Saturday, February 15, 2014
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Easy Cabbage
This is a simple recipe I learnt in Cuba. It's quick to do, nutritious, extremely filling, and is an excellent side for anything at all. This is a keeper for weeks when you just don't want to cook - but you still want a nutritious meal.
Ingredients:
1 head cabbage, cut into 1" cubes
2-3 tsps oil
1-2 tsp salt
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.
2. Place the cut cabbage in your cooking dish. Toss with oil and salt. Place in oven.
3. Cook for 30 minutes. Turn at half way point.
Goes well with anything at all. Replaces potatoes/rice/pasta as an excellent side dish. High in fiber, very filling, and delicious if you like cabbage like I do.
The Cubans cooked their green beans and squash like this as well. Can't go wrong.
Cheers!
Ingredients:
1 head cabbage, cut into 1" cubes
2-3 tsps oil
1-2 tsp salt
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.
2. Place the cut cabbage in your cooking dish. Toss with oil and salt. Place in oven.
3. Cook for 30 minutes. Turn at half way point.
Goes well with anything at all. Replaces potatoes/rice/pasta as an excellent side dish. High in fiber, very filling, and delicious if you like cabbage like I do.
The Cubans cooked their green beans and squash like this as well. Can't go wrong.
Cheers!
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Bhaja Muger/Mooger Bhoger Khichudi
This is my mother's recipe. This is the proper way of making Khichudi for Pujo.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup rice
1/2 cup mooger daal
Whole gorom moshla (2 sticks cinnamon, 2 cardamom, 2 cloves)
1-2 Tej pata (Bay leaves)
2-3 green chillies chopped
1 small tomato, chopped (about 1/4-1/3 cup)
1/2 inch ginger chopped fine or turned into a paste
2 tbsp ghee
1 cup water
Salt to taste
Important Note on Bengali tradition: There is NO Haldi or red chilli in this recipe. Niramish khabarey holud porey na. There is no Haldi in 'Niramish' food.
Steps:
1. Dry roast the moog daal on low-medium heat. The daal must change colour to a light brown. Set aside.
2. Wash the rice. Set aside.
3. In a medium pot, warm the ghee on medium heat. When it's hot, add gorom moshla, tej pata. Cook till aromatic or just starts to brown slightly.
4. Add green chillies and ginger. Fry lightly till ginger is lightly cooked.
5. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook for 3 minutes.
6. Add rice, moog daal, 1 cup of water. Add salt to taste. Cover and cook till rice and daal are cooked.
Serve with Begun Bhaja.
Holy Awesomeness.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Weight Loss Truths
Some things to always remember:
1. Don't eat after 6:30p.m. (or 4-5 hours before going to sleep): Let the food get digested and get used in your activities so that it doesn't get stored as fat while you sleep. This rule really works. Really really works.
2. Drink 8 glasses of water in a day: If you don't add water to your body, it won't have the necessary fluids it needs to process all the chemicals/hormones/wastes/etc. If you don't drink the water and do everything right, after 2-3 days you'll stop losing weight.
3. Eat till you aren't hungry anymore: Don't finish what's on your plate for the sake of finishing what's on your plate. Eat till you aren't hungry anymore and leave the rest for later.... and don't worry....
4. Eat frequently: Eat 6 meals a day and point #3 won't be a problem. Eat your leftovers from the previous meal. Don't be afraid, you won't starve to death. And remember, you WILL lose weight if you follow these rules.
I can't over emphasize this point. If your body obtains a little bit of food, and processes it for it's function, then obtains a little more and processes, then it doesn't get the chance to digest a large amount of food and store the excess energy as fat. Again, this rule really, really works. Do it.
