Conversations in between breads

Alright I am being dam right serious about this conversation. I am a hardcore sandwich lover, or anything that involves bread including those ingredients that go in between two slices. I don’t like to shy away from my carb fix and I strongly believe for those that read this article will definitely not want to shy away from it either anymore, because there are some seriously gorgeous recopies that are being discussed here. Sandwiches & Burgers have become such a big part of our lifestyles now that it’s difficult not to like them or crave one at some point in the week. Have them for breakfast, lunch, dinner, midnight snack or whenever your hungry you can never really go wrong with them or what you choose to eat it with. We really hope this blog gets you having some serious conversations with what happen in between the bread with all the ingredients & flavors that compliment them.  

Chicken Bacon Ranch Grilled Cheese

This combination has Classic American flavors written all over it, mostly because of the ranch dressing. This grilled cheese combination is a meat lovers delight because it has this one key ingredient BACON!!!! I see the smiles on your face already. It is quite simple to put together and it is perfect when you have some left over roast chicken in the fridge that you just need to use. We recommend that you eat this as soon as it comes out of the grill to get that oozing melted cheese, crunchy sound of the crisp bacon and sweet taste of ranch all swirling in your mouth. Hmmm Yummm!

Green Goddess Grilled Cheese Sandwich

When we first heard about this recipe we weren’t quite sure what to make of it. It sounded quite fancy and also healthy, so we weren’t sure if it would be what we were looking for, but one quick look at the ingredients list and we were buoyed by how power packed it was with the good stuff. Spinach, avocado, garlic, kale, goat’s cheese and mozzarella all packed in one sandwich to give you amazing character and flavor to your meal. Greens are always good for us, especially when you consider the awesome trio of spinach, avocado and kale. The green goddess dressing might take just a tad bit of time to make, but it is totally worth the effort. You can also use the dressing in various other combinations, just experiment and have fun!

Croissant filled with brie and strawberry

This recipe has a very gourmet feel to it, but you will be surprised as to how delicious and simple this is. This combination is a perfect way to start your day if you’re a croissant lover and you know it is going to make you feel grand when our eat it. I surely am a croissant fan in the morning with my cup of coffee. The more I try this combination the more I fall in love with it, especially when it is strawberry season. You can also substitute strawberries with green grapes and it tastes equally great.

Fig, Gorgonzola and Honey Tartines (Gluten Free)

Tartines are described as a slice of bread topped off with butter (well that surely got my attention). This recipe doesn’t classically fit in the Conversations between the bread category and it more so like conversation on top of bread; I believe it still qualifies to be on here. I was never a fan of fruits in a sandwich before I tried the above recipe but since then I have been trying all different sorts of fruits on my toast/sandwiches. Figs are an amazing fruit that helps to lower high blood pressure and eating them is also a sweet way to loose weight as it has some really good fiber content in it.  Add that on top of a tartine and some gorgonzola sprinkled with honey and black pepper and this recipe is bound to win your heart.

Valentine's Day Special Recipes

14th of February is a day where we all hope that Mr Cupid gets us all stupidly in love and have a romantic day with our loved one. Some of us hate this day for being all mushy and a money making scheme for companies, others love it for being that all encompassing day of love to make us feel jolly good about being with our significant other.

However, we at the cook book team are dedicated to our food (well duh!) and find any and every occasion as an opportunity to find and share new recipes, and love too when its needed the most. We would like to take this opportunity for all those that have a sweet tooth and have a taste for a little Valentines Day joyness. Here we are going to give you five easy recipes that you can make, try and share. Be warned you might just fall in love ☺

Easy Valentine Days Cookies

Ok we have all eaten Wafer Cookies as kids and we have all loved them to bits, but for some reason this fascination tends to wear off as we grow older. Well guess what this recipe is bound to bring the love back for wafer cookies and also add that extra oomph that goes with it. This recipe is so easy to make and it can be done very last minute too. You might just end up making them for a whole lot of occasions.

