Tomato Quinoa

Looking for high protein, low carb, gluten free grain. Then Quinoa is a very good choice for you.  Quinoa is a highly nutritious pseudo grain ( a seed which is treated as grain) originating from South America. Quinoa contains complete  protein meaning it contains all the essential amino acids required by the body. Apart from protein it is a good source of iron, calcium, potassium, copper and magnesium. Next time you get that migraine think Quinoa because diets rich in magnesium are good for people suffering from migraine, child hood asthma etc. If  you think healthy food doesn't taste good. Try this out and let me know.

If you looking for quick one pot dish this recipe will be really handy for you. Soak the Quinoa for 30 minutes and cook it and refrigerate. Cook the tomato and onion for few minutes, mix it with cooked Quinoa,  garnish with some roasted peanuts and enjoy.

Preparation Time - 10 Minutes

Cooking Time - 30 Minutes

Serves - 2 to 3

Ingredients

Cooked Quinoa - 2 Cups

Onion - 1 (chopped)

Tomato - 2(Ripe and firm, chopped)

Green Chili - 2 to 3 or to taste(Slit vertically)

Coconut Oil - 2 Tsp

Mustard Seeds - 1/2 Tsp

Fennel Seeds - 1/2 Tsp

Salt - 1 Tsp or to taste

Sesame Oil - 1 Tsp

Peanuts - Handful (Toasted)

Method

1) Heat a pan and add the coconut oil. Once the oil is hot add the mustard seeds. After they stop spluttering add the slit fennel seeds, green chilies and chopped onions. Add a pinch of salt and fry till translucent.

2) Now add the chopped tomatoes and the salt. The tomato will start cooking and will leave out a lot of water. Simmer till all the water evaporates in medium to high heat stirring in between and you will get a thick tomato paste. This will take at least 10-15  Minutes.

3) To the cooked and cooled quinoa add the sesame oil and fluff with a fork and add it to the tomato paste and gently stir so that it is well coated with the tomato gravy.

4) Add the toasted peanuts and serve with some vegetable yogurt dip(raita).

Note - Soak Quinoa in water for atleast half an hour, rinse and drain. Add 2 measures of water to 1 measure of Quinoa and cook till it fluffs up. Remove quinoa and let it cool completely. Infact for this tomato quinoa if you have left over quinoa from the previous night, refrigerate it and then take it out nextday and warm it. The left over, refrigerated quinoa doesn't have a mushed texture, so it tastes much better than freshly cooked quinoa.Alternately you can pressure cook to 2 whistles also.

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Sugar free Strawberry Ice Cream using Xylitol

It's blazing hot here in the East Coast and tomorrow is going to be even more hotter reaching record highs of over 100 Degrees Fahrenheit. In event of the heat wave the schools are having half a days and that means Kids will be early home. With the Ice Cream truck hovering around in the development tempting and kids and adults equally to scream for Ice Cream, the best option is to go for home made Ice Cream. I used Xylitol instead of sugar to sweeten this ice cream and some fresh strawberries. Made with raw milk, raw cream and half and half, anytime this is a much better option than the store bought one and without any additives or preservatives.

If you are concerned about sugar high or sugar low or tooth cavities, Xylitol or stevia are the best sweeteners to go for. Stevia has a little bit bitter aftertaste. But Xylitol doesn't have any weird aftertaste. But one thing to be watchful with Xylitol is excessive consumption will lead to upset stomachs. So limit to 2-3 Scoops and enjoy!!



Preparation Time - 30 to 40 Minutes

Cooking Time - 10 Minutes

Serves - Makes 2 Quarts





Ingredients



Milk - 1 Cup

Xylitol - 3/4 Cup

Salt - 1/4 Tsp

Half & half - 1 Cup

Vanilla extract - 1/2 Tsp

Heavy Cream - 2 Cups

Strawberry Puree - 2 Cups



Method



1) Warm the milk and add the xylitol and simmer till it dissolves. Remove from stove and let this cool to room temperature. Now add the half and half, heavy cream, salt, vanilla extract and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.



2) Remove the milk mixture add the strawberry puree, combine nicely and pour in the Ice Cream Maker. Process till it reaches a soft serve consistency.