5. Replace all your refined carbs with complex carbs: This is applicable only during your weight loss period. So if you love rice or bread, you can pick it up again when you're taking a break from weight loss. But during weight loss: Don't eat rice, bread or pasta. Replace all your rice, bread and pasta with vegetables cooked with a little fat or steamed. I love using steamed or sauteed cauliflower florets, broccoli, spaghetti squash, lettuce, mixed greens, steamed beans, brussel sprouts, etc. If you do this you will:
(i) Get a lot more vitamins and minerals than if you were to stuff down a bowl of pasta
(ii) Eat a lot of soluble fiber that will help cleanse your system
(iii) Will feel fuller (than if you ate rice) because of all the fiber content + you can eat so much more vegetables than rice for the calories
(iv) You blood sugar levels will not spike because of the low glycemic index of the vegetables.
6. Exercise after supper: The toughest one for me. But this one really guarantees the burning of all your supper calories. And I always weigh less on the scale the day after.
7. Don't worry about the scale too much: Our body's moisture content varies tremendously from hour to hour and from day to day. If you're 5 lbs lighter after 4 weeks, that's a better indicator than if you didn't lose any weight from one week to the next.
1. Don't eat after 6:30p.m. (or 4-5 hours before going to sleep): Let the food get digested and get used in your activities so that it doesn't get stored as fat while you sleep. This rule really works. Really really works.
2. Drink 8 glasses of water in a day: If you don't add water to your body, it won't have the necessary fluids it needs to process all the chemicals/hormones/wastes/etc. If you don't drink the water and do everything right, after 2-3 days you'll stop losing weight.
3. Eat till you aren't hungry anymore: Don't finish what's on your plate for the sake of finishing what's on your plate. Eat till you aren't hungry anymore and leave the rest for later.... and don't worry....
4. Eat frequently: Eat 6 meals a day and point #3 won't be a problem. Eat your leftovers from the previous meal. Don't be afraid, you won't starve to death. And remember, you WILL lose weight if you follow these rules.
I can't over emphasize this point. If your body obtains a little bit of food, and processes it for it's function, then obtains a little more and processes, then it doesn't get the chance to digest a large amount of food and store the excess energy as fat. Again, this rule really, really works. Do it.
5. Replace all your refined carbs with complex carbs: This is applicable only during your weight loss period. So if you love rice or bread, you can pick it up again when you're taking a break from weight loss. But during weight loss: Don't eat rice, bread or pasta. Replace all your rice, bread and pasta with vegetables cooked with a little fat or steamed. I love using steamed or sauteed cauliflower florets, broccoli, spaghetti squash, lettuce, mixed greens, steamed beans, brussel sprouts, etc. If you do this you will:
(i) Get a lot more vitamins and minerals than if you were to stuff down a bowl of pasta
(ii) Eat a lot of soluble fiber that will help cleanse your system
(iii) Will feel fuller (than if you ate rice) because of all the fiber content + you can eat so much more vegetables than rice for the calories
(iv) You blood sugar levels will not spike because of the low glycemic index of the vegetables.
6. Exercise after supper: The toughest one for me. But this one really guarantees the burning of all your supper calories. And I always weigh less on the scale the day after.
7. Don't worry about the scale too much: Our body's moisture content varies tremendously from hour to hour and from day to day. If you're 5 lbs lighter after 4 weeks, that's a better indicator than if you didn't lose any weight from one week to the next.
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Super Awesome Shaak Chingri (Bengali Shrimp and Greens)
Yaaay! Another fabulous Bengali dish with no onions!
I had been craving leafy greens for a few weeks, and couldn't get enough of it. But this time I wanted a bit of a taste of the ocean with my greens. This dish satisfied all of that. Not to mention, I loved the 'Shorshe bata' or Mustard seed paste AND the 'Panch Phoron' (just google it).
Substitutions: I didn't have 'Mulo' or turnips, but I cared not! I had many carrots, so I used them instead. That added a lot of colour too!
TASTED AWESOME!
Well, here's the recipe:
http://bhalokhabo.blogspot.ca/2011/04/pui-shaaksaag-chorchori.html
Eat with rice.
ZIIING!!!
These photos are taken by me, so please respect that. If you want to use them, please just ask.
Thanks!
