Healthy Breakfast: Rawa Uttapam

The instant South Indian meals are easy to cook as well as healthy & tasty. I will share the recipe of Instant Rawa Uttapam for a healthy breakfast.

Rawa Uttapam

Ingredients
Rawa or Semolina: 2 cups
Yogurt (un-fattened): 3 cups
Green Capsicum: 1/2 cup chopped
Cauliflower:1/2 cup chopped
Tomato: 1 medium chopped
Onion: 1 medium chopped
Chillies: 2 chopped
Salt: as per taste
Oil

Preparation:
1. Mix the Rawa & Yogurt well till a smooth paste is made. Mix it well with salt.
2. Add the onion & chillies to the mix. Let it stand for 15 min
3. Mix the rest of the veggies in a bowl & add some salt. This will help it get cooked easily and also the taste would be better.
4. On a non-stick pan, let it heat up and then brush oil.
5. Pour the batter enough to get a 6" uttapam.
6. After it is half cooked, add the veggies on the top & turn the side.
7. Let the other side cook on low flame for 2-3 min.
8. Serve it hot with veggie side up.
9. You can make the chutney also with khus khus paste, coconut paste & curd mixed or enjoy it with tomato sauce.

A healthy breakfast with good proteins & good taste served on the platter. Thanks!

Low Carb Breakfast Ideas with Eggs!

Here I am with a few ideas of low carb breakfasts, a day started with protein packed diet will keep you satiated & energized for hours. What better to start your day with eggs... they are protein packed & filled with nutrients you would love to start your day with. Here are a few egg recipes to try for breakfasts.

Omelette: Make your omelette your way! Add low fat goat cheese or crumbled cottage cheese to your omelette or spice it up with bell peppers & tomatoes. Spice up your mornings!

Scrambled Eggs: Add herbs oregano or parsley to your scrambled eggs with a flavour of cayenne pepper with a pinch of lemon. Your scrambled would taste heavenly.

Baked Eggs with cream & mushroom: Bake your eggs with cream & mushroom, they make a good way to start your day, if you are not fond of mushrooms choose your veggies.

Devilled Eggs: Boil the eggs & change the taste of the yolk as you want. Add herbs, spices & molten low fat cheese & fill your egg whites again. Cilantro added as garnishing makes it taste the best.

Poached eggs: Use fresh eggs to poach & if you want some flavours added to your egg, make small pouches of eggs in food grade plastic & add the spices. Put the pouches in boiling water & in 5 min your poached eggs are ready.

Sunny-side Up: Just have it like that!

Let me know your pick of recipe for your eggs for a healthy low carb breakfast. Thanks!

Healthy Egg Recipe

Eggs are a yummy way to fill your tummy. You can have eggs in lots & lots of ways, I will write about one such easy ways today friends. Enjoy it this weekend with family & friends.

Today's recipe is Baked Egg Muffins its yummy, healthy, low calorie & a great snack:

Ingredients for 6-8 muffins:
Eggs: 4
Bell pepper: 1 (choose a color of your choice, I go for a green)
Tomato: 1 small
Monterey White Mushrooms: 4-6 pieces
Shredded Low fat Cheddar cheese: 1/2 cup
Oregano Seasoning
Basil seasoning
Salt to taste
Black pepper
Baking powder: 1/4 teaspoon
Olive oil to grease

Preparation:
1. The mushrooms whenever eaten should be only after blanching, so take the mushrooms & blanch it with hot water & a bit of salt added. It helps to reduce gastronomic effects.
2. Cut the tomato, bell pepper & the blanched mushroom into small pieces, & keep it aside.
3. In a clean bowl add the eggs & add the oregano, basil seasonings, salt & black pepper. After it is mixed well add the baking powder and beat well so that no lumps are formed.
4. Take the silicon baking sheet or tin with muffin moulds and grease it with olive oil, the muffin will have 3 layers when you eat. So at first we have to pour a little of the egg mix in all the moulds for the bottom layer.
5. Next we have to add the veggies for the middle layer. Save some tomato cubes for the top. Sprikle a layer of cheese over this.
6. Pour the rest of the egg mix on the top of this. Ensure that the moulds are not filled completely else while baking your mix will spill over.
7. Top all your muffins with tomato cubes.
8. Bake it for 15-20 mins on a preheated oven at 350 F or 180 C. Insert a knife to check whether it comes out clean. And we are done.

