Chilled Strawberry Milkshake

4 pm is almost always tea time for me and coffee time for husband, but when Djokovic and Murray were fighting hard for each point last Sunday, running from one end to the other end of the court and sweating it out; we could feel the heat at home :)

To cool off I wanted to make something chilled, not heavy and wanted to enjoy a guilt free indulgence. So I thought of making strawberry milkshake, I had picked up 6 boxes of berries for 29 rupees each box for a local mall!! It was a steal, so I picked up almost all from the stacked berries (I know but I could not resist)

At first I wanted to make a strawberry jam, but then there was too much sugar in it.. so settled for this quick sweet sipping drink.

            

Ingredients	Quantity
Strawberries	125 grams
Milk	½ cup (200 ml cup)`
Ice cubes	½ cup
Sugar *	4 tbsp or more if berries are sour
Cut strawberries	To garnish

*I put 2 sugar free tablets each, another option is to replace sugar with honey.

Serves – 2 persons

Preparation time – 5 minutes

No cooking time

                    

Method:

• Wash strawberries under running water add them to the mixer, add milk and ice cubes.
• Whiz it through the mixer and serve chilled.
• In place of sugar add honey, I added 2 sugar free tablets.

Sending this to Shama's Event - Know your Dairy - Milk  and also linking it to Jagruti's Page

Vegetable Daliya for Brunch

My day was packed today, had to get to the dentist, pick up a dress material for a function, some more errands in between and buy veggies on the way back home. On days like these I don’t like to make a full meal, a heavy brunch is perfect to get me through the day.

I always keep a pack of daliya (broken wheat) at home, it stays good for months together, it’s simple to make and can be loaded with vegetables to make it filling.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients	Quantity
Whole wheat daliya	One cup (200 ml cup)
French beans chopped	½ cup
Onion finely chopped	1 large
Carrots finely chopped	1 cup (2-3 carrots)
Minced garlic	3-4 pods
Asafoetida (hing)	A pinch
Minced green chilies	2 small green chilies
Cumin seeds (jeera)	1 tsp
Mustard seeds (rai)	½ tsp
Refined Oil / Olive oil	1 tbsp
Salt	To taste
Coriander / diced carrots	To garnish

Serves – 2 persons

Preparation time – 20 minutes

Cooking time – 20 minutes

Method:

• Get all the preparations done – wash and blanch the french beans, chop them and set aside. Chop the carrots, onion, make the chili-garlic paste.

Get all preparation done

• Take a heavy bottom pan or non-stick pan, add oil, once the oil is hot add hing and then cumin seeds. Let the cumin splutter, then add the chili-garlic paste and sauté for half a minute.
• Then add the chopped onions, sauté them till they are golden brown.

Saute the onions

• Then add the chopped carrots and blanched and chopped carrots, sauté till the veggie have started to cook.

Add the vegetables

Saute the vegetables

• Then add one cup daliya, sauté for one minute, then add 2 cups of water, add salt for seasoning.

• Cover and cook for 10- 15 minutes, stir once in between to ensure daliya does not stick to the pan. Cook until done!

• Serve hot with a dollop of ghee, or have with fresh curds or dry curry leaves chutney like I did.

Note:

• Daliya gives you energy and keeps you full throughout the day.
• You can even roast the daliya before adding it to the veggies.
• I added 2 cups of water for one cup of daliya; adjust the water quantity depending on the vegetables you have added.
• With green peas found in abundance everywhere in winter, add them to this preparation or any other vegetable of your choice. It adds to the flavour of the daliya.

P.S. – As luck may have it, nothing got done today. The dentists were away for a seminar, I dint call and go I should have!
I dint get what I was looking for in the material department,  I could only get some vegetables on my way back home!
Looks like I have another packed day tomorrow, so something new and quick will be cooking in my kitchen.

Dry Radish Veggie with Chickpea Flour: Moolya chi Peeth Perun Bhaji

The weekend was testing, tough, tiring, sweaty and yet very satisfying; I completed my first mock 21.1 k run on Saturday. There wasn't a great improvement in my timing but hey that will happen in due course of time, I have to be persistent and patient.

