Category: News and Updates

This month’s contest is really simple. I want to know what you are most thankful for in your life? All you have to do is post your answer to the discussion forum on the Thanksgiving Forum topic that I have created.

Two winners will be selected randomly from all the forum post entries.

Below is my checklist:

• You will not have email me anything this time. You can simply leave a posting on the Thanksgiving forum topic.
• If you are creating a new account for the forum, please enter your email address so that I can contact you after the contest is over. Don’t worry, your email address will not be public (only I will be able to see it).
• The deadline is November 30th.
• The winner will be featured on the homepage and a link to their website (if available).

1st Prize: $100 gift certificate from Amazon.com
2nd Prize: $25 gift certificate from Amazon.com

**Anyone can join this contest**

I hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving last week. I enjoyed reading all the things everyone is thankful for this year. Thank you for sharing them with me. Here are the two winners that I selected at random from the posts. Congratulations to both of you.

1st Place: Snygg

2nd Place: Bhawya

Thank you to everyone else that participated in the contest.

Diwali is around the corner. It’s an exciting time of year and I am already in the midst of decorating the house. I am planning on putting festive lights outside of the house. Then I will do some Rangoli designs on the front porch, also incorporating some fresh flowers. Of course I will decorate the house with some flameless candles as well. My granddaughters love helping me decorate for Diwali. I also like to incorporate games during Diwali. This year, I plan on creating a treasure hunt for the kids (similar to an Easter Egg Hunt). This is always a hit with the grandchildren, even my 12 year old granddaughter!

Most important in preparing for Diwali, is the FOOD! I believe food truly brings the family and loved ones together. I love making easy home-cooked snacks as Diwali gifts. I think its a thoughtful and heartfelt gift. Some of my ideas for snacks are Spicy Cashews, Nan Khatai, Til Ki Burfi, and Almond Brittle. 

This year I am planning two Diwali dinners. One dinner will be an intimate dinner with just family. The following day I am hosting another dinner with just friends. I have not finalized the menu yet. However, I am planning to make some sweets in advance. This will ease my work load and stress levels as Diwali approaches! My must-have sweets for Diwali include Gujias, Gulab Jamun and Chocolate Sandesh. I think this variety of desserts will please everyone.

I plan to finalize my Diwali dinner menu very soon and will keep you updated!

Navratri festival has just begun this month starting from October 5th till October 14th. During this festival, the Hindu deity Durga is worshipped. As part of the celebration, many people avoid grains as way of cleansing and purification. Devotees also refrain from consuming onions, garlic, meat, and alcohol during this time. In observance of this festival, this month’s contest is to make a grain free recipe using either potato or taro root as the main vegetable.

The specific rules are the following:

• You can do any type of recipe (appetizer, dessert, etc)
• You have to use either Potato or Taro root as the main vegetable.
  
• You may not use any grains in the recipe.
• You may not use onion or garlic in the recipe.
• It must be vegetarian and also egg-less.
• Please submit only ONE recipe.

In general I will only consider recipes that I feel are complete in regards to ingredients, measurement, and instruction. From there I am looking for creativity and a recipe that my viewers would enjoy to prepare on their own. I will be judging on overall recipe and presentation also.

Below is my checklist:

• Be Creative!
• Ingredients should be listed with measurements.
• Method must be explained clearly, so it’s easy to follow.
• Please include your NAME along with the recipe (as you would like it to appear).
• Search the web for ideas. There are many resources available.
• Please send me a detailed recipe to contest@manjulaskitchen.com
• You must also send original picture(s) of the recipe – do not simply grab a photo from the web. Otherwise your recipe will not be considered for entry.
• The deadline is October 27th.
  
• The winner will be featured on the homepage with the new recipe and a link to their website (if available).

1st Prize: $100 gift certificate from Amazon.com
2nd Prize: $25 gift certificate from Amazon.com

**Anyone can join this contest**

I hope everyone had a great Navratri and Diwali over the last month. I finally had a chance to review all the entries for October contest. They were all really good – I appreciate all the effort that you all put into creating the recipes. I know it takes a lot of time. While I enjoyed all the recipes, here are the winners this month and the top five entries. I would like to congratulate the winners and all participants:

Congratulations to both of you!!

