Whipped cream cheese spread

I usually do some prep work over the weekend to make life on weekdays easier. One of the things I make is this whipped cream cheese spread.  Served with toasted bagels, this makes for a quick and tasty breakfast.

The ingredients I use vary from time to time, based on what vegetables I have on hand. The veggies that I use most commonly are onions, spring onions (the white and green parts can be used), bell peppers of different colors, and carrots.
The recipe, if you can call it that, is pretty simple. Take whipped cream cheese in a small mixing bowl. Add in the vegetables of your choice. Chop the vegetables as finely as you can to make it easy to spread. Add a dash of salt and freshly ground black pepper. Mix well. This stays good in the refrigerator for up to two days. It goes really well with bagels and can also be used as a sandwich spread.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM
This also goes to This is for Valli's Kid’s Delight event, guest hosted by PJ themed on Quick / Innovative Breakfast

Quick Veggie Sandwich

Sandwiches are some of the easiest lunches to put together. With a good, hearty bread on hand,, there's nothing to not like about a sandwich. To me, a good sandwich is one that doesn't get soggy in the lunch box. I've found that a layer of thick dips like hummus/guacamole usually keeps the liquid from the vegetables from seeping into the bread and making it soggy. This sandwich is one that I often pack for myself on week days to work. This is a highly adaptable recipe, and you can use any choice of fillings as per your taste.

What you need:
Bread (I love tomato basil bread and that's what I've used)
Guacamole
Vegetables (I've used, red onions, tomatoes and cucumber) -sliced into thin rounds
Grated cheese (I've used white cheddar)

Spread a thick layer of guacamole on one slice of bread. Top it with vegetables and grated cheese. Close with another slice of bread and if you like, slice it into half.

A week day lunch cannot get simpler than that, can it?

This is my first entry for Week 2 of Blogging Marathon #77, under the theme Healthy Weekday lunches.
Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM

Onion tomato sandwich

The good thing about a sandwich is that it is so easy to put together....it gets done within a matter of minutes, and you can be as creative as you want to be with the filling. Most kids don't seem to mind eating veggies as long as they are sandwiched between two slices of bread, slathered with butter and drizzled with ketchup.
This is a very simple sandwich that makes use of ingredients which are commonly available in an Indian kitchen.

What you need:
Bread - 12 slices
Onion - 2, finely chopped
Tomato - 3 large juicy ones, chopped fine
Ginger - a small piece, julienned
Garlic - 4 cloves, chopped fine
Salt
Sugar - a little
Red chilli powder/sambar powder - to taste
Corriander leaves - chopped, a handful
Oil/butter - 3 tsp
Butter - for spreading on bread
Heat oil in a pan. Add the onion and cook on low heat, stirring occasionally until they start to brown. Add ginger, garlic and tomatoes. Add salt, sugar, chilli/sambar powder. Mix well. Cover and let it cook until the tomatoes are soft and mushy. Remove the lid and heat till all the moisture evaporates.
To prepare the sandwich:
Spread butter on the bread slices. Spread some filling between two slices of bread and toast it in a sandwich maker.
Serve with ketchup on the side.
Do take a look at my fellow marathoners' kitchens....Srivalli,
Azeema, Bhagi, Champa, Gayathri Anand, Gayathri Kumar, Harini, Kamalika, Meena, Mina, Padma,  Pavani,PJ, Priya Mahadevan, Priya Suresh, Priya Vasu, Rujuta, Santosh, Saraswathi, Savitha, Shanavi, Smitha, Sowmya, Suma, Usha, Veena

Tasty Jones - not so tasty

After reading several rave reviews on Tasty Jones, we decided to go there for lunch today. The place is just opposite the GRT hotel in Pondy Bazaar, Chennai.
Done up entirely in red and white, the interior looks clean and nice. That's where the nice part of the restaurant begins and ends, though. Nothing else is worth writing about. The waiter wasn't able to help me choose something non-spicy for my daughter. We ordered fries, a veggie burger and a vegetable club sandwich. The fries was too oily. I mean, you could literally squeeze the oil out of those potatoes. When we got the rest of our order, to our surprise, each order had some fries on the side. Now, why the heck didn't that waiter tell us that we'd be getting fries with our main order?
As for the burger and the sandwich, the less said, the better. The sandwich was three dry-as-dust slices of bread stuffed with sliced tomatoes and cucumber. My daughter was not even able to chew those slices properly. She opened up the slices and was content with munching on a slice of raw tomato. Our burgers were, well, unlike any that we'd eaten anywhere. Instead of a patty, there were slices of tofu in it.....and it tasted...ummm.....not good.
I ended up paying 350 Rs. for the most unsatisfying meal of my life.
Will I go there again??? That's a big resounding definite NO!!!