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Confused about healthy snacks….why not go for some scrumptious yogurt recipes

In my earlier blog I talked about the importance of yoghurt, which prompted me to write this second blog on recipes made from yogurt that can be healthy snacks. Many times we are in dilemma to have the right kind of healthy snacks as mid-meal snacks. I too get confused at times. To ease this dilemma, I have here some good and quick recipes for healthy snacks to suffice your hunger.

  1. Strawberry yogurt ice-cream:

1. Strawberry yogurt ice-cream

Ingredients:

1 cup- Plain unflavoured low-fat yoghurt

3 pieces medium sized -Fresh Strawberry

1 tablespoon -Organic honey

Chopped Nuts- to taste (optional)

Preparation

  • Chop strawberries into 4 pieces
  • Grind plain yogurt and strawberries in mixer or juicer.
  • Add honey while mixing in the juicer.
  • Keep it to freeze in deep freezer for 2 hours and again grind it once in the juicer. You can again freeze it or store it till 2 days.
  • Top with chopped nuts to taste.
  • Enjoy your tempting ice-cream

Tip: you can use any fruit from your list of favourites….to enjoy different antioxidants and multivitamins….like blueberries, pomegranate, banana, papaya etc. Any flavour you like to add….

  1. Yogurt veggie bread spread

2. Yogurt veggie bread spread

Ingredients:

Plain unflavoured low-fat yogurt -1 cup

Carrot, cucumber, beetroot chopped- ¼ cup

Black pepper powder- to taste

Cold pressed coconut oil- 1 teaspoon for taste (optional)

Salt to taste

Honey 1 teaspoon

Preparation

  • Beat the yogurt till it becomes creamy.
  • Add honey salt and pepper powder to it and beat again
  • Little strain chopped veggies to remove extra water
  • Add chopped veggies and mix it well …
  • Enjoy your bread spread with brown bread for quick breakfast.

Tips- you can add any flavours seasonings to make it tangy and tasty.

  1. Anti-inflammatory Garlic-spinach Yogurt

2. Yogurt veggie bread spread

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon any vegetable cooking oil
  • 8-10 baby spinach
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely grated
  • 1 1/2 cups plain low-fat Greek yogurt
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh coriander
  • Sea salt and black pepper powder to taste/ one green chilli paste

Preparation

  • Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a pan. Add spinach to toss it to remove excess water, then coarsely chop.
  • Mix chopped spinach, garlic, yogurt, coriander, and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium bowl; season it with salt and pepper or chilli. Cover and chill at least 1 hour before serving.

Tip- you can store it for two days.

4.     Yogurt veggies soupy delight

 

soupy delight

Ingredients

  • Low-fat plain Greek yogurt
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 tablespoons sesame seeds, coriander seeds, and cumin seeds
  • 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
  • 2 whole black peppercorns
  • 1 clove
  • 1 carrot, 4 medium tomatoes, 1-inch ginger
  • 1 tablespoon butter or homemade butter
  • Rock salt to taste

Preparation

  • Toast cumin seeds, fennel seeds, coriander seeds, sesame seeds and chopped garlic in ½ teaspoon ghee or butter in a pan.
  • Boil carrot, tomato, clove, ginger, peppercorns into pressure cooker, let it cool down
  • After cooling grind all boiled mix veggies and tossed spices into a fine paste add water to make a thin soup.
  • Once again boil the ground mixture till one boils and add rock salt. Remove from flame.
  • Serve hot topped with desi ghee and add a scoop of low-fat plain yoghurt middle of the soup bowl. Enjoy the delight.
  1. Chickpea-Yogurt Dip

baked-chickpeas

Chickpea-Yogurt Dip- with wheat nachos do you want a tasty dip. Here you go –

Ingredients

  • 2 small garlic cloves
  • Half cup chickpeas, rinsed
  • ½ cup plain low-fat Greek yogurt
  • A large pinch of ground cumin
  • 3 tablespoon olive oil plus more for serving
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • Pomegranate seeds (for serving)
  • Coarsely chopped fresh mint (for serving)

Preparation

  • The first step to puree garlic, chickpeas, yogurt, cumin and 2 Tbsp. Oil into a thick paste.
  • Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Top with 1tbsp oil, pomegranate seeds, and mint.
  • Enjoy the treat with wheat nachos.

6.     Rose delight with Beet Yogurt

beet-yogurt-dish-delicious-persian-borani-food-cooking-recipe-fig-quince2

Ingredients

  • 3 medium red beets, trimmed or grated
  • Sea salt
  • 1 1/2 cups plain low-fat Greek yogurt
  • 8-10 fresh or dried rose petals for aroma and flavour
  • 1 teaspoon rose water

Preparation

  • Just parboil the whole beetroot and grate them coarsely.
  • Beat yoghurt and add rose water, sea salt, mix well.
  • Add grated beetroot in yoghurt.
  • Garnish with rose petals.
  • Rose delight is ready to delight your day.