The weather was in my favour with the sun hardly peeping out through-out the run which helped me to push myself a bit more than usual. The real test was the last part of the half marathon, mainly the last 3 kms, here the legs were already very heavy, I so wanted to walk for some time instead of running. But the sight of the finish line was calling out to me and I kept pushing myself till the end.  There was one concern post run, which has happened after every long run so far (any run exceeding 18 k is a long run) I threw up and was feeling nauseous throughout the day. I could barely eat anything till evening.

I googled to find out the reason:

• Having a dairy product before the run, I have milk n oats in small quantity before my long run, this could have led to the nausea.  In my next long run I will avoid this and have a toast instead.
• The second reason cited by our physio was the long gap before previous night dinner (7.45 pm) and the small pre run meal the next day (5.30am). She advised me to have a small snack just before going to bed, a non-citrus fruit like an apple, pear to help avoid nausea.
• My next long run is going to be the race day after 2 weeks, but do have a 12k run in between where I will have to try the above two options. It’s criminal to try something new on the Race Day!
• Keeping my fingers crossed and hoping all goes well for The Day!

Getting back to regular cooking is fun; finally cooking some warm food which I can chew on. With my hectic schedule during the weekend, I had already planning this sabji (veggie) on Friday. I wanted to make a home cooked meal, which I could rustle up in no time, to go with some hot phulkas with ghee and dal. Though I had this on saturday evening as I could not eat any food in the afternoon it was all worth the wait.

Ingredients	Quantity
Radish whites (keep separate)	3 fresh medium radishes diced
Radish leaves (keep separate)	Leaves of the above 3 radishes chopped
Refined Oil	3 tbsp
Chickpea flour	3 tbsp
Asafoetida (hing)	A pinch
Cumin seeds (jeera)	1 tsp
Mustard seeds (rai)	1 tsp
Red Chili powder	1 tsp
Turmeric Power (haldi)	½ tsp
Coriander Powder (dhania powder)	1 tsp
Salt	As per taste

Serves – 2-3 persons

Preparation Time – 10 minutes

Cooking Time – 15 minutes

Method:

• Heat oil in a thick bottom pan or a non-stick pan, add 3 tbsp oil first, once the oil is hot add a pinch of hing and mustard seeds, let them splutter then add the radish whites and sauté for 5 minutes.

Dice the radish

Saute the whites

• After 5 minutes; add the greens sauté them for another 2 minutes till the greens start to cook. Then cumin seeds, coriander powder, turmeric powder, red chili powder continue to saute for 4-5 minutes.

• Sprinkle the chickpea flour and sauté, at this point add the remaining oil and sauté for 2-3 minutes till the chickpea flour cooks and you start to get a great aroma!

• Cover and cook for 2 minutes till done. Season with salt.

Note:

• I prefer to add a little oil towards the end as it helps to cook the chickpea flour in the end.
• Another trick that works for me to make this veggie tasty is reducing the strong smell and the bitterness of radish. I use this trick when I do not find fresh small radishes and have to settle for the large one which in my opinion are very smelly. Here's what I do - chop / dice the radish, rub it with salt, leave it aside for 15 - 20 minutes. This helps to reduce the bitterness and the smell. Wash it thoroughly in running water, ensure all the additional salt is removed and then cook.

Mock 21.1k coming saturday and end of Soup n Salad Diet

The last few days were really good; I got through them keeping my sweet cravings at bay! Last Saturday was my 10K run which I got through successfully, with another 5k the next day. I was very happy to have fueled these runs on my soup and salad diet, without any aches, pains, weakness, in fact felt very healthy, fresh and active through all these day. I did have the occasional headache but with a fruit and lots of water I was able to control them.The soup n salad diet continued even on the Makar Sankranti day, which was a big achievement for me with my better half supporting me 100%.

Hey!! It was not always about food n diet and healthy recipes, I also brought some zing into my life with some vibrant colours!. Having a bit of free time on my hand and to keep my mind off food; largely off baking I thought of using all the unsalted butter lying in my fridge to good use.

I did a bit of practicing of butter icing on my vessels :) time well spent I say.. at least I learnt something new!

I do have one query though, I used to electric beater to whip the butter and icing sugar together to get a smooth icing. However I still could feel the sugar granules when I touched the icing. How do I get a completely smooth butter icing? Should I use powdered sugar instead if icing sugar?