Pink Chocolate Berry Oreos

This recipe is quite similar to the one above with a slight variation to it. It’s got OREOS involved. I have tried to figure out what’s the magic of Oreos is but it seems to taste amazing with a lot of different combinations but also most people seem to love them. This recipe is again very easy to make, and we are sure your going to love them more than your significant other (oops). So get on cracking with it.

Strawberry Brownie Kabobs

This next recipe is a BBQ recipe and it has a classic skewer styled theme to it. It’s just something fun to do and it’s bound to get someone excited with the presentation. If you love Brownies, Strawberries and Marshmallows this is the perfect combination for a sweet treat and it is actually pretty straight forward to make and they look so cute is going to get you some brownie points for sure.

Deviled Hearts

This is recipe is really a devils heart, because you scoop out the center of the strawberry and fill it with some creamy cheesecake filling in the center. Yumm!! This recipe takes less that 15 minutes to make, and it is quite healthy as well considering you’re cutting out on all other ingredients that make it a bit more fattening. This recipe is such a perfect cheesecake substitute minus the effort that goes into making a cheesecake. You’re going to be amazed at how delicious this tastes.

Sweet Rice Krispie Treats

Attention to all you Rice Krispie Lovers out there, Attention! These home made rice krispie treats with marshmallows are a joy to make and a pleasure to eat as well. Rice Krispies aren’t really that unhealthy (atleast that’s what I like to tell myself) but they are an instant hit with a bunch of people that like to keep it light but at the same time get their fix for their sweet tooth. Just make them heart shaped, wrap them up cutely and Viola! You have a special Valentines Day treat for anyone and everyone. Looks like a win-win situation.

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Some Veganism to your daily culinary experience

I once remember being amidst a group of Vegans at a time when I had not encountered veganism before and going like what the heck is this thing that they are talking about. Obviously I got explained what being a vegan was all about and honestly it took me a while to digest the whole concept but once it completely registered it was easy to see why people choose to be vegans. Being a vegan is a lifestyle choice but it also comes with additional health benefits. Vegans have the benefit of having minimum amounts of saturated fats in their food in addition to having a high fiber, high protein and a high carb diet. Vegans also seem to be relatively healthier because the food they eat has properties that reduce the cholesterol and blood pressure levels, and they also have the ability to make delicious food (well that is obviously why I am writing this). I have to say encountering vegan food was one of the strongest highlights of my culinary experience and I have made a New Year Resolution (I hope to follow it) to eat more vegan food and stay healthy and happy. Here are some of my favorite vegan recipes that you should try if your not fussy about these things.

Avocado Pasta

This recipe is very easy to make, and you will not believe how something so creamy can actually have no cream or butter in it. The recipe compromises of totally fresh ingredients and it is also a quick fix meal that is bound you making it again and again. Pasta and/or spaghetti are a great source of carbohydrates and avocados are packed with antioxidants, potassium and fiber, they also assist in lowering cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Creamy pasta is what we all like to eat anyways, why not go the avocado way?

Moroccan Styled Vegetable + Chickpea Stew

Vegetables are a vegan’s chef’s best friends, and so are Chickpeas as they are high in fiber and are a good substitute for proteins found in eggs.  This recipe is inspired by the combination of the two in a Moroccan themed stew. Add some sweet potatoes into the mix and you have a wholesome meal that is ready to rock your nutritional requirements. The stew can be eaten with your choice of rice or bread and it is equally filling without either too. A great recipe for all occasions with a bit of sweet and a bit of spicy which is totally gluten free. 

Baked Tofu Banh Mi

This Vietnamese inspired fusion sandwich is just so delicious that the effort that you make into putting it together is totally worth it, just ask US. Tofu is ever present in Vietnamese cuisine as well as a good substitute for cottage cheese in vegan food. This is a fusion based cuisine is totally an invention of the American cultural diversity and it is something that is a must try for every sandwich lover. The recipe is so unique and fulfilling that you should just not give it a miss. Pack it for breakfast, or lunch or just a light dinner you can never go wrong with this sandwich meal.

