Healthy Granola Cereal with magic seeds

Know what you Eat : Studies show that eating chia seed slows down how fast our bodies convert carbohydrate calories into simple sugars.The chia seeds may have great benefits for diabetics so they are considered as magic seeds. Eating the seeds helps dieters by making them feel fuller faster so they will be less hungry. Oats an excellent source of iron, dietary fiber and thiamin. They also contain antioxidants that are believed to protect the circulatory system from diseases such as arteriosclerosis, which affects the arterial blood vessel.


Cooking Time : 20-30 mins
Preparation Time : 5 mins
Serves : 4 to 6

Ingredients

Extra thick rolled Oats - 2 cups
Almonds - 3/4 cup (Crush or pound them)
Grated Coconut - 3/4 cup
Chia(magic) seeds - 1/2 cup
Wheat Germ - 1/4 cup (You can use wheat rava with small pieces of broken wheat & bran)
White Sesame(Til) seeds - 1/4 cup
Raisins - 1/2 cup
Brown sugar - 1/4 cup (If not using brown sugar, substitute it with honey)
Honey - 1/4 cup (Increase this if you want the granola to be sweeter)
Oil - 1/4 cup
Cinnamon - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Water - 1 tbsp

I love granola but the store bought ones are too sweet, so i thought of making them at home as you can control the amount of sugar and add the ingredients you want and like. You just can put it in the oven, stir once in while and get on to your other things and a healthy breakfast will be ready in a few minutes. Now let us get on to the recipe.

Method

1) Preheat oven to 35o degrees F.
2) Crush or pound the almonds with a thick bottom pan or hammer, rolling them in a paper towel and putting them in a ziploc bag.
3) Combine all of the above ingredients except the raisins and bake till the oats slightly browns and the rest of ingredients are crunchy.
4) Remove and add the raisins and serve with milk and fruits of your choice.
5) During the bake time keep stirring and keep a close watch so that it doesn't get overcooked.
6) Do not forget to crush the almonds as smaller kids will have harder time to chew and eat them.
7) You can mix and match any ingredients, add baked sweetened banana chips, cranberries, apricots, dried apples, walnuts, cashew, dates, Peanuts etc. Don't add the dry fruits when baking but combine after baking.
8) With the addition of chia seeds, this keeps you filled up for hours.

Event Participation

1) This dish is our contribution to Srivalli's Mithai Mela hosted by Cooking 4 all Seasons.
2) This dish is our contribution to WYF Quick Meals event hosted by EC.
3) This also goes to Show me your Breakfast event hosted by Divya Vikram.
4) This also goes to Original Recipe Monthly Round up event hosted by Lorie.

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Super Quick & Healthy Mix Vegetable Stir Fry

No "one a day", switch to a healthy treat everyday.

Know What You Eat:

Nutritionally, water chestnuts are a good source of potassium and fiber, low in sodium, and fat is virtually non-existent but is high in carbohydrates, one can easily replace them with low carb bamboo shoots.

Carrots: good source of Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, Folate, Pantothenic Acid, Iron, Potassium and Copper, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin K and Manganese.

Green /Red Pepper: This diet-friendly treat has no fat, cholesterol or sodium and is excellent source of vit Cvery few carbohydrates.

Zucchini: A favored jewel of the summer is good source of Thiamin, Niacin and Pantothenic Acid, very good source of Dietary Fiber, Protein, Vitamin A, C,B6, Folate, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Zinc, Copper and Manganese.

Preparation Time : 10 mins

Cooking Time : 6-8 mins

Serves : 3

Ingredients:

1/2 C Diced Paneer / Tofu

4 C Mix Vegetables (Carrot,Brocolli,Zucchini,Cauliflower, Water Chestnuts,Bell peppers, Yellow Corn,Baby Corn) Washed & Diced in similar pieces.