3) Now freeze the ice cream over night to get a firmer consistency. Scoop out using a scoop dipped in hot water and enjoy!!

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Red Bell Pepper Juice

 Drinking at least one glass of low sodium vegetable juice daily may help overweight dieters lose more

weight. But when talking about vegetable juices most people think of carrot, beets or tomato. There are lot of other vegetables that can be juiced too. But when making juice using carrots and beets you have to understand these two vegetables are high in carbohydrate and sugar. So if you are diabetic or overweight avoid these too and go for low carb vegetable juices like Bell Pepper, Cucumber, White Pumpkin, Spinach, Tomatoes etc. Now coming back to this recipe, red bell pepper is loaded with vitamins like A & C and eating it raw and juicing it makes the body to absorb the nutrients even more easily. To spice up I have added whole black peppers. Try it out and let me know, how you like it.



Preparation Time - 5 Minutes

Cooking Time - Nil

Serves - 2





Ingredients



Organic Red Bell Pepper - 1 Whole

Black Pepper - 1/2 Tsp or to your taste

Salt - 1/4 Tsp or to taste

Lemon Juice - 1 Tsp or to taste

Water - 2 Cups (Chilled)



Preparation



1) Wash, cut and remove the seeds and cube the bell pepper into pieces.



2) Place the bell pepper pieces, black pepper, water, salt in the vita mix(or any high quality) blender and blend till smooth.



3) Add lemon juice and serve immediately.

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Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies (Egg free, Gluten free & Grain free)

 Cookies and milk, what can be a perfect snack after school?  I wouldn't boast chocolate chip cookie as a super health food.  But how much can you restrict kids not to eat this and that. For my kids I no longer give any store bought treats like cookies or bars. Everything is made at home, so when my elder one wanted me to make chocolate chip cookies. I didn't have the heart to deny that. So I came up with this recipe using Almond flour which is high in protein, no gluten and grain, maple syrup at least doesn't cause cavities. Almond flour gives such a nutty taste and texture to the cookie and are so good for people who are on gluten and grain free diet. So try this out and let me know how you like it.



If you are diabetic, this recipe is not for you. The bad part in this is the chocolate chips and also maple syrup even though it is a much better alternate than sugar, has a high fructose content and may elevate blood sugar. Stevia and Xylitol are the best natural sweetener to eliminate sugar highs and lows. Will post a recipe soon with Almond flour and Xylitol, so keep visiting.





Preparation Time - 10 Minutes

Cooking Time - 12-15 Minutes

Serves - 24 Cookies





Ingredients



Blanched Almond Flour - 2 Cups

Maple Syrup - 1/3 Cup

Baking Chocolate Chips - 1/3 Cup

Clarified Butter (ghee) - 1/4 Cup

Baking Soda - 1/2 Tsp

Salt - 1/8 Tsp



Method



1)  Preheat a baking oven to 350 Degrees Fahrenheit and line two cookies trays with parchment paper.



2) Combine the almond flour, baking soda, salt and mix evenly. Now add the clarified butter, maple syrup and chocolate chips. Knead into a fine dough.



3) Pinch out 24 even sized balls and place them in the parchment paper and press them gently.



4) Bake for 12-15 Minutes till slightly brown. Cool in a wire rack and store in a airtight container.

Keeps good for at least a week in room temperature.

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Kovakkai(Tindora/Ivy Gourd) Pickle/Salad

Have you seen this small green colored, baby cucumber kind of vegetable before? If you haven't then when you get a chance to go to your nearest Asian Indian store check it out. I love the crunchiness of this vegetable and tastes great in stir fry and also as a salad/pickle. I am calling this as pickle because I added little bit more of red chili pepper and added coarsely ground fenugreek seeds. Which is normally done for a pickle. This not alone tastes great but Tindora is a very low GI vegetable and in alternate medicine the Doctors in fact recommend to include this vegetable more in the meals to lower diabetes.  So there is no reason not to try this and do let me know if you did.



