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.

Sweet & Spicy Methi Salad
Methi (fenugreek) is highly nutritional and its health benefits are out standing. It is very helpful in lowering cholesterol and blood sugar. And if you want to lose weight, include fenugreek in your diet. You must be thinking, that it tastes bitter. Yes it does taste bitter, so I’ve tried to reduce the bitterness in this recipe, by making it a little sweet and spicy. I usually hate to eat fenugreek because it’s bitter, but I liked this salad. It goes well with a cup of tea. Give it a try, you will like it too.
Ingredients: Methi (fenugreek) sprouted – ¼ cup, 1 Apple – chopped, 1green chili – chopped finely, coriander (cilantro) leaves – chopped finely, mint leaves- chopped finely, salt to taste, lime juice – ½ tsp
Method: Mix all the ingredients together, keep for 5minutes and serve.

Baked Chicken & Asparagus
Everytime I go to the vegetable store, I look at Asparagus; but I never wanted to buy it, because I heard that it doesn’t taste good. Then recently I read about the endless health benefits of this amazing vegetable, I decided to give it a try, and it was really good. Now if you take a look at the health benefits of Asparagus, you will know that it really is an amazing vegetable.
Asparagus is high in folate and vitamin K, so it is great for pregnant women. It is very good for our heart. Asparagus helps treat infertility and it is considered best for arthritis and asthma rheumatism. It can detoxify our body and it lowers LDL cholesterol. Asparagus has anti- oxidants which prevent aging and it also contains antifungal and antiviral qualities. It’s known as a body cleanser, and prevents kidney stone and urinary infections. It contains anti-cancer agents, and it also helps fight high blood pressure, prevents hair loss, helps treat tooth ache, etc, etc... This list doesn’t end here.
So here is a simple recipe of Asparagus baked with Chicken drum sticks, this along with one or two chapattis (wheat bread) make a healthy dinner.
Recipe(2 servings): Asparagus – 10, Chicken drum sticks- 2, red chili powder- 1tsp, coriander powder- 1tsp, black pepper powder- ½ tsp, salt, ¼ tsp, vinegar or lime juice- ¼ tsp, turmeric powder- a small pinch.
Method: Clean the chicken and asparagus, draw few lines on the chicken with a knife; marinate them with all the other ingredients. Pre-heat the oven to 400 degree F, bake the chicken for 15minutes, take out and turn it over and add the asparagus and bake for another 8 to 10 minutes. Serve with chapatti or rice.

Fish Biriyani
(With 2tsp Oil)
When we think about Biriyani, the picture we get in mind is of a rich food with no compromise in fat. When we exercise our diet, we can not afford to have the oily/buttery Biriyani. I like Biriyani a lot; my favorite is fish Biriyani. I am not ready to give up my favorite dish in order to maintain a healthy weight, and vise versa, so I found a solution for this predicament, a low fat alternative for Fish Biriyani with out compromising in taste. Now this can add a bit cal if you eat a good serving, but I would say not to worry; satisfy your taste buds, and balance the calorie with rest of the meals on that day. It looks so lengthy for a recipe, but is really not that difficult, and doesn’t take more than an hour to make 2 – 4 servings.
So here goes the Recipe (2servings):

For the Fish Masala:-
Fish fillets (Tilapia/Salmon or any fish which can be made fillets) – 2 cut into small pieces, Onion–1 finely sliced, Tomato – 1 big , sliced, Green chilies – 1 sliced, Garlic & Ginger paste - 2tsp, Almond paste – 2tsp, Rasin paste – 2tsp, Coriander powder- ½ tsp, Red chili powder – 1 tsp, Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp, Coriander (Cilantro) leaves chopped – ½ cup, Salt – 1 tsp, Oil – 1tsp
Method: Clean the fish pieces, and marinate them with ½ tsp salt, turmeric powder, and ½ tsp red chili powder. Heat a non stick pan, add ¼ tsp oil and shallow fry the fish on both sides, and keep aside. Add the other ½ tsp oil to the pan and add onion, green chilies and sauté for 5 minutes. Add the garlic & ginger paste and sauté for 2 minutes. Then add the tomato and fry for another 2minutes. Add coriander powder and ½ tsp red chili powder, salt and fry for a minute. Now add the fish and almond paste and mix well (be careful not to break the fish pieces). Add the rasin paste and mix, and keep for another minute. Add the coriander leaves on top and remove from fire.