Health benefits of these recipes:

  1. Boon for improving Gut Microflora.
  2. Acts as anti-inflammatory food,
  3. Loaded with antioxidants.
  4. Veggies provide dietary fibre for better digestion and best for fat loss.
  5. Helps to improve HDL (good cholesterol) and reduces bad cholesterol
    (LDL, VLDL, Triglycerides)
  6. Improves glow of skin
  7. Loaded with multivitamins and nutrients for better health.

CAUTION: Choose the low fat and unflavoured yogurt to get all these mentioned benefits, as flavoured yogurt have more sugars.

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Mind It: Eat slowly, do not gobble down

mindful eating

I had just about done with my daily routine of a brisk walk in a park. And, I hear some noises- what is it that I hear…it was my stomach growling. Sending me hunger cues and reminding me that I should be eating something. And, yes I was so hungry that I could probably eat a horse.

I quickly walked up to the nearest café to grab some snacks so I could calm down my growling stomach. While I was awaiting my order, I started to look around the café. One of the best things to while you are alone in a café is to observe others sitting there.  What do I see?

I see this young man eating at breakneck speed. Probably he was in a hurry to just grab some food and rush out to work. While he was eating a break neck speed he was also fidgeting with his phone. Ain’t we all good at multitasking of this nature? As he was eating he also managed to engage himself in few calls. If he could do that to me it came across as he wasn’t in such a hurry as it seemed! Then I thought to myself why would somebody be eating at such a speed? Probably, just a habit I thought to myself!

This is true though. There are many people whom I know have developed these fast eating habits. They are most often in a hurry to get over and done with their food to get away from the table. Most often one develops these habits during childhood and it continues through your adulthood.

But, let me tell you that gobbling down the food quickly without realizing what just went in, does no good to your body. In fact, eating too fast could nearly double your risk of being overweight or obese. A study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association shows that women aged 40-50 years who eat the quickest are more likely to be obese than slow eaters.

Once you start eating, it takes about 20 minutes for the “stop eating” signal to reach your brain. Fast eating overrides the mechanism of stimulating the satiety center in the brain. Thus, if you eat too quickly or say within 20 minutes, you tend to overfill your stomach and overeat, paving way for overweight and obesity and other related disorders.

Rather than thinking about food in terms of number of calories and nutrients, it would be more beneficial if you eat it mindfully. Eating slowly, chewing the food thoroughly, and savoring every bite of it are some important aspects of Mindful eating which contribute to your health in several ways.

Digestion: chewing well promotes the release of salivary enzymes in the mouth which in turn start off the digestion process, thus making your further digestion smoother and simple. Hence it is said that slower you eat, the faster and more efficiently you metabolize the food.

Portion control leading to weight control: Portion control is easily achieved when you slowdown your pace of eating. When you eat slowly you become aware of when you stomach gets full and you also know how much to serve yourself and when to stop. Portion size and eating speed can be well explained through the famous ‘French Paradox’ which says that despite high intake of calorie rich and fatty foods in France as compared to the US, the incidence of heart disease  and overweight is relatively low in France. It is well documented fact that the French eat much slower than the Americans thus ending up taking smaller portions. Sensible eating therefore works miraculously for the weight-watchers.

Taste and Enjoying: Eating sensibly also involves relishing your food thoroughly by feeling the flavour on your palate. Sensible eating lets you experience the textures and the aroma of the food overall, making it a wonderful experience focused more on the impression and less on the health effects of eating.

In an age which is clouded by distractions, sensible or mindful eating gets difficult for many. It requires a conscious effort on an individual’s part to make sure that he or she is eating in an environment which is less distractive. To enable yourself eat mindfully, ensure that you are away from the television, mobile phones and other devices so that the focus is completely drawn towards eating. You can have some soft music playing in the background to make the eating experience more delightful.

When you eat, JUST EAT! Be mindful and Stay Healthy.

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SNACK Your Way to Great HEALTH!!

cauliflower pizza

I have decided I am going to eat right, I am going to exercise everyday and I am going to continue like this forever and get fit. And so I thought!!

I was very comfortable eating right with my main meals namely, Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. But what I realized was actually an eye-opener. The problem was not these meals but what happens between these meals, the Snack time!!

I used to get these hunger pangs surely around 4-5pm and sometimes around 11.30am, because of which I used to grab the first thing I saw in front of me be it biscuits, unhealthy oily snacks or bread, which completely threw my efforts out the window.

