Hearty Minestrone Soup

On the New Year day, we had Italian cuisine for lunch. It was the Minestrone Soup that filled the best part of our lunch. Sundar was saying yummy, a sip of the soup, yummy, a sip of the soup. This winter has started well with beautiful weather. Not much snow, and quite warm temp when we wanted an outing.,
Ever since, our visit to Olive garden has made us long for some Minestrone soup.

The lunch went like this, with some Minestrone soup, Mac 'n Cheese - baked, Spaghetti, and a dessert - Black Forest Cake to make the lunch complete.

Mac n Cheese - Baked

Hope you all kicked off 2011 and started a Beautiful, Joyful 2012!
We also did the same. We started by bringing the Italian cuisine to our home. The cheesy pasta filled with aromatic herbs make us gobble like a wolf, :)

Particularly, Mac n cheese has been favorite to 3 of us, except for Shyam. There's nothing more comforting than a good bowl of plain mac n' cheese. Pasta is a favorite no matter how its made and I always like to make from the scratch at home instead of using a box. So, I jazzed it up a bit by adding a few of my favorite stuffs.

Ravioli - fusion in Indian style

Sifting through the facts about whole grains.
What does ‘cracked wheat’ mean? Is your cereal really the best source of whole grains? 
It is essential we eat at least 32% of fiber a day! Not all cereals, grains gives 32 % of fiber.
I always make sure to include multi-grain, or whole wheat in roti, and also cereals with 32% of dietary fiber.
Whole wheat Ravioli (or Spaghetti, pasta) is a good source of fiber.

You need
2 cups Ravioli
1/4 cup red onion (small french cut)
1/2 cup red, yellow, green bell pepper (small french cut)
1/4 cup peas
1 tspn chilli sauce
1/2 tspn garlic powder
2 tspn oil for frying
1 1/2 tspn tomato ketchup (ravioli, pasta sauce will taste better)
5 cups of water for cooking ravioli

In a skillet, bring water to boil and add the ravioli. Cook till tender.
Fry the oinion and bell peppers with 2 tspn oil. Now add the chilli sauce and then add the frozen peas to it and stir well. For mroe spice, add freshly crushed black peppers. To this add the tomato ketchup.
Add the cooked Ravioli to the vegetables. Then add in the garlic powder. Add garlic powder at this stage give the ravioli a nice aroma and taste.
Cook untill all water evaporates.
Top with a mint leaf, a small cube of cheese and serve.

I also used some leftover Broccoli florets. I added the broccoli in the end, as it cooks fast and tends to get soggy.

This is my entry for Coloring your kids Delight for a colorful and attractive dish to make your eat without making fuss.
Wish you a happy cooking!