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Healthy Summer Salads to Keep You Cool

Healthy Summer Salads to Keep You Cool

The scorching sun is shining brighter than ever! The resulting heat wave can have an impact on our health and appetite. During summers, it is important to watch what we eat. To balance the heat, we have listed a few scrumptious summer salads to help you stay cool!

1. Watermelon Feta Salad

Ingredients:

  • 1 big bowl of Watermelon cubes
  • ½ cup crumbled Feta Cheese or Paneer.
  • 1 medium bowl Cucumber cubes
  • Handful of Mint leaves
  • 1 tsp Honey and Olive oil
  • A pinch of rock salt
  • 1 tsp Lemon juice

Method:

  • For the dressing combine Honey, Lemon juice, Olive oil and rock salt
  • In a large bowl, take the Watermelon and Cucumber cubes
  • Add the finely chopped Mint leaves to it along with the dressing
  • Garnish with Feta Cheese or Paneer
  • Serve chilled

Healthy Benefits: High water content of Watermelons makes it an ideal fruit during summer. Feta Cheese is comparatively low on calories and is loaded with calcium.

2. Hung Curd Salad

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup Hung Curd
  • 1 cup Chickpeas
  • ½ cup each of Tomato, Cucumber, Onions and Bell Pepper.
  • Juice of a Lemon
  • Handful of Coriander and Mint leaves.

Method:

  • For the dressing, mix the Hung Curd, Lemon Juice, Rock Salt and Pepper
  • In a bowl, take Chickpeas, add finely chopped Tomatoes, Cucumber, Onions and Bell Pepper
  • Add the Hung Curd dressing and garnish with Coriander and Mint leaves

Healthy Benefits: Curd is an excellent probiotic. It helps in keeping stomach ailments away during summers. Chickpeas provide the much needed proteins and the veggies add a dash of freshness.

3. Mint Paneer Salad

Ingredients:

  • 200 gm Paneer
  • 1 cup thick Curd
  • Chopped Cucumber, Tomatoes and Onions
  • 1 cup Lettuce leaves and Salad leaves
  • Lemon juice and Lemon rind
  • 1 cup Bread Croutons [non fried-tossed on non-stick pan]
  • Handful Mint leaves
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Tandoori masala [store bought]

Method:

  • For the dressing, whisk half of the curd with mint leaves
  • Add Lemon juice and Lemon rind to it along with Salt and Pepper
  • Marinate the Paneer cubes in thick curd along with Tandoori masala
  • Shallow fry on a non stick pan till golden brown
  • In a large serving bowl, add roughly chopped Lettuce and Salad leaves
  • Add chopped Tomatoes, Onions and Cucumber followed by the Mint dressing and mix to coat well
  • Adjust the seasoning if required. Add the Bread Croutons and Paneer cubes.

Healthy Benefits: This is a perfect summer pot meal to cool you down. It has a good amount of fiber and proteins. The mint leaves aid digestion and take care of skin allergies during this harsh weather.

Hope you enjoy these summer salads! To make them more interesting, try adding these refreshing, low calorie summer drinks to your meal. If you’re looking for more healthy recipes, check out Healthy Reads.

You can also get these recipes from a GOQii Coach, along with meal plans tailored to your needs. All you need to do is subscribe for personalized health coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

#BeTheForce 

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Your Favorite Recipes Made Healthy

recipes made healthySome recipes are timeless but are they healthy? Well, if you’re craving for biryani, butter chicken or pizza, but are worried that it might not be healthy, we’re here to help! In this article, we covered 4 of your favorite recipes and made them healthy! Let’s get right to it –

1. Biryani Recipe Made Healthy 

Starting with the finest, let’s start with identifying what’s healthy and what’s not in the recipe. I personally consider Biryani a healthy dish to start with. An excellent combination of proteins (paneer/chicken/mutton) with rice. Hence, balancing out your only rice dish. Seasoned with the best spices in your pantry, each with its unique benefits helping in the digestion of your meal apart from adding flavour. It is usually combined with a good quantity of curd based salad, so you do not have to worry about your fiber and veggie intake either.

