Vegan Fat free Banana Oat Nut Bar & Banana-Beet Milk

Know what you Eat – Oats, via their high fiber content, are known to help remove cholesterol from

the digestive system that would otherwise end up in the bloodstream.Bananas are an exceptionally rich source of fructooligosaccharide, a compound called a prebiotic because it nourishes probiotic (friendly) bacteria in the colon. These beneficial bacteria produce vitamins and digestive enzymes that improve our ability to absorb nutrients Almonds which is high in monounsaturated fats, that is good for the body  and is associated with reduced risk of heart disease. In addition to healthy fats and vitamin E, Magnesium and Potassium. Jaggery (Panela) is a "natural" sweetener made

by the concentration of sugarcane juice WITHOUT the use of any chemicals / synthetic additives or

preservatives. It contains an enormous wealth of minerals / protein / vitamins and iron. Beets get their garnet color from antioxidants called betalains, which help your body detoxify potentially cancer causing substances.  Go for raw milk than pasteurized and homogenized milk, which causes higher incidence of milk  allergies or lactose intolerance, from organic grass fed cows without any growth hormone or antibiotic.





After school snack is the most important meal in our house, the dining table becomes the vent out place to discuss what all things happened in the school in the whole stressful?? day, so the table should look colorful and tempting as per the kids, at the same time should be nutritious according to me. It is not very difficult to achieve both with little bit of planning and creativity and this is one such snack, which they relish. Using beets instead of artificially flavored strawberry drinks, is much  more healthier.





Vegan Fat free Banana Oat Nut Bar



Preparation Time - 10 Minutes

Cooking Time - 20 Minutes

Serves - Makes around 12 bars



Ingredients



Old Fashioned Oats - 1 3/4 cup

Oats Flour - 1/4 cup

Banana – 2 big

Powdered Jaggery(Panela) - 1/2 cup

Chopped Almonds - 1/2 cup

Grated Coconut – 1/2 cup

Chopped Dates - 1/4 cup

Toasted Chia seeds – 2 Tbsp

Cinnamon powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt pinch

Water



Method



1) In a pan add little bit of water to the powdered Jaggery/Panela  just to cover the surface and heat

till the jaggery is fully dissolved. Filter it of any impurities and keep it aside.

2) Combine the Oats, Oat flour, flaked almonds, chopped dates, cinnamon powder and salt.

3) Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, In a blender puree the banana and add the

banana puree and the jaggery syrup.

to the Oats mixture and mix well and thoroughly.

4) Line a loaf pan with parchment paper and transfer the Oats mixture to the baking pan

and bake  till a knife inserted at the center comes out clean.

5) Take it out of the parchment paper and set it aside to cool.

6) Once cooled cut into bars of desired size and store in an airtight container.

7) Can be kept at room temperature for 2 days, refrigerates up to 2 weeks.



Notes – I make these bars quite often, I keep on changing the nuts and dry fruits with

sunflower, pumpkin seeds, dried apricots, figs, raisins, cashews, walnuts, dried cranberries etc

just not to get bored with the same taste.



Check out the recipe here for the  Banana & Beet Milk

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Mixed Vegetable Quinoa(High Protein/Stamina Food)

Know what you Eat: Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) was once called "the gold of the Incas" for increasing the stamina of Incan warriors. Quinoa, is an extremely nutritious seed. It has a protein value that is extremely high (12-18%) and the protein it supplies is complete protein, meaning that it includes all nine essential amino acids. Quinoa is easy to digest, contains no gluten., a good source of dietary fiber, phosphorous, magnesium, and iron .



Cooking Time : 15 mins

Preparation Time : 10 mins

Serves : 4



Quinoa is a highly nutritious food and can be substituted instead of rice in any of dishes. It has a slightly bitter taste if not soaked for atleast for 30 mins and rinsed before cooking. It is a very versatile grain and in our house this is the primary grain used for cooking. This can be found in any health food store, or in your organic food speciality aisle. We buy in bulk online in nutsonline.com as it works out very cost effective. Since this has become our staple i experiment various dishes with this grain and this is one of them.



Ingredients



Cooked Quinoa - 2 cups

Chopped vegetables - 4 cups(Onion, Bell peppers(Green, Red, Yellow, Orange), Carrots, Beans)

Salt - 1 tsp or to taste

Lemon Juice - 2 tsp or to taste

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Green Chilli - 1 or to taste

Curry leaves - 1/2 tsp

Oil - 1 tsp

Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp(Optional)



Garnishing



Finely Chopped Cilantro - 2 tbsps

Oven roasted peanuts - handful (optional)

Clarified butter(Ghee) - 1 tsp (optional)



Method



1) Soak Quinoa for atleast 30 mins and then rinse it thoroughly and add 2 parts of water to 1 part of quinoa, salt and cook for 15-20 minutes. Let the cooked quinoa cool or you can cook and store in refrigerator and make this dish in an instant.

