PICNIC 101 - Cinnamon Rolls & Pizza, Packed!

Last week, it was raining in Gurgaon!! Rains in winter is not a rare occurrence, in fact we were waiting for it, for some time. The rain ensures the cold stays. The cold ensures we go out for picnics for all of February! And what better than equipping yourself with a versatile recipe that makes you whip up batches of all different kinds of delicacies that tastes great when hot from the oven, or cool to room temperature. And I am teaching you three variations right here and now, but really the world your pickle. Go mad and play with the dough to your heart’s desire. It’s a full proof recipe, wherein I will put across many tips and tricks to get it right always!

Majorly the recipe is very simple. All we are doing is making an all APF dough, then dividing the dough enough to get various different forms of bread. I am making ½ of the dough in a  sweet form, while the other gets a savoury taste. Now this is a basic recipe I use pretty much always to make a host of other things, like hot cross buns or fruit bread or just simple white sandwich bread loaf. Its 100 % vegetarian, and we don’t use any eggs as well. The dough is simple to put together, all you need are the following ingredients-

INGREDIENTS

5 to 6 cups of Maida or All-purpose flour (APF)

500 ml of milk, lukewarm to touch

3 tsp of instant yeast

2 tsp of baking powder

2 tbsp of vinegar

3 tsp salt

3 tbsp honey

3 tbsp olive oil

METHOD

In the lukewarm milk, add honey and mix well. Now sprinkle in the yeast and let it proof for some time till it awakens and is frothy and smells a lot like bread.

In another bowl, mix 4 cups of flour with salt and baking powder. Mix and keep it aside for the yeast to get frothy.

Now mix both liquid and dry ingredients, start mixing the dough. Once you can’t see much of liquid milk left in the bowl, add the vinegar and olive oil and another cup of flour. Mix and knead till you get a nice dough which is not very sticky, but soft and supple, and springs back on touch. This is the time when you preheat the oven for 2 mins and then promptly switch it off.

Now take greased bowl, keep the ball of dough in the bowl and cover the top well with olive oil. Now take it inside the warm, but switched off oven and let it proof and come to life for 2 to 3 hours. The oven really helps in giving a warm climate for the dough to rise, in this cold winter day. And trust me, it would do better than the closed cupboard you used to use earlier. Trust me on that.

Now once the dough rises and proofs, you have a decision to make. I made half of it into cinnamon rolls and other half into a large pizza, which was good enough to feed an army of 4-year olds.

CINNAMON ROLLS!!

½ a stick of butter in room temperature

2 tsp of cinnamon

4 tbsp or more of brown sugar

A tsp of vanilla extract

Mix all of these together in a bowl and set it aside to marry each other.

Roll out the dough in a rectangle, which is not more than ½ of an inch thick. Now apply the paste of cinnamon and sugar as evenly as possible. And then roll the dough to form an even log. Cut the log in half and then make ½ an inch-thick marks to create beautiful cinnamon rolls. Transfer the cut rolls in a buttered oven proof dish and let it rise for 40 mins in a closed and switched off oven.

Bake the rolls in a preheated oven, at 180 degrees C, for 20 to 25 minutes, until it turns a delicious golden colour, and is cooked all the way through.

For baking it on the day of the picnic, I have a trick for u. First, the night before, you can always create the rolls, place them in a greased bowl and tightly pack it with cling film. Now without keeping it in oven for 40 minutes to proof, refrigerate it overnight. On the day of picnic, put it in a warm, yet turned off oven for 40 minutes, before baking. Bake and serve freshly made cinnamon rolls, while it is still warm. Brush the top with more melted butter, as it comes out of the oven.

Alternately, steam the buns instead of baking it, the night before. And reheat the buns slightly before packing it for picnic. Steaming these buttery cinnamon rolls provides another texture to the dish. You can even have the steamed buns cold, it would still be pillowy soft and decadent. Steam the buns in a full boil for 20 minutes, till the flour becomes translucent.

 FOR PIZZA-

Take the other half of the dough and flatten it out on a sheet pan. Oil the pan generously so that nothing sticks. Then place the flat dough on the pan and push and pull to fit the cookie pan completely. Set it aside for resting for 30 minutes.

Assemble the pizza topping and pizza sauce. I most often then not, mix great amount of dried herbs in ketchup to make the sauce. Taste as u go.