I swear to love this recipe for the breakfast or even a snack in the evening. It is simple & filling and the colorful combination of red yellow & green from the different ingredients makes it look great. Hope you like this recipe... do let me know how you like it. Tell me your variations too. Thanks!

Milk or Yogurt?

Dear Friends we all know that dairy products are great for health, but to know what are the specific benefits of milk & yogurt. Though both come from the same source the calories, calcium, and other nutrients. So, we need to know which one is better for which purpose. The list is as follows:

Yogurt is fermented milk, but as seen above the properties differ. And as being dairy products are excellent source of different kind of nutrients. You can see that both have certain good qualities and should be included in diet. Actually it is also seen that milk has better quantities of these Vitamin D & K. Milk provides 30-45% of your daily Vitamin intake, which I am sure would be not possible by any other source. And the variety of vitamins & minerals present in milk & dairy products is the highest compared to any other food. But as milk has some adverse effects on digestion people with these problem should have caution in taking milk in their diet. Yogurt is a better substitute to these people. Though people with no such problems should include portions of both in their diet. Also milk & yogurt both can be enjoyed in various forms. You can have shakes, smoothies, and raita etc. can be had easily & made enjoyable. 

A healthy note to add is no addition of sugar either in milk or yogurt, sweeten it with natural fruits rather than sugar. Sugar addition have negative effects on the dentures & also can make you lack in concentration. So, stray from sugar and use other alternative natural food to sweeten.

Thanks!!

Why can't I fit in my Old Jeans after losing 5 kgs? :(

I know there are lot of people who would have lost weight but it doesn't show at the right places. I mentioned in one of my blogs "10 Tips to Lose Weight" (http://healthyyumfood.blogspot.in/2015/02/10-tips-to-lose-weight.html)  to wear a skinny jeans & set goals to maintain schedule but even after enough the waist line seems to remain unaffected. Now skinny jeans really doesn't look nice then. There are surgical methods like targeted liposuction but its costly as well as risky. I will never dare go for that.

Here goes easy 5 tips which you can follow & :

1. There are several exercises recommended at the gym or people who exercise at home for a flat belly but a lack of time is really the reason where we find it difficult to follow those. But our yoga asans pranayam are very effective & consumes very less time. I am talking about Kapalbhati pranayam, it is an exercise which is very easy & can be done any time of the day (when your stomach is empty) not only helps you lose the inches but also helps in digestion & relieves you from problems related to stomach. If you are unaware of the method, please check a video online before trying it out.

2. When talking about yoga & exercising, I cannot miss on Stretches. Side stretches as seen in the picture below can be great in burning fat on your hip, as most of the hip is not moved, this creates a stress on the area for the fat to burn. This will also help you become more flexible.

3. In the morning have a good breakfast which I have said a lot of times before as this is the prime meal of the day & decides the activity of the body during the day. Especially a breakfast with eggs instead of sugary carbs has shown great effect on the waistline. Add a cup of coffee or tea (caffeinated) to increase the burning of fat.

4. At night if you read a book for an hour it has shown to help lose inches. It relaxes your body & help fight the stress around the day which is blamed for some belly & hip fat. So, keeping a light schedule at night helps you relax & fight stress,

5. Sleep well for 7-8 hours everyday, it has been seen that people who sleep less than 5-6 hours a day have shown to put on weight easily. Or you can say that the people trying to lose weight will lose less. The efforts taken up by you will be rewarded with an extra hour of sleep. :)

Thank you all for your support & reading my blog. Awaiting your comments & suggestions.