For Rice:- Basmati rice – 1 cup, Cardamom – 4, Cloves – 6, Cinnamon – 2 sticks, Oil – 1tsp, Salt – ½ tsp, Hot water – 1 ½ cup
Method: Soak the rice in water with a pinch of salt for 5minutes, wash and drain and spread it on a paper towel or dry cloth to get rid of the water. Heat a deep pan, and add 1tsp oil, Add cardamom, cloves and cinnamon. When they start popping add the rice and fry for 2 – 3 minutes without burning it. Add 1 ½ cups of hot water and ½ tsp salt. Mix well, when it boils simmer the heat and cook until the all the water is absorbed (about 5 minutes).

Baking:- Pre- heat the oven to 300 degree F. In a baking dish layer the rice and fish masala in the order, Rice- fish masala – rice. Cover with an aluminum foil and bake for 15 minutes.
Serve hot with spicy Pickle.

Steamed Carrot Cake
(Carrot Puttu)
Carrot is a vegetable used by people all over the world. It’s known for the high amount of carotenes found in it. We all know that carrot is very good for our health. I like eating raw carrots, the sweeter version. This is different from the normal carrot preparations; and this can be a low cal high fiber healthy dinner.
Recipe (2 servings): Carrots grated-1cup, Rice flour-1cup, grated coconut- 2 tsp, salt to taste.
Method: Mix the grated carrot, rice flour and salt together; make a thin layer of grated coconut at the bottom of your steaming dish using 1tsp grated coconut, then put the carrot rice mixture and top it with the rest of the grated coconut, and steam cook for 10minutes. [If you have the puttu making dish, you can make it just like normal puttu]. Serve hot.

Chick Peas Snack
Most of us like to have a snack in the evening. I was thinking of a healthy alternative for my usual crackers; then my friend told me that, chick peas (garbanzo beans) cooked with salt make a good snack. I added a few other ingredients to make it more inviting; and this tastes really good. You can have it as a snack or a complete meal.
Chick Peas is rich in protein and dietary fiber. It is very low in sodium and saturated fat. And it has a great amount of folate in it. Now, we all know that folate is very important for pregnant women, because it’s needed for the production and growth of new cells in new born babies. But most of us don’t understand that we all need folate in our daily diet because folate help prevent the changes in DNA which can cause certain types of cancers; folate helps make our blood, hemoglobin rich. And some of the new studies show that folate in our diet can even prevent heart attack and stroke.
Here goes the recipe(2 servings): Chick Peas (garbanzo beans) – ½ cup soak in water for 5 to 6 hours and pressure cook with salt , tomato -1small chopped finely, spring onion 1 chopped finely, coriander(cilantro) leaves chopped finely, juice from a ¼ of a lime, salt, red chili powder. Mix all the above ingredients; and its ready to go.

The Goodness of Curry Leaves
Curry leaves are the most common ingredient in south Indian cooking. Whatever curries it may be, curry leaves are must. Its aroma and flavor is the signature of south Indian dishes. I like curry leaves the most is in buttermilk. Squeeze and add a few curry leaves and a ¼ tsp salt to a cup of buttermilk; it’s heavens on a hot sunny day.
Back home we had a small curry tree in our garden, and all our neighbors used to come for the leaves. I used to think we use curry leaves only for the taste and flavor it adds to the curry; but now I learned it has a great deal of health benefits too.
Its medicinal values make it very effective in treating indigestion. Just by smelling the leaves or drinking a mixture of curry leaves juice, lime, and honey makes you feel better from nausea and vomiting during pregnancy. Curry leaves are said to be very useful in treating non- insulin dependable diabetes. Eating 5 or 6 fresh curry leaves empty stomach in the morning helps control diabetes. Chew curry leaves and water, it acts as a herbal mouthwash.
Include few curry leaves in your daily diet, to maintain optimum weight. Curry leaves contains beta- carotene (antioxidant) which helps prevent certain cancers. And studies show that, these leaves can reduce LDL cholesterol and increase HDL cholesterol.
Curry leaves gives best results when used fresh, but it does not lose much benefits when refrigerated. So what else do we need; start adding more curry leaves into your menu.

