Toddler’s Snack – Quick Nutritious Poha (Flattened rice snack)

July 3, 20121 comment

Oh finally I could stop myself from continuing with my baking experiments! I know I haven’t posted some of the experiments I have been trying for last couple of weeks. I was not really satisfied with the results so will try some modifications and get back with the recipes. Baking can turn into an addiction and I am almost there! (phew)

Today’s recipe is a real quick snack for 1+ year olds, toddlers, in fact for anyone and everyone. I prepare this quite frequently for my little one as breakfast. Even sometimes as an evening snack.

I am sure, in India, most of us have “Poha” as one of our breakfast menu options. The one we prepare usually has onion and some vegetables and takes a decent amount of 25 to 30 minutes from scratch to end.

This recipe is a 7-10 minutes recipe in which you can serve a delicious and nutritious snack to your little one.

Ingredients

(will serve 1 toddler)

  • 1 medium size Tomato finely chopped
  • 1/4 carrot grated
  • 3 table spoon Chivra (flattened rice)
  • 1/4 tea spoon Black Mustard Seeds(Rai)
  • 1/4 tea spoon Salt
  • 1/4 tea spoon Turmeric Powder
  • A pinch Asafoetida (Hing)
  • 1/4 tea spoon Coriander Powder
  • Water to soak the Chivra (2 table spoon – approx) + for cooking tomatoes (2 table spoon – approx
  • 2-3 Curry leaves OR Green Coriander Leaves
  • 1 1/2 tea spoon Vegetable Oil of your choice (I use homemade clarified butter(ghee) for my little one)

Preparation Steps

  1. Heat oil/ghee in a small pan. Once hot, add mustard seeds and asafoetida.
  2. If Curry leaves are available then add them. ( If curry leaves are not available then we would use coriander leaves and add them at the end)
  3. Add tomatoes and stir 2-3 times and add water. Cover with a lid for 2-3 minutes on low flame.
  4. In the meantime, take the chivra in a small bowl and soak it in water.(I make it a little extra soft for my little one)
  5. Once the tomatoes are soft, add turmeric powder, coriander powder, salt and mix well.
  6. Add grated carrot and mix well.
  7. By now the chivra would have already soaked all the water, if not then drain out the extra water and add chivra to the pan having all the other ingredients.
  8. Mix well and cover with lid for 2 minutes on low flame.
  9. Add coriander leaves, if curry leaves were not added initially.

Sarah likes this for breakfast! Good for me (smiles). Try your luck with your baby!

Note: You can add the vegetables of your choice like potato, onion, beans, green peas etc, to make it more and more nutritious. The options I have stated are the ones which take very less time to prepare.

Read on to know the health benefits of tomatoes and another quick tomato dish.

Healthy Muffins – Walnut, Prune and Flaxseeds with Whole Wheat Flour!

June 26, 2012Comments: 4

I know it’s been long since I posted my last recipe. Somehow, was not able to concentrate to compile this post! This time, what I am sharing with you was a super hit at home and specially with kids! So coming late but coming with a bang is Whole wheat, Prune and Walnut muffin with ground Flax seeds. Huh! Can you ask for more nutrition and taste packaged together in a single recipe?! It was so satisfying to see my 6 year old niece and my 20 month old daughter hog on it (smiles)!

This recipe was a joint effort by me and my niece Parinita (Pari). Oh, I just can’t explain how enthusiastic a kid she is! Curious is the word for her and cooking is something she enjoys from core of her heart! Even at 6 she just loves it and is so much interested in it that I could not stop myself from planning a recipe with her! A few days back she was here to spend her day and we both had gala time preparing these muffins! Love you Pari and thanks for being a guest cook for my blog!  We took almost 40 minutes from scratch to end + 15 minutes to finish off the muffins!

My little one is so fascinated about Birthdays these days that she keeps singing the “Happy Birthday” song for everyone in the family. Whenever she sees photograph of a cake, she wishes to cut it and celebrate a birthday! So these muffins came really handy to give her the joy of cutting cake. Whenever she wishes to cut a cake, I get a muffin and she fulfils her desire and eats it as well. What else will I want!