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Quick, Lazy, Ricotta Cake
The texture of this cake is surprisingly good. It holds together on the plate, moist when you chew it but breaks up in a surprising crumbly way.
Ingredients:
1 454g tub of Ricotta cheese
2 scoops Vanilla protein powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 325 deg C.
2. Mix all ingredients together.
3. Grease a 9" round pan and pour batter into it.
4. Bake for 45 minutes or until done (test by sticking a tooth pick/knife in the thickest part of the cake and when you pull it out, it should come out clean.)
This is surprisingly good. And so easy to make!
Makes 16 slim slices. Or 8 decent sized slices.
Pointsplus for 1/16th of a cake: 2 points
Pointsplus for 1/8th of a cake: 5 points
Ingredients:
1 454g tub of Ricotta cheese
2 scoops Vanilla protein powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 325 deg C.
2. Mix all ingredients together.
3. Grease a 9" round pan and pour batter into it.
4. Bake for 45 minutes or until done (test by sticking a tooth pick/knife in the thickest part of the cake and when you pull it out, it should come out clean.)
This is surprisingly good. And so easy to make!
Makes 16 slim slices. Or 8 decent sized slices.
Pointsplus for 1/16th of a cake: 2 points
Pointsplus for 1/8th of a cake: 5 points
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Nice Bengali Recipes
A very nice site with some lovely pictures and recipes. I might try the "Piaj-kolir Jhal" today... Very interesting!
http://kichukhonn.blogspot.ca/search?updated-max=2013-04-29T10:17:00%2B05:30&max-results=1&start=6&by-date=false
http://kichukhonn.blogspot.ca/search?updated-max=2013-04-29T10:17:00%2B05:30&max-results=1&start=6&by-date=false
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Bengali Dal: Fat Free or Low Fat Bengali Recipes
Bengali people have gotten into the bad habit of choking their food with oil. It doesn't have to be this way. My grandmothers were both from present day Bangladesh: one cooked with almost no oil, and the other one cooked with lots of oil. The former was frugal, the latter was extravagant.
And what are we all, today? LAZY.
Here's a low fat recipe. Measure your oil with a measuring spoon.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup musoor dal (red lentils) washed
1 tsp oil (mustard preferred)
1/2 tsp Kalo Jeera (kalonji) - NOT onion seeds
1-2 dried whole red chilli
1/4 tsp haldi (fresh or powder turmeric)
1 cup water
salt to taste
Method:
1. Heat the 1 tsp oil in a pan on medium heat. When it gets hot, add the Kalo Jeera and dried red chilli.
2. As it starts smoking, take the pan away from the heat, add haldi, dal.
3. Put the pan back on the flame, add water and bring to a boil. Boil for 20 minutes on medium low. You dal should be gently boiling. If you bring it to a rolling boil, then keep checking and adding water until the dal is completely cooked.
4. After the dal is cooked, add salt to taste.
5. Optional step: if you want, you can take a hand blender to the cooked dal, blend it a little till it's a nice thick smooth-ish dal and let it come to a boil once more.
Serve 'Daal Bhaath' by pouring Dal over fresh Rice.
And what are we all, today? LAZY.
Here's a low fat recipe. Measure your oil with a measuring spoon.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup musoor dal (red lentils) washed
1 tsp oil (mustard preferred)
1/2 tsp Kalo Jeera (kalonji) - NOT onion seeds
1-2 dried whole red chilli
1/4 tsp haldi (fresh or powder turmeric)
1 cup water
salt to taste
Method:
1. Heat the 1 tsp oil in a pan on medium heat. When it gets hot, add the Kalo Jeera and dried red chilli.
2. As it starts smoking, take the pan away from the heat, add haldi, dal.
3. Put the pan back on the flame, add water and bring to a boil. Boil for 20 minutes on medium low. You dal should be gently boiling. If you bring it to a rolling boil, then keep checking and adding water until the dal is completely cooked.
