Stylish and Lovely blog Awards

I got these 2 lovely awards from PJ  of Seduce Your tastebuds which asks me to share some information about me.   Information about me is here .  Thank you very much PJ.  I am truly honoured and touched.   It's these Awards that make me carry on blogging!

I share these Awards with all my blogger friends.

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My blog  is also available on Kindle.

www.givemesomespice.com

Carrot soup with a hint of onions, garlic, coriander served up with a bit of sunshine!

Every family has members who have specific tastes in their food and the chef in the family always ends up with the job of planning a meal that will please everyone or cooking several dishes to try and please everyone.   Some families -like mine- also have members who have certain dietary restrictions so there is an added burden of deciding what to cook!!   We have got round this problem by creating a list of foods that is acceptable to all.   We keep adding to this list and I am pleased to say that this carrot soup is in that list now!!   It's winter time in UK and also holiday time so it's nice to be able to cook something that everyone can enjoy.  This dish is lovely to have on it's own as  a lunchtime snack or can even be tarted up to serve as a starter.  It's a quick and easy to make dish too!!

Ingredients for 4 Servings:

2 tablespoons of melted butter
5-6 medium sized carrots
1 onion
3-4 cloves of Garlic
1 litre of vegetable stock ( I used a Knorr cube)
3 tablespoons of rice ( I used American easy to cook rice)
Fresh coriander
2-3 tablespoons of cream or fresh yogurt (I used Yogurt)

Method

1.     Wash and soak the rice in cold water whilst you prepare the vegetables.

2.    Wash and peel the carrots and grate them.  Chop or grate the onions and garlic. (You can chop the carrots into small cubes if you like!)

3.    Melt butter and add the garlic to it.  ( I love the smell of butter and garlic cooking!!)

4.    Add the  carrots and onions and stir.

5.   Add boiling water to the vegetable stock and add to the carrots.

6.   Drain and add the rice.

7.   Cover and cook for 20 minutes.

8.     The soup should now be cooked.  Add the fresh coriander.

9.    Using a food processor, blend the soup.  As this soup has cooked rice, it makes the soup rich and creamy.

10.  If the soup feels too thick, you can add half a cup boiling water.

11.  Just before serving, you can add cream, yogurt or butter if you like.  I added some fresh yogurt and it tasted great.

12.  The carrots I had were really delicious and sweet and did not need any garnishing.   However, you can add salt and pepper or even chilly flakes to the soup depending on your preference.

13.   If you wish to serve the soup as a starter, you can serve them with hot homemade bread rolls.   I made  garlic, green chillies and coriander bread rolls.  Here's a picture of them, just ready to go in the oven. (recipe to follow)

f you enjoy reading my blog, please click on Follow or become a fan of my page on Facebook or follow me on Twitter

My blog  is also available on Kindle

AWARDS AND DIWALI CELEBRATIONS

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Preeti from http://isingcakes.wordpress.com/ for giving me a lovely surprise by sharing this lovely blog award with me. The Award is similar to the one Biren of Roti N Rice also shared with me. It is such an honor to be included in both of their 15 personal favorite blogs as it came at  a very auspicious time.

The rules of the award are that you accept the award, post it on your blog with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.  You also pay it forward to 15 other bloggers.

It was hard picking 15 bloggers to share this Award with- especially as I had already picked 15 blogs a couple of weeks ago.   I would like to share this honor with all of you - my blogger friends.  Please accept this Award and display it on your blog with pride. 

I would also like to wish all my blogger friends a very Happy Diwali and a Prosperous New Year. 

If you enjoy reading my blog, please follow or become a fan of my page on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.  Please feel free to let me have your honest comments

www.givemesomespice.com

HAPPY AWARD MOMENTS

I  have received a bunch of Awards from Jay of Tasty Appetite.  A very big thanks Jay for sharing these wonderful awards with me. Jay has a great blog and you should visit it and check out her delicious recipes.

I am so excited and thrilled to receive a second set of Awards within a week.   I am truly honoured. I wish I had prepared a speech like they do at the Oscars! This is a big motivation for me to keep looking for more traditional recipes to blog.