Now apply a generous amount of sauce on the uncooked pizza dough to coat well. Cover it with cut vegetables of choice, and cover the veggies with cheese of choice. I prefer processed cheese and gruyere if I am serving the pizza cold. If I am serving it hot, straight out of the oven then I prefer fresh mozzarella and gruyere with a good sprinkle of parmigiana. But I am a cheese geek, you definitely don’t need to be. Top it with whatever cheese u have or fancy.

Bake for 25 minutes in a moderately hot pre-heated oven to have a melty gooey soft and yet so delicious pizza, which is a great cross between the bready and thin crust pizza your neighborhood

fast food place sells.

Enjoy the picnics.. Cheers!!

Savoury Whole-Meal Scones with Nando's!!

Clean & Delicious Part 2- I celebrated Valentine's Day with my little family of three, munching on these yummy Whole-Meal Savoury Scones.

The spring garden is one of my most favourite things in the world. The little bees hovering about. The butterflies learning to fly. The leaves beginning to grow back. It's warm, and yet not hot. It is undoubtedly the best time to garden and harvest your fruits of love! And these Wholemeal Scones were conceptualised, sitting right in my terrace, surrounded by my favourite plants.  

Scones are an underrated and hardly ever made variety of flaky morsels of flour, that can be made sweet, savoury; or 'neither-sweet-nor-savoury' kinds. Valentines day being on a busy working day, prompted me to make something easy, yet light and decadent at the same time. My ever busy mister was supposed to return home early today. so i needed to jazz up tuesday tea time to get to a level of Valentine's day worthy. And so upon returning from work, i took a quick stroll in the garden to amass some harvest, and pottered around in the kitchen to make these, timed perfectly so that it bakes just as my boys return home. 

For all of you lovely people tuning in right now, thinking about a special treat for that special someone; make these healthy bites. It's a no egg recipe, perfect for the very commonly practiced meatless Tuesdays of India. It's Easy to put together. Requires just a few ingredients, and they 'should' all be cold. So happy baking !!

Ingredients for 8 Scones:

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda
Salt and pepper to taste

A small handful of leafy vegetables, I plucked baby spinach from my garden. 

1/2 tsp or to-taste mustard powder

1 tsp sweet chilli powder/Cayenne

2 tbsp chopped green leaves of onion and garlic. These green leaves are packed with nutrients and add great flavour too

1 red banana pepper, deseeded and chopped finely.

1/2 cup of cold butter

1/2 cup swiss cheese- gruyere 

1 cup cold buttermilk/Chaas or simply a cup of milk mixed with a tbsp vinegar.

Method

In a mixer grinder/ food processor put in the butter, cheese, leavening powders and flour, and pulse to dispense them throughout the mixture, in even pea like shape. I have noticed that it's easier to start this process when we cut the butter and cheese into cubes.

Now dump the crumbly mix into a flat mixing bowl, and mix in the spices and green veggies with a spoon or fork. 

In goes the cold buttermilk/chaas into the bowl and mixed to form a dough.

Tip it on a floured work surface, and gently gather it to form a rectangle. Fold it in thirds to amass it to form a square. Roll it gently to be evenly thick, about 1/2 an inch. Cut them into your desired shapes and rest it in the fridge for 15 mins to an hour.

Now preheat the oven to 220 degrees, and let it come to the temperature slowly as the dough rests in the refrigerator.

In the same measuring cup where you measured buttermilk, make a glaze with a generous glug of honey, milk and salt; stirred to combine.

Grate some cheese for the top, I used gruyère once again. I salted and Cayenne-ed it for added flavour.

Now take out the chilled dough, brush it with the milk mix and sprinkle on the cheese. Pop it in the oven for 20 minutes, until golden brown and crispy on top and bottom.

Easy crumbly tea time snack, which is healthy and fits our lifestyle perfectly! Cheers!! 

This post was brought out in association with Nando's. If you haven't already, do hop into one of their franchise restaurants in a city near you. they are expanding majorly in India. They are famous for their grilled chickens in a variety of sauces, one of them being this delicious lemony garlicky sauce. It also serves to be the perfect dip for my Whole-Meal Scones.  

Jamming the Clean & Delicious!!!