Cracked Wheat Upma
Everybody knows the goodness of wheat. It is an inevitable part of our diet. This is a simple and healthy recipe for breakfast. It has protein calcium and dietary fiber; which makes it an ideal breakfast.
Recipe: Cracked wheat (roasted without oil) – ½ cup , ginger 1 small piece –chopped, green chili 1- chopped, urad dal (split black gram) – 1tsp, curry leaves , shallots 1 small- chopped, water – 1cup, salt -1/2 tsp, grated coconut – 1tsp.
Heat a pan, add oil urad dal and curry leaves, when the urad dal turns slight brown add ginger , green chili and onion, fry them for a minute, and add the water and salt check for salt and make sure it’s correct. When the water boils add the roasted cracked wheat, mix well and lower the heat, cover the pan and cook for 5 minutes when it’s cooked well add the grated coconut and mix well. Serve as breakfast with a banana.

Healthy Green Salad
Whenever we think of dieting, the first thing which comes to our mind is salads. I don’t agree that, we should eat salads all the time to lose weight; but we must include salads in our diet. This is a very healthy and tasty salad. I guess there is no need to explain the health benefits of the ingredients I used here. It’s rich in protein and dietary fiber. I used spring onion instead of onion, its taste goes well with the rest of the ingredients; and most of don’t know that spring onion is ideal for weight loss or in maintaining optimum health. Now, this salad can be eaten as a main course or as a snack.
So here goes my recipe(2servings): Sprouted moong (green gram) -1cup , salad cucumber (pickles) -1 diced, green apple – 1 diced, 2spring onion – chopped finely, coriander (cilantro) leaves chopped- ¼ cup, salt- ¼ tsp , lime juice – of ½ lime. Mix all the above ingredients, and it’s ready to go.
Tips: If you don’t like the raw taste of the sprouted moong (green gram), you can steam cook it with a pinch of salt, and cool it and use.
Sprouted moong (green gram): - soak the moong in cold water for 6-8 hrs, drain and put it in a wet thin cotton cloth, tie its ends and hang it (this helps to get all the moong sprouted) for another 6-8 hrs, in between if you find it very dry, sprinkle some cold water on it.

Beet Green Side Dish
Beets are often less consumed compared to all other vegetables. I personally don’t like beets much; but now I do like beet greens. Its taste reminds me of red chard which we get in India. Beet root is sweet, but the leaves don’t have that much sugar in them. Both root and leaves contains high amount of iron, so it’s known as blood builder and blood cleanser. Beets are very useful to fight anemia.
Beets can normalize blood pressure, it has high amount of beta-carotene and lutein (anti oxidants) which prevents cancer. It has vitamins A, C, B1, B2 and B6 in it. Beets, especially the leaves contain a large amount of dietary fiber and protein. And it has zero cholesterol, no saturated fat, and it’s very low in calorie.
So here is a simple and easy recipe which I found tasty.
Beet greens of 6 roots (2 bunches) - cut them with stem from around 3-4 inches above the root, wash and chop finely. Chop 2 cloves of garlic.
Heat ¼ tsp oil in a pan; add the chopped garlic and 1 red chili cut into 2-3 pieces. When the garlic turns light brown add the beet greens and a ¼ tsp salt; mix well and lower the heat. Cook for 2-3 minutes (never over cook, which destroys the nutrients). Serve with rice.

Tips: Beet root and leaves together can be prepared using the same recipe.

Drink Black Tea and Stay Healthy
Tea is one of the most commonly consumed beverages all over the world. Most of us drink tea with cream and sugar; but to get the real benefits of tea it has to be consumed without cream and sugar. I know it’s a little tough, because of its bitter taste. But if you try having it, starting with just a few sips a day you will acquire the taste for it. Another way to make it a little inviting is to squeeze in a few drops of lime to it. Two cups of black tea a day adds a lot to our well being.

When I was little, my mother used to give me lime tea for fever or diarrhea, I used to wonder how it works for both, but it really does, studies show that tea helps prevent diarrhea and helps prevent pneumonia
Tea has a great amount of anti oxidant in it, which helps prevent aging, by giving a healthy younger looking skin. Anti oxidants prevent certain forms of cancers.

Black tea helps weight lose; by increasing the metabolism of fat; now that sure is good news. It also helps prevent heart attack and stroke, it lowers LDL cholesterol.