If you are traveling with kids, it will be a saviour, if your kids like it (which they should as per my experience)! For my daughter, one muffin would make up for a meal! The best part about this recipe is the ingredients and the preparation time (35-40 minutes). Also depending on taste of family members, we can keep some without dry fruits (especially for kids), add some extra chocolates to a few…I feel this flexibility is the best part about muffins! In fact, we did this, since Pari doesn’t like dry fruits, we kept a couple of muffins without them and added some extra chocolate to that batter.

The recipe is inspired by Vegan Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins@Eggless Cooking.

Ingredients

(will make 10 muffins)

  • 3/4 cup All Purpose Flour (APF)
  • 1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
  • 1/4 cup ground Flax Seeds
  • 1 1/2 tea spoon Lemon Zest (approx. use two lemons)
  • 3/4 Cup vegetable oil (I used canola oil once and homemade clarified butter the other time)
  • 1 tea spoon Apple cider vinegar (or any vinegar of your choice should do)
  • 3/4 Cup Sugar (Use palm sugar as a healthier option)
  • 1/2 tea spoon Salt
  • 1 1/4 cup Milk
  • 1/2 tea spoon Baking Powder
  • 1 1/2  tea spoon Baking Soda
  • 3/4 tea spoon cinnamon
  • 8-10 pieces of walnut (cut into small pieces)
  • 5-6 Pitted Prunes (cut into halves)

Preparation Steps

  1. Mix together the oil, vinegar, sugar and milk in a bowl.
  2. Mix whole wheat and all purpose flour, baking powder and soda and sieve.
  3. Add salt, cinnamon and lemon zest
  4. Add the milk mixture to these dry ingredients slowly and keep mixing with a spatula to avoid lumps.
  5. One the entire milk mixture is added, mix the batter with a spatula for 2-3 minutes.
  6. Add the dry fruits and fold them in the batter. (You can keep some batter aside if for a couple of muffins without dry fruits if our kids don’t like them.)
  7. Keep the oven pre heated at 180 C.
  8. Grease the muffin tray and add the batter. Each cup should have batter till the top level
  9. Bake in oven at 180 C from 17 to 20 minutes. Insert a tooth pick to check if the muffins have baked. The tooth pick should come out clean.
  10. Once done, let the muffins cool down in tray for 5 minutes( if you can wait for that long it will be worth it (wink)!). Do not keep the tray under fan. It may make the muffins less spongy.

Wasn’t that fast and easy! Working women, this one is a quicker and your kids and family would love it! What are you waiting for; just add it to your weekend menu (smiles).

Do share your recipes if you have tried some muffins recently.

Take Care and have a Happy and Healthy life!

Date and Walnut Bread – Bread Baking using Whole Wheat Flour

June 8, 2012No comments

After my first successful try with breads, I gathered the guts to try a real Whole Wheat Bread with minimal APF(All Purpose Flour)! I took inspiration from a recent post of Sanjeeta’s LiteBite. This one is a whole wheat bread with dryfruits! I felt it was a little less moist and more dense as compared to my garlic bread. Reason may be higher proportion of whole wheat flour. I should add some more water/milk next time I guess and give it some more time to rise as compared to the one with 50-50 APF and whole wheat flour.

The Bread tasted quite good! Grilled with some jam or butter would really be a wholesome breakfast or a filling evening tea snack!

Made one loaf for this week and will try some other the next week (smiles)! Bread baking will be my weekly adventure now on, I am addicted to it!

Ingredients

For Dough

  • 2 cup Whole Wheat Flour
  • 1/2 cup All Purpose Flour(maida)
  • 1 tea spoon dry active Yeast + 1/4 Cup luke warm water (micro for 10 sec)
  • 2 tea spoon Sugar (you can add some more sugar if you like it sweet, brown sugar or jaggery sugar would be even better)
  • 1 tea spoon salt
  • 1 Cup luke warm Milk
  • 2 tea spoon vegetable oil
  • 4-5 drops of Vanilla Essense(for flavour)

For Flavour

  • 7-8 Dates (soaked in water for 3-4 hours)
  • 7-8 PItted Prunes
  • 1/2 Cup chopped Walnuts

(you can add any dry fruit of your choice like rasins, dry berries etc)

For Basting (applying a coat of liquid at the bread surface to retain moisture and to add a glaze to the crust)

  • 2 Table spoon milk(room temperature)
  • 2 Table spoon Olive Oil

Preparation Steps

If we divide on the basis of time, the entire bread baking can be divided into primarily  5 slots,

