Making my rounds to favorite restaurants

I am back in India for a short visit. Again, making my rounds to some incredible restaurants.

I was at Sangeeta last night. Same food, same quality. Bhel puri, pani puri, masala dosai with 3 different types of chutneys, badaam kheer and badaam halwa. Could have easily wiped it all off. But of course, I had a person to share this meal with. And, I did so reluctantly.

Lose weight - Some Simple Secrets

From my own experience, a layperson's experience I discovered that just a few simple steps can truly help take excess weight off.

If you remember I wrote in one of my blogs right after the holidays that I had gained 3 to 4 pounds. Don't know how, my guess is by gorging on cheese, junk food and chocolates. I was horrified obviously and decided to do something right away.

Here's exactly what I did. I stopped cheese and chocolates completely. I also packed my lunch. They usually consist of soups and salads with a lot of fruits. Snacks like granola bar, walnuts and almonds. Most likely cereal for breakfast with a banana. Then a good balanced dinner with lots of vegetables, some bread but not in excess. Cardio and weights total 3 times a week for about an hour. I did this for two weeks and was thrilled to see my pounds melting away. It really does work.

If you eat meat, keep it to smaller portions and if you are not satisfied add nuts and vegetables. See the magic happen.

Oh, one more. This may or may not be a reason but my total hours of sleep went down to 8 from 9 or even 9.5 hours. Needed to get to work!

I would be thrilled to hear your questions.

Broccoli - make it spicy and healthy

Check out this delicious recipe of the week. Make it mild and your children will never say NO to broccoli.

Health benefits - High in Vitamin C. Great for bone health, heart health and vision health as well.

Go Nuts with Nuts

Some nuts are all around goodness for your health.

Walnuts and almonds are definitely the most recommended of the good Omega 3 fatty acid nuts among all others. All you need is take about 8 walnuts and 8 almonds every day, any time of day.

See the magic happy to your cholesterol readings. If you don't have a problem with cholesterol, a handful of nuts as indicated above will keep them constantly healthy. If you do have cholesterol issues, they lower the bad cholesterol and raise good cholesterol.

So, go ahead and go Nuts.

Quick, delicious appetizers

If you need to throw an appetizer party with very little advance notice, say half a day's notice, it's quite easy. As long as you don't have to spend time cleaning up the place. In my experience, I can tell you cleaning up before and prep work on the house take the longest time.

So, if we are talking just appetizers, here are some ideas.

1. There's always the colorful vegetable platter.
2. You can also bring color by having a crystal bowl full of berries. You'd just need to wash and dry them.
3. A beautifully laid cheese platter with just a couple assortment of cheeses but displayed artistically. Adding a bunch of black and green grapes make them even more appetizing.
4. Simple cucumber or tomato and cheese sandwiches neatly cut into quarters.
5. The indian spicy wafer appetizer with chutney is always a hit as well.