So what’s wrong? Except for the oil content, I cannot think of much. Next question – where is the oil? Answer- In the fried onions! Every Biryani recipe has fried onions amounting to the same quantity as the chicken/mutton. So, if you are making Biryani with 1 kg chicken, you have to add 1kg of fried onions.

How do you make this healthy?

  • Take 1 kg onions, slice and fry 3 onions from this and grind the rest to a pulp.
  • Heat 2 tbsp of oil and cook your onion paste – this requires patience and can be done a day ahead.
  • Keep cooking and stirring your onion paste till the water is dry and it starts turning brown.
  • Keep a handful of your fried onions aside for garnishing and grind the rest to a paste.
  • Add the fried onion paste to the rest of your browned onion paste.
  • Voila! You have 1 kg of fried onion paste to add to your chicken, cooked in less than the oil you would otherwise require.

This tip can be used for gravies requiring fried onion paste too such as Kormas.

2. Chicken Nuggets Made Healthy 

Who doesn’t like nuggets? Especially kids! Serve them a plate of nuggets and you are their best friend forever! So, what’s wrong? My answer nothing and everything. Buy a pack of frozen nuggets and you are feeding your kids questionable meat fried in questionable oil and seasoned with a variety of chemicals and preservatives. Instead, prepare a plate of chicken nuggets from scratch, with fresh meat and love and you are offering your kids a healthy, high protein snack!

Ingredients

  • Chicken breasts, cut into slices
  • Seasoning of your choice
  • Corn flour
  • Breadcrumbs

Method

  1. Flatten your chicken breast a bit with a meat hammer. Cut into nugget sized pieces.
  2. Season with salt and whatever other spices you like, I like to season mine with herbs and garlic.
  3. Add 2 tbsp. of Corn flour to the chicken, coat each nugget with bread crumbs.
  4. These can then be stored in your freezer or fried right away.
  5. They just need to be shallow fried in a skillet and don’t need any deep frying.

3. Butter Chicken

Another hot favourite in my kitchen. The yummy North Indian gravies are usually made with cashew/almond paste and a lot of cream. Butter chicken has an added generous dollop of butter on top.

How do we make this healthy? 

My recipe calls for 2 tbsp of oil initially for sautéing the onions, plus a generous dollop of butter in the end. Instead, I add 1 tbsp of butter and 1 tbsp of oil for sautéing the onions, and minus the butter in the end. My recipe called for frying marinated chicken and then shredding it. I just grill/broil the chicken in the oven instead.

While making the cashew paste, I add a tbsp of melon seeds while reducing the cashew quantity a bit. And grind it with milk instead of water to make a thick and creamy paste (thereby avoiding the cream in the end).

I substitute the fresh cream with either milk or thick buttermilk. If I’m in a festive mood, I add 1 tbsp of fresh cream to 150 ml of milk (Small indulgences are always allowed). Make sure to remove your gravy from the flame after 30 seconds of adding the milk/buttermilk as this will otherwise curdle in the gravy.

4. Pizza Made Healthy 

Pizzas are bad unless you try this whole wheat pizza base!

Ingredients

  • 2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup ground oats
  • 1 tbsp yeast
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 cup lukewarm water
  • ½ cup milk
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 Tsp pepper powder
  • 1 tsp oregano (optional)
  • 1 tsp dried basil (optional)

Method

  1. Dissolve the sugar in the lukewarm water. Mix the yeast in it and keep for 15 – 20 minutes in a warm place.
  2. Mix all the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients, including the yeast mixture, mix with a spoon, and bring together with your hands, you may have to wet your hands a bit.
  3. Keep it for proving in a warm and dry place, for 2 hours. The dough will have expanded to double or more volume at this time. Punch it down once and shape into balls. Roll each ball and flatten to make a thin pizza base.
  4. If you want to pre-bake the base, bake at 200°C for 8 minutes in a preheated oven. If you are making the pizza directly, then add the desired toppings and bake at 200°C for 10 – 15 minute.
  5. The same recipe for bread can also be used for other recipes like rolls and buns.