Yeast proofing – 20 minutes

1st rise – 1 hour 15 minutes (give this bread some more time til the time it rises to double its size. It is more of whole wheat so may take some extra time to rise)

2nd rise – 30 minutes

Baking – 30 minutes

Cooling time – 1 hour

  1. Take 1/4 cup water and microwave it for 10 seconds. The water should be just luke warm. Sprinkle yeast over it and keep it inside a pre-heated microwave for 20 minutes. After 10 minutes, check if the yeast is rising and bubbling. If not, throw away this water and try again. If the yeast doesn’t rise properly, bread will not come up properly. If the yeast is bubbling, just stir your finger in the solution and let it sit for another 10 minutes.
  2. In the mean time keep the flour ready. Make a well like hole and add the yeast water, sugar, salt and oil. Mix with light hands. Add milk, knead and make a rough dough ball.
  3. On a floured surface, stretch and beat this dough for 10 minutes. When you stretch, a mesh like structure should be visible in the dough.
  4. Once through, make a smooth ball of the dough. Grease the dough with Olive oil and place inside a big greased container to rise. Cover the container with a wet cloth.The container should be big enough as the dough would rise more than double its original size.
  5. To provide consistent temperature, place the container inside a microwave.
  6. After 1 hour 15 minutes(or till the time dough becomes double its size), take out the dough bowl from microwave. Punch it from the center and fold the sides inside.
  7. On the floured surface, use your knuckles to release the extra air from the dough. Use light hand movement.
  8. Roll the dough into a circle and spread chopped dry fruits. Close from side and form cylinder shaped dough.Spread the dry fruits on dough surface and press them a little.
  9. Place it inside the greased baking tin. I used a 9*4.5*2.5 inch rectangular baking tin, however a smaller size would easily do for this quantity.
  10. Grease the surface of dough. Cover it with a wet cloth.
  11. Let it rise for 30 minutes inside the microwave.
  12. After 30 minutes, pre heat the microwave at 180 degrees C.
  13. Sprinkle some sesame seeds on the dough to add flavour and look.
  14. Bake for 30 mins at 180 degrees C.
  15. Mix 2 table spoon milk Milk and Olive oil in a bowl. After 15 minutes, spread some milk-oil solution on the surface of bread.
  16. Place the bread tin back in microwave and now place a small bowl of water inside microwave to retain the moisture in bread.
  17. Let the bread bake for another 15 minutes. If baked properly, bread should sound hollow when you tap it at the back.
  18. Take it out from microwave and let it cool for 1 hour.

Eat as-is or grill it. You may also add some butter,jam or honey!

This bread is not as sweet as a cake. It is whole wheat and makes a very healthy option for a filling breakfast or a tea time partner!

 

Tips:

  • The flour for bread should always be on wet side. When we keep kneading it for 10 minutes, it automatically soaks water.
  • In case, you do not like very dense bread, increase the proportion of APF(all purpose flour) or add some glutin while kneading the dough.

This bread goes as my contribution to YeastSpotting.

Whole Wheat Garlic Bread

June 3, 2012Comments: 9

Baking – I have to admit, I am not very good at it but I love it (smiles). Infact, I should say that I never took it very seriously until last month when I really felt like learning this skill. The taste and aroma of a freshly baked bread or a cake is beyond any other. I have already shared how big a fan of breads I am and so are my daughter and hubby. (smiles) I somehow have not been very happy with the kind of whole wheat/ multigrain bread I am buying from the market and so all the more reason I wanted to try some home made healthy breads!

My first serious try - Whole Wheat Garlic Bread. Turned out nice to my suprise! I attended a 3 hour bread baking session recently and learnt a few tricks on how yeast should be treated and bread dough should be kneaded. However, there were some ingredients added to the recipe in that session, like glutin, bread improver etc., that I did not want to use. So I modified the recipe a bit, took some inspiration from Divya’s Easy Cooking and then went ahead with my own recipe.

Pre requisites: For baking, you must have measuring cups and spoons. The measurements should be accurate in this process.