Smoky Black Bean Chilli

Black Bean are one of the healthiest legumes out there, they not only taste good with rice, but also go extremely well in combination with soups, salads and curries. This soup recipe is quite easy to make and extremely healthy at the same time. Black Beans have immense quantities of carbs, proteins and fiber content. Additionally they also have properties that help in calorie control too, which means that you can eat more without putting on too many calories.  We also believe that any food that has some alcohol in it has to taste good and so this recipe makes it on our list because it has some beer in it (you can smile).

Quinoa and Veggie collard wraps

Wraps are just another rendition of sandwiches, but in the form of wraps or rolls. Well this recipe is a healthier version of a wrap because instead of having a tortilla we are using collards, and well collards are really good on fiber, vitamins proteins and its green. Quinoa on the other hand is a super grain packed with fiber, proteins, iron and magnesium. Add in some chickpeas humus and avocados to the wrap and this is a power packed nutrient filled lunch, which takes less than 5 minutes to wrap up. Well not too bad for something this delicious.

Smashed Beet Crostini

This is one appetizer that I remember having at a Winter Solstice party with some friends. I was never a beetroot fan but after eating this I instantly became one. This recipe is such a great party dish that caters to everyone and it’s on a toast, which can never go wrong. Beetroot is extremely healthy and you also have chickpeas added this recipe to give it that added crunch and character. This scrumptious recipe is going to make your guests scrambling for more.

Vegan Nut Roast

 If you have ever been to England and know about their Sunday roast culture or had a Sunday roast once you are bound to be captivated by how awesome that meal is. Well I tried this amazing recipe at a local pub in England once and I had to instantly pay my compliments to the chef because I had never tasted anything like that in my life. A vegan Sunday roast that comprised of a Nut Roast was just an immense experience and it is so full of good stuff that after a long Saturday night of staying out with friends nothing seems to hit the spot better. This recipe is so healthy and delicious that once you try is you are bound to make it into a regular comfort food dish. My guarantee!

Soup Recipes for the Wintery Soul

Soups! Not take a minute and think of all those times that you have had a bowl of soup. Now take another minute and think about how good it made you feel after having that. Hmm! Nostalgic yet? Not quite, well don’t worry your bound to feel something after trying out some of these soup recipes as recommended by us and bring the feel good factor of having the old fashion staple food.  Doesn’t matter the time of the day, a bowl of soup is bound to hit the spot and it also has additional health benefits, so go ahead and try out something new in the kitchen this winter.

Spicy Thai Curry Noodle Soup

I have a feeling that there is a child inside all of us wanting to eat some noodles kind like Ramen or Maggie. Well here is an option for us all in the form of a Spicy Thai Curry Noodle Soup. It’s really easy to cook (under 15 minutes) and it also tastes good; minus the health factor add in the spice.  This soup is good for any day that your not in the mood to make anything elaborate, simple, easy and everything nice.

Chicken Avocado Lime Soup

Avocado seems to be our theme even though its winter, nevertheless we love avocados because of how healthy they are (packed with antioxidants) and how great they taste too. This soup is goanna blow your mind because of its simplicity in taste and how healthy it is. It is also going to give you that spice kick which is always good for a winter day packed with chicken and the taste of zingy lime. Hmmmm! I sure am drooling already.

Hearty Minestrone Soup

This soup is bound to get you begging for more. It’s got no meat in it and it contains over 10 veggies (Whoa!), no better way to eat them I suppose. Just all the veg you have in your kitchen into a Hearty Minestrone Soup and this soup is full of healthy stuff, which you can definitely not go wrong with.  This soup is filled with goodness of the veggies and it is bound to make those who have it feel a world of good. Use some bread for dunking as well for all you bread lovers.

Hearty Pasta Soup

This soup is for all those pasta lovers out there. This soup is low on fat, full of fiber, filled with veggies, carbohydrates, easy, filling and quick to cook.  Need I say more? This is just a wholesome healthy meal, which is good for anytime lunch or supper, you choose. 