4. After the dal is cooked, add salt to taste.
5. Optional step: if you want, you can take a hand blender to the cooked dal, blend it a little till it's a nice thick smooth-ish dal and let it come to a boil once more.
Serve 'Daal Bhaath' by pouring Dal over fresh Rice.
Monday, May 6, 2013
Low carb Sweet and Sour Shrimp
You won't be able to stop eating this. The sweetness is mild... not the comatose sweetness one is accustomed to at the Chinese store (which I absolutely love... that sweetness that makes you wonder why it isn't in the dessert menu).
It's quick to cook, but if you buy shrimps with their heads on, it takes a while to shell and devein them. If you get the pre-shelled deveined stuff, this is going to be a cinch. But leaving the head on the shrimp makes a big difference in the end product. I think the bulk of the shrimp flavour is left in the shrimp head.
Sauce:
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp sweetner (Splenda)
2 tbsp cooking wine or sherry
2 tbsp corn starch
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup water
Stir Fry:
2 lbs shrimp
2 cups red onions, cut into chunks
2 cups green or red or yellow peppers, cut into chunks
2 cups of pineapple, chunks
2 tsp minced ginger
2 tsp minced garlic
2 tbsp oil
salt to taste
Steps:
1. Heat the oil on medium high. Add oil.
2. When hot, add ginger, garlic. Stir till fragrant.
3. Add onions, green peppers. Stir fry on high for 2 minutes.
4. Add shrimp. Stir fry till it turns pink. Turn heat to medium.
5. In a separate bowl, mix all sauce ingredients together and add to the stir fry. Stir until sauce thickens.
6. Add salt to taste. Stir thoroughly.
7. Mix in pineapple pieces. Turn off stove and let it stay on the heat so the pineapple pieces get warmed through.
Enjoy with rice/barley/noodles/shirataki noodles.
yum, yum, YUM!
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Avoid Drinking when losing weight
Drinking alcohol while losing weight is extremely tricky. So tricky in fact that I have decided to stop drinking until I've achieved my target weight. It's not easy saying no to a glass of wine when it brings back pleasant memories.
(source:http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/ Danilo Rizzuti)
The disadvantage is not strictly in the alcohol in itself. It is in the temptation to eat junk food WHEN buzzing or drunk.
Here is a nice list of items to order when out "drinking" with your friends:
http://voices.yahoo.com/non-alcoholic-drinks-order-bar-1756261.html
I think Virgin Daiquiris and Virgin Pina Coladas are calorie dense. I really like the "Bartender's suggestion" idea. You'll be up for a surprise each time. Just say, "I want a non-alcoholic drink that's not too high in calories... a little calories is okay :)" Always finish the request with a winning smile :D
(source:http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/ Danilo Rizzuti)
Did you know TONIC WATER has CALORIES? How can you call something "Water" and add calories to it? It's so wrong! So unethical. Here's an idea... How about I open a hamburger store and call my main dish the 'Water Hamburger'. It sounds like it's low in calories, but it'll have double the calories of a BigMac. No one will clue in, and it'll be a big hit. Then I'll be sued on grounds of being unethical.
Silly.
The disadvantage is not strictly in the alcohol in itself. It is in the temptation to eat junk food WHEN buzzing or drunk.
Here is a nice list of items to order when out "drinking" with your friends:
http://voices.yahoo.com/non-alcoholic-drinks-order-bar-1756261.html
I think Virgin Daiquiris and Virgin Pina Coladas are calorie dense. I really like the "Bartender's suggestion" idea. You'll be up for a surprise each time. Just say, "I want a non-alcoholic drink that's not too high in calories... a little calories is okay :)" Always finish the request with a winning smile :D
Did you know TONIC WATER has CALORIES? How can you call something "Water" and add calories to it? It's so wrong! So unethical. Here's an idea... How about I open a hamburger store and call my main dish the 'Water Hamburger'. It sounds like it's low in calories, but it'll have double the calories of a BigMac. No one will clue in, and it'll be a big hit. Then I'll be sued on grounds of being unethical.
Silly.
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