell

Directions

1. Alright now here comes the complicated part, take the Cool Whip, condensed milk and cream cheese and mix it all together. *One could use a bowl and mix manually, but I save time and labor by using a blender to mix it all together.
2. Transfer mixture to a bowl or keep in a blender and add the lemon juice and extract. *You can adjust the amount of lemon additives according to your taste. I love a lot of lemon in this pie, which may be too much for others.
3. Add the mixture to your pie shell and smooth over.

4. Cover and let the pie sit in the refrigerator for at least 3-4 hours, overnight is preferred (this 
    allows for the mixture to settle and solidify).
5. Then serve.

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Ultimate Vegetarian Nachos

This has got to be one of my favorite and most fun dishes to make. It's simple, quick, easy and allows creativity.

It does not take much to make nachos right? Just take some tortilla chips and pour some queso on top and wallah! NOOO! At least not for me. Derived from nachos I had in Thailand, I have mastered the art of nacho making.

After looking at the ingredients list and the pics, tell me my nachos aren't a masterpiece?!?!?!

Ingredients

• Tortilla Chips
• Mexican/Fiesta Cheese Blend (cheddar, monterey jack, pepper jack)
• Tomatoes
• Red Onions
• Seasoned Black Beans
• Avocadoes
• Yellow Corn kernels
• Green Olives
• Jalapenos (fresh or canned)
• Fresh Cilantro

Directions

1. Cut, slice and dice all of your vegetables (tomatoes, onions, avocadoes, olives, jalapenos and cilantro) *You can add or subtract whatever you like more or less.
2. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
3. Take an aluminum pan (ones used for baking cornbread or cakes) and fill with a small layer of chips.

     4. Then add a healthy layer of cheese first and then your onions, beans, corn, olives and
         jalapenos, if they are fresh.

     5. If you're hungry, repeat step 4 for a second layer.

     6. Place in the oven for 2-3 minutes or until cheese is melted.

     7. Then add tomatoes, avocadoes and jalapenos (if canned)
     8. Finally garnish with freshly chopped cilantro and serve.

Variations

1. If you prefer black olives to green those can be used instead.
2. You can also substitute any beans you like or take them out all togther.
3. This dish can also be served with salsa and sour cream if you'd like.
4. Get creative, change it up. I've used Black Bean and Jalapeno flavored tortilla chips instead of plain and the nachos were just bursting with flavor.

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Simple Sweet Potatoes

This Thanksgiving was the first one I have spent alone. Ironically, I wasn't lonely. Why? Thanks to technology and food. Although I was alone, I was able to record videos to send to my friends and family and communicate with them throughout the day.

I know this may sound weird, but I find an extreme comfort in food, mainly cooking it. It's a stress reliever for me. Simply put it make me happy.

So for this Thanksgiving, I spent the entire day, cooking talking with loved ones and watching Harry Potter :-)

My Thanksgiving meal including vegetarian dressing with cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, baked macaroni and cheese and a homemade tofurkey (that didn't go all that well).

I would like to share with you the recipe I used for the sweet potatoes. Now many people like to get fancy and add marshmallows, cinnamon, brown sugar and in some cases walnuts or pecans. But not me. I like my sweet potatoes simple and sweet. So here you go...

Ingredients

• 2 medium sized sweet potatoes
• 1 stick of butter
• Sugar
• 1/4 cup of water

Directions

1. Wash, peel and cut your sweet potatoes.
2. Add water to your pot on medium high heat.
3. ONce you start to see your water begin to boil, add your sweet potatoes and a butter.
4. Then add your sugar, pour until there is a good layer of sugar on top (for the most part everything is white ;-)
*I never measure here. I typically pour sugar on top until just about all the potatoes are covered.
5. Cover and cook on medium high heat until sweet potatoes are tender. Usually around 20 minutes or so.
6. *Due to the heat, I would suggest letting the final product chill and then reheat before serving. This way the syrup has time to thicken up a bit.

Here is just a pic of my 2011 Thanksgiving Dinner Spread!

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Vegetable Biryani

This is one of my FAVORITE Indian Dishes. It's similar to a simple vegetable bake or what I like to call Indian Fried Rice, but with much more flavor; sweet, slightly salty and bold. It yields a good portion and is quick to make.

I've adapted the recipe from Manjula's Kitchen [it can be found by clicking here].

I intially served this dish with a lactose intolerant and nut allergic audience, hence why no yogurt is used and the nuts are left to the side.





Ingredients:

For Rice:

• 1 cup premium basmati rice, brand does not matter
• 2 cups water
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 2 pinch saffron
• 2 tablespoons milk

For Vegetable gravy:

• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1/4 teaspoon asafetida (hing)
• 1 teaspoon cumin seed (jeera)
• 4 medium chopped tomatoes
• 2 serrano peppers, chopped finely
• 1 tablespoon fine shredded ginger
• 1 cup yogurt *optional
• 1/2 teaspoon red chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 2 cup sliced cauliflower, stalks and leaves included
• 1/2 cup sliced carrots
• 1/2 cup chopped green beans
• 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 2 tablespoon cashew nuts broken into pieces
• 1 teaspoon salt adjust to taste
• 2 tablespoon chopped  dried mint leaves

For Garnish:

• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 4 tablespoons of ghee or  melted butter
• 2 tablespoons sliced almonds

Directions

Rice:

1. Wash and rinse the rice several times until the water is basically clear.
2. Let is sit for at least 15 minutes, for fluffier rice 30 minutes.
3. Drain the rice and place into a saucepan along with water, oil and salt.
4. Mix and bring to a boil.
5. Reduce heat and let cook until the rice is tender.
6. While the rice is cooking mix the saffron in warm wilk for about 3-5 minutes.
7. Once rice is cooked, mix in the saffron until every grain is a pale yellow.

