Creamy Veggie Potato Stew

With Fall finally arriving and the cooling weather, it is time to get the recipes for soups, stews and chilli out! Today, my mom made her yummy lamb stew, but since I am a newly turned vegetarian, I had to miss out. So for dinner, I decided to whip up my own stew; vegetarian with lots of yummy veggies! I was surprised as this stew didn't lack any flavor! Here is the recipe. I hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients:
1 small onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper diced
1 tsp minced garlic or 1-2 cloves of garlic minced
2 large potatoes cubed into large pieces
2 sweet potatoes cubed into large pieces
2 large carrots, diced
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 cup broccoli
1/2 cup corn
1 stalk bok-choy cut
2 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp oil 
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp paprika
1 tsp dried parsley or handful fresh parsley finely minced
2 cups reserved liquid* (see recipe)
1 can coconut milk (13.5 fl. oz) **



Method:
1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, heat the water and stir in the potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots and celery. Cook 15 minutes, or until tender but firm. Remove from heat. Drain and set aside, reserving liquid. 
2. Place the oil and butter in the large saucepan. Add onions and green bell pepper. Over medium heat, slowly cook and stir 10 minutes, or until the onions are tender. Mix in the flour, salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic. Mix in the potato mixture. Continue cooking and stirring. Add reserved liquid and let stew cook for about 10 minutes. Add coconut milk, corn, broccoli, bokchoy and parsley and cook for about 3 minutes after stew comes to a boil. Turn off heat and let stand for about 10 minutes before serving. 

** If you don't like coconut milk, you can add regular milk or heavy cream instead. This will change the flavor but will still be very flavorful. 


Tip: You can add whatever veggies you like in your soup. You can omit the sweet potatoes if you aren't a fan and just double the potatoes. Experiment with your veggies and make it your own stew!

Diwali 2011- When is Diwali in 2011?

With so much discussion going on about the date for Diwali in 2011, I had to do some research and write a blog on it. Let me begin by saying that I am no expert, nor am I a pundit. But I do have the ability to do some extensive research and I am always eager to ask questions to learn more. For the past few days I have been extensively researching two topics, Amavasya and New Moon. The New Moon and Amavasya are pretty much the same thing, according to all the pages I have read. Lets start by defining the two terms so we have a basic understanding of what they mean. Amavasya, according to multiple experts, is the day of the new moon. It is usually considered the darkest day of the month or "no moon" day.

Now onto New Moon. According to NASA, "New Moon can not actually be seen because the illuminated side of the Moon is then pointed away from Earth." Given that definiton, this would make this night, the darkest night of the month. There is another argument that has come up. Some are saying that the moon is "growing" behind the scenes on this day, so it cannot be considered the day of "no moon". Well, according to NASA, the moon is always there. And even on the day prior to the new moon, it is there. But on the day of the new moon, the moon is positioned between the earth and sun making it invisible to us on Earth. So, I have come to the conclusion that the night of the new moon is the night of amavasya- total darkness.

So, now onto to the main argument, WHEN IS DIWALI IN 2011. Given the information above, Diwali falls on October 26th, 2011. It is the night of the new moon, the night when our sky is illuminated with the brightnes of the stars, but our moon (Chand) is not visible to us. Please keep in mind, the day before the new moon, the moon is actually waning and is in the process of becoming invisible, but it is only on the night of the new moon that the moon is totally invisible to us due to its aligment.

To further relief the confusion, I asked Kumud Ajmani of Glimpeses of Divinity for clarification and he agreed with the date as October 26th. Mr. Ajmani has extensive experience with NASA and has great knowlege of Hinduism. He also referred me to the Panchangam website, a website devoted to providing temples around the world with the dates and times of festivals and auspicious dates.

So, in my mind, it is settled, DIWAL is OCTOBER 26TH, 2011. Please refer to the various links I have posted throughout this blog post, and should you have any questions or comments, please feel free to comment below. And if you feel that I am incorrect, PLEASE, correct me with your references, expert advise. Thank you.

Easy Apple Pie

Today when I walked into our kitchen, I noticed that our fruit bowl was full of apples. We bought a few bags full of apples a few weeks ago for a prayer service at our house. Well, we still had a lot of apples left so I decided to make an apple pie. I found a recipe online that I altered to my likings. The recipe itself is amazing and I am definitely going to keep this for the holidays! Its so easy that you can make this during the week very easily! I used store bought pie crust, but I only had one so my apple pie, as you see below, is open faced :) More of a saucy tart. I took a little "scoop" of it and it is DELICIOUS! I had to share the recipe with everyone.

Ingredients:
-6 medium Gala/Fuji apples (you can  use any apple you like, I had these on hand & they worked out well!)
- 2  (9 inch) pie crusts
-1/2 c butter
-3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
-1/4 c water
-1/2 c white sugar
-1/2 c packed brown sugar
-1 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.
3. Place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Cover with a lattice work crust. (or leave it open if you only have one pie crust >.<) Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off.
4. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Continue baking for 45-60 minutes, until apples are soft.
5. Let pie completely cool before serving. Tastes amazing with vanilla ice-cream!