Thank you to everyone else that also participated in the contest:

• Satyapaul
• Hina Mittal
• Shruti Soumya Panigrahi
• Gauri Jamadagni
• Hidemi Walsh
• Melanie Booth
• Aparna Goud
• Janit Bhutani
• Gia
• Sudha Prakash
• Rameshwari Bansod
• Neeta Vaish
• Shruti J
• Keshani Paste
• Divya Ravindran
• Veena Jain
• Razina Javed
• Anjana Ramamoorthy
• Shweta Chandak
• Rehana Khambaty
• Vrinda Mahesh
• Lakshmi Sailaja

• Juhi
• Shreyanka KR
• Upwaas Bhakarwadi
• Kanu
• Emily M. Walsh
• Sujit Kumar Sahu
• Geeta Rao
• Madhu Anjan
• Praseeja T
• Aarti Sarkar
• Lina Kapadia
• mujeeb4560
• Ben Thies
• Ami Patwari
• Manjusha Praveen
• Mala Sharma
• Shyamala Ravi
• Shreya
• Sushma
• Dimple
• Deepaviji
• Ranjini

This month’s contest is all about Corn. This grain can be used many different ways in vegetarian cooking. The specific rules are the following:

• You can do any type of recipe (appetizer, dessert, etc)
• You have to use Corn as the main ingredient.
  
• It must be vegetarian and also egg-less.
• Please submit only ONE recipe.

In general I will only consider recipes that I feel are complete in regards to ingredients, measurement, and instruction. From there I am looking for creativity and a recipe that my viewers would enjoy to prepare on their own. I will be judging on overall recipe and presentation also.

Below is my checklist:

• Be Creative!
• Ingredients should be listed with measurements.
• Method must be explained clearly, so it’s easy to follow.
• Please include your NAME along with the recipe (as you would like it to appear).
• Search the web for ideas. There are many resources available.
• Please send me a detailed recipe to contest@manjulaskitchen.com
• You must also send original picture(s) of the recipe – do not simply grab a photo from the web. Otherwise your recipe will not be considered for entry.
• The deadline is September 27th.
  
• The winner will be featured on the homepage with the new recipe and a link to their website (if available).

1st Prize: $100 gift certificate from Amazon.com
2nd Prize: $25 gift certificate from Amazon.com

**Anyone can join this contest**

Some very close friends of mine visited me this Thanksgiving holiday from Ann Arbor, Michigan. I really should say they are more like family. We make the effort at seeing each other, but I wish we could see each other more often. Ideally, they would live right here in San Diego! It would be great to walk to each other’s houses, have meals together, or just going for a walk together. When we are together, it is just so much fun. We never run out of things to talk about, whether we have conversations about politics, our kids, or life in general! I feel that great friends are hard to come by. In that regard, I feel very blessed.

In fact, one of my biggest supporters of my website are my friends who visited me. Their suggestion to me was to post recipes consisting of simple comfort food. Some favorites that came to mind were great recipes for grilled cheese sandwiches, vegetable quesadillas, Aloo Parathas, or Parathas using leftovers. I have decided that I will be working on a great recipe for a Grilled Potato Sandwich. Comfort food at its finest, especially during this holiday season! Until then!

One of my favorites sweet is called Milk Cake. This is an exotic and traditional dessert. Milk Cake is made with a few ingredients: milk, sugar and lightly flavored with cardamom. With so few ingredients it sounds like an easy recipe. There are many short cuts that I have tried for this recipe but none of them work to my satisfaction. One good thing about Milk Cake is that the ingredients should be easily available where ever you are.