Creamy Tomato and Basil Soup

What’s better than a bowl of warm creamy tomato soup on a cold winter day, maybe hot chocolate, but lets stick to the theme for now.  This soup is one of the most popular soups in Indian restaurants and it’s always a hit. This soup is actually really easy to make and you can always add in some herbs and spices up to you like to add that twist of flavor. An accompanying sandwich with this soup will never go amiss either. Easy, light and delicious!

Top 10 Christmas Recipes this December


Check out some of our recommended Christmas recipes for your Christmas dinner. From Garlic Prime Ribs to Banana bread let us help you make your life a little easier and delicious this Christmas.

Garlic Prime Ribs There is nothing that truly gets the taste buds tingling other than the perfectly cooked prime rib, with the perfect crust and the garlic aftertaste. Traditionally, prime ribs are an American classic for Christmas dinners, and so its traditionally popular.

Oatmeal Apple Cookies Cookies, Oatmeal and Apples, Hmm! Sounds good as it is. Oatmeal is healthy and an apple a day keeps the doc away, that in the form of a cookie makes it an instant hit.

Cheesecake Cups These wonderful bites sized delights are bound to be a hit at your Christmas dinner this year. People love Cheesecakes, now eating that in bite sized pieces just makes it twice as interesting.

Banana Bread This is a Classic Recipe that never goes out of style. Just hide it from the minions. Bananna Bread is healthy, filling and tasty and is a fitness freaks delight and most other Americans too.

Strawberry Glazed Ham Glazed Ham is the best way to win hearts on the table and a great addition for the Christmas dinner too. Ham or Yule ham is a traditional ham dish associated with modern Christmas and so it makes it on our list.

Super Easy Eggplant Parmesan The Great Italian Comfort food, is easy to make and is popular my quite a distance. Eggplants are healthy and the vegetarians also need to eat on Christmas so get going and cook some of this for the season.

Herb Roasted Sweet Potato Sweet Potatoes are healthy and well sweet, so why not roast them to give them that crunchy factor and add some character by adding in some salt and herbs. Sweet Potatoes are taking over from normal potatoes slowly as a healthier option, so why not give it a go.

Spinach, Bacon and Mushroom Quiche A good solution for any meal is a crisp pastry case filled in with some creamy ingredients, and you will have it ready in a snap! It just so easy to make and so tasty to eat that you cannot give it a go, perfect for any occasion.

Healthy Bean Soup with Kale This healthy soup is perfect for those warm chilly nights, and did we already mentions Healthy?? It is the perfect way to start the meal, and it always hits the spot, a good conversation starter for sure.

Roasted and Caramelized Parsnip and Carrots These two veggies are in season during this time of the year, and its always amazing to eat fresh vegetables and good to have on the table. Vegies on the table are always a must, and so we choose this one for the season, and we believe rightly so.

Top 5 Cocktails to make this Christmas

Christmas is around the corner and we are all busy making last minute preparations for those Christmas parities, Secret Santa gifts, Christmas meals, Christmas jumper and so on and so forth. This added pressure makes the mind nimble. So to get your creative juices flowing, firm up your brain and build on the anticipation for the Christmas meal here are some Christmas Cocktails that will humble any persons soul and get you feeling all warm, fuzzy and festive on the inside.

Very Rich Hot Buttered Rum

Really Chocolaty Hot Chocolate and Rum. OH and don’t forget to add the marshmallows.

Cranberry Bourbon Fizz Taste cranberries in a new light this festive season, Cranberry Bourbon Fizz is a light and luscious cocktail great for your festivities.

Baileys Irish Cream (on the rocks or as it is) Creamy delight, have it on the rocks, or pour it in your coffee and let the magic of Baileys it do the rest

Sugar & Spiced white Russians A combination of sugary spiced and cinnamon is bound to kick up the feeling of holiday nostalgia, but so will the White Russian.

Cranberry & Rosemary White Sangria This is such a summer drink, but it adds the Christmas feel and is perfect for winter by just adding apples, cranberries and rosemary to the mix and Viola!