2) Heat oil, add mustard seeds.

3) Once the seeds stop spluttering add curry leaves, chopped green chilli, onion and saute till the onion becomes translucent.

4) Now add all the chopped vegetables, salt and saute till they are fully cooked.

5) Now add the cooked quinoa and mix it thoroughly to combine with the rest of the ingredients and leave it for 5 minutes, stirring in between.

6) Switch off add chopped cilantro, peanuts, ghee(clarified butter will give a nice flavor) and lemon juice.

7) Stir and combine so the lemon juice is coated evenly and serve it with tomato ketchup, chutney or yogurt of your choice.



Event Participation



1) This dish goes to Original Recipes - Monthly Round up Event hosted by Lorie.

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Low fat Channa dal(Bengal Gram) Fritters

Know what you Eat : Channa Dal(Bengal gram) is very high in protein and very low in glycemic index. This bean looks just like yellow split peas, but is quite different because it doesn't readily boil down to mush. It's more closely related to garbanzo beans, or chickpeas. The differences are that chana dal is younger, smaller, split, sweeter, and has a much lower glycemic index. You can substitute chana dal for garbanzo beans in just about any recipe.

Preparation Time : 5 mins

Cooking Time : 10 mins

Serves : Around 15 fritters

Ingredients

Channa dal - 1 cup

Chopped cabbage - 1/2 cup

Chopped mint leaves - 1/4 cup

Chopped onion - 1/4 cup

Green chilli - 1 or to taste

Oil - 2 tsp

Salt to taste

I am using the appam pan for years. I use different batters to make sweet and veggie appams. But have never tried out with vada batter. I found this interesting recipe in Uma's blog and tried it out immediately.

Method

1) Soak channa dal in warm water for four hours.

2) Add green chilli,salt, little bit of water and grind to get a thick batter.

3) Add the chopped cabbage, onion and mint leaves to the batter.

4) Heat the appam pan and put a drop of oil in each of groove and pour the batter.

5) Cover the appam pan for few minutes and once one side is cooked and golden in color flip over.

6) Once the other side is cooked, remove and serve it with ketchup, chutney or sambar of your choice.

Vadai is a South Indian deep fried snack and instead of deep frying i made it in appam pan to get a low fat version.

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Whole Wheat Soft Pretzel(Guilt Free Snack)

Know what you Eat - Wheat, in its natural unrefined state, features a host of important nutrients. Therefore, to receive benefit from the wholesomeness of wheat it is important to choose wheat products made from whole wheat flour rather than those that are refined and stripped of their natural goodness.  Whole wheat is a very good source of dietary fiber and manganese. It is also a good source of magnesium. Whole wheat flour is rich in B1, B2, B3, E, folic acid, calcium, phosphorus, zinc, copper, iron, and fiber  when compared to refined flours, as the processing involves the loss of this nutrition.



Who should avoid Wheat - However Wheat is fattening so if you are on weight loss program, cut down on grains like this and go more towards protein (legumes and bean). Individuals with already existing and untreated kidney or gallbladder problems may want to avoid eating whole wheat because of its measureable oxalate content. Wheat has gluten, a protein which people with celiac disease cannot tolerate. Celiac disease is a digestive disease that damages the small intestine and interferes with absorption of nutrients from food.



Ingredients



1/4 c. water

1/2 Tbsp. yeast

1/2 Tsp. honey

5 oz milk

2 Tbsp butter

1 oz Honey

1 Tsp salt

2 cups Whole wheat flour



I found the recipe here and check out for step by step tutorial to make the pretzels.



Method



1) In a large bowl, mix the water, yeast and 1/2 tsp of honey. Stir this together and to dissolve the yeast. Let this sit for a few minutes .



2) Melt 2Tbsp of butter in a large saucepan.



3) Add 1oz of Honey, Salt and 5oz of Milk.Warm this for 5 minutes on low heat.



4) Pour milk mixture into yeast mixture and stir.



5) Stir in the Whole wheat flour.



6) Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes.



7) Cover it and let it rise for 1-1 1/2 hours.



8) Pull it out of the bowl and knead it a few times to get the air out.



9) Pull a ball of dough, about the size of your fist off and get ready to make your very first pretzel! (such a proud moment) Roll it into a long snake.



10) Then twist it and shape each pretzel, put them on a cookie sheet about an inch apart. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.



11) Melt a stick of butter in a saucepan.



12) Right when you take the pretzels out of the oven, slather them with butter or Olive Oil(I didn't do this step but still the pretzel tasted great without the grease).  Then sprinkle salt over them and eat this guilt free snack warm and enjoy.



Will try to get the step by step pictures next time and post them back here.



Event Participation



This goes straight to the WYF Tea Time Snack event hosted by EC.



