Healthy living

Easter is this Sunday ! Do you still have things to prep for your Easter dinner??  Are your desserts and snacks all planned and done?? Do you have lots of goodies for the children in your family?  Here is a quick dessert that kids and grown-ups alike can enjoy! It is quick and easy to put together and can be made 3-4 days ahead of the party so that you don't have to scramble along at the last minute! You can make this for your children or any kiddie party anytime! My kids love it, I am sure yours will do too!  If you like jelly-desserts, also check this Stained Glass Cake , if you haven't done so already! I am bringing these beauties to  Throwback Thursday # 31  and  Angie's Fiesta Friday #112 !! Angie's  co-hosts this week are   Natalie @ Kitchen, Uncorked   and   Hilda @ Along The Grapevine . Servings: 4-6 (2 segments per person) Ingredients: Orange: 2 big ones. ( any variety will do) Orange Jelly: 1 packet ( any brand will do). F...

Paanak is a traditional non-alcoholic beverage from my hometown. When someone mentions Paanak, it immediately brings to mind the picture of people playing with colors , squirting water-guns filled with colorful water at each other and basically drenching them. It is all in the spirit of camaraderie. Paanak is served to all the festivity revelers and the spectators standing in the hot sun. Paanak not only is refreshing and quenches the thirst, it is also rejuvenating! The jaggery in Paanak helps counteract hypoglycemia ( decreased blood sugar levels). Holi is a festival of colors that is mainly celebrated in Northern part of India. Where I come from, which is the South Kanara region of Southern India, we have a similar festival of colors celebrated on the sixth day of Theru/Rathasaptami ( Chariot festival). The concept for both is the same! Courtesy: Kannada Gotthilla ( facebook) I therefore figured that this is a great recipe to share with all my North Indian friends! This is a jagge...

This year the Indian festival of colors, Holi and the Catholic festival of Easter are both being celebrated the same weekend. At all these celebrations,  the ones  who have the most fun are children. Here is a dessert that is colorful and something that both kids and adults will enjoy alike. It is very easy to make and perfect for hot weathers.  It can be made with jello and for the vegetarian version with China grass ( agar agar)jelly.  The China Grass version is much quicker as it takes only an hour to set in the refrigerator. The best part, it can even set at room temperature! How cool is that! I have used water instead of milk and have used 1/3 rd the recommended quantity. I am bringing this to my dear friend Sonal's Holi Collective. She is such a sweetheart who puts so much effort on behalf of all of us! Servings: 8-10 Ingredients: Red jelly: 1 box Purple jelly: 1 box Pink jelly: 1 box Plain china grass: 1 box Condensed milk: one 8 oz can Milk: 1/2 cup Hot wa...

It is that time of the month again when we bring to you very healthy, diabetic-friendly and weight-watcher friendly recipes. What's with the "weight-watcher" thing?? Well, studies have shown that obesity is the root cause for so many of the chronic health conditions, namely Type II diabetes, heart conditions and stroke. Obesity in-turn is the result of mainly poor eating habits and a sedentary lifestyle. Now, we can't give up eating! But we can definitely eat healthier and make lifestyle changes towards the same. March is the month of start of Spring, cleansing of house and yards, discarding the old and welcoming the new. Lets begin the onset of spring with some healthy PROTEIN PACKED SALADS.                       Creating Recipes with a Cause! I am a proud DFT blogger.                                          To learn about DFT,...

As a working mom, I am always striving to feed my family, especially my children healthy meals. Weekends, I make it a point to make traditional breakfasts which also can become lunch items for the first couple of days of the week. Most Indian traditional breakfast items require some kind of batter to be made ahead of time and fermented. This means you have to plan ahead mid-week as to when to soak the rice and lentils and when to grind the batter and make sure there is enough time for fermentation. If I am making all this effort, I might as well make sure that I have enough for two breakfasts and many be even a few of the kiddos lunches through the week! Now obviously, nobody wants to eat the same breakfast two days in a row!! We all crave variety. So, I became creative and created variety. My kids love idlis ( steamed rice-lentil cakes) that are usually served with sambar. When I make idli batter, I make sure that I make enough batter for two breakfasts! However the second day, instea...