For Seasoning:

1 Tbsp (EVOO) Olive Oil

3 tsp Sesame Seeds

1 tsp Dried Coriander Pwd

1 tsp Turmeric Pwd (optional)

3 tsp Taco Seasoning Mix

1 tsp red chilli flakes (optional)

Salt to taste

Method:

1. Heat oil in large non- stick skillet / kadhai.

2. Add all the vegetables, now add sesame seeds & toss it well, then add all the seasonings except salt. Put the flame on high and cook it for 5 - 6 mins for that crunch needed in this recipe, you can cook more if desired.

3. Add salt.

4. Mix it very well. Serve Hot. I would just eat them alone.....Works great as a side dish with Plain Rice / Indian flat bread / or with any other main course.

This is our entry to 15 minutes cooking hosted by Mahimaa.

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Mixed Vegetable Appam

Know what you Eat : Choosing dark green vegetable ensures calcium and other nutrients, while red and orange veggies give us beta carotene, lycopene and other antioxidants. Now we know the importance of colorful vegetables; it turns out there are thousands of phytochemicals that pour the benefits into our food. Don't forget the onions, the allium family of vegetable is instrumental in addressing elevated blood pressure and high cholesterol, as well as bacteria and yeast infections.

Preparation Time : 10 mins

Cooking Time : 15 mins

Serves : Makes around 10 appams.

Ingredients

Idli Batter - 1 Cup

Chopped vegetables - 1 1/2 cups (Onion, bell pepper(green,red,orange,yellow), carrot, beans

Chopped coconut - 1 tbsp (chop coconut into small pieces(don't grate) will give a crunchy taste)

Grated ginger - 1/2 tsp

Chopped curry leaves - 1 tsp

Chopped Cilantro leaves - 1 tsp

salt to taste

Oil - 2 tsp

Method

1)Heat 1 tsp of oil and add curry leaves, ginger, onion, beans, carrot, bell pepper, salt and saute till they are half cooked.

2) Now add the half cooked vegetables to the idli batter, cilantro leaves and chopped coconut pieces and mix thoroughly.

3) Heat the appam pan and put a drop of oil in each of the groove and pour the batter evenly in all of them.

4) Cover and cook till one side turns golden in color (covering will make the appams to cook quickly).

5) Flip over and leave till the other side is well cooked, remove from appam pan.

6) Serve with chutney, sambar or ketchup of your choice as a quick guilt free snack.

This South Indian snack  is our entry to WYF Quick Meals event hosted by EC.

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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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Vegan 4 Grain Strawberry Muffin/Cake

Know what you Eat : Strawberries have higher levels of vitamin c, fiber, folate and potassium than most other fruits like bananas, apples and even oranges. A recent study has shown that eating one serving (about 8-10 strawberries) a day can significantly decrease blood pressure, which may reduce the risk of heart disease.

I love to bake and baked goodies but after baking and eating them i really feel guilty of the amount of sugar and the carb in them. Now a days, i am trying to substitute all purpose flour with whole grain flours. For sugar with apple sauce and fruit juice, in this recipe i added 1 table spoon of beet pulp but really got scared at the color but after baking the color was all gone.


Cooking Time: 30mins
Preparation Time: 15 mins
Serves – 12 muffins

Ingredients

Chopped strawberries - 1 and 1/2 cups
Oats - 1/2 Cup
Whole barley - 1/2 Cup
Whole wheat pastry flour – 1/2 Cup
Brown Rice flour – 1/2 cup.
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
Chia powder - 2 table spoons (chia is very good egg substitute, instead of chia add 1/2 tsp more of baking soda and 1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar)
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Apple Sauce - 1/2 Cup
Beet Pulp - 1 tbsp
Raw Sugar - 1/4 cup
Cinnamon powder - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 1 table spoon
Water - 1 Cup

Method

1) Grind whole barley and oats into powder
2) In a bowl combine Oats, whole barley, brown rice flour, Whole wheat pastry flour, Baking soda, salt, Cinnamon powder, Chia powder and sugar.
3) Mix the dry ingredients well and add Oil ,apple sauce and beet pulp.
4) Now add the chopped strawberries and add water and mix the batter well.
5) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
6) Pour this batter to 3/4 of muffin mould and bake for 20 to 30 mins till a knife inserted comes out clean.
7) The muffin was slightly sweet if you have a sweet tooth add more sugar or serve with fruit preserves sweetened with fruit juice and fresh strawberries.