That’s when I decided that this needs to be sorted out and started planning a Snack Menu which included things like roasted chanas, khakras, diet snacks but soon I realized that these were not enough.

Evening snack should be considered as the 4th main meal of the day. By having the right food at this time, you reduce your hunger even at dinner time which helps you eat better.

I’ve tried these 4 recipes myself and believe me they are a snack time Delight!!

They not only fill you up but also taste delicious, satisfying your every taste bud.

Cauliflower Pizza

cauliflower pizza

Ingredients:

Cauliflower florets (riced) – 2 cups

Parmesan cheese or Mozarella cheese – 1cup

Egg – 1

Salt

Mixed herbs

For Topings:

Tomato sauce (Tomato puree, fresh garlic, mixed herbs, black pepper powder, salt)

Any vegetables of your choice

Little cheese

Method:

  • Wash and dry the cauliflower well
  • Cut it into florets
  • Pulse the florets in a food processor or grate it to form rice like granular consistency
  • Take 2 cups of riced cauliflower and transfer to a non-stick pan to remove the moisture
  • Keep stirring on low heat till most of the moisture is gone
  • Do not brown it
  • Let it cool
  • Beat one egg in a bowl
  • Add the cheese and mix well
  • Add the riced cauliflower
  • Mix well with salt and herbs
  • Line a baking tray with parchment paper and transfer this mixture onto it to make a pizza base
  • Gently pat the mixture to make a base of your desired shape with a thickness of quarter of an inch
  • Keep the edges slightly thick so that it doesn’t burn
  • Now place it in a pre-heated oven at 200 c for 20mins
  • Remove and let it cool
  • Topping:

Spread the tomato sauce and add any topping of your choice with little cheese (if required)

Bake it again at 200c for 10mins

Your pizza is ready!!

Black Gram (Chana) Kebabs

 53194737

Ingredients:

Black (gram) chana – ½ cup

Potato – 1 medium

Ginger (chopped) – 1 tsp

Garlic (chopped) – 1 tsp

Onion (chopped) – 1

Green Chillies (chopped) – 1 to 2

Chaat masala – 1 tsp

Garam masala – 1 tsp

Cumin (jeera) powder – 1 tsp

Red Chili powder – 1 tsp

Salt – to taste

Coriander leaves – ¼ cup

Method:

Soak the ( black Gram) kalachana overnight

Pressure cook it till soft and cooked through

Boil and peel the potato

For the masala:

  • Heat a tablespoon of oil in a pan and add in onions, salt, ginger, garlic and chilies
  • Let them cook through and soften
  • Add chaat masala, cumin powder, red chilli powder and garam masala
  • Mix well and take off the heat
  • Mash the boiled chana well in a mixie or use a masher
  • Mix the boiled potato
  • To this add the prepared masala and chopped coriander
  • Divide into small sized balls and flatten to form shammi kebabs or cutlets
  • Serve them hot with chutney or sauce and a cup of steaming hot tea or coffee

Bajra, Carrot and Onion Mini Uthappa


Ingredients:

¼ cup whole Bajra, soaked for 8 hours and drained

1 ¼ cups Bajra flour

Salt to taste

½ cup grated carrot

½ cup finely chopped onions

1 ½ tsp finely chopped green chillies

1 tsp garlic paste

¼ cup finely chopped coriander leaves

1 ½ tbsp. lemon juice

¼ tsp turmeric powder

1 ½ tspchilli powder

Oil for cooking

Method:

  • Combine the whole bajra, ½ cup of water and salt in a pressure cooker, mix well and pressure cook for 5 whistles.
  • Allow the steam to escape before opening the lid. Drain the water and keep the cooked whole bajra aside.
  • Combine all the ingredients, along with whole bajra and 1 ½ cup of water in a deep bowl and mix well.
  • Heat a non-stick tava and grease it lightly with oil.
  • Pour ¼ cup of batter over it and tilt the tava lightly to spread the batter evenly. Cook on medium flame till it turns golden brown in colour from both the sides.
  • Repeat step 5 to make more uthappas.
  • Serve immediately.

