....and winner is....for Culinary Smackdown Battle Zucchini Time.

...end of the run, only one can be a winner and how hard it is to select one among many best.

When I started the competition, thought to follow the thumb rule, order all you guys, followed by request, cajole then beg....but believe I didn't proceed after 2nd rule, would have helped for more spread of words!. Anyway thanks folks for taking effort to cook for this event and sending it thro'. Never thought 9 recipes will be submitted, it was fun to sit down and get into each and everyone's recipe and select one. Can't believe I'm judging a cookery competition fantastic feeling it is, though I laugh at it sometimes, you already know I'm still an amateur cook! 

Here are the recipes in the order of submission and added one special thing I liked in the recipe

Una carbonara speciale from Ely's Nella cucina di Ely - addition of saffron in pasta is interesting!

Fruit nut palooza zucchini cake  from Devaki's Weave Thousand Flavour, olive oil  and spices in cakes can get me down on my knees! 

Zucchini Fritters from Akheela's Torview like the Indian flavour there!

Makkai ka zucchini from Deepika of My Life and spice, use of corn meal healthy version!

Ridge gourd and egg delight from Priya Sreeram of Bon Appetite, never had egg with veggies, it's interesting!

Zucchini bread with toasted almonds from Nutan of Rice N Spice, liked addition of cinnamon and nutmeg in bread!

Zucchini pineapple ginger cupcake with maple cream cheese frosting from Zesty South Indian Kitchen,  maple cream cheese yum!

Zucchini banana bread from Treat and Trick, banana in it perfect for breakfast!

Zucchini kefta from My Tasty Treat never thought of making kefta with Zucchini !

And Now The WINNER you would have already guessed, it is Fruit nut palooza zucchini cake  from Devaki's Weave Thousand Flavour. Congrats Devaki! send me your address, your gift is waiting to be despatched :) 

Congratulation all others as well. Wish to send you all those gifts packs may be next time will try to be more generous ha ha ..but will try all ur recipes soonish!

Now it is turn for Devaki to host the event for June, so lets tune in to see what theme she comes up with.

Catch you all in next post till then ciao from still sunny and beautiful Jyvaskyla, Finland!

PS: apologies for using all ur pic's without permission..hope it is ok with you guys! If not let me know, shall remove it! 

A Little Reminder - Bunch of Zucchini recipe ideas!

Things get evaporated out of my brain easily, wanted to make series of zucchini post, but couldn't get it done. Moreover the fact that I'm organizing an event flushed out of my brain...oh btw hello peeps.....

I'm heavily clouded at work, so unfortunately kept my blog starving! Thought instead of making a full post on one recipe, here are pic's of all recipes I wanted to share, promise to post few of those in following days...

Sail in zucchini boat with shrimp, pine nuts, rosemary, cherry tomatoes and parmesan cheese on top!

                                                 Zucchini chocolate cake with walnuts

So guys, so far I have 5 interesting entries, make my life more tough to choose the best one, send in yours for Zucchini Battle. Here some ideas for you, you never know may be it can help you to formulate (physics is running high in my blood) kick ass recipe.

                                   Spiced ricotta cheese zucchini rolls with olive oil and balsamic vinegar

                                                         Simple zucchini shrimp masala

Guess wat? I completed my first cake order. Yes first cake order for my colleague defence party on Saturday, was pretty excited, since whole group and few other from the department were present. It went fine, made choc caramel cake and black forest cake. Now after completing my PhD if I don't find a job, I know what to do! 

                                                                       Chocolate caramel cake

                                                                      Black-forest cake

And Devaki darling from Weave Thousand Flavors is organising a exciting food trip to Sicily : An Epicurean Voyage to Sicily, sounds fun right. Hop into her blog and join all the foodies on a fantastic journey to Sicily!! 

                                                  Cheery tomatoes, prawns zucchini pasta 

                                                                     Want some?

Happy Mom's day! - Breakfast ideas - Avocado with honey

Avocado with honey being my mum's fav, thought why not I post it on Mom's day. This light breakfast, we prefer mostly for Sunday mornings.

After reading so many post today where everyone shared many sweet incident with their mom's, all I remember is how I used to nag my mum everyday morning to drink milk, I hated milk to T, so everyday a drama was played. Milk should neither be hot nor cold, no foam, no cream. Mum prepares the way I want it (have no idea how) yet I will keep it my hand for long, then again when cream starts to form I  used to say "I will not drink this milk". 