Ingredients

For Batter

  • 1 tea spoon Dry Yeast
  • 1 1/4 cup All Purpose Flour
  • 1 1/4 cup Whole Wheat Flour
  • 1 tea spoon Sugar
  • 2 tea spoon Olive Oil
  • 1/2 tea spoon Salt (modify as per taste)
  • 1 cup Water

For Seasoning

  • 4-5 Garlic Cloves
  • 1/2 tea spoon Oregano

For Basting (applying a coat of liquid at the bread surface to retain moisture and to add a glaze to the crust)

  • 2 table spoon Olive Oil
  • 2 table spoon room temperature Milk

Preparation Steps

If we divide on the basis of time, the entire bread baking can be divided into primarily  5 slots,

Yeast proofing – 20 minutes

1st rise – 1 hour 15 minutes

2nd rise – 30 minutes

Baking – 30 minutes

Cooling time – 1 hour

Note: I have tried to mention each step in detail. It was my first try so I was more engrossed in making the bread and could not take many pictures. In the next bread recipe, I will add more pictures to the prepration steps.

  1. Take 1/4 cup water and microwave it for 10 seconds. The water should be just luke warm. Sprinkle yeast over it and keep it inside a pre-heated microwave for 20 minutes. After 10 minutes, check if the yeast is rising and bubbling. If not, throw away this water and try again. If the yeast doesn’t rise properly, bread will not come up properly. If the yeast is bubbling, just stir your finger in the solution and let it sit for another 10 minutes.
  2. In the mean time keep the flour ready. Make a well like hole and add the yeast water, sugar, salt and oil. Mix with light hands. Make a rough dough ball.
  3. On a floured surface, stretch and beat this dough for 10 minutes. When you stretch, a mesh like structure should be visible in the dough.
  4. Once through, make a smooth ball of the dough. Grease the dough with Olive oil and place inside a big greased container to rise. Cover the container with a wet cloth.The container should be big enough as the dough would rise more than double its original size.
  5. To provide consistent temperature, place the container inside a microwave.
  6. After 1 hour 15 minutes, take out the dough bowl from microwave. Punch it from the center and fold the sides inside.
  7. On the floured surface, use your knuckles to release the extra air from the dough. Use light hand movement.
  8. Roll the dough into a circle and spread garlic and Oregano seasoning. Close from side and form cylinder shaped dough.
  9. Place it inside the greased baking tin.
  10. Grease the surface of dough. Cover it with a wet cloth.
  11. Let it rise for 30 minutes inside the microwave.
  12. After 30 minutes. Pre heat the microwave at 180 degrees C.
  13. Sprinkle some sesame seeds on the dough to add flavour and look.
  14. Bake for 30 mins at 180 degrees C.
  15. Mix 2 table spoon milk Milk and Olive oil in a bowl. After 15 minutes, spread some milk-oil solution on the surface of bread.
  16. Place the bread tin back in microwave and now place a small bowl of water inside microwave to retain the moisture in bread.
  17. Let the bread bake for another 15 minutes.
  18. Take it out from microwave and let it cool for 1 hour.

Eat as-is or grill it. You may also add some butter and bread seasoning!

Try it once, and trust me, you would love the experience!

It would be real fun for kids 5+ year age who are interested in cooking/baking etc! My little one is too young for this right now (smiles)! My 6 year old niece, Pari, tasted the bread. She not only wants me to bake some more for her but also wants to join me when I make it the next time!

I really have realized, the satisfaction and nutrition of a hand made dish is far more than an instant buy machine-made product! 

 

Tip: Keep Flax Seeds and Sesame Seeds Handy – Add Them to Salads

May 27, 2012Comments: 2

To add more nutrition to your Salads – keep flaxseeds and sesame seeds handy for a quick topping!

Flax seeds

Nutritionists rank it among the top 10 health foods.

Benefits: It Boosts Immunity, helps in Healthy Brain Development, it is Heart Friendly, helps in getting Healthy Skin and Lustrous Hair, Helps in Joint Pain and Osteoarthritis, Helpful in Diabetes, Cure for Post Partum Depression and Hormone Regulation, Cancer Preventive and Healing Properties, Stress Releaser, Great for Weight Watchers, Helps in Constipation.

Flax seeds are the richest source of oil containing Omega 3 fatty acids. The Omega 3 fatty acids have shown to improve high blood pressure, autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis, allergies and inflammation, eczema, psoriasis, and many others as per health experts.

Caution : Flax turns rancid very quickly. Hence, flax seeds should always be refrigerated with the lid tightly on.

Refer the link to get more details on this wonder food.