Recipe- Power breakfast for health & weight loss

Hi Friends!! Today is a very interesting day in the Indian Politics, trying to clean out politics, let's try to clean out our body systems... Today will talk about a breakfast recipe. Breakfast always emphasized by me as the most important meal, should be easy & quick as well to make.

Spiced Carrot Pancakes

Ingredients:
Multi-grain flour: 1 1/2 cup
Low fat milk: 2 tablespoons
Eggs: 2
Grated carrots: 1/4 cup
Olive oil/ Canola oil
Cinnamon:1/2 teaspoon
Baking Powder: 1/2 teaspoon
Chopped Chilies: 1-2 (if you like spicy)
Salt to taste

Preparation:
1. Mix the flour with Cinnamon powder, salt, baking powder, eggs, 1 tablespoon oil, milk to get a smooth batter. Add the grated carrot & Chilies to the batter & mix well.
2. Heat the non-stick pan. Spray/ brush the pan with oil.
3. Pour the batter in small portions on to the pan. Wait for it to be cooked on low flame. Toss it over to the next side for it to cook as well.

Your pan cakes are ready to serve. It has the perfect combination of carbohydrates, fiber, protein, omega-3 & anti-oxidants. A good start for the morning.

Thanks friends!! I will keep it short today, have a mood to enjoy Saturday.

Dieting- Does it help?

Hi friends! Great to see your response in a day. I am very happy & optimistic about writing more about the topic. I invite you also to express your views & concerns about anything you wish to know.
Today I again wish to speak about one of the topics everyone talks on a day to day basis "Dieting". If someone asks you to eat & you refuse for any reason, the next question which comes is known to all of you "Are you dieting?".
A basic question which arises is "What does dieting mean?". I have seen many people living on one apple in the morning & afternoon. I am surprised at this from day one when I started understanding what dieting is (not the correct meaning though :P). I am startled today also  How can an apple fulfill all my body's needs. This is one thing all of us should look into ourselves & ask. It cannot. Dieting ideally means to maintain a balanced diet which includes carbs, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals, roughage & water. I told you in my last blog that I had joined certain therapy services (of no help ;)), they advised me to stop eating carbs totally. Also sometimes to eat only fruits a day. I tried all of it & I guarantee didn't help much, I felt exhausted & drained. They kept on saying that is because the fats in my body were being used up by my body. I kept doing that for a good 2 months. And believe one day if I ate even a small scoop of ice-cream my weight would shoot up 10 times the ice cream's weight. I was very upset as well & always felt an urge to eat good things, an urge I could not control and today I actually laugh at it. I left all of it one day & started living normally, though I didn't lose weight I didn't gain any. So, please any of you if following such things request to please stop it. You are depriving your body of the basic needs.
Today I do follow an easy diet plan it actually might vary from person to person but should be more or less same. EAT CARBOHYDRATES in small or medium quantities but do eat, choose the right one for you. It is seen in research if the body is deprived of carbs the body feels skeptic about our intention & starts storing them. So, if you don't eat one meal & eat the next, the body will respond as a storage vault & store it for future use. Also we feel a tendency to overeat in such cases. HAVE FATS in your diet in small quantities, as the body does need fat. There are good cholesterol compounds which help our requirements of Vitamin D which is essential for absorption of Calcium, also helps keep our skin more fresh & young, also for better eyes & heart functions. Again the choice of fats have to be judicious & should not be exceeded. Now comes the PROTEINS, they are the building blocks of our body. Our muscles, hair & nails our mainly build of proteins. Also the enzymes our body uses are made of amino acids which are broken down from proteins. And the most important, protein helps to decrease the urge of hunger & keeps you full for a longer time as it takes more tie for the body to break down proteins than carbohydrates. So objective of dieting is also fulfilled.
I will keep this till here, and wait for your comments and suggestions. Thanks!!