Friday, January 18, 2013

Potato and Spinach Soup


"Let things taste of what they are" - by Alice Waters.....did any one hear about his beautiful quote?? Well guess what, I did not hear about it until I made this soup with the simplest and minimum ingredients, yet I assure you, it tasted the best. Shoj always says, when I do simple dishes, it tastes the best. I know these things are a part of everyone experiences more than once in your own kitchen. So let's jump on to the recipe.... :)


In between, would like to focus on some of the good aspects of potato and spinach....
Spinach: Spinach is rich in iron, calcium and extremely rich in antioxidants, especially when eaten fresh, steamed or quickly boiled. It is a rich source of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Vitamin K, magnesium, folate, betaine, iron, Vitamin b2, calcium, potassium, and so many other vitamins and minerals....
Potato: Potatoes actually can survive healthily on a diet of potatoes supplemented only with milk or butter, which contain the two vitamins not provided by potatoes (vitamin A and D). Potatoes have both vitamins and minerals.


Note: You can use any kind of potatoes, I like red potatoes.

Method:
---------
1. In a heavy bottom sauce pan, melt butter, when it's hot enough, add the garlic and onion and saute it until onions get translucent.
2. Now add the potatoes and saute it for about 5 mins on medium high flame, add enough water, cover and cook until the potatoes are almost cooked, maybe for about 8-10 mins or until the potatoes are fork tender.


3. Now open the lid and add the spinach and quickly stir and let it cook for just 2-3 mins.
4. Add enough salt and pepper, stir again and off the flame.
5. Serve this hot or warm for a light soup dinner, or combine it with your choice of bread. (I just had it just like that, so simple yet tasted good.):)


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Sugar Donut Muffins





 

Two days ago I was badly craving for Donuts. I knew donuts are available in my office canteen. Before leaving home, I planned to get one to fulfill my craving. Poor me, when I went to the donut shop, all the donuts were sold out. :-(



To add to my woes, there are no Donuts shops on the way to my home. What else I would do? Go home and prepare it. After a quick browsing, I found this recipe and started baking it. The pictures posted below are clicked during the evening time, so excuse the picture clarity. For now, just enjoy the muffins :-)



Basic Information:

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Tme: 15-20 minutes

Makes : 11 muffins



Ingredients:



For Muffins:



Granulated Suar - 3/4 cup

Egg - 1 no, large size, at room temperature

All purpose flour / Plain flour / Maida - 1 and 1/2 cups

Baking powder - 2 teaspoons

Salt - 1/4 teaspoon

Ground Nutmeg - 1/4 teaspoon

Milk - 3/4 cup

Vegetable oil - 1/4 cup

Vanilla extract - 1 teaspoon



For Rolling:



Butter - 2 tablespoons, melted

Granulated sugar - 1/2 cup

Ground cinnamon / Ground nutmeg - 2 teaspoons



Method:



1) Preheat the oven to 350F/175C for 15 minutes. Grease the muffins tray with oil or line it with muffin cases. Keep it aside.

2) In a medium size bowl, beat sugar and egg until it is light and creamy.



3) In a large size bowl, mix all purpose flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Mix well.

4) Add the beaten egg, sugar mixture to the flour mixture. Mix well till it has blended well.

5) Add in vegetable oil, milk and vanilla extract. Mix well.



6) At the end, you will get a creamy, smooth batter.

7) Pour this batter equally to prepared muffin tray, say about 3/4th full.

8) Bake it for 15-20 minutes or until the tester/toothpin inserted into it comes out clean.



9) When the muffins are in oven, prepare for rolling.

10) Melt the butter in one bowl. Mix sugar and cinnaman/nutmeg in another bowl.

11) When muffins are ready and warm, dip the top of the muffins into the melted butter and roll it in the sugar cinnamon mixture.

12) Serve and Enjoy!




Thursday, January 17, 2013

The World's Most Expensive Toilets

It seems that having a porcelain thrown is just sometimes not enough! All over the world, new (and costly we might add) toilets are being created that leave us common folk dreaming of what could be. Here is a rundown of the world's most expensive toilets. 

Russian Toilet System for NASA

This beast is specially designed to work in space. At a cost of $19 million, it includes straps to hold down astronauts and a fan to suck everything up into a septic tank. It may not be the best looking, but it is definitely the most advanced! 

Hong Kong’s golden toilet  

This little beauty is made of 24-carat solid gold and is currently on display in Hong Kong. Cost is just around $5 million. It's made of gold; not much else to say!



“Dagobert” Wooden Toilet Throne

Hand painted with a medieval design, this ash wood toilet has a price tag of $14,123, it comes complete with a pull chain flush.








Toto Neorest 600

Certainly the most 'normal' looking of the bunch, this toilet is still slightly out of reach for most, costing $5,800. If automatic hands-free lid opening and closing, heated seat, automatic and remote hands-free flush, automatic and self-cleansing system, water conserving dual-flush mode, warm air drier, and air purifier are things that you can't live without, then you might want to check into getting one for yourself.


As always, you can find us at www.klasinski.com!