Love of greens

I did some experimenting yesterday. Instead of trashing the gorgeous pink-veined leaves of the beetroot bunch, I chopped it up and tossed it into saag-ki-dal recipe. Believe me, these leaves taste awesome. I have also eaten the pink radish's leaves as part of a salad sometime and that is going into my next dal recipe! :)

Here is how i made it -

Toor dal - 1 cup cooked with one large tomato until mashed

Beetroot leaves - one generous bunch, chopped till the stalk gets too fibery

Onion - one cut lengthwise

For seasoning -

Mustard

Jeera

Amchur powder for 'Khatta', tangy twist

chilly powder, coriander powder.

Procedure -

Tadka the ingredients in seasoning, add the cut leaves. Let the raw smell disseminate. Add the tadka and salt to cooked dal. Add enough water and let boil for about 5 min. Once it cools, add about a tsp of lemon juice. serve Hot.

Goes great with rotis and curd.

So have you tried any new ingredient in your dishes? How did it turn out?

Updates from me!

So here I am after more than a month I guess.. The non contribution being due to alas too much to do at work/home. I have realized that overworking is one of the easiest ways to lose track of health goals, especially when you dont get out of work early enough to see sunlight. Though I haven't been eating like crazy, I haven't really worked out in a while either, save for the few miles of walks each week by taking the boat instead of the train. Hoping to change that in the next few weeks & get back on the gym class rosters.

Sudan & I have discovered a new snack we both love, especially for that sweet tooth, baby oranges! They are soo yummy & great to enjoy after/before or as a mini meal!

I discovered a new salad place near work that makes a killer pear, olive oil, frisee, walnut & gorgonzola salad. The sweet & sour makes a great combo!

Saying no to rice does help in a big way to eating healthy. It makes you feel light all the time too!

Our newest love in the kitchen has to be tomatillos. These green tomato like fruit from mexico are sour & taste wonderful in dals, chutneys & kootu. Give it a try!

Apparently cutting about 50-70 calories a day helps a lot in the long term for your overall health.. try replacing your sugar with splenda or your cookie with an orange. Your body will thank you!

Tip of the day!

Look for spring onions, leeks and ramps (a wild onion) in your supermarkets this month. They make great omlette toppers. Eating whats in season is usually the way to go!
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Try bananas or dates before working out. It is an instant and healthy source of energy. Banana if you are working out for over an hour, otherwise like me for running for half an hour first thing in empty stomach in the mornings, one date should suffice. Way healthier than energy drinks that people gobble... don't you think?

****** I am adding a sidebar to keep the tip of the day or tips in general going.Post your tips there******

What kind of hungry are you?

Yesterday I spent  hours "working-from-home" by the window, expecting a snow-white scene to unfold and a blizzard to envelope my brownish yellow grass. But, as the day unwound, I watched the warning on weather.com turn from red to orange to nothing and was left with 8 mm of snow instead of the predicted 8 inches! Like someone said.."they just messed up the metrics"! 

The point of the post wasn't the snow or the lack of it really... but the hunger pangs that seemed to gnaw harder while I was at home! Almost four years back, when I had gained a lousy fifteen pounds in three months (blame it on the overdose of dating one does strictly pre-marriage times, sadly with the same guy..) anyways.. I am still trying to lose the left overs from that era and striving hard to fit into my skinny jeans again!

My first intitiative to lose the pounds was to barely run 1.25 miles, pant like a dog, drink an iota of milk in the name of breakfast, let the stomach rumble until it hurt, eat a meagre lunch, feel proud of it and then 3 pm would strike; the hunger devil (as coined by my cousin villus) would cause me to burn and crash. I would give in to a heavy dinner and feel guilty. The cycle would continue. No surprises - I gained more in the bargain.

Over time, I have finally come into consensus with my body and learnt to manage the food-health-fitness cycle. Although, I am still hit with between-meals hunger accompanied by a pity-emanating-stomach-rumbling noise that can be heard two cubes away! I have tamed the beast to fat free fruit yogurt or a bowl of fresh veggies or a fruit or handful of nuts for the past sixteen months or so.

But yesterday, being home and having a shelf of haldirams displayed for the benefit of the weak-hearted, I was tempted to take more between-meal breaks and pop a spoon of snacks down my throat. When one spoon gave way to one too many, I had decided that WFH wasn't good for the heart (figuratively and literally). I finally tied the growling beast and many crunchy carrots were eaten instead and ran the risk of being called a "cow" by N (technically it should have been rabbit.. but whatever!) .