Coming to the reason for ending my fast a few days early; I have my mock 21.1k run coming Saturday. As I said earlier I am very comfortable completing a run which is fueled on soups and salads, but I really really need some carbs.. I could have some potatoes but I want some rice and roti’s. So today, after lunch I go back to a moderate yet filling and healthy food!

I made a simple juice toady for my breakfast along with some milk + oats. 

It's the 3P’s Juice, I cup pineapple + 1 cup papaya + ½ cup pomegranates (a few for garnishing) + rock salt + chaat masala = a refreshing drink and very sweet without any sugar.

Last but not the least I want to thank each one of you for supporting me with your encouraging comments.

You all became my support system during my tough days, I would come back to the post often and read the comments several times to get me out of my dilemma of continuing with my diet. A Big Thank You to each one of you once again.

Another personal gain was the control that I have been able to achieve, I keep writing about sugar cravings, but that is just one part of my life. Its control on my irritation, control on my responses (I have the 'foot in the mouth' disease :P). These last few days have made me stronger, more tolerant and a more conscious eater.

The next step is to build on these learning, move out of the 'overweight' category, run my next 21.1 k in less than 2.30 minutes and 'look like a runner'

Walking on Very Thin Ice on day 8, 9 and 10

It’s not getting any easier; very difficult to have vegetables every day, I am trying hard to make something innovative each day so that I don’t get bored eating the same veggies day in n out! I would so love to have one chapatti.. just one!!

Day 8

This was a tough day; baking yesterday finally got to me L I did succumb to pressure, could not resist the butter biscuits, had them with my tea. I was really disappointed with myself, but I really really could not control the strong sugar craving. What’s done is done and I cannot not undo it, so it better to move on and focus on my aim.

I tried another soup - Green Peas and Mixed Vegetable Soup to pep things up and get my mind off sweets. Along with my soup n salads, I had a mix of papaya, pineapple, oranges and pomegranate as mid-day snacks to curb those cravings!

Ingredients	Quantity
Green peas	1/2 cup + 1/4th cup
Tomato large	1 cut into 4 pieces
Spinach leaves washed	7-8 leaves
Carrot	1 large chopped into pieces
Bottle Gourd	½ cup chopped
Garlic	3 cloves finely chopped
Olive oil	2 tsp
Cumin	1 tsp
Water	1 cup or more
Salt	As per taste
Freshly ground pepper	As per taste

Serves: 2-3 persons

Preparation Time – 20 minutes in the pressure cooker

Cooking time – 10 minutes

Method:

·         Boil peas, spinach, carrot, bottle gourd together, boil the 1/4^th cup of boiled peas separately and keep aside, these I used as a garnish later.

·         Now grind all the boiled veggies together, in a heavy bottom pan, add the olive oil.

·         Once the oil is hot add the chopped garlic and cumin, once it splutters add the ground vegetables.

·         Add water as per the thickness desired and bring to boil, adjust the seasoning.

·         Add the remaining peas to the soup and serve hot.

·         If were not on a diet, would have loved to have this with a dollop of cream and some garlic bread!

Day 9 and Day 10:

One of my biggest learning’s in the last 10 days has been to keep myself supremely busy, keep doing something new or different to keep my mind occupied. Of course those who have full time jobs, kids or just more pressing commitments don’t have to worry much, but I seem to have long hours of free time!

Following my daily routine without hiccups, made a yummy salad today – one carrot, one celery stick, one spring onion with greens, one tomato and 2 slices of pineapple finely chopped with a sprinkling of salt n pepper.

Day 11 (Today)

Jeez another 10 days to go and so many temptations.. I don’t know how I am going to survive this?? Did I take on a bigger challenge than I should have? I know I can carry on but I so want to eat more J

I want warm hot food, I have not touched sugar since the last blunder, the biscuits are sitting in front of me and I still don’t pick them up, so that’s good right?? But I want some roti – sabzi, some rice and spicy chutney.

Guess it’s time to make some tea and drown my cravings in it!

18k conquered on soup and veggies; 14 days more to go!

21 days of Healthy Eating is going strong, I love it when I have to push my limits and this challenge is making me do it everyday!

Here is a small write up of the past couple of days, the workouts done and the food I have cooked to keep me sane!

Day 4 – Friday

The day began with 40 minutes of cross training; went for 4 km brisk walk ,had planned to do one set of Suryanamaskar, but ended up doing stretching exercises and finished my workout for the day!