Bless thy Recipes! #ThanksGiving

If there is one time that we all look forward to having some cold turkey is when the fridge has some of that wonderful turkey leftover from Thanksgiving.

We enjoy every bit of those morsel of leftovers as much as the actual meal (sometimes even more) because it arouses a sense of nostalgia from the day itself, the moments of joy, feeling of being overly stuffed (like a turkey obviously) that we shared with our friends, family and close ones.

I remember my first Thanksgiving experience in the US and I honestly didn’t know what to expect. All I knew at that moment was that I should expect a feast fit for a king. Well, I wasn’t disappointed! We stated off with pleasantries of a few drinks, crisps and dip. Nothing too fancy, but I was told to save my self, and so I did for what awaited me. The table was laid, the knives sharpened and my jaw dropped to the floor when the whole course was spread in front of me. The sheer variety of food that lay in front of me was too much for me to take in the first glance itself. I had to ask maybe couple of times or more as to what exactly I was eating. It didn’t matter what I was eating actually because it all tasted bloody brilliant. I remember my aunt making this Indian tandoori spiced turkey which was just divine. I was always under the impression that that a turkey was supposed to be eaten whole, but she was way ahead of her times and cooked the turkey in bits so as to give the meat better consistency and flavor and WOW it was intense, and then there was the cranberry chutney to top it with.  Just thinking of it makes my stomach rumble. Of course there were seconds, a massive break and then thirds. But it was well worth it.

Thanksgiving evokes a sense of grandiosity and epic-ness that are related with food because it has everything that we need turkey, potato, carrots, breadcrumbs, cranberry chutney, stuffing, groovy gravy, ham, salad, sauce, bread and most of all for that sweet tooth delicious deserts.  It has got to be my most looking forward to meal of the year, and what a long wait it is, but it never disappoints. 

This year I am definitely in the mood to celebrate Thanksgiving!  What I am going to add to my feast is Honey maple roast carrots, mashed white potato and sweet potato mashup, Asparagus wrapped in bacon with rosemary, Zucchini Parmesan Buttermilk Biscuits, Toasted coconut green beans, spinach artichoke dip and to top it of the big daddy, Tandoori spiced Turkey! Oh and I almost forgot deserts, well that story is for another day.

My menu is ready what about yours? Get on the thecookbook app to discover some novel recipes and start planning now!

Happy Thanks Giving from the Cookbook app team! 

Halloween Special - Spooky & Delicious

As the minute hand crosses the 12pm line into the 31st of October, it marks the beginning of the spookiest festival of the year; Halloween. 

Halloween is a symbol for a cornucopia of activities that are mainly associated with the jack-o-lantern (Glowing Freaky carved pumpkin faces outside doorsteps), kids walking down neighbourhoods dressed in scary outfits trick-or-treating, attending costume parties, drinking loads of punch, visiting haunted houses, lots of other shenanigans involving elements of dark aesthetics and MOST IMPORTANTLY, SCARY LOOKING FOOD AND I MEAN SERIOUSLY SPOOKY.

Nevertheless Halloween has got to be one of the most fun festivals to come around during the month of October (besides the Beer drinkers dream: Oktoberfest and the Indian festival of lights: Diwali).

My first experience of Halloween as I can clearly remember was when I was 18 in Dayton, Ohio dressed in a super devil costume, and to be honest I was surprised to see people dressed up in costumes eating gross and scary looking chocolate, sweets and candies looking closely like characters of a Tim Burton movie. Honestly I was completely buoyed by the effort a person put into making those gorgeously ugly looking goodies for folks to eat and that is something that still sticks with me till today. Obviously the Halloween parties were amazing, but some of the Halloween themed food and sweets that were dished out were amazing. We at the CookBook have put together a list of recipes, from alien urine to sausage mummies and worms to eyeball pastas, that not only look spooky, but at the same time taste deliciously great. 

