How to make Peanut butter at home

This has been such a discovery for me....ask me why?!...cause all this while I have never tasted peanut butter! Now, I realise what I have missed all these years! For some reason, I never felt like picking up one of these bottles from the stores...always felt, they may not taste great....why was I so prejudiced against this tasty wonder:-)?

Well, I no more need to regret cause I have learnt how to make it fresh in minutes right in my kitchen and I can make them anytime I need. So inexpensive and healthy with no added preservatives or extra fat! This is super simple and can be made in a few minutes. All you need is unsalted peanuts, a little bit of oil, a pinch of salt and flavoring of your choice...and ofcourse a blender:-)

Ingredients:

- 1/2 cup unsalted peanuts
- 2 tsp oil
- 1 tsp honey
- 1/8 tsp salt

Prep time: 15 minutes                  Cook time: NIL

Preparation:

- If using unroasted peanuts, roast the peanuts in 1/2 tsp oil until the red skin turns dark and you are able to smell the roasted nuts.

- Cool them for a while and de-skin the peanuts by rubbing them on a paper towel or in your palms.
- If you get roasted, peeled and unsalted peanuts, you can skip the above process. Also, you could use the peanuts with the red skin on too. I have made it that way.

- In a blender or processor, add the peanuts, salt, honey and oil and blend it well until smooth.

- If you hold them down in a spoon, it should stick and not fall. This is the right consistency.
- Eat them as it is or as a spread on your bread and refrigerate the remaining in an air tight container.

Foot note:
- The peanuts have to be ground until they turn really smooth. Do not add any water. The peanuts themselves would release a lot of oil while grinding.
- If you need a little crunchy spread, you could stop grinding while it is a little coarse.

Sending the recipe to

Winter Carnival hosted by Radhilka of Tickling Palates

Basic Tomato Sauce

Store bought tomato sauce....never again! I came across a very straight forward basic tomato sauce recipe posted by Elise at Simply recipes. When i read the entire post, i thought she must be kidding but no....its true! Once you make the sauce at home, you will never want to buy the stale canned sauces again especially for the pasta and pizza!

It was Friday evening and I had announced a three course meal to my better half! Well, it was his b'day eve and we were bored with eating out......not many restaurant options around the place we live! We had already tried every possible place and did not want to repeat any more. I had planned to make Lasagna for dinner and when i took out my can of tomato sauce, I noticed it had gone past its usable date. So, I ended up with our all time friend google:-)

He gave me too many options but this one stood out of the rest! Being a vegetarian, this recipe was perfect and  I am so glad I decided to use it:-))

Ingredients:

- 1 medium onion (i used red onion)
- 1 medium carrot
- 1 medium capsicum ( authentically it has to be celery but i did'nt have it!)
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 5 medium tomatoes
- 1 tsp pepper
- 2 tbsp oregano
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- Salt to taste
- 1 bay leaf

Prep time: 15 mins            Cook time: 30 mins

Preparation:

- Chop the onion, carrot, capsicum and garlic very finely.While doing this, boil the tomatoes on medium for about 10 minutes.

- In a deep pan, heat 2 tbsp of olive oil, add the bay leaf and then the chopped veggies. Cover and let them cook for 10 mins on medium flame.

- Add the oregano leaves, garlic, pepper and salt and let them cook for a further 5 minutes until the veggies are completely cooked and soft.

- The aroma that fills your home at this stage is fantastic!
- In the mean time, peel the skin off the tomatoes and deseed them all. If you add them with the seeds, it will make it more sour. You could use canned deseeded tomatoes too but that defeats the home made sauce concept:-)!

- Make a puree of 2 of the tomatoes and chop the remaining finely.
- Once the veggies are done, add the tomato puree and the chopped tomatoes. Mix well and boil for a couple of more minutes!
- Home made basic tomato sauce is ready!

At this stage you can whip the sauce with a blender if you prefer!

Foot note:

- You can add basil, thyme or other Italian herbs that you might have. If the flavours would be too strong for you, the herbs can be tied in a small muslin cloth and cooked along with the veggies. In the end, you can remove the bag of herbs!

I am sending this recipe to Herbs and Garlic event being guest hosted by :