I would like to share these awards with all my blogger friends.   I have tarted up the Awards so you should proudly display them on your blog and  ask all your friends to visit my blog. 

I love following your blogs and am grateful for all your comments and the compliments you leave on my page.

This is a certificate provided by Nivedita of Nivedita's Kitchen for participating in her event " Celeberate With Sweets”

If you enjoy reading my blog, please Follow or become a fan of my page on Facebook or follow me on Twitter

www.givemesomespice.com

Awards and Appreciations

I had a lovely surprise email, last night just before going to bed, from from Umm Mymoonah of the Taste of Pearl. She had nominated me for an Award.  This morning I found another nomination from PJ of Seduce your Tastebuds.  I feel blessed to receive two nominations after such a long time.  These Awards are like Gold dust to me and I will cherish them for a long time.

I started blogging as a hobby and through getting to know all of you, I have enriched my life, made friends with all of you and have managed to learn so much from all of you.  You all have a place in my heart.  The following quote says it all.....

According to this award, I have to share 7 things about myself and pass this to 15 friends/bloggers of my choice (such power!!).

So 7 things about myself:

1. I enjoy writing my blog and meeting other bloggers
2. I love reading – murder mystery themes are my favourite.
3. I love all kinds of music and like to listen to BBC Asian network when I am cooking.
4. I love nature and am always amazed at all its beauty.
5. I love to travel and have been to some amazing places.
6. My favourite colour is Red
7. My favourite drink is Diet Coke


It was really hard to pick 15 blogger friends. I  have nominated the following bloggers to pass this award to. Some of them already have loads of Awards and I hope that they still get a thrill from receiving this Award.  All their blogs are interesting and an inspiration to me. Please visit their blogs when you get a chance.

1. Jagruti from Joy of Cooking
2. Nayna of Simply Food
3. Sanjana from Ko Rasoi
4. Angela Jupp from Just Waffling
5. Vaishali from Adding Zest to your Cooking
6. Abraham Chacko from Chackos Kitchen
7. Satya from Super Yummy Recipes
8. Biren from Roti n Rice
9. Pari from Foodelicious
10. Rachana from Veggi Fare
11. Kitchen Queen from Khatta Meeta Theekha
12. SathyaSridhar from  SAMAYAL CORNER
13. Padhu from Padhu’s kitchen
14.  Preeti Kashyap from Write Food
15. Suhaina  from  My Singapore Kitchen


There are several other blogs I love following but unfortunately, I am restricted to just 15 nominations. Please pass on the award to your 15 favourite bloggers.

www.givemesomespice.com

The Honest Scrap Award

Thanks you very much to Sanjana of KO Rasoi for nominating my blog for the The Honest Scrap Award

According to the award rules, I now have to tell you 10 honest things about myself and pass on the award to 10 fellow food bloggers who are honest in their approach to blogging.

So here goes: 10 honest things about myself:

1. In spite of my father being a very good chef, I only started taking an
interest in cooking after I got married.
2. I have always wanted to write a cookery book but never had the time.
3. My colleagues call me the Princess (will tell you why one day!) and that’s
why I use it as my blog and twitter name.
4. I am very young at heart and always want to learn new things.
5. I grew up in Kenya.
6. I love to travel and meet new people and have travelled to some wonderful places.
7. I love watching old black and white Bollywood movies.
8. I am an obsessive cleaner and can not stand anything messy.
9. I would like to live in Florida when I retire.
10. No one – not even my family know what my favourite dish is!

And I would like to pass on this award to bloggers behind the following blogs:

1. Kajal of Kajaldreams
2. Sumathi of Chutney
3. Vaishalli of Zesty flavours
4. Kalva of curryinkadai
5. Kirsten of Kirstenkitchens
6. Nayana of the Vegetarian cooking
7. Cardommon of thespicewholovedme
8. Solange of Petitecuisinier
9. Chacko of Chackoskitchen
10. Deanne of Tastenc