I was quite happy with my original recipe, as it tastes great but it doesn’t have the right color. Milk Cake has three color sections: the top third is a creamy color, the bottom third is a light brown color, and the center is darker than the bottom. In the market the cake is about 3 to 4 inch thick so it can be sliced as cake. Normally, I will only make the cake an inch thick since I am not preparing it in large quantities. Alex for first time is saying that I should forget about the color and let’s shoot the video. In mean time, I found a recipe on Google which looked really good because it has solution to the color problem. I tried the recipe but it didn’t work. I want to give it one more try as I hope it will work.

August was also a great turn out with many recipes using Mango. I was really impressed with all the entries. However I can only select five best ones. Here are my top picks for this month. I would like to congratulate the winners and all participants:

Congratulations to both of you!!

Thank you to everyone else that also participated in the contest:

• Aparna Anurag
• Greenhorn Cook
• Thahseen Faizel
• santoshbangar
• Praseeja T
• Sushma Saggam
• Aban Kekobad
• Nisha Rathish
• Dulumani Das
• Radhika
• Chitrangada Kundu
• Jackson Thokchom
• Pramitha Avinash
• SHUBHANGI ASHOK GONE
• Kira Corbett
• Razina Javed
• Divya Ravindran
• Sowmya
• Aarti Sharma
• Shyamala Tandel
• YM Bhargavi
• Hidemi Walsh
• Ms. S.Vasumathi
• Devika R
• Pooja Agrawal

• Smita Gupta
• Sanam Alam
• Anusha Jayam Prabhakar
• REHANA KHAMBATY
• Bini Basheer
• Deepak
• Poornima
• Ramiti
• Gia
• Yahsir Waheed
• Nadia
• Nibedita
• Chitra Aditya
• Deepti
• Jayshree
• Archana
• Devangi Raval
• Amrita Datta
• Alekya Kishore
• Jamie Claire Wilson
• Sasi Kumar
• Sumedha Bailur
• Prerna
• Mohammad Shabaz Athar

This month’s contest will be another tropical fruit – the MANGO. There are so many things you can make with mangoes. I look forward to your creative recipe ideas. The specific rules are the following:

• You can do any type of recipe (appetizer, dessert, etc)
• You have to use Mango as the main ingredient. It can be ripened or unripened mango.
• It must be vegetarian and also egg-less.
• Please submit only ONE recipe.

In general I will only consider recipes that I feel are complete in regards to ingredients, measurement, and instruction. From there I am looking for creativity and a recipe that my viewers would enjoy to prepare on their own. I will be judging on overall recipe and presentation also.

Below is my checklist:

• Be Creative!
• Ingredients should be listed with measurements.
• Method must be explained clearly, so it’s easy to follow.
• Please include your NAME along with the recipe (as you would like it to appear).
• Search the web for ideas. There are many resources available.
• Please send me a detailed recipe to contest@manjulaskitchen.com
• You must also send original picture(s) of the recipe – do not simply grab a photo from the web. Otherwise your recipe will not be considered for entry.
• The deadline is August 26th.
  
• The winner will be featured on the homepage with the new recipe and a link to their website (if available).

1st Prize: $100 gift certificate from Amazon.com
2nd Prize: $25 gift certificate from Amazon.com

**Anyone can join this contest**

Everyone must really love coconuts because I received so many entries last month. There were many great recipe ideas and I really did have a tough time narrowing the selection. Here are the top five entries this month. I would like to congratulate the winners and the top five participants:

Congratulations to both of you!!

Thank you to everyone else that also participated in the contest:

• Sangeetha P N
• R.Sri Ragavi
• Brindha Sundaram
• SASMITA PATTANAIK
• Kanu
• Rehana Khambaty
• Greenhorn Cook
• Divya Ravindran
• Nehal Roy
• Megha Sharma
• Radhika Madhavan
• Hidemi Walsh
• Radhika
• Akshara Aksh
• Sampada
• Seetha Hariharan
• Sujitha Manoj
• Samantha S
• Adelina Srinivasan
• Poulami Biswas
• Marisa Raponi
• Christina Ashford
• Geanina
• Vijeta
• Richa Agarwal
• Bini Basheer
• Megha Bhattacherjee
• Anindita
• Madhavi
• Nima
• Deepalakshmi
• Bhawya Arun
• Rameshwari Bansod
• Sowmya