Preparation Time - 15 Minutes

Cooking Time - 2 to 3 Minutes

Serves - 2 to 3





Ingredients



Finely chopped Tindora pieces - 3 Cups (Edges trimmed, washed and finely chopped)

Salt - 1 Tsp or to taste

Red chili pepper - 1 Tsp or to taste

Lemon juice - 1 Tbsp or to taste

Fenugreek seeds - 1 Tsp (Dry roast till slightly brown and grind it to a coarse powder)

Asafoetida powder - pinch (if you are gluten free, do not use this)

Turmeric powder - 1/2 Tsp



Sesame Oil - 1 Tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1/2 Tsp



Method



1) Combine the tindora pieces, salt, red chili powder, fenugreek powder, tumeric powder, asaofetida powder and set it aside.



2) Now heat a small pan and add the sesame oil. Once the oil is warm, add the mustard seeds. After the mustard seeds stop spluttering, transfer the tempering to the tindora and spice mix. Add the lemon juice and combine thoroughly.  Enjoy!!



Notes - You can prepare this and leave this for an hour or two for the spices and flavors to be well absorbed by the vegetable. If keeping more than a day, refrigerate.

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Mixed Cabbage Stir Fry (Curry)

 Red(purple)  cabbage is one of the most nutritious and best tasting vegetable around. Cabbage in general helps in lowering the cholesterol and has lot of cancer preventive properties. Cabbage is a low GI vegetable and can be included as part of daily meals even for people with weight issues and people with diabetes. This is one of the simple curry that can be done in a jiffy, do not over cook as lot of enzymes are lost in the procedure.



Preparation Time - 15 Minutes

Cooking Time - 15 Minutes

Serves - 4





Ingredients



Purple Cabbage - 6 Cups(Shredded, Chopped into thin pieces)

White cabbage - 2 Cups(Shredded or chopped into thin pieces)

Dry red chillies - 2 to 3 or depending on taste

Salt - 1 Tsp or to taste

Asafoetida powder - pinch (avoid this in case of gluten intolerance)

Coconut Oil - 2 Tsp

Mustard seeds - 1 Tsp

Split Urad Dal - 1 Tbsp

Curry leaves - few

Grated Coconut - 4 Tbsp



Method



1) Heat a wide mouthed and heavy bottomed pan and add oil. Once the oil is hot add the mustard seeds. After the mustard seeds stop spluttering add the split urad dal and asafoetida powder.



2) After the urad dal slightly browns add the cut red chillies and in a few seconds add the curry leaves and then add the purple cabbage and 3/4 th of the salt and cover and cook for few minutes. Once this is slightly done, add the white cabbage and add the rest of the salt and cover and cook for few more minutes.



3) In around 10 minutes the cabbage will be tender and also because of covering and cooking there would be little bit of water in the bottom of the pan. Increase the heat and stir fry for 5 more minutes till the water evaporates.



4) Add the grated coconut, saute for few seconds and switch of the stove and serve. Enjoy!!

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Mixed Nut Energy Ball

 Craving for something sweet but easy to make and not loaded with empty calories. These mixed nut power balls are just right for you. Made with Almonds, Cashews, Pumpkin Seeds, Chia and Coconut they are rich in protein and perfect for little tummies for an after school snack. But the only thing you have to make note in this snack is this uses dates as the sweetener and dates are not good for people with diabetes. People with diabetes and weight issue have to watch the amount of fructose content in their food. Even if the fructose comes from whole fruits or dates or raisins, anything more than 15gm of fructose might cause problems in such cases.  And just 2 dates alone have 15 gms of fructose.

Try this out and let me know how you like it.



Preparation Time - 10 Minutes

Cooking Time - Nil

Serves - 12 - 14 Balls





Ingredients



Dates - 1 Cup

Almonds - 1/4 Cup

Cashews - 1/4 Cup

Coconut - 1/4 Cup (grated)

Chia seeds - 1/4 Cup

Pumpkin Seeds - 1/4 Cup



Method



1) Grind the Chia into a coarse powder and add the almonds, cashews, coconut and pumpkin seeds and make a coarse meal out of it.



2) Now add the chopped dates and process in the food processor to get a sticky dough.



3) Take out the dough and roll them into small balls and refrigerate for an hour and enjoy.

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