I used to think that, drinking tea damages my teeth, but it actually helps prevent tooth decay, and it kills the virus which creates bad breath. And the amount of caffeine in a cup of tea is far too less than in a cup of coffee. Most of us drink more coffee than tea, coffee may give you the sudden refreshing feeling, but tea can improve your health along with the refreshment. So next time you go to that coffee machine at work, think again, why not a cup of black tea.

Vegetable Soup
This is a simple and easy recipe. Usually soup is an appetizer, but I prefer to call it the other way around; to take the edge off hunger. Having a bowl of soup just before dinner; makes us eat less at dinner. I have made this soup 100% fat free and with fresh vegetables. One bowl of this soup gives just 50 cal and it contains a good amount of fiber.
Recipe (2servings): 1 carrot cut into small cubes, green cabbage chopped thin- small piece, 5green beans- chopped, 1 celery stalk- chopped, and 4-5 cloves of garlic mashed. Heat a nonstick cooking pan, spray it with fat free cooking spray and add all the above ingredients and a pinch of salt, sauté for 3-4 minutes. Add fat free chicken or vegetable broth and tomato puree of 1small tomato (keep the tomato in boiling water for a minute, peel off the skin and make puree) let it boil for a minute or two. Add salt and a pinch of black pepper powder, garnish with spring onion. Serve hot.

Mango Pickle
Pickle is an inevitable part of Indian meals. And mango is the most common ingredient for it. A pickle is not considered to be healthy; but it’s a weakness for most of us. My husband love to eat pickle, and so do I. So instead of buying the oil flooded pickle from the store, I thought of making it by myself. This is pretty simple to do, and the oil usage is far too less than the ones we buy. I used just 2 tspns of oil for 5 bottles of pickle; I know it sounds too good to be true, but it’s the truth. So let’s check out the recipe.
Here it goes; 4 big Mango(raw) wash, wipe off the water and cut into small pieces, ginger( 4 inch long & 4 inch thick piece) chopped finely, 5 or 6 big cloves of garlic mashed, 20 green chilies chopped, salt -6tspns, vinegar 4tspns( if the mango is too sour add only 2tspn). Mix all the above ingredients together in a dry bowl cover it, and keep it refrigerated for 1day. The next day, fry 2tspn methi (fenugreek) seeds, 2tspn mustard seeds and 20 red chilies (preferably Kashmiri chilies) in 1 tspn gingelly (sesame) oil. Fry them in medium heat until the mustards are spluttered and the methi turns reddish. Let them cool down; meanwhile boil 2 cups of water with 1tspn turmeric powder and cool it. Then grind the fried stuff using the turmeric water, into a fine paste. Add the paste to the refrigerated mango pieces and mix well. Fry 1 tspn mustard seeds, few curry leaves and few pieces of red chilies in 1 tspn gingelly(sesame) oil, once the mustards are spluttered add a pinch of asafetida and pour it into the pickle and mix well. Keep them in room temperature for 2 days for the pickle to blend together; and then it’s ready to go.
Tips: 1. All the ingredients must be wiped before cutting, and wipe your knife and cutting board too.

2. Keep the pickle refrigerated, and always use a dry spoon to serve them.
3. You can make lime pickle using the same recipe, just take 1tspn methi seeds instead of 2; and keep the lime in boiling water for 1 minute, and then cut them.

Baked Fish
Fish fry is a weakness for most of us. When I was little, I never used to like curry fish, but fried fish was one of my favorites. Now in the era of weight loss, I can not afford to satisfy my taste buds with yummy fish fried in coconut oil. So I found an alternative; I replaced the ‘fried’ with ‘baked’. I am not arguing that it would taste the same, but honestly, it does taste good.
So here is the recipe: Tilapia or Salmon fillet-1, lime juice ¼ tsp, black pepper powder ¼ tsp, salt ¼ tsp, 2-3 drops of extra virgin olive oil. Clean the fish, and pat dry with a paper towel, mix all the ingredients and apply evenly on the fish. Pre heat the oven in 500 degree F; bake it in the lower rack for about 10 minutes.
Tips: You can put an aluminum foil in the baking tray and keep the fish on that, it makes the cleaning easy.