• Vanishree Tanksali
• Priya Nahar
• Pooja Agrawal
• S. Vasumathi
• Quratulain Noor
• Lalitha Swaminathan
• Saleha
• Vijaya Raghunathan
• Neha Salgaonkar
• Janani Rangarajan
• Dipti Joshi
• Shaima
• Bhavana Sagar
• Nav Sidhu
• Aarti Sharma
• Vandana
• Amit
• Kayal Kalidass
• Abhilasha
• Badri
• Khushboo Jwalant Dattani
• Gia
• Alekya
• Jigyasa Sachdeva
• Kaleena I. Soorma
• Nidhi
• Nibedita
• NamuD
• Namrata
• Rekha Damle
• Divya Ashok
• Neha Mittal
• Rishu Bansal

Father’s day is coming up this month on June 16th so for the contest this month, I am looking for the following:

1. Memorable 2-3 line story with your father
2. Recipe for your father’s favorite dish

Below is my checklist:

• Ingredients should be listed with measurements.
• Method must be explained clearly, so it’s easy to follow.
• Please include your name along with the recipe (as you would like it to appear).
• Please send me a detailed recipe to contest@manjulaskitchen.com
• You must also send original picture(s) of the recipe – do not simply grab a photo from the web. Otherwise your recipe will not be considered for entry.
• The deadline is June 27th.
• The winner will be featured on the homepage with the new recipe and a link to their website (if available).

1st Prize: $100 gift certificate from Amazon.com
2nd Prize: $25 gift certificate from Amazon.com

**Anyone can join this contest**

For July’s contest, it is all about coconuts. The specific rules are the following:

• It has to be a cold and refreshing drink or dessert
• It has to use coconut as the main ingredient
• It must be vegetarian and also egg-less.
• Please submit only ONE recipe.

In general I will only consider recipes that I feel are complete in regards to ingredients, measurement, and instruction. From there I am looking for creativity and a recipe that my viewers would enjoy to prepare on their own. I will be judging on overall recipe and presentation also.

Below is my checklist:

• Be Creative!
• Ingredients should be listed with measurements.
• Method must be explained clearly, so it’s easy to follow.
• Please include your name along with the recipe (as you would like it to appear).
• Search the web for ideas. There are many resources available.
• Please send me a detailed recipe to contest@manjulaskitchen.com
• You must also send original picture(s) of the recipe – do not simply grab a photo from the web. Otherwise your recipe will not be considered for entry.
• The deadline is July 27th.
  
• The winner will be featured on the homepage with the new recipe and a link to their website (if available).

1st Prize: $100 gift certificate from Amazon.com
2nd Prize: $25 gift certificate from Amazon.com

**Anyone can join this contest**

I really enjoyed reading all the Father’s Day stories, along with the recipes submitted. They were all great. The recipe that stood out this month is from Adelina Srinivasan for her recipe of Beet Soup meets Sambar. 2nd place goes to Kanu for Chole Bhature. Listed below are the top five entries this month also. I would like to congratulate the winners and the top five participants:

Congratulations to both of you!!

Thank you to everyone else that also participated in the contest:

• Lucky
• Pooja Joshi
• S.Varathan
• V. Janani
• Janani Rangarajan
• Bhawya Arun
• Apurva K
• Bini Basheer
• Hanna
• Kaleena I. Soorma
• Seemantini
• M Neha
• Shivani Sachde
• Deepalakshmi
• Hidemi Walsh
• Ashu

• Aparna Anurag
• Nancy Harbord
• Archana Bhogaraju
• Rameshwari Bansod
• Suprabha s.k.
• Gia
• Razina
• saijusadanandan
• Apurva Srivastava​
• Lubna Karim
• Sangeetha P N
• Samantha Skelly
• Ekta Sheth
• Lynne Neumann
• Aayushi
• Shireen