Sesame Seeds

Benefits:

  • Excellent dietary source of calcium.
  • good source of manganese, copper, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, zinc.
  • Sesame is amongst the seeds rich in quality vitamins and minerals. They are very good sources of B-complex vitamins such as niacin, folic acid, thiamin (vitamin B1), pyridoxine (vitamin B6), and riboflavin.
  • Sesame seeds also contain sesamin and sesamolin, two substances that are thought to prevent high blood pressure and protect the liver against oxidative damage.
  • The seeds are also very good source of dietary proteins with fine quality amino acids that are essential for growth, especially in children.
  • The seeds are especially rich in mono-unsaturated fatty acid oleic acid, which comprise up to 50% fatty acids in them. Oleic acid helps to lower LDL or “bad cholesterol” and increase HDL or “good cholesterol” in the blood.

Refer the link to get more details on sesame seeds.

Keep both flax seeds and sesame seeds handy and just sprinkle them over salads as is OR crush them a little and then add to salads. They will add a very nice crunchy feel to your salad and not to mention the nutrition add-on!

My Tries:

Moong Dal, Oat and Amaranth Pan Cakes – Healthy & Yummy for all in the family!

May 25, 2012Comments: 8

I am always short on snack options for Sarah, so I keep looking for various types of recipes which would make her eat nutritious food (smiles)! I bought a new recipe book on Oats by Neeta Mehta recently. I thought of trying out one of the recipes but while working on the raw material for the recipe, I changed my mind and made something else out of it. Creativity has no boundaries, be it in cooking or some other niche!

To me, this recipe was a hit from nutrition perspective. It had Moong Dal, Oats, Amaranth and Curd. If Sarah likes it, what else would I want?!  So I went ahead and tried it to check if it is a hit tastewise also. Thankfully, everyone liked it and yes, Sarah too (smiles)!

Health Benefits

Lentils(dals) are very good source of protein. As per wikipedia,  with about 30% of their calories from protein, lentils have the third-highest level of protein, by weight, of any legume or nut, after soybeans and hemp. Lentils also contain dietary fiber, folate, vitamin B1, and minerals.

Moong dal is one of the most easily digestible dals and so is good for toddlers’ digestion too.

Oats and Curd are no less when it comes to health benefits. I mentioned earlier about some of their benefits in my post on Oats Idli.

Coming to Amaranth. Although I always ate amaranth laddo during fasts but I never knew what it was till I got introduced to this grain through my sister-in-law and since then I am a big fan of it. I keep adding it to idlis, Uttapam and added it to this recipe as well. Use of Amaranth adds to the nutritional value many folds.

  • It is high in Calcium and provides more protein than wheat.While the protein in amaranth is not complete, it is rich in the amino acid  lysine. Lysine is an essential amino acid necessary for proper growth, calcium  absorption and collagen production. Combining amaranth with beans, peanuts or  lentils creates a complete protein.
  • A  cup of amaranth provides 5 mg of iron, 160 mg of magnesium and 364 mg of phosphorus. It also provides more than 100 percent of the daily value for the  trace mineral manganese. One cup of amaranth is a source of six different  vitamins. Most notably, it provides 54 mcg of folate, necessary for red blood  cell function and fetal development, and .3 mg of vitamin B6, essential to your  ability to convert food into energy and proper functioning of red blood cells,  as well as the immune and nervous system.

Ingredients

  • 1 Cup Moong Dal
  • 1/4 Cup Oats
  • 1/4 Cup Amaranth
  • 1/2 Cup Curd
  • 1/4 Cup Water
  • 2-3 Green Chillis (can be altered based on need, I did not add any for Sarah)
  • 1 1/2 Tea Spoon Salt
  • 1/2 Cup Coriander Leaves

Preparation Steps

  1. Soak Moong Dal in water for an hour. Just keep enough water to soak the dal.
  2. Grind Moong Dal, Green Chilli and Coriander leaves in a grinder and make a thick paste.
  3. Add Oats and Amaranth, Curd and Salt and keep mixing.
  4. Add water to bring the batter to required consistency. It should be similar to cake batter.
  5. Heat up a non stick pan on medium flame, add some ghee/oil and spread the batter in small circles or one big circle as you like.
  6. Let it cook for a few minutes and then turn the pan cake upside down.
  7. Once the pan cake turns golden brown from both the sides, take them off the pan.
  8. Serve with Chutney/Sauce of your choice. I liked them with Corainder and Mint chutney and also with Maggi hot & sweet tomato chilli sauce!