Clean & Delicious Part 1- How to make and store Fresh Homemade Jam!

After the very successful Lets Loose Weight Together series, I am hoping you all are a few kgs lighter, and feeling wonderful about it, as I am. If you are reading me for the very first time, then do check this linkwhere I have mentioned 3 wonderful diets along with many tips and tricks to lose weight organically, while sailing through life as usual. Weight loss done the right way by following a structured meal plan assures of it not coming back anytime. But really, more than the weight, I want to emphasize about eating right and carrying on with that little preface, I present to you my next series of articles on Clean Eating, the delicious way!! In this series I want to touch base upon many simple processes that you and I together can follow to get a cleaner lifestyle which is healthy and delicious all the way. Today I want to talk about a basic breakfast staple which if made right can serve you a full year without any tension. And trust me, it is important to have a stock of emergency food that doesn’t compromise on nutrition, but is a bomb in flavour.

In the morning of a busy week day, what is your most important worry? If you are anything like me, then it must be the decision of what to feed my small family of 3 for breakfast and lunch that day. If you are in India, you would have the luxury of hiring a domestic help to tide you over with most of the chores, but really they too need directions from you. So the decision part stays put. Now imagine if you could easily feed a fussy toddler a nutrition packed breakfast before school without worrying much about a dining table battle. Isn’t it a luxury that we mothers dream the most about- a non-fussy weekday morning? Most of the children I have fed in my house, including my super fussy toddler, loves eating sweet. And a good dose of sugar, right in the morning not only paves the path for a better day ahead which is full of energy, but also satiates them enough to take the day with full vigour and humour. And as parents, our most important job is to ensure nutrition and energy for the little ones. So, I like to give my toddler a simple breakfast each day of homemade bread and homemade jam. He doesn’t complain, and neither do I as I know this is nutrient rich and something he would eat without me fussing over him.

Many people don’t realise that making jam in our homes is actually 10 times cheaper than buying it from outside. Plus the use of chemicals that is available in most of the cheaper or moderate level jams, is a cause of concern. Why stuff in chemicals in the little bodies we made from scratch in our womb? Have we not done enough labour (and quite literally so) to get this little life out in the world? So I think we deserve to enjoy these little human beings and their journey in life till the end of our lives. And we parents can make sure of it by tweaking a bit of our busy lifestyles to ensure nutrition for the little ones better. All it takes is to come back from work and wash the fruits thoroughly and let it drain completely. After dinner, and before bed time you could make jam by following these simple steps. If you are willing to travel that extra mile, why not make a kg of jam and can it so that it stays nice and fresh for all of the year. So mark-up moms, 2017 is going to jam!!

Ingredients

2 cups fruit of your choice- I used strawberry but really any fruit in season which is cheap and accessible to you would work.

Sugar maximum to a cup but it would really depend on how ripe and sweet are the fruits that you are using.

A generous pinch of salt

A tsp. of white distilled vinegar  

Optional is to add a flavouring spice of your choice. For example a pinch of cinnamon powder is great to make pineapple jam with, or some cardamom powder would be great to make jam with golden gooseberries that is available in abundance these days. But for strawberry, I just like it as is.

Method

Wash the fruits thoroughly and let it drain completely on a paper towel. A great tip is to ensure that you have the fruit completely ripe before attempting to make the jam. That way you would spend less time stirring as the atmosphere would have evaporated most of the moisture out of the fruit. And the sugars would have doubled in the fruit, so you will end up adding less sugar than before. I have noticed waiting for a day after getting strawberries from the market, perfectly works out every single time.

Now add all your fruits in a mixer and grind it to a paste. Dump the mix in a pan with high sides, along with ½ a cup of sugar and salt; and bring it to a boil. Once it reaches the boiling point, reduce the flame and simmer the mix for 10 mins, stirring once in a while.

CANNING 101

If you want to can the jam in glass jars like I have done here, then simply take clean glass jar and its lid and submerge it in a big pan with cold water. Bring that to a boil separately. 100 degrees of water ensures that all living organisms in the glass jar and its lids are killed. This way the jars will store very well for a year unopened, in a cupboard. You can double this recipe to make as many jars as you would like.

