Super Antioxidant: Raspberry Soy- milk Smoothie

It has been a while i visit the Giant Hypermarket in Tampines; was there last evening, and it was a craze! I got so excited by the large selections of fruits and vegetables mountains at a very reasonable rate. I think my best hobby gotta be shopping.... in supermarkets!

I grabbed a box of Raspberries, and decided to whip out Raspberry Soy- milk Smoothie the next morning! It is VERY easy to prepare....

1) You'll need.... A handful of Frozen Raspberries ( about 10-15) and a cup of Soy milk
* Freeze the Raspberries overnight


2) Throw everything into a blender

Taaa-daaaah! Here's a Super Anti- oxidant smoothie!

Consume immediately... enjoy!

Some spices, some curries, some masala!

I discovered a meditation method for myself called--- cooking. And this can be done so in a studio--- kitchen!

Kitchen at home has got limited entry, under the supervision of the family top chef--- my mama.
But here, i get to enjoy this corner most of the time:)

Lingering in such cool weather for a while, i  had this cravings for curries, masala, spices...
and given the limited choice of greens in the supermarket, glad to whip up something.
Easy to prepare, cook, eat and wash!

Masala Eggplant
I jumped a little for joy when i dug out a pack of  Masala in the kitchen. Oh great! masala masala... what am i going to do with you...?
An excitement pricked me when i saw eggplant in the while marketing. I grabbed on to the check out, without knowing what i'll do about it later. So, this was what happened to the eggplant...

Some eggplants, little carrot stripes
some minced ginger, a dash of oil
good handful of masala mix, and heat!
salt, maybe?









Cooking can be really addictive. The fulfilling part is when the choice that so so so limited; yet at the end of the day, something good still appear on the dishes!
I've got a nickname from my family--- Food hunter. My mum never has to worry about me getting hungry, or not eating-- because i don't, haha!
So, to live up to my name of a food hunter, started my mission of making Indian food possible here!
Next dish up....

Curried Mixed Roots 

Throw in dices of carrot & potato; 
turn up the heat & sprinkle some oil;
get them do some Tango in the pan till their body soften;
Get spicy if curry mix, ginger and salt.
Invite couple of kidney beans; and shove all of them to the plate
Spiced up leeks & potato
I see leeks everywhere, anywhere. Its their season!
One huge stalk of leek, makes a good pot of soup:)

Let those big sweet onion popped in heat;

some aloo, some carrot, many leeks;

few rounds of merry-go-round in the pot, as we stir;

cool them down with a bowl of water;

turn the heat up, and wrap the game up with 

pepper or salt to your preference!

Guten Apetit!

Food for summer time!

The summer in this year round has been fabulously strong. I am pretty much overdosed with Vitamin D; and i'm having a huge summer time with my body system too. My tummy has gone hay-wire these days. Any stimulating meal in the day, would keep me flipping into sleepless night ( yes... insomnia) and frequent loo visits.

Chili.... toilet. Curry... toilet. Even cold drinks... toilet. Phew!

I requested for porridge, porridge and more porridge for dinner now. Simple food, does not need to be bland and boring. Here's what you can prepare at home:

Survival food--- Sweet potato Porridge

Instead of just having bland watery plain porridge.... bring in some sweet potatoes to the bowl. ( Yup, just like what our great- great- great grandparents ate to survive the war time.) It helps to add in some natural sweetness to the porridge too!

* please do also add in few small pieces of ginger slices---anti- human "gas bomb".

you can choose to eat them as prepared. I like to smash all the sweet potatoes and mix them with the porridge, its much sweeter this way:)

The Coolest Veg.

Hey yes, Its the cucumber! Our best friend in summer...!

We can consume them the conventional way. Raw. Sliced. Why not cook it, it taste as good too!

Keep the cooking process really simple: cucumber + little oil + little garlic + stir fry

Its a real juicy dish!

Simple ingredients. Simple cooking. Happy tummy.

Thanks to Yogi Cook ( my mum), she started the sweet potato porridge long time back, but i did not really give it a second look at that time. Thumbs up to her integrity for all these years: never give in to her basic principle in the kitchen. Clean ingredients, less oil, less salt... keep it simple!  

When outside food makes us sick.... simple home- cook food is actually all our tummy is asking for:)

 

The Mocking Diet

Vegetarian diet---  in the Eastern part of the world is being seen as a " cumbersome".While in the West, it has becoming a fashion statement, a trendy way of living. Interesting!

A personal statement: Not all vegetarians are healthy, not all non-vegetarians are unhealthy. Its the upholding of making a wise decision and able to discriminate what's good and what's bad for our body. In the Eastern diet, especially Chinese--- a good percentage of vegetarian choices are mocked meat.

I've no idea who started this mocked meat varieties, its really contradicting. Many vegetarians take mocked meat to replace real ones, but why? Why go for imitation when there are real ones?

* mocked meats are made up of beans, gluten, lots of seasonings and sauces ( high in salt and sugar), soy- protein concentrate--- a highly processed food.

In actual fact, the mind is still holding on to the craving for meat. Its a suppression, that the consumption of meat happens in the mind; and not knowing what exactly the body is taking.  Thus, the mind and the body is moving apart, causing internal tension.

I know people rushing into a vegetarian diet for different reasons, and changed their diet suddenly. What's the rush? Practising the values of non-violence involve the others and also ourselves. Moving into a mocked- meat based diet is as good as mocking at ourselves.
Take one step at a time, monitor through the food choices and just be in full consciousness.

" Its better to be on a healthy non- vegetarian than an unhealthy vegetarian diet."

Home-brewed Ginger Chai!

A trip from India, i brought back the habit of drinking ginger chai. With rainy cool weather these days, ginger drink is one of a good way to keep ourselves a little warm.
Ginger, one of a common ingredients use in Ayurveda herbal treatments.
Not to misunderstand that ginger causes heatiness in our body. Consuming small amount of ginger daily helps to neutralise our system.

I love home-brews, and ginger chai is in my list... this is how it goes:
1) chopped/smashed some gingers into small pieces
2) boil them in a pot of water
3) turn off the fire, add some tea leaves. Cover the pot, 5-10 mins to brew
4) pour into cup with a sieve
5) instead of white sugar ( from India diets), a healthier choice: honey, Jaggery sugar

If you're going for the normal chai ( with milk), add condense milk... its sweet enough; you can spare the sugar.

More on the medical benefits: http://www.healthdiaries.com/eatthis/10-health-benefits-of-ginger.html 

I'm on trial & error to get this version of Ginger Chai as close as to the ones i drink in India. Play around with the proportion. Injecting some of my diet choices to my family... and now my mum has started asking for Ginger Chai!