Jackfruit Seed Roast

jackfruit roast

 Ingredients:

Jackfruit seeds – 1 cup

Oil – 2 tsp

Mustard seeds – 1 tsp

Onion (small) – 1

Garlic cloves – 4

Green chilies – 3

Red chili powder – 2 tsp

Kashmiri chili powder – 1 tsp

Turmeric powder – 1 tsp

Coriander powder – ½ tsp

Cumin powder – ½  tsp

Fennel seed powder – ½ tsp

Amchur – ¼ tsp

Chaat masala – ½ tsp

Garam masala – ¼ tsp

Salt to taste

Method:

  • Steam the jackfruit seeds
  • Slice them
  • Heat oil in a non-stick pan
  • Add mustard seeds
  • When they splutter, add finely chopped onions, garlic and slit green chilies
  • Sauté for a few minutes on medium heat till the onions become soft
  • Add all the masalas and salt
  • Sauté for some more time
  • Add the jackfruit seed slices
  • Mix well and stir-fry for five minutes
  • Add few drops of water, cover the pan and let it cook over low heat for five minutes.

I hope you will try these out right away, so that I can share many such finger licking good healthy recipes soon.

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10 Lifestyle Changes for Fat Loss and Healthy Living

healthy-living

  • Choose and learn to like healthy food options: Many people who aim to lose fat and live a healthy life go on crash diets or have boiled meals thinking that their only way to achieve their goal is to eat bland food. It’s just a myth that “healthy” foods are not very appetizing. There are many recipes which are very healthy and also very delicious. The best way to start a healthy living is to do some research and make a list of some healthy recipes that are low in processed ingredients and are appetizing.
  • Always start your day with a nutritious breakfast: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. After a long gap of 6-7 hours of sleep, our body needs the fuel (calories) to get our metabolism going and give us the sustained energy throughout the day. Breakfast should be a combination of quality carbohydrates, proteins and fats.
  • Mid- meal snacking: If you have the habit of snacking between meals during the day, select healthy snacking options. Opt for a serving of fruit or a handful of nuts that have good fibre content, vitamins and minerals. Avoid having snacks made out of refined flour, refined sugar and deep fried snacks.
  • Eat at regular intervals: Missing meals and eating after long gaps is a big no-no! A log gap between two meals switches our body to “starvation mode”. While in starvation mode, the BMR of the body reduces drastically to save energy. This environment in the body makes it very difficult to lose fat. Having meals at regular intervals keeps the BMR on the higher side and helps a lot in giving effective fat loss. It also avoids one from binge eating.
  • Opt for whole foods: Whole foods include whole grains and products made out of whole grains, fruits and vegetables. These foods are rich in Fibre, do not spike blood sugar levels and fill the stomach. They give satiety for a long period of time without adding on unnecessary calories. Fibrous foods are heavy to digest, increase the BMR of the body and hence give effective fat loss. Enjoying an occasional treat sometimes is fine, but, make it a habit to eat more whole foods.
  • Load your plate with salads and soups: Water-rich vegetables like cucumbers, gourds, tomatoes etc. gives satiety and avoids consumption of too many calories. Soups are also very water-rich foods but, choose clear soups over creamy soups. Having water-rich foods does not mean that one needs to ignore the good old water!
  • Practice mindful eating: It is very important that we concentrate on the food we eat and enjoy it. Mind and body connection is very powerful. Never eat sitting in front of a TV, while working on gadgets, when angry, depressed or tensed. In such times we tend to eat more and add on unnecessary calories. Chew the food well; it improves the process of digestion. Portion control is very important; it prevents adding on unnecessary calories. Also, guilt-eating is bad! Giving self an occasional treat will cut too much temptation and avoid binge eating.
  • Avoid stocking tempting foods at home: Never stock at home tempting, unhealthy foods like biscuits, cookies, cream crackers, chips, ice-creams, milk chocolates and deep fried snacks because, if you don’t have these in the house, you won’t be tempted to eat them.
  • Avoid “white” or “refined” foods: Foods made out of refined flour and refined sugars are of “low benefit and high risk”! They tend to increase the blood sugar levels drastically causing fat gain and diabetes. They also rob the body of certain vitamins. Refined foods are very low in fibre content and cause digestive disorders like hyperacidity, constipation, haemorrhoids, anal fissures etc.
  • Drink plenty of water throughout the day: Water is the best fat burner. 70% of our body is made up of water. Water acts as a catalyst, a reactant and a solvent in almost all the biochemical reactions taking place in the body. This keeps the body functions going on and helps in keeping the BMR on the higher side thus, giving effective fat loss. People believe that water should be had only when thirsty but that is not true. Thirst is, actually, a late indicator of dehydration. It’s best to drink water before feeling thirsty. Our mind sometimes registers thirst as hunger. At such times, instead of eating something just drink a big glass of water. Water acts as a medium through which toxins produced in the body are flushed out. Water enhances the production of new blood cells and muscle cells. Drinking good amounts of water also prevents digestive tract ailments such as hyperacidity, constipation, haemorrhoids, etc.

From Terminal Illness To Complete Wellness! Ananda Mukherjee Health Story

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