After 10 minutes of steady simmer, check the consistency of the jam. Submerge a wooden ladle in the jam and remove it. Let cool a few seconds and run your index finger through it. If a line stays like in the picture below, then the jam is done. If it merges back then it’s too liquid and you need to simmer it on low for another 10 minutes.

For strawberry jam, I hardly use any flavouring spice. But if you do than the ground spices or liquid flavourings could be added to the jam while it simmers.     

Just before letting it off the flame, add in the vinegar.

Remove the hot glass jar from water carefully and drain by shaking it gently. Add the hot jam in the sterilized hot jar and close the lid. Carefully lower the jars back in the hot water to boil for a couple of minutes again. This would seal the jars completely. Sturdy tongs would be a great tool to use for the caning process.

But if you are making a small batch, then don’t bother caning. Just make sure that you keep moisture away from the cooled jam and store it in the fridge, in an airtight container. Make sure to eat it fast as the fungus would come looking for it soon. The caning process prevents the fungal invasion for a year.

Homemade jam is a classic fast food that is available to you all year around. Living in India, where there are seasonal fruits of all kinds available through winter to summer; spring to autumn is really a wonderful luxury. Use it. Trust me there are many in the world who have not seen a real fruit in years. Kiss you lucky stars that you and I are not amongst them.

Cheers!!

P.S. - a wonderful news to share!!! This article and many more in future would be available to you on Health Enabler. We joined hands together to promote healthy and wise living. Hope to see you following the same!! 

LLWT-5 Tackling Carbohydrates; the What, Why & How!!

Let’s Lose Weight Together Part 5 (LLWT-5)

Weekend over, and it’s time to fall back on the Lets LooseWeight Together series. Today I want to deal with a myth that has plagued the weight loss regimes pretty much since the start- CARBOHYDRATES. I am trying to write in a detailed understanding of this ‘macronutrient’, what and when is it required, and why can we not go without it.

Many diets are based on premises claiming that it promotes carbohydrate free meal plans. They promise drastic results, which is not easy to maintain, and as soon as one falls back into a normal routine, the weight comes raging back. If this has happened to you, then read 

on to find why and how to correct it.

To correct anything, you and I need to couple together to understand what are we fighting and why. We are not chasing 6 pack abs, all we want is a healthy weight, which is easy to maintain all lifelong. For a more permanent change, we need to adapt a lot of nice healthy and clean habits of eating in home or out in the restaurants. So today, let’s tackle the word ‘carbohydrate’ and see what we may be doing wrong that’s leading to the undesirable results so far.

1.     Carbohydrates don’t only mean rice and roti. Carbohydrate is one of the three macronutrients present in the world which helps maintain a healthy body. So, it can’t be that it’s just the grains that contain such an important nutrient solely. Carbohydrates are present in beans, peas, lentils, peanuts, potatoes, corn, parsnips etc. In fact even vegetables like lettuces, kale, green beans, carrots and broccoli; all contain carbs. So you literally can’t go carb – free for even a day, not possible at all.
2.       Then why do the diets talk of going carbohydrate free? Because, it’s just a term used loosely for processed grains (white rice and white flour) that are extremely easy to digest and hence become fat reserves if you don’t properly use up the calories it provides.
3.        So does white rice and Maida become your enemy? No, of course not. They are delicious and quite addictive. As much as you would want to keep them away, they will sneak up to you and make you love them even more. This is one of the reasons why crash diet plans fail to work. When you starve your body off something, it starts to crave for it more and more. That one biscuit or that one piece of bread starts comparing itself with the best orgasm you have ever had. And in that frame of mind, how do you continue on a strict diet plan?
   

Now that we have tackled most of the myths that comes to mind, let’s embark on the journey to understand why I am not asking you to let go of white rice and white flour fully. If you notice, a lot of my recipes call for white flour. But, they contain other ingredients too which are high in fibres and hence neutralises the use of white flour in it. To make matters easy to understand, basically grains are a great source of good carbohydrates for the body. Carbohydrates provide the much needed fuel for the body to function and sustain day to day life. Grains are packed with nutrients and fibres too, but man learnt to strip it off for aiding better digestion. For the era which had no lap tops and sedentary life was not a norm, human body needed to eat things that can provide energy faster and efficiently so. That time the body worked for long hours and hence the fuel needed to sustain itself. So, processed food was made and cherished by everyone. But today times have changed. Something that gets easily digested, doesn’t get used up; and hence they form a mass around the skeleton, as reserve. This is called fat.