Tip : You can add the ingredients of your choice to make it even more nutritious and delicious like grated carrot, chopped onion, chopped capsicum. Adding some spices like “garam masala” will also enhance the taste.

This recipe goes to the “Legume Love Affair 47″ hosted by Priya and Susan. Also to “Healthy Food for Healthy Kids – Toddler lunch”

References:

Tawa Fried Minty Paneer Tikka

May 15, 2012Comments: 8

This month onwards I am participating in the Magic Mingle event hosted by Kalyani of SizzlingTastebuds. The ingredients for this month are Pudina & Paneer (Mint & Cottage Cheese). Honestly this recipe is a fluke. Was trying a curry and ended up with a starter (wink).

My mom-in-law and hubby tasted it and asked me from where did I take this recipe! They just loved it (smiles)!

Ingredients

  • 100gms packed Paneer (I used Gopaljee)
  • 1/2 cup fresh Mint leaves
  • 2 Tea spoon Chat Masala
  • 1 1/2 Tea spoon Red Chilli powder
  • 2-3 Green chillies
  • 1/2 inch piece of Ginger
  • 1 medium size Onion
  • 2 Table spoon (slightly sour) curd
  • 2 Tea spoon Salt
  • 4 Tea Spoon Coriander powder
  • a pinch of Asafoetida (Hing) powder

Preparation Steps

  1. Cut the paneer into 11/2 inch long pieces
  2. Sprinkle Chat masala and red chilli powder  over paneer pieces and roll them so that the entire piece is coted with layer of spices
  3. Let the paneer stay coated in spices for 1/2 an hour
  4. Grind Mint leaves, ginger, onion and green chilli in a grinder
  5. Add 1/2 table spoon oil to a non-stick pan. Let the oil heat up.
  6. Add hing and then immediately add the mint paste to it.
  7. Stir the paste for a few minutes till the time it becomes completely dry
  8. Remove the paste from stove. Add curd to it and mix well.
  9. Places pieces of paneer in pan and press them so that the surface gets cooked and slightly crispy.
  10. Turn upside down and do the same with the other side.
  11. Add the paste to paneer and serve as a starter.

I love cooking, I loved it even more this time when I had to experiment/innovate and come up with something unique and delicious where the ingredients were pre-decided. It was really challenging and the dish turned out really yum and lip smacking!

Do you make any dish using Mint and cottage cheese. I would love to know and try it out…

Dear friends, please bear with the poor picture quality in this post. The usual camera has gone for repair and I clicked these from a stand-by so that work doesn’t stop!

 

Are you a Happy and Healthy Mom? Some tips to help you be one…

May 14, 2012Comments: 4

Hope you all enjoyed your “Mumma’s Day”. I did too. My daughter is going to be two in a few months! She has stared speaking now…so much so that she can mimic every single word that she hears! The entire day yesterday, she kept coming to me, hugging me, and saying “Happy Mumma Day” and every time she left me filled with more love and amazement ! I could not stop myself from thinking about these 20 months of motherhood…

Our life has changed since this little one has stepped in. I have changed and evolved as a person. I feel more compassionate and thoughtful towards everybody. My patience level has gone up multiple folds…I have started looking for reasons to be happy (smiles)! This journey of motherhood has been enriching in every aspect.

About a year back, I took some life changing decisions. Since I wanted to spend quantity and quality time with my little one I decided to go part time with my corporate life. It was a call I took after introspecing what I really wanted to do. During these past 20 months of motherhood, like all other moms, I have also gone through situations of stress and depression and I still go through these sometimes, when I am not able to find any time for myself or for my hubby.

However, I really do not feel that I have made a sacrifice of any kind with my career. In fact, I see this as an opportunity that God has bestowed on me in the larger scheme of things. I started writing this blog after Sarah was born, and this has now become my “Me-time”. I relate to myself through this blog, as it gives me a platform to indulge in something that I am very passionate about. I really don’t know how things will be when Sarah grows up and is not so dependent on me but right now I am enjoying each day of motherhood. I want to watch her grow from a baby to a young girl and a wonderful human being filled with curiosity and compassion (smiles).

Being a working mom, home maker, wife, daughter-in-law, I am always occupied with to-dos but then aren’t we women (especially moms) so amazing at multitasking?!