We hope this article on your favorite recipes made healthy helps you enjoy your food without any guilt! For more healthy recipes, click here or speak to an expert by subscribing for GOQii’s Personalised Health Coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

#BeTheForce 

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Level Up Holi With This Delicious Homemade Rose Thandai Recipe

homemade rose thandai

We all know that no Holi celebration is complete without a sip of a refreshing glass of Thandai. Honestly, nothing beats the summer heat better than this awesome Homemade Rose Thandai! 

Holi has been celebrated in India since time immemorial and it gives people a chance to let loose and enjoy themselves. What enhances the spirit of Holi is the tradition of drinking Thandai along with other delicacies such as gujiya, mathri, malpua, puranpoli, dahi vadas, etc.

As the name suggests, Thandai is a refreshing milk beverage which helps you cool your system almost instantly and serves as a quick source of energy in this scorching summer heat. So let’s #LevelUp this Holi by preparing some homemade Rose Thandai with natural ingredients!

What You Will Need

  • Skimmed Milk – 1 ½ liter 
  • Blanched Almonds – ¾th cup 
  • Poppy Seeds – 3-4 tbsp 
  • Blanched Pistachios – 3-4 tbsp 
  • Soaked Melon Seeds – 3 tbsp 
  • Cardamoms – 4-5 green 
  • Black Peppercorns – 8-10 
  • Dried Rose Petals – 1-2 tbsp 
  • Cinnamon – 1 inch 
  • Saffron – ½ tsp 
  • Sugar – 1 cup 
  • Chia Seeds (optional) – 1-2 tsp  

For Serving & Garnishing:

  • Kulhads (clay mugs) 
  • Finely Chopped Pistachios 
  • Rose Petals 

How to Prepare 

  1. Pour milk in a pan and bring it to boil. Keep stirring it. 
  2. On the side, add the almonds, pistachios, poppy seeds, melon seeds and 2-3 tbsp of warm milk to the grinder jar and grind it till it turns into a smooth paste. Take that paste out into a bowl.
  3. In the grinder jar, add the green cardamoms, black peppercorns, rose petals and cinnamon. Grind them till it turns into a fine powder.
  4. Add saffron to the milk followed by sugar and stir till the sugar melts. 
  5. Add the smooth paste of nuts and seeds and mix it well. 
  6. Add the dry powder of spices with rose petals and let it boil for 5 minutes. 
  7. Pour it all into a jar or a vessel and add the chia seeds once the milk is at room temperature and not hot.  
  8. Let it cool in the refrigerator.  
  9. Serve it chilled in kulhads and garnish with finely chopped pistachios and rose petals.

Nutritional Benefits of the Homemade Rose Thandai 

Each ingredient added to this recipe has its own importance and all together, this is one of the healthiest drinks out there. 

  • Milk is the best source of calcium and good quality protein. Along with these, it also has zinc and phosphorus. Cold milk also acts as an antacid.
  • Almonds, melon seeds, cashews and pistachios are loaded with healthy fats, magnesium & acts as a good quality source of protein.
  • The spices used are packed with nutrients such as zinc, magnesium, calcium and iron. They have antioxidants which helps one stay away from diseases.
  • Poppy seeds are a good source of iron, phosphorus and fiber along with Vitamin B and linoleic acid.
  • Saffron provides antioxidants. It is a potent antidepressant, antiseptic and is good for digestion. 
  • Rose Petals are rich in Vitamin C, D, E & K along with malic acid and pectic which helps in building immunity. Most importantly, it strengthens the digestive function and gives a cooling effect to the body.

If you want to make this recipe healthier, you can add fennel seeds instead of rose petals. It would be wise to choose Thandai without Bhang. Do try this nutrient-loaded recipe and let us know what you think about it in the comments below! For hair and skincare tips, how to prepare your own colors and post celebration detox tips, speak to our coaches by subscribing for Personalised Health Coaching here. 

Wish you all a Happy Holi! 