How do we stop making this fat? Simply by-

1.       Understanding the portion size needed by each individual bodies,  

2.       Alternating the meals to include fibrous carbohydrates more than simple carbs,

3.       Utilising the calories efficiently and effectively.

Sounds much more complex, but it’s easier than you think. Basically opting to use whole grains more than processed is a start. But what is more important is to substantiate the use of grains with fibres that are healthy and eating smaller nutrition packed meals. Snacks are important, and finding the right balance of a clean and healthy snack is extremely important to achieve a healthy weight loss. I would continue to write more on the snacking bit in my coming articles.

So now I feel you are with me in saying that carbohydrates are not your enemy. They in fact are your best of friends which will help you to digest protein better and utilise it to form muscle, rather than fat.

White rice and white bread, cakes and pastries are definitely not your friends. But let’s face it, it’s delicious. So elimination is out of bounds. What you need to do is follow these simple tips-

1.          If you can forgo store brought bread/cereals, even if it claims to be 100% atta, then do that. Substitute the breakfast with roti, paratha (with or without oil), poha and upma. It gives you a better start to a day. Add veggies in your poha or upma or namkeen sevaiya for a nutrient packed delicious start of the day.
2.         Don’t kid yourself and attempt to have oats porridge every single morning. You won’t be able to keep it up. Instead opt for oats upma, not bought from the market in the little packets of dried spices and condiments mixed with preservatives and chemicals. But instead make it from scratch. It’s much easier than you think. Here is a detailed recipe to make you started on it.
3.          Now, desserts- cakes, pastries and even our desi halwa. How can we let go of a perfect winter without these celebratory sweets. You cant, and you shouldn’t. Just treat these treats as a meal in itself. Have it after 2 hrs of breakfast, 2 hours before lunch. This way your body has time to utilise the calories well and would send in signals of being moderately full during lunch. I love to have sweets first thing in the morning. Elders in my family find it strange, but it really fills me up with a good boost of energy for the day ahead.  

And now I feel too much of gyaan has already been passed. Let’s now come to the recipe for this post. I have shared many many bread recipes over the years. But today again I embark on sharing one that I make every single week for my family and friends. Now why do I choose to ignore the healthier recipes that I have shared earlier and rather opt for this recipe which has a higher amount of white processed flour? Simply because it’s easier to make with lesser ingredients and is still much healthier than anything you buy from outside. I bought a kitchen aid mixer last year, and since then I resolved to bake my own bread as much as possible. This way I am eating cleaner and healthier every single day or week. I bake the whole batch and freeze most of the loaves. This recipe freezes well and I have fresh bread anytime my child wants a treat, or a midweek flash party thanks to friends visiting from other cities. It’s a great recipe to mark and keep and it never ever fails me. If you are intimidated by baking breads, this is definitely the recipe to start u off.

Ingredients

3 cups of water (lukewarm)

3 tsp yeast

A couple of tbsp. of honey

2 and 2/3 cups of All-purpose flour aka white flour

3 cups plus extra for kneading, whole wheat flour, straight out of the chakki.

2 tbsp olive oil

3 tsp salt

Method

Foamy Yeast

Activate the yeast by mixing in honey to the lukewarm water and sprinkling on the yeast on top of the water. Cover and keep till foamy and yeasty.

Now in the bowl of kitchen aid mixer, or in a large mixing bowl, combine the flours and salt and mix well.

Pour in the foamy water and on low speed mix till all flour has incorporated well into a dough. Drizzle in the olive oil and mix well.

Gluten strands!

Keep adding more whole wheat flour if it sticks to the side of the bowl. The dough should come together in a mass, cleaning the side of the bowl, yet sticking at the bottom of the bowl.

Knead for 5 minutes on medium speed to activate the gluten. If kneading by hand, knead a bit longer.

Once the dough has gathered up beautifully, transfer onto a well-floured surface and knead for a couple of minutes by hand till an indentation on the surface of the dough springs back with vigour.

At this stage, form it into a smooth ball and place it in an oiled bowl to rise in a draft free, dark place like a cupboard or an oven which is plugged off.   

Once dough doubles in size, form it into 4 loaves, or 3 loaves and 3 burger buns and put it back for the second rise.