Breakfast was another bowl of fresh fruits, sprinkled with salt n chaat masala.

Lunch was stir-fried vegetables with a bowl of soup.

Mid day snack was green tea, one carrot + one tomato

Dinner – Some more soup and a large bowl of vegetables with 5 almonds, saturday was a big day for me and I already had a huge butterfly in my stomach.

Day 5 – Saturday

It was a chilly morning, I pulled my self out of the warm cozy cocoon to get ready to face the day… it had been close to 2 weeks since I ran last.

It was the day of the 1^st longest run of the season – 18k, the last time I ran that much was 1 week before my first Marathon in September 2012.

My mind was playing games with me, giving me enough reasons to cut back the miles and not push my self – not enough practice, a long gap since the long run, exertion, I may trip n fall, injury, I am on diet, not enough energy, the list is endless. I was not ready to give in, the whole point was to push my self and make my mind and body understand that I am in control and not vice-versa.

In the end I won, not with the best of time, walked the last km as my thighs were really paining, but completed 18k in 2 hrs – 40 minutes. Other than leg pain, I was absolutely fine and felt strong throughout the run, no hunger pangs, no weakness.
Now for the next month I have to focus and stick to my workout or else I am in trouble!

After a long run I was obviously very hungry, unlike our usual of hot idli-vada sambar and kappi at a Darshini, we came back home to have boiled egg scramble with vegetables.

I had this entire portion for brunch (we reached home at 11 am) with a glass of milk (no sugar). A cup of tea with an apple at 3 pm, 6 pm another small glass of milk (no sugar) and dinner was a bowl of soup.

The brunch kept me full the entire day J

Boiled eggs and veggies

Day 6 – Sunday

After the previous day run, I was really tired and my legs were still paining, I had a 7 kms run today, but dint go for it.

Instead went for a brisk walk of 5 kms and did a lot of stretching exercises.

I wish I had completed my run, as this is the best way the body learns to recover from the previous day long run, but I dint have it in me.

The routine with my food was pretty much the same J

For my stir fry I added a bit of scrambles tofu and soup was tomato and celery soup with some freshly ground pepper.

Veggies and Soya Tofu

I had a condensed milk container lying around the fridge, I so wanted to dip my fingers in it, before my evil mind got to me I made some butter biscuits and sent a few with hubby today to the office.

Cardamom and Chocolate Condensed Milk Biscuits

Day 7 – Monday (Today)

I missed my run yesterday, which I had to and did complete today, ideally Monday is a rest day, but I had rested enough on Sunday, so there was no excuse to miss out on exercise.

Will do some stretching exercises in the evening as my legs are still paining L from the long run!

My fruit stock got over, planning to replenish it with some papaya, pomegranate, grapes (if they are sweet) and oranges before they get over.

Veggies are there in plenty, going to try some new soups tomorrow.

For today I made a tomato and carrot soup, just added some carrots to this soup recipe.

In the last 7 days I have lost 1.2 kgs, long way to go but it’s a start.. And a fine start to the year I say!

Condensed Milk n Butter Biscuits

Ingredients	Quantity
Condensed Milk	200 ml (half tin, I used nestle)
All purpose flour (maida)	250 grams
Unsalted butter room temp.	150 grams
Baking powder	1 ½ tsp
Cardamom	½ tsp
Milk	2 tbsp (only if required)

Makes – 30 medium size biscuits

Preparation Time – 20 minutes

Baking tome – 20 minutes @ 180 degrees celsius

I have a microwave convection oven do please adjust the time accordingly.

Method:

• Sieve the flour, baking powder and cardamom set aside.
• Beat the condensed milk and butter together till well incorporate and the mixture looks smooth.
• Fold in the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and make soft dough.
• Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees celsius, roll out small balls, flatten hem slightly and take for 20 minutes.
• You can also roll them out on butter paper, or else the dough will stick as the dough is really soft and sticky.
• Cut the rolled dough into desired shapes and then bake.
• I made chocolate flavour with the same recipe.
• Remove 3 tbsp of APF / maida and replace it with cocoa powder. The reaming recipe is the same.

Chocolate Butter biscuits cut and ready to bake

• Once baked, remove and cool them completely before storing in an air tight container.
• These biscuits not very sweet and taste more like butter biscuits.