     8. Then set aside.


Vegetable And Gravy:

1. Blend tomatoes to make a puree.
2. In a bowl add mix all of your vegetables, ginger, salt, turmeric, chili powder, *if you are including the yogurt and cashews add here 

3. *If you using the yogurt let it marinade for 10-15 minutes.
4. Heat the oil in a saucepan. 
5. Once oil is hot, add asafetida and cumin seeds.
6. After the cumin seeds crack, add the tomato puree, and cook on medium-high heat (adjust according to your stove's settings).

7. Let cook until the oil begins to leave the tomato puree.
8. Add the marinated vegetables to tomato puree.
9. Let it cook covered until the vegetables are tender, but not mushy (10-15 minutes).

Prepare The Biryani:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.
2. Take baking glass dish 9″ x 9″ or similar in size.
3. Put half of the cooked vegetables into the baking dish.
4. Spread half of the cook rice over vegetables.
5. Then garnish the first layer of the biryani with mint and garam masala (if you like you can add extra cashews or almonds here as well).





6. Pour the remaining vegetables evenly over the rice.
7. Spread remaining rice evenly over vegetables.
8. Sprinkle your almonds over the top and pour your ghee evenly over the surface. 





9. Place in the oven and let it bake for approximately 30 minutes.

This dish is full of spice both flavor and heat and it goes very well with Mint Raita or just plain Indian yogurt.

Enjoy!

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Mint Raita

Raita is simply seasoned yogurt. It is usually served as a condiment to a main dish of rice and vegetables or whatever you want. You can add a variety of different things to it. I've had raita that had carrots and peas in it. The consistency can be different as well. I've had creamy, thick raita and watery raita.

The following recipe is my own of Mint Raita:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of Plain Yogurt
• 1-2 tablespoons of Dried Mint Flakes (fresh mint leaves are preferred)
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• 1 tablespoons of pepper
• Several clicks of fresh Black Peppercorn
• 1 medium slice of a large Yellow Onion

Directions:

1. Pour 2 cups of Plain yogurt into a bowl
2. Chop/Dice a slice of yellow onion and place into yogurt
3. Add 2 tbsps of mint flakes to yogurt.
4. Add 1 tbsp of pepper to bowl.
5. Add 2 tsps of salt to bowl.
6. With the Black Peppercorn grinder, twist around the top of the bowl until the entire surface is covered.
7. Mix well and serve (to allow spices to marinade and absorb allow to sit overnight before serving.)

*Seasonings can be adjusted to your taste. I prefer to have tons of flavor and I love onions hence why it may seem like an overload.

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Homemade-Manjusha Made Recipes

So I know it's been an extremely long time since I have put up in recipes or any posts on the Spiritual Cookbook. I would like to blame it on my move and adjusting to grad school (which I do a little), but then I think no I shouldn't because I have been cooking. Just things that aren't necessarily amazing.

I've always wondered how to make the Veggie basics from scratch. Things like vegan sausages and ribs, tempeh, seitan, paneer, potato salad, hot dogs, patties and so on.

Then I thought, what if I wanted to publish a printed Spiritual Cookbook, would the Spiritual Cookbook really be my own if all the recipes came from other sites and weren't necessarily my own creations?!?!?! NO, it wouldn't be.

So now I'm setting out with a new agenda for this blog. I will still include my takes and results from other websites. I mean come on I'm not going to become an amazing Vegan/Lacto-Vegetarian Cook overnight, but I will set out to make at least one Manjusha-made spiritual dish once a month.

Let's see how this goes, wish me luck :-)

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Why Am I A Vegetarian?

Instead of posting a recipe, I thought it would be good for my followers to here firsthand as to why I chose a vegetarian lifestyle and to hear why it is necessary for the spiritual path.

I do know that I am only a peon, so if you would like to hear an explanation from an Enlightened Master, my Guru, Acharya Shree Yogeesh...Just Watch the videos below.

For More Videos on going Vegetarian please visit my YouTube Channel: youtube.com/LightofManjusha and my Guru's Channel: youtube.com/yogeeshashram.

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Common Ingredients List

This is just a compilation of the ingredients that can be found in a majority of the dishes that I cook. If the picture or name has an asterisk by it, this means this is staple for me and is always in my kitchen.

Beans/Lentils:

Gotta have them

Brown Lentils

Moong Dahl

Toor Dahl

Herbs/Spices:

Amchoor or Mango Powder

Black Mustard Seeds

Black Salt

Indian Chili Powder (I believe both are the same though)

Cinnamon Sticks

Left- Cumin Powder, Right- Cumin Seeds

Garam Masala (it's like the awesome combination of the best Indian spices.)

(Mainly for Adobo-A Phillipino dish)

Nutritional Yeast- Only used for my Tofu Scramble

Turmeric is used in like EVERY single Indian Dish. I even put it in my Tofu Scramble.



Condiments

Ghee or Indian Clarified Butter

Soy Sauce - Again only used for the Adobo

Vinegar- Used only for Adobo

Rice:

Basmati Rice is like the BEST rice ever. I don't necessarily stick to this brand, but this is what is currently in my pantry. It's a 10lb bag and I haven't made a dent in it yet.



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