Ginger Lemonade
Lemonade is one of the most commonly consumed beverages all around the world. Lime has enormous health benefits, which makes lemonade a very healthy drink. Two glasses of lemonade a day can help you lose weight. Lime juice is an effective skin tonic, if consumed orally or when applied externally. Lime juice literally cleans our body, by flushing out the impurities. It is very refreshing; its fragrance itself does the magic. Now, I would like to upgrade this awesome drink by adding ginger root. This wonderful herb is famous for its medicinal values and health benefits in eastern parts of the globe. It is a great digestive aid; helps normalize high blood pressure, a well known remedy for nausea and morning sickness. And that’s not all; ginger root extract also helps reduce LDL cholesterol.
Method: Warm water – 1 glass full, Lime juice- of 1 full lime, Ginger root extract – ½ tsp, salt or sugar (or both ) to taste.
Mix all the above.

Pineapple Cake
I guess it’s time for a feast again. As I told you before, dieting doesn’t mean give up all your favorite dishes. So here is one of my favorite deserts, Upside Down Pineapple Cake. I made this cake for my son’s birthday last week, and everybody liked it; I hope you like it too. Now this will sure add few extra calories to your daily diet, but you can compromise that with the rest of the meals, and be careful to eat just 2 or 3 pieces a day. The good news is you can make it without butter. So here goes the recipe.
Ingredients: All purpose flour – 3cups, eggs – 4, pineapple juice (without water) – ¾ cup, dark brown sugar – 2 cups, oil – ½ cup, baking soda – 1tsp, pineapple slices(soaked in sugar syrup), cherries or straw berries to decorate.
Method: Separate the egg white and yolk and put them in two different bowls, mix the all purpose flour and baking soda and keep aside. In a large mixing bowl, mix the sugar and oil, and add the egg yolk one by one, and keep mixing with an electric mixer or with your hand, once that’s mixed well, add the all purpose flour and baking soda mixture, and mix very well (there shouldn’t be any dry flour), now add the pineapple juice and mix again. Beat the egg white very well and add it to the mixture and mix it altogether. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degree F, dust a baking dish with oil, arrange the pineapple slices and cherries (if you are using straw berries don’t add them now), pour in the cake mixture evenly, and bake for around 40 minutes or until when a tooth pick inserted comes out clean. Let it cool down for around 15 – 20 minutes and then turn it upside down onto a flat tray, and add the straw berry decoration (if you are using straw berries), and it’s ready to serve.



Tips: You can replace dark brown sugar with normal sugar powdered, and for the brown color, add sugar syrup (heat a small pan and add 2 tbsp sugar and when turns into dark brown color (be careful not to burn) add 1 tbsp water and cool it and mix it with the cake mixture.

MUSHROOM Indo-Chinese Style
This is a recipe I found accidently. As always I was thinking what side dish to make with chapatti, and I decided to make something out of mushroom. I started out in India and ended up in China. And surprisingly it came out well, so here goes the recipe.
Ingredients: Button Mushrooms, cut into half- 1cup, green pepper(capsicum) diced- 1cup, onion diced- ½ cup, tomato diced-1 small, green chili sliced- 2, garlic ginger paste- 1tsp, cumin seeds- ½ tsp, red chili powder- 1tsp, coriander powder- ½ tsp, garam masala powder- ¼ tsp, black pepper powder- ¼ tsp, tomato sauce- ½ tsp, chili sauce- ½ tsp, soy sauce- ½ tsp, salt to taste, spring onion chopped finely- ¼ cup, oil- ½ tsp.
Method: Heat a non stick cooking pan, add oil and add the cumin seeds, when they splutter, add onion and green chili and sauté until the onion turns slightly transparent. Now add the garlic ginger paste, fry for a minute, add tomato sauté for another minute, and add mushroom, then add the masala powders and salt, sauté for 2minutes and add the capsicum, sauté for 3 – 4 minutes, add the sauces and mix well, simmer the heat and cover and cook for another 4-5 minutes. Add the spring onion and remove from fire. Serve hot with chapatti or plain rice.