After about an hour or so, preheat your oven, score the loaves on top and bake in a preheated 180 to 200 degrees c temperature oven for 20 to 25 minutes. The time would depend on the shape of the loaves. But a 'knife inserted in the middle test' does help, just as if baking a cake, it should come out clean without wet dough.

Jelly Filled Hot Cross Buns for my little ones snack.

Cool thoroughly before wrapping the loaves well in cling film. Freeze the ones you don’t require right away. Defrost by putting it in the refrigerator overnight. Slice just before toasting and eating.

P.S.- the recipe would make 4 such loaves. Each loaves are made with approximately 400 gms of wet dough.

CHEERS!!

Weekend in Pictures!!

Are you set with a weekend plan already? Its Friday, and most of us don’t have an extra buck to spend outside. The restaurateur in me is reeling under losses, but the blogger in me has taken over to celebrate these barren weeks. So this is what I plan to do this weekend.

Gardening would be  the first thing indeed. I need to ensure such harvests all month long.

8th of December harvest.

4th of December Harvest!

from garden to table! Fresh Zucchini harvested to be stirfried  and served over a crisp salad.

Stocking up the refrigerator and the freezer is always on my weekend To-Do list.

Turmeric is a great spice with anti bacterial properties. It helps preserve the meats better!

What better than to cook up a few sauces and condiments in advance and refrigerate and/or freeze them for the naughty times to come. After the demonetization drive, I am pretty sure many of you restrain from ordering out. This is an excellent way to ensure that your cravings are fulfilled in a healthier and cleaner fashion.

Marinara Sauce is a great homemade sauce which can be refrigerated for a week, and it tastes even better as it ages.

Breakfast cookies couldn't be better than this- Whole wheat Kesar Pista Cookies and hot Bournvita

A pizza in a swirly bread form! Yum breakfast up ahead.

Some romantic family cooking with both my boys on toes, is my favourite Saturday dinner activity. My little one loves to bake bread, while my elder one loves to chop veggies. I absolutely love to stir up this storm!!

Apple Pie to the perfection!

Shakshuka with homemade whole wheat bread!

Hubby requested an Orange Cake for his Birthday!

And an Orange Cake he got!

Stocking up on good wine and booze never seems to be a bad idea, especially since New Year is around the corner.

Have you tried making a cocktail with 24 hours refrigerated flavoured water like so?? A must try!!

Lastly, some homemade spicy caramel popcorn with a great movie on Hotstar should sum up the weekend beautifully.

So this is how I would be spending my weekend. Drop in a comment to tell me how you are placed during this weekend. Cheers!!

LLWT-4 Tackling Festival Calories

Let’s Lose Weight Together Part 4 (LLWT-4)

Apologies are expected. I write after about 2 months while on the quest to complete a series of articles titled – Lets Loose Weight Together. The delay is unnatural and uncalled for at the same time. But as you read on, you would know the circumstances were such that I was completely zoned out.

As an update to my weight goals, I am 3 kgs lighter than since I started. Now another 3 kgs to go but it would need to wait till next year. I contracted dengue earlier this month, and after a 4 day visit to the hospital and many more days of rest at home, I am very happy in my skin as of now. I have continued eating clean as mentioned at the start of the LLWT series. But this article is aimed at something else entirely. I started writing it in October, to chronicle how to maintain weight during festive season where festive eating is at its height. For all who have not read the earlier posts, I strongly suggest you read and start to slowly incorporate your diet in the sketch I mentioned below. This is the right time for you to start so that the Christmas season with all its buttery goodness leaves a great taste on your palette but no calories on your tummy.

Throughout the Pujo and Diwali season, I possessed high metabolism rate which helped me burn out my cheat luxury effortlessly. This past season, I gorged on everything deep fried, sweet and alcoholic. But still was able to meet you at more or less the same weight as before. I am writing this article today, so that everyone feeling guilty of Diwali gorging can take a few leaves out of this tip jar, and better equip themselves for the coming Christmas- New Year season.