Reflecting upon the Halloween experience I have to say that food is definitely a big part of the celebration and it completely enhancing the whole Halloween experiences beyond costume parties and trick-or-treating. So why don’t you trick yourself into making a treat and add that element of Scary, spooky surprises for this Halloween.

Get on the CookBook app and try some of the recipes that we have in store for you and make this Halloween a bloodcurdling one (I hear witches laughing in the background!!).

Here's a toast to summer and its wonderful moments. Cookbook brings you a set of summer delights that are sure to make your mouth's water. Cool down with your buddies this summer with some yummy treats.

Sun, Sand & Cookbook.

Show your body some love this summer. Pamper it with some fresh strawberries to keep you super charged all throughout the day.

Nothing like a nutritious breakfast after a hard and long workout. Fruits and water lets you recharge quickly and get back to work fit and smart.

Me and my friends started Riafy in 2012 coz we loved RIA— an algorithm that could learn what you wanted and subsequently get it for you. Most people felt RIA was magical; it was ‘worthless’ for this very reason. They just refused to believe in it.

The most valuable thing we’ve realised in the last 2 years at Riafy is that people believe in tangibles; and not magic. Numbers drive belief. Numbers like user-base, life time value, revenue, market size and so on. If you get these numbers right, they will reach out to know how you got them. That’s when you should be talking about your ‘magic tricks’.

We started making recipe apps coz we wanted to get our numbers right. There were lots of recipe apps on Google Play; but only a handful of them had cracked the 1Million downloads mark. This meant that the competition was real tough. We had to come up with something compelling to get foodies to install our app. So we brought RIA to cooking. With RIA we would give people recipes to food they loved to eat. A simple use case — that’s whatSijo would call it.

Somewhere in between the last 7 months of making recipe apps, we fell in love again; this time with making people happy. Our simple recipe apps were making them smile. 11 year old kids to 90 year old grand parents were discovering the joy of cooking. From a little girl who baked a chocolate cake for her parents’ anniversary to an Italian guy making Chinese to his Asian girlfriend, we were being a silent part of lots of happy moments.

To all those who have been asking why we make recipe apps— we make them coz we can touch the hearts of people we could’ve never touched otherwise. Recipes are like commodity; a lot of folks have it. But, we want to make them more than just commodity. We want to INSPIRE people to cook something delicious for their loved ones, and in turn be a part of their happiness.

Spread the joy; Cook something tonight — at least an omelette. 

It's Father's Day tomorrow. Why not be the 'sweet-heart' this year and make a yummy cookie for your dad?

What you'll need

Directions to cook

Have fun with your dad this Father's Day. Happy Cooking.

The Carnival of Football is back after 4 years. This time the FIFA Football Worldcup returns to Brazil, the Cradle of Football. Cookbook has launced a special edition just for the football season.

The recipe pack is perfect to cook with friends and to enjoy while watching the games. The recipes include drinks to appetizers and main course recipes which are super easy to make.

Enjoy the games with food perfect for the 'football party'.

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Superheroes are REAL. We grew up seeing one almost everyday of our lives. MOMs..! We've kept her awake for countless hours when we were kids; and continue to do so even today with our 'silly issues'.

This mother's day, let us all make her happy for a change. Surprise here with a delicious treat made just for her. Cookbook has a Mother's Day collection lined up thats easy to make, even for newbies. Make something delicious for your mom and let the Joy of Cooking spread.

Let the smiles spread.

We are back!

Folks, our Cookbook apps recently faced a service outage. The apps were non-functional for approximately 36 hours. Our engineering team were hard at work to fix the same. We're delighted to inform you that Cookbook has been restored to its full functionality.

We are sorry for the inconvenience caused to all of you. Special thanks to our users who stood by us during the outage. Your support means everything to the team.

PS. Happy Easter to you all. Enjoy with some delicious recipes.

Love, Cookbook Team.

Easter is right around the corner. May the Almighty bless us all this holy week. Hope all of you're ready to 'dig in'. We've added a special easter segment to the Cookbook app for all of you. Have fun making some of the tastiest Easter delights tomorrow.