So here is what I figured about hunger in general yesterday -

1. Hungry every two hours - eat meager meals every two hours.

2. Ravenous during meal times - eat like no tomorrow each of these times

3. Balance hunger - crazy-I-will-die during breakfast, I-will-eat--to-survive at lunch, I-will-eat-because-its-dinner-time during dinner.

4. Snacker - eat whenever i please even if I am not hungry. My heart wants it.

5. Un-foodie - never know when it is meal-time. Who needs food, I say?
6. Skipper - I am too busy to be wasting time eating.. I will skip now and hog later when famished

7. the in-between - Big hungry during meal times. Small hungry between meal times.
8. superman err... super-human hungry (for fear of sounding politically incorrect!) - interleaved, cyclic, biological clock keeping, scrupulous, always fit hunger! phew!

So what kind of hungry are you?? How do you deal with hunger pangs? How do you deal with cravings that have nothing to do with hunger pangs?

Share your thoughts and let it be a help and inspiration for better or worse! =)

Mail/chat/facebook me the miles for the week tomorrow!

I STALKED the soup ( pun intended! ;-) )

Last time (almost 2 years ago) I had encountered a particular debacle with my soup making. I had attempted the mixer to pulp the scorching hot veggies straight off the pressure cooker, only to have the steaming pieces go haywire and splash on my face. I had however escaped with a few burn scars and caused everyone around a near heart-attack with my screeching!

Hence, I never braved myself to try soups again for a long time; until last week, when I went for minestrone like soup which didn’t require the mixer. My soup-making-soul was kindled and to top it, I have gleefully hit common grounds with N on a soupy dinner love. Going forward, I have decided to make at least one dinner per fortnight supplemented with a hot soup!

This week’s veggie soup seems a lot healthier, for I deviously dumped in it the broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage stalks, which we otherwise throw, for the fear of turning into cows chewing cuds! :P

                                  Colorful veggies for the soup! :)

Recipe –

*  Stir fry Cuds/stalks/all veggies you dig or don’t like to eat in the original form in a spoon of olive oil.

*  Throw in (in Ratatouille style) couple of broken red chillies, few peppercorns, basil leaves, ginger and garlic  to taste and breathe in the green flavor combined with spices!

*  Add tomato in the end, before removing the veggies from the stove, so that it’s semi-cooked.

*  Let them cool down (wait for about an hour!)

*  Add them to the mixer and pulp it adding as little water as possible.

*  In a heavy bottom vessel, add a small scoop of butter. Splutter jeera seeds (optional)

*  Add the pulp to this and enough water to get a soupy consistency. Add salt to taste.

*  Let it simmer with tiny almost-boiling bubbles for about 10 to 15 min.

Serve hot smeared with crushed pepper and oregano flakes.

Note: Add atleast 2 tomatoes to get the tangy touch. I also added the pineapple hard center, which is not otherwise eaten, to give a tinge of sweetness to the soup.

So the next time, before you throw away that hard stalk, think again!

Please share other thoughts on the parts we throw away but are the most nutritious. I recently read about potatoes having most of the good nutrients in the skin. So I am thinking of attempting cooking them with the skin the next time!

Hope everyone is eating healthy and working harder!
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Noteworthy - Guess who has graced us with her presence and involvement in the blog by signing up for the miles?? I will keep you at bay and leave a small clue - the beacon of vegetarianism among us who does not like vegetables! :)

Spinach soup

This is a twist on the traditional Palak panner that packs a punch & is just as if not more yum! Sudan & I licked our bowls clean when I made this last time, so here goes:

For two servings you will need:

1. two green chillies
2. one ripe tomato
3. Half a red onion
4. a few peppercorns
5. two pods of Garlic
6. A cup of spinach
7. a few cloves & cinnamon
8. A tablespoon of cream (optional, but it does make it more yum!)
7. Salt to taste
8. Oil

Add a tablespoon of oil & saute the spinach until it is cooked. Blend to a lush green paste.
Puree tomatoes to a fine paste
Chop the garlic, onions & green chillies finely & saute in oil with cloves & cinnamon.
Add the pureed tomatoes & salt to the mix & cook to a boil.
Powder the peppercorn & add to the mix.
Finally add the spinach & the cream & heat for 5 minutes. You should not overcook the spinach.

Enjoy with dippable bread sticks!