As little girl I hated food generally, have troubled her to the extremes that I remember getting few light slaps! After which, I used to cry buckets creating more drama! These are such a sweet memories, puts a smile on my face just with a thought of it! There are endless stories, incident and anecdote that could fill up page. The beauty is we haven't changed much till today. I still do harass/irritate her. She sometime forgets and asks me same question she asked before, I respond saying "Come on Mrs. Rajashekar you can think, think think". In the end I make her to answer. She is the same patient, enduring and loving. Till date I enjoy completely to irritate my mom and sis and argue with dad endlessly. But that's my way of love for them :) You see we were pampered kids!

Ah miss you guys! and Mom you are the best, as always thanks for bring me into this world and for making me what I'm today for giving me the best education for life and for teaching me how I should grow as a good human! These pic are for you mum enjoy drooling over it  :)

To my sis who is a mum of two little ones, I'm amazed how beautifully she is playing her role, for her life revolves around my niece and nephew, you are such a gorgeous mum! 

And to all the mum's you all are fabulous! happy mother's day!

We consider Avocado with honey as good healthy and easy breakfast.

All you need is

Well ripe Avocado 1

Honey  1-2 tbspn (according to amount of sweetness you need)

Cut the avocado, scoop out the pulp, smash lightly add honey mix well and enjoy!  

It's all yours - Culinary Smackdown Battle - Zucchini Time!

There isn't anything better when you get reward after all the effort given in. I won the dessert book for the Layered Mango Mousse Cake! Hurray! I won for the first time for food, did you hear that? Exactly after one year of blogging was a cherry on the cake! Thank you Tanvi from Sinfully Spicy for graciously stating my recipe as a winner! Love you girl!

Following the myth, now it my turn to host the May edition of this event. I have no experience in hosting neither I'm good in organising an event. But at some point a start has to be made. Considering it as a great opportunity, have selected Zucchini as the theme for the battle. 

All you have to do is, don your cooking cap, chop, grind or grate Zucchini and bring out creative Zucchini side in you!

For all the effort you are going to put in, I have some reward for you from Pentik, my fav brand for kitchen stuffs and accessories. I'm more than happy to share with you, spring collection, kitchen towel, table mat, oven gloves and paper towels. 

Here are few annoying rules that is to be followed!

• Culinary Smackdown Battle – Zucchini time will be held throughout the month of May on A Pinch of Love. Entry submission starts from 3rd May 2011 till 30th May will go according to Pacific Time.
• I will select and announce one winner who will also host the next month’s edition of this contest on June 1st 2011.
• Only One entry per person please, if you have two very interesting recipe I shall consider!
• It is compulsory to link back to this post on your blog.
• The entry does not have to be a new post.It can be an archived post
• The Smackdown Battle is open to anyone, anywhere in the world. 
• More than a contest, the purpose of this battle is to reach out to lots of bloggers and foodies around the globe, share culinary ideas and have fun.

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While you submit ur entries in this link, I would appreciated if you send me an email to ananda(dot)apl@gmail.com with one of ur food picture attached. I shall acknowledge the same soonest!

So what are you waiting for?  wave your wand and bring out a magic, since the the gift is all packed waiting to reach you.

Oh ya! I'm not exactly sure if zucchini is available in all cites in India, if not you could use ridge guard.

Any more queries, do drop me a mail at rananda(dot)apl@gmail.com  or just comment here....

Looking fwd to see ur creation
1st entry Una carbonara speciale from Ely's Nella cucina di Ely, all Italian food lovers this place is for you! yum pasta's!
2nd entry Fruit nut palooza zucchini cake  from Devaki's Weave Thousand Flavour filled with fun posts and wonderful recipes, I adore all the good looking prawns there!
3rd entry Zucchini Fritters from Akheela's Torview, a creative place with straight fwd recipes!
4th entry Makkai ka zucchini from Deepika of My Life and spice, who bring interesting stories with recipe!
5th Entry Ridge gourd and egg delight from Priya Sreeram of Bon Appetite, hop in for some more of innovative recipe
6th Entry Zucchini bread with toasted almonds from Nutan of Rice N Spice, pretty new blog for me know sure to enjoy!
7th Entry Zucchini pineapple ginger cupcake with maple cream cheese frosting from Zesty South Indian Kitchen, I admire how she always takes efforts to post step by step pic!
8th Entry Zucchini banana bread lady who brings crisp and interesting post!
9th Entry Zucchini kefta very new for me recipe and blog got to get in too see more!