Sending this to Food for 7 Stages of Life - Healthy Fast Food hosted by Radhika and Sudeshna.

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Partially Hydrogenated Oils/Trans fat is it good?

Trans fatty acids, also known as trans fat, is an artery-clogging fat that is formed when vegetable oils are hardened into margarine or shortening.



The thing is, even if you don’t know that the following foods have trans fats, you should certainly know that they are bad for you:

 French fries, Potato chips, Doughnuts, Pastries, Hard margarine, Vegetable shortening, Cookies and Candy



While some foods like bakery items and fried foods are obvious sources of trans fat, other processed foods, such as cereals and waffles, can also contain trans fat. One tip to determine the amount of trans fat in a food is to read the ingredient label and look for shortening, hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oil. The higher up on the list these ingredients appear, the more trans fat.



Now here's the worse news: researchers from the University of Alberta have discovered foods rich in trans and saturated fats can also botch up the electricity in your heart, worsening the severity of heart attacks and increasing the risk of death.





For the first time, researchers have discovered that not only do "bad" fats affect the vessels of the heart, but they also affect the heart cells and can disrupt the rhythm of electricity flow in a heart.



So next time you buy something from the store make sure to read the label .



Check out the original article here in  Cananda.com

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Nonstick Cookware - How safe is it?

All modern kitchens will have a bunch of these pretty non stick cookware sitting in their cabinets. No doubt about it. Yeah sure i also had few but after coming across couple of articles on whether it is safe or not, i stopped using them and all were thrown out in the fall clean up to be picked up and junked. Go through the following article and i am sure you will do the same thing as i did few years ago.

Children and teens who have high blood levels of chemicals used in the production of non-stick cookware may be more likely to have elevated LDL cholesterol levels, according to a report.

Humans are exposed to perfluoroalkyl acids, such as PFOA and PFOS, through drinking water, dust, food packaging, breast milk, cord blood, microwave popcorn, air and occupational exposure.



Recent survey results reported detection of these chemicals in almost all people in the U.S.



“[Researchers] assessed serum lipid levels in 12,476 children and adolescents (average age 11.1) ...





[H]igher PFOA levels were associated with increased total cholesterol and LDL or ‘bad’ cholesterol, and PFOS was associated with increased total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and HDL or ‘good’ cholesterol.”





Check out the original eye opening article here in Newswise.com









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Ragi Urundai(Steamed Finger Millet Dumplings)

Do you know Ragi(Finger Millet) is the perfect food if you are looking for an alternate to Rice, Wheat, Corn etc as a staple. Easy to digest, gluten free, perfect for kids as well as adults. The best food for weight watchers, for people looking for low carb diet. The black chick pea (kala channa) and green mung bean are the best source of protein. A combination of all these three make the perfect breakfast along with some coconut chutney(coconut has fatty acids that provide both energy (nutrients) and raw material for antimicrobial fatty acids and monoglycerides (functional components)) and a glass of vegetable juice. Keeps you charged and full for hours.



Preparation Time - 5 Minutes

Cooking Time - 30 Minutes

Serves - 2



Ingredients

Ragi (Finger Millet) Flour - 12 oz

Whole Black Chick Pea Flour(Kala Channa Besan) - 4 oz

Whole Green  Gram Flour(Green Mung Flour) - 4 oz

Water - 2 1/2 cups (Around 2 times the flour)

Finely chopped coconut pieces - 2 Tbsp

Salt - 1 Tsp or more to taste



Tempering



Coconut Oil - 1 Tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Asafoetida powder - 1/4 tsp

Curry leaves - few

Green or Red Chili - 1 or more to taste



Method



1) Heat a pan and add coconut oil, once the oil is hot add mustard seeds. After the mustard seeds stop spluttering add the asafoetida powder, chili, curry leaves and then the water.

2) Combine all the three flours and keep them ready.

3) Once the water starts boiling add the salt and the coconut pieces. Quickly but little by little add the flour to this boiling water while combining using a heavy spoon without forming any lumps.

4) Keep combining and let this sit in the stove till all the water evaporates and then switch off the stove.

5) Now transfer the cooked dough to a wide plate and let this cool completely.

6) After the dough is completely cooled, grease your palm with oil and make small balls using the center of your palm.

7) Place these balls in a greased bowl and steam it covered for 15 Minutes.

8) Serve these balls hot with chutney and enjoy.



Notes - You can buy ragi, green mung, kala channa. Wash, rinse and drain and sprout it. Once sprouted sun dry and till they become crisp and get them ground in bulk. Normally ragi alone is made into dumplings in some of the southern parts of India. But these dumplings have to be eaten when it is steaming hot and with a side dish sambhar(spiced lentil stew). The addition of the bean flours, softens the whole thing and the steamed dumplings don't get hard and stays the same way even for hours.

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