(Chicken) Egg drop Soup

To commemorate the occasion of National Soup month and also being an ardent fan of soups(I even bought a soup recipe book long ago!), I decided to go on a soup dinner tonight despite of a not-so-interested-about-soups husband.. lucky for me, the weather is in my favor :D

While I was going through the recipe book to pick a soup, I was in a fix.. there were about 500 varieties! And the ingredients were from all over the world representing different climates and cultures.. I did not even hear about soups served cold till I came to the USofA. When I was really young and was introduced to the we-dine-out-of-home-for-special-occasions-only culture, the only two soups I used to see on the menu in the restaurants of Tirupati were the Tomato soup and the Veg/Chicken Egg drop soup aka Sweet corn soup. So I decided to make my favorite soup of childhood :)

Ingredients:

• Creamed style sweet corn can (you can find it in the canned food section)
• Chicken breast (cut into small pieces)- one
  
• Corn starch (not cornmeal)- 2tbspn
  
• Egg whites - 2
  
• Salt to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 4 cups water
  

Procedure:

• Boil the water in a pan.
• After the water boils, salt it and add the sweet corn from the tin.
• Let it boil again. Now add the chicken breast meat and let it boil till it cooks(for about 3 mins)
• Mix the cornstarch in a separate bowl with a tbspn of water and add this to the soup. You will notice that the soup thickens.. you can always add some more or less cornstarch depending on how you like the consistency of the soup but always remember to keep stirring the soup continuously while adding the thickening agent(cornstarch) so no lumps would form.
• Add the Egg white and whisk it in the bowl so there will be no big chunks of egg. Egg whites cook very quick so this step can also be done with the flame switched off.
• Finally add freshly ground black pepper and Enjoy!

Note:

• This soup should serve about four people as a meal.
  
• As this belongs to the family of Chinese soups, it can be served with soy sauce, chili vinegar and the likes as enjoyed by you.
• For a vegetarian version, cut carrots and green beans into very small cubes(chewable) and add it to the boiling water after step1 and boil it till they cook.. the rest would be the same in both cases except of-course you skip the chicken and egg in your soup.

Be it a homemade or canned or a takeout, lets keep the soups coming for the last week left in the month!

Till then enjoy your bowl of hearty soup!

what soup are you?

There is nothing like cuddling next to the fire place with a warm bowl of soup on a cold day.  It is such a feel good meal which keeps you so full and happy after a long winter day. I came across this article and wanted to share it here.. did you know that this month is celebrated as the National Soup Month?

Soup Therapy

To honor this, I decide to have soup for dinner tomorrow. ;)

Happy soup eating! :D

Going Green!

 I used to hate anything and everything which could be categorized as 'good-for-you' when I was a kid but guess I am all grown up now. sigh! Yup. that's my dinner plate... seriously! very proud and showing-off :D

 Recently my husband got determined to go on a 'healthy' diet spree(good for him). That should explain i guess :)

I cribbed when I was also included in the plan but a simple lemon vinaigrette with a huge pile of spring salad mix made me happy. Big fan.(doesn't mean I am going to order a salad if I go out for dinner:D) Combine it with a protein(grilled fish/chicken breast or tofu for a vegetarian option) and a fruit for dessert.. you will feel so proud of yourself after an amazing workout. I did for sure!

Here is how I made my venigrette:

Extra Virgin Olive Oil(E-V-O-O as coined by Racheal Ray)- 2 tbspns
Freshly squeezed Lemon Juice(makes alot of difference)- 1tbspn
Salt- 1tspn(or less depending on you- I never measure)
freshly ground black pepper- 1/2tspn

Just whisk it all in a salad bowl(and the consistency changes immediately). Now toss your prewashed salad leaves until coated and Enjoy! That is it.. No kidding.


Note: Always add the vinaigrette right before you serve so the leaves stay crunchy.
 
You can also add

• Chopped almonds or walnuts or pecans for some crunch.

• Sun dried tomatoes for the chewy texture.

• Boiled egg whites for protein.
  

• Garlic and herb croutons for a bonus ;)
  

I am sure there are many many more variations on the basic salad recipe I posted here.. will keep updating as and when I try them personally :)

Healthy Eating everyone :)

PS: Hey Divs, Refreshing your memory, incase you got carried away, I am not on the PATH but enjoying the light meals and everyday workouts for now :D

The austere life

Almost four years ago in Chennai, I had attended a course at Isha yoga foundation. It had comprised of a one month program of pranayams, meditations, good food habits and all things peaceful. I had totally enjoyed it and even put it into practice for almost six months afterwards. And then MS happened, US happened and like all Masters Students, I began to neglect the body and mind!

I had taken away a lot of good things from the course; to love yoga being one of them and I have since attended many yoga lessons at gym and the ‘backbay yoga studio’ lessons in Boston during my internship there. And I also make an honest effort to begin the day with yoga.