I read this quote somewhere and a smile came to me,

If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands?                                                ~Milton BerleTrying

Of course we still have only two hands to manage everything! However, to manage this multitasking we tend to ignore ourselves. We deprioritize our own needs. We end up getting into this mode quite often, don’t we? But if we as Moms are not happy and healthy, will we be able to keep our home happy and healthy? The answer is “NO”.

I read the latest post from Mommy-labs and those powerful words forced me to introspect and  “Ask a few questions to myself”.  Rashmie says “a happy – and healthy – mom is the best gift to her child.  While, a drained out, irritable, sulking, depressed mother leaves the worst effect on her child.”

Isn’t that so true?…

My today’s post is focuses on health; A Mom’s Health!  I will summarize a few tips related to kitchen and eating habits that would help you become a Happy and Healthy Mom !

  •  Prioritize & Plan

Plan your meals in advance. Look out for recipes which consume less time to cook and are yet healthy for you and your family. Doesn’t mean that you stop preparing some delicious recipes which are time taking but yes prioritize and plan those kinds for weekends.

  • Delegate

If you can afford to, delegate as far as possible. For example chopping veggies can be easily delegated to a helper. This will give you some extra time and create a job opportunity for someone else (wink)

  • Never Miss a Meal

In order to manage the to-dos of work, home, baby, family etc, we tend to skip a meal or delay it. Don’t get into this habit. Try to have small frequent meals.

- To have a meal, don’t wait for the time when there is nothing left in your to-do list.The to-do list is never ending (smiles).

- If you don’t want to spend time cooking again and again, make an extra serving of breakfast and have it as evening snack. Have salads (fruit and vegetable) or  fruit shakes in between the main meals. Get the salad ingredients cut by helper or else invest in an efficient food processor which can do the chopping for you. .

  • Keep Some Healthy Snacks Handy

- Preferably prepare some quick snacks like Roasted Fox Nuts, Nutribars once a week and have them at tea time or whenever you feel like.

- Include a handful of nuts like walnuts, almonds, cashew nuts in your daily diet. You just need to keep them at a place where they can be accessed while doing other things. For example at your dining table or right in front at the kitchen shelf. Trust me, you will not have to make any extra effort to grab a few. It will happen effortlessly (smiles).

  • Look Good & Feel Good

Don’t take it for granted that you have to live with those extra kilos you gained post pregnancy. Always keep a watch. Avoid sugar and deep fried food. Look good and feel healthy! If you feel good about yourself, you will feel good about people around you!

  • Last and the most important. Don’t compromise on sleep and exercise regularly.

I am sure you have your own ways to keep yourself and your family healthy. Do share with me and I will add to this list! Once again to all the Mommys, Have a Very Happy and Healthy Mother’s Day Life !

Tangy Minty Chickpea Salad

May 4, 2012Comments: 4

Being a Punjabi, chickpea curry is in my blood (wink) but strangely I never tried chickpea salad. Last week I finally tried it and more than me, my hubby liked it (smiles)!

I have been having chickpea curry for years but never knew about the immense health benefits it possess. Let me summarize what I read before I elaborate on the recipe.

Health Benefits of Chickpea

(Source : WHfoods.com)

Digestive Tract Support: Chickpeas contain lot of fibre. In addition to this plentiful amount, at least two-thirds of the fibre in chickpeas is insoluble. This insoluble fibre typically passes all the way through our digestive tract unchanged, until it reaches the last part of our large intestine (the colon). Bacteria in our colon can break down the chickpea’s insoluble fibre into short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) .With the extra amounts of energy provided by SCFAs from the insoluble fibre in chickpea, our colon cells can stay optimally active and healthy. Healthier colon cell function means lower risk for us of colon problems, including lower risk of colon cancer.

Unique Supply of Antioxidants: While containing small but valuable amounts of conventional antioxidant nutrients like vitamin C, vitamin E, and beta-carotene, chickpeas also contain more concentrated supplies of antioxidant phytonutrients. The mineral manganese is also provided in excellent amounts by chickpeas.

Decreased Cardiovascular Risks: Research shows that, as little as 3/4 cup of garbanzos per day can help lower our LDL-cholesterol, total cholesterol, and triglycerides in a one-month period of time.

Better Regulation of Blood Sugar: Due to the high protein and fibre composition. Chickpea help regulate blood sugar level.