Drinking water and losing weight!
Most of us don't drink enough water. "Drink 8 glasses of water every day" is what we hear all the time but does it really help losing the extra fat in our body? The answer is Yes! It does.
If you eat right and exercise well, but still can't get rid of that extra fat here and there, you're probably just not drinking enough water.
Metabolism of fat is a process in which liver converts stored fat into energy. Kidneys need plenty of water to work properly. If the kidneys are water-deprived, the liver has to do their work along with its own, lowering its total productivity. It then can't metabolize fat as quickly or efficiently as it could when the kidneys were pulling their own weight. So by not drinking drink enough water, we are not only giving over load to our liver but also helping the fat get stored.
Though many of us decide to increase our water intake, very few stick with it. Most of us quit because; first few days we keep running to the bathroom constantly. It can interfere with an otherwise normal day at work. It seems that the water is coming out just as fast as it's going in. The reason is, our body needs some time trusting that the water will keep coming, and if it does, eventually, the flushing will stop, allowing us to return to a normal life
Water is very good for our skin, it's the best beauty treatment. You must have heard this since high school, and it's true. Water will do wonders for our looks! It flushes out impurities in the skin, leaving us with a clear, glowing complexion. Water also makes our skin look younger. Skin that is getting saggy, due to aging or weight loss, plumps up very well when the skin cells are hydrated.
This water consumption should be spread out throughout the day. It's unhealthy to drink too much water at one time. Most of the times we tend not to drink water, because it's not readily available. So I would like to suggest something I do to make sure that I drink enough water; I fill a bottle full, in the morning, keep it up on my kitchen table, and take a sip whenever I look at it. or you can carry a water bottle to work. When you drink all the water you need, you will notice a decrease in your appetite. If you're serious about becoming slimmer and healthier, drinking water is a must.
Health Tips:
1. Drink Methi(Fenugreek) water in empty stomach, in the morning. This increases your metabolism of fat; and hence help lose weight.
(soak 1 tspn full Methi seeds in 1 glass of water over night, drain and drink the water)
2. If you are having difficulty in drinking plain water through out the day, you can replace few glasses with lemonade (lime juice + water+ salt).

Don't Skip Breakfast
Skipping breakfast is a common strategy for losing weight, but it's not good. As Many people I too believed that I can lose weight if I skip meals, but that just isn't true; our body expects to be refueled a few times every day - starting with breakfast.
Actually, eating breakfast is good for losing weight. In fact, people who eat breakfast are more likely to maintain a healthy weight.
Experts say; a healthy breakfast should contain some protein and some fiber. A good example of a healthy breakfast might be something simple like a hard boiled egg, a fruit like orange or apple or banana, and a bowl of whole grain cereal with low fat milk or some almonds or walnuts.
If you really don't like to eat breakfast, you can split it into smaller meals. You can have a boiled egg at home and carry an apple to work, for a snack break.

Eating a healthy breakfast is the best way to start off the day. You will notice the difference how much better you feel through the morning and the rest of the day when you don't skip breakfast.

Broccoli Stir Fry
Broccoli, many of us do not like this flower. I never used to like it either, until i found this simple and easy recipe, which i am sure will satisfy your tastebuds. Broccoli is rich in Vitamin C. It's known as an anti-cancer element, and a good source of calcium, and has a great amount of fiber in it. However Broccoli when boiled may loose half its nutritious value. So in this recipe I just fried it to remove its raw taste. When I say fired, you might wonder how can it be healthy? But this is fried with non stick cooking spray, and hence it's fat free.

Here is the Recipe(2 servings): Cut 2 Broccoli heads into small florets, wash them and drain them. Mash 3 or 4 cloves of garlic, and 2 or 3 green chilies. Spray a nonstick pan with fat free cooking spray, add the ingredients together and add a pinch of salt on top. Fry them for 2 or 3 minutes or until the broccoli does not taste raw. (Don’t cook until it's tender)
Tips:- You can add more garlic if you are a garlic lover. Garlic helps reduce LDL cholestrol.

Hi All, Happy New Year! I decided to start blogging in this new year. Many of us take new year resolutions, but how many of us really be successful in executing them? This year my resolution was to exercise regularly. But as usual I failed to continue. Like most of you I realized that just having a health club membership will not burn my body fat. So instead of sweating on the treadmill I decided to start a low fat low cal but healthy diet. I wish to share my recipes and ideas, and I welcome all of yours to share here. Together lets make a healthy beginning. I would like to dedicate this to all those who are lazy to exercise.