Now that I am trying to bring a much needed balance into my diet and exercise regime, I tried to evoke the flavors of the natural foods; I had a chance of eating during the course. The food was all vegetarian and made with natural ingredients and nothing processed. I am sure, I can’t adopt such eating habits for life until sans teeth and coddling grandchildren, but I sure did make it a point to supplement my dinner or lunch with some of these interesting recipes. Here are a few recipes, I recall from the top of my head. They make great salad recipes –

          • Grated beets(yes! I have become a fan!), lemon juice, green chillies, shredded pudina and cilantro,   salt, dry roasted peanuts.

          • Grated carrots, green gram sprouts, grated ginger, lemon, basil leaves, salt

         • Finely cut cucumber, finely cut tomato, neem leaves, fresh pepper corns, moosambi juice, salt 
          •  peeled oranges, fresh grated cabbage, walnuts, methi leaves, grated coconut, cut red chillies

They are all mostly a blend of – one or more fresh veggies + something sour or bitter + something spicy + something citrus + something with a strong flavor.

So mix and match them up, all those veggies and lentils you see around, lying in your kitchen shelf! If you do fix up a great combo, do share them!

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On a happy note, I have come to know that Sush and her better half are on a salad drive and on the path to achieving the 20LBs-less before march challenge!  And I am hoping its because of that, Sush hasnt posted any new yummy recipes! 

I have been on a sinusoidal curve --
Skipped 3 days workout due to winter indoor allergy, though I snow shoveled :)
Avoided eating rice. substituted dosa with wheat dosas.
Killed it all by having an all KFC dinner (it was wedding day and N used it to advantage for the unhealthy fix)
Trying to get back with salad addendum to dinners!

Hope everyone else is keeping up their goals too! :)

Happy eating and don’t forget to mail me your miles for the week!

More healthy stuff and a popcorn shocker

NYtimes has become my source of inspiration for all things healthy, and i came across this article yesterday which totally changed my idea about movie theater popcorn:

Movie popcorn shocker

So it will be a small only, no butter please, and only at AMC. What do you guys think?

Speaking of health habits, these days i am loving a handful of walnuts in my special K cereal in the morning, topped with Blueberries, just the way Divya recommends in the last post. I have to balance myself to eat well at lunch to go to the gym in the evening before hunger pangs strike. Strangely enough, cardio at the gym takes away hunger, while weights leave me hungry all the time..

The Choices you make...

The nutri-grain ad starts with the tag line - "one good decision can lead to another"

It shows two days of poor eating habits like donuts-chinese-too much coffee-pint of icecream for dinner. And one day begins with nutri-grain, moves to salad and so forth, winds up with brushing teeth.

I cannot but agree more to the tag line, which was catchy and apt. I have often noticed this in my daily routine, when i begin it on a healthy note.

Recently mithra mentioned the NYtimes article on the time of the day for exercise. I can easily switch from morning to night person or vice-versa; but personally i prefer being a morning person and practice being one. Hence my exercise routine has stuck to wee hours (between 6 and 8) of morning, whether it is suryanamskarams or wii active or jogging outdoors. If I miss the golden hour, I miss my exercise for the day!

And whenever I begin my day burning modest calories, my decisions for the day stay healthy and gay as well! The inbetween-meals hunger attacks are always satiated with fruits alone. the evening-coffee-craving is automatically absent. Drinking lots of water and green tea after lunch comes naturally!

In the famous book "French women don't get fat" the author advocates one tiny dietary change each day, like choosing a smaller latte and then build the change gradually. 

Go ahead ....

* Pop a fruit in your morning cornflakes

* Replace your oil spoon with a smaller size

* Add another cup of water to your daily intake

So what choice did you make today to get the momentum going! ??

The good and ugly

So the holidays do "wonders" to your sleep and eat cycle. This week I have been struggling and juggling to fall asleep at 10 pm and wake up at wee hours of 6 am. And adding to this misery is sweet fancies after dinner; no surprises - I have been treating myself to a handsome scoop of vanilla icecream and dribbling it with qurbani ka meetha, which I scraped to the last drop last night.

On better news, chapatis are back on the lunch menu, after almost a week of rice. The dough has been complemented with flax-seed powder. For the non-sea-food eating junta out there, its a wonderful supplement of omega-3 fatty acids. You can read its benefits right here. And before you cringe about the healthy taste, it adds no flavor at all!

Another easy trick to ensure you get your daily dose of veggies, is to add grated carrots/beets/radish to the chapati dough.

Happy eating and exercising ! :)