#BeTheForce 

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Healthy Eating: Recipes With Healthy Fats

recipes with healthy fatsIn the previous blog, we saw how Healthy Fats Are Good For Us. We now know that a nutritious eating plan doesn’t mean cutting out all fat, just focusing on healthier varieties. Not sure how to get started? How about some easy & delicious recipes that would not only add “Healthy Fats” to your intake but also satisfy your taste buds?

Try these recipes with healthy fats!

1. Salad with Flaxseed Oil Dressing Recipe

Ingredients:

  • Chopped Romaine Lettuce – 3 cups
  • Mixed Green Vegetables – 2 cups
  • Flaxseed oil – ¼ cup
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • Soy Sauce, Low Sodium, Wheat-free – 2 tablespoons
  • 100% Maple Syrup – 1 tablespoon
  • Ground black pepper – ¼ teaspoon
  • Sea salt – ¼ teaspoon

Directions:

  1. Chop greens and place in a large salad bowl.
  2. Drizzle Flaxseed oil directly on greens and rotate bowl to evenly coat the greens with the oil.
  3. Squeeze the juice of one lemon directly onto the greens.
  4. Add soy sauce and maple syrup into bowl.
  5. With clean hands, toss the salad to evenly distribute the Flaxseed oil dressing throughout the salad.
  6. Add sea salt and pepper to taste.
  7. Serve immediately in colorful salad bowls.

My Special Tip:  To fully enjoy, create a salad bar that includes some great toppings, including cherry tomatoes, grapes, sliced reduced-fat cheddar cheese, cucumbers and thinly chopped red, orange and yellow bell peppers.

2. Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter Smoothie Recipe

Ingredients:

  • Fat-free Chocolate Milk or Low-fat Chocolate Soy Milk – 1 cup
  • Ripe Banana – 1
  • Peanut Butter – 1 tablespoon
  • Ice Cubes – 4 to 6

Directions:

  1. Combine all the ingredients in a blender or a food processor.
  2. Blend until smooth.
  3. Serve Cold

3. Kale Salad with Fresh Strawberries and Toasted Almonds

Ingredients:

  • Kale Leaves – 1 large bunch (9 cups bite-sized pieces kale leaves)
  • Juice of 1 medium orange, divided
  • Extra-virgin olive oil, divided – ¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon
  • Pinch of salt
  • Orange Zest – 1 tablespoon
  • Honey – 2 teaspoons
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • Sliced strawberries (or blueberries, blackberries or raspberries) – 1 cup
  • Dried currants or raisins – ¼ cup
  • Slivered almonds or pine nuts, toasted – ¼ cup

Directions:

  1. Remove and discard center ribs and stems from kale leaves. Tear kale leaves into bite-sized pieces.
  2.  Combine kale, half of orange juice, 1 tablespoon olive oil and salt in a large bowl.
  3. Massage kale by scrunching small amounts with your clean hands, then releasing and repeating. With massaging, kale will soften, somewhat deepen in color and become more fragrant.
  4. Make the dressing by whisking remaining orange juice, orange zest, honey and pepper in a small bowl. Gradually whisk remaining ¼ cup olive oil into the juice mixture to combine well. Set aside.
  5. Pour the dressing over kale. Add strawberries, currants and toasted almonds. Toss gently.
  6. Let salad ingredients marinate for 15 to 20 minutes before serving.

4. Avocado Chicken Salad with Kale

Ingredients:

  • Shredded Rotisserie Chicken – 1 cup
  • Half Avocado Chunked
  • Lemon Juice – 2 teaspoons
  • Chopped Dill (Shepu) – 1 teaspoon
  • Extra Virgin Olive Oil – 1 teaspoon
  • Kale, torn into bite-sized pieces – 1 cup

Directions:

  1. In a large bowl, massage the kale with olive oil. Let it sit for 5 minutes.
  2. In another bowl, toss together chicken, avocado, lemon juice and dill, breaking down the avocado slightly for a creamier texture.
  3. Top kale with chicken salad and serve.

That’s it! Do try these delicious recipes with healthy fats and let us know your thoughts in the comments below! For more healthy recipes, click here or speak to an expert by subscribing to GOQii’s Personalised Health Coaching service here.

#BeTheForce

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