Eating is life for me, so letting go by a day without food is a wastage I can’t really imagine. But at the same time, being fit and healthy ensures that we can eat on our favorite cheat food till time immemorial. My goal is to not get an hourglass figure, but to attain a healthy weight in ratio to my height. By BMI calculation I am in the upper healthy range, and another reduction of 3 kgs will ensure I fall in the right weight to height category. When I started this series of article, I didn’t think I would carry on for so many weeks. But life is such, especially for an entrepreneur. We face delays in every aspect, and learn to live with it for future.

So here are some tips and tricks that I used to get past the post Diwali leftover weeks, with flying colors.

1. Dinners become the most important meals in the festive season. During Durga Pujo, a lot of my friends visited us at pandals to gorge on these yummy Bengali street food. Diwali celebratory parties with innocent card games and yum food were always served for dinners. So eating healthy for dinner is a bit far-fetched at that time. But we can overcome this by going to a party with a full tummy. This way you gorge less of those deep fried starters or farsaan. I have made a habit of having a cream cracker biscuits and/or roasted channa with tea in the evening. These low calorie snacks fill u up for a long time and hence you actually just taste and move on to the next dish effortlessly.
2. Another thing I do most often is to have a cup of vegetable soup before going out to eat. This helps fill me up with nutritious fibers which is good for my body. I always make a batch of vegetable soup by just boiling a collection of vegetable in a pressure cooker with salt and pepper and blend it to fine puree. I add some aromatic herbs at times to make it interesting to the palette.
3. I start each day with a big bowl of freshly cut fruits. This helps in detoxifying my body immensely. The heavy dose of fibers right in the morning cleanses last night’s filth effortlessly, and creates a path for a better nutritious day ahead.

To be honest, I eat very healthy, but I drink very filthy. So if you are anything like me, then these next tips would help you even better. It did to me, and being honest about this helped me curb my drinking from almost alternate days to once or twice a week only, that too alternate weeks at times. And that my friends, I feel is a triumph of a sort.

1. Make it a rule to never indulge in fried snack while drinking. This helps a lot. Alcohol makes you hungry. The best way forward is to enjoy a drink along with your dinner, or have a drink after the dinner. This helps in getting rid of the intense craving to reach for the bag of chips or other naughty snacks.
2. Roasted chana is a tasteless protein based snack. But it is one of the healthiest things to have with a peg of whiskey. Mix it with some salsa and it becomes a Mexican appetizer. Mix it with kuchumber salad, and it becomes an Indian salad. Stick to salads like these that appeal to our taste buds more than anything. A lettuce or sprout salad may not look or feel appetizing with your favorite drink.
3. Try to limit intake of sugary additive to your drinks. It affects the body most. Sugar and alcohol react together to make a concoction of intoxication that really is not good for a human body. Try tonic water with your drinks, but the best is still to go clean with ice and water. Another great substitute is to have flavored water mixed with 30 ml of vodka or gin. Flavored water is nothing but water that is kept in a glass jar overnight with cut fruits and herbs of choice. If you have an orange in the water, then it sweetens the drink greatly. So find a mix that suits you and stick with it for this festive season.
4. I know no one is going to like this one, but really a glass of water needs to go in your body for every peg of drink you take. I have a tip for you on this one. So in a party drink a glass of water before you start drinking. Obviously you are not going to stop at just one drink when it’s your friend’s farewell. So after 2 drinks, drink another glass of water. Do the math, u got 1 glass of water for each drink, and you enjoyed the drinks like u r supposed to as well.
5. Lastly, be prepared that there would be 2 days that you would not be able to exercise. And there would be those days that the table is full of pies and tarts of every sort. Guilt should not be a part of any celebration. Live that day responsibly, work a bit hard the other day by pushing for extra 10 minutes of exercise. Trust me, it works.

I hope these are of some help to you. If you read this far, then do put in a comment to let me know how your season went. I am always more than happy to hear from you guys!

And before I leave, here is a sneak peak of all the holiday baking that should land up on your table this month. i would be sharing 1 recipe each week to pull you through your holiday entertaining with flying colours. Cheers!

HOME-MADE WW BUN WITH PORK AND CHICKEN PATTY, SERVED WITH ARUGULA SALAD.

GARDEN FRESH ZUCCHINI STIR FRIED AND SERVED ALONG BALSAMIC GLAZED ONIONS 

CRISPY POTATOES WITH GARDEN THYME

HOT CROSS BUNS STUFFED WITH MOMS GUAVA JELLY