Event Participation

This dish goes to Whole Grain Baking Event - Barley hosted by Madhuram.

This dish is our contribution to Srivalli's Mithai Mela hosted by Cooking 4 all Seasons.
This goes to Strawberry Feast @ My kitchen treasures.
This dish goes to Original Recipes - Monthly Round up event hosted by Lorie.

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Jain Indo Chinese Manchurian

No Onion No Garlic
Jain Indo Chinese Manchurian

(discard carrots,ginger if you want to make pure Jain)

Ingredients:

2 C grated cabbage
2 C grated carrots (optional)
1/2 C chopped cauliflower
1 Tbsp chopped ginger & green chilli
1 Tbsp chopped coriander
1 Tbsp Corn Starch
1 C cooked / leftover rice
1 Tbsp Ming's Dark Soya Sauce
1 tsp Pepper Powder
1 tsp Sugar
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

For Gravy:

2 Tbsp tomato ketcup
1 Tbsp corn starch
1 tsp chopped ginger
1 Cup chopped cabbage/cauliflower/cilantro
3 tsp Soya Sauce
1/2 tsp vinegar
Salt to taste


Method:

1. Mix grated cabbage and carrots and squeeze the water out from them.
2. Now in a bowl take the squeezed cabbage and carrots, cauliflower, cilantro, cooked rice, soya sauce and mix 1 tbsp. corn starch and add few chopped ginger & chilies acc. to how hot can you handle, little salt and sugar to it.
3. Make small balls (like koftas) of the mixture .
4. On a medium high flame, heat the oil in a kadhai / wok and deep fry the balls till golden brown, drain and keep aside.
5. Now in a separate pan heat 2 tbsp oil.
6. Sauté chopped cabbage cauliflower, green chilies and coriander.
7. Add tomato ketchup, water, salt, pepper powder,sugar and soya sauce.
8. Bring it to a boil. Add vinegar.
9. Mix 1 tbsp corn four with half of a cup of cold water and stir into it. the gravy starts to become thick. Gently add the fried balls to the gravy.
10. Cook the vegetable manchurian for 3-4 minutes and serve hot garnished with chopped coriander.


Note: Best served with Plain / Chinese Vegetable Fried Rice

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Sweet Potato Curry

Know What you Eat : Sweet potato is rich in dietary fiber, naturally occurring sugars, complex carbohydrates, protein, vitamins A and C, iron and calcium. It contains twice the recommended daily allowance of vitamin A, 42 percent of the recommendation for vitamin C, four times the RDA for beta carotene, and, when eaten with the skin, sweet potatoes have more fiber than oatmeal.


Preparation Time : 10 mins
Cooking Time : 15 mins
Serves : 4


Ingredients

Sweet Potatos - 3 medium sized
Coconut Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Split Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Grated jaggery - 2 tbsp or to your taste
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Grated Coconut - 2 tbsp
Curry leaves - 1 tbsp
Water - 2 tbsp

Method

1) Wash, rinse and cut potato into cubes.
2) Heat oil and add mustard seeds, after they splutter add urad dal and curry leaves.
3) Once the urad dal slightly browns add the cubed sweet potato ,salt and water .
4) Cover it and cook in medium heat till the sweet potato is thoroughly cooked by stirring now and then. Add water if required little by little as this is a dry curry.
5) Once the sweet potato is completely cooked add jaggery powder and grated coconut, mix thoroughly and switch off and serve.

This dish is our contribution to Srivalli's Mithai Mela hosted by Cooking 4 all Seasons.

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