 In a recent study participants were found to consume fewer snacks and fewer overall calories when supplementing their regular diet with chickpeas. So if you are on a weight loss regimen then it may support you there also(smiles)!

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Chickpeas
  • 2 long slices of Paneer finely chopped (Indian cottage cheese)
  • 1/2 cup Grapes
  • 1 Cucumber finely chopped
  • 1 small Tomato finely chopped
  • 1 medium size Onion finely chopped

For Dressing

  • 1 cup Mint leaves
  • 1/2 Raw mango
  • 2-3 Green chillies
  • 1 Tea spoon salt

Preparation Steps

Dressing

Grind all the ingredients together in a grinder with 2-3 spoons of water. (I did not make the paste very smooth as I wanted some mint texture to stay in the dressing)

Salad

  1. Wash chickpeas and keep them soaked in water overnight.
  2. Add 1/2 spoon salt and pressure cook the chickpeas. After one whistle keep them on low flame for another 4-5 minutes. (for salad chickpea should be less boiled than for the usual curry)
  3. Drain extra water and let the chickpeas cool down.
  4. Mix all the other salad ingredients and keep inside refrigerator.
  5. Add the mint dressing just before serving the salad.

I am sure you must have tried some version of chickpea salad at home. Do share your recipes! I think I will take a break from any new salads for next few days and try some of the recipes shared by my readers…

Hey wait my friend, if you like the recipe then don’t forget to like and share it (smiles)!

 

Green Papaya Salad

May 2, 2012Comments: 2

Looks like I am celebrating this month as Salad month (smiles). I think it is the onset of summers that has inspired me to try more and more salads in the last few weeks! Hey, this one is not a new try, this salad is my mom-in-law’s recipe and I just  truely love it because of its immense benefits and minimal preparation time!

It requires 2-3 ingredients and takes hardly 10 minutes from scratch. I am not kidding! Read on to know the entire recipe…

Before that, let me appraise you of some of the nutritional benefits of raw papaya that should motivate you to make this salad more than anything else (smiles).

Health Benefits of Raw Papaya

As quoted in WHfoods.com “Deliciously sweet with musky undertones and a soft, butter-like consistency, it is no wonder the papaya was reputably called the “fruit of the angels” by Christopher Columbus.”

Papayas are a rich source of,

  • Antioxidant nutrients such as carotenes, vitamin C and flavonoids
  • The B vitamins, folate and pantothenic acid
  • The minerals, potassium and magnesium and also fiber
  • Contains the digestive enzyme, papain and chymopapain

Together, these nutrients promote the health of the cardiovascular system, provide protection against colon cancer, promote digestive health, help lowering inflammation, support immune system, protect against macular degeneraion and also protect against Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Green Papaya

  • Papain enzyme present in green or unripe papaya is much more beneficial for our body than the ripened papaya fruit.
  • Green papaya juice helps in correction of bowel irregularities in a relatively short time including indigestion, constipation, acid reflux, heartburn, irritable bowel syndrome, stomach ulcers, and other more serious gastrointestinal disorders.

Ingredients of Salad

  • 1.2 kg grated raw papaya
  • 2 chopped green chilles
  • 7-8 Curry leaves
  • 1 table spoon lemon juice
  • 1 tea spoon musturd seeds
  • 11/2 tea spoon musturd oil (or any oil of your choice)
  • 1 tea spoon salt
  • 1/2 tea spoon turmeric powder

 Preparation Steps

  1.  Heat oil in a pan.
  2. Add musturd seeds, green chilly and curry leaves in sequence.
  3. After a minute, add grated papaya and mix well.
  4. Add salt and turmeric powder
  5. Cover the pan with a lid for 4-5 minutes.
  6. Keep checking every 2-3 minutes. Papaya should not get over cooked. It should be slightly raw.
  7. Once done, switch off the stove. Add lemon juice and mix well.

You can have it warm or cold, depending on your preference. I like it both ways!

Note: When shopping for raw papaya for this salad, try to get papaya which is hard and in turn more white from inside than yellow. The yellow ones do not taste as good as the white ones in this salad. The papaya you see in the picture above is slightly more yellow than I would prefer.

I also make a side dish of raw papaya along with Chapati. WiIl share the recipe soon. Do you use raw papaya in your meals? Do share your recipes. Considering the nutritional benefits of raw papaya, I would love to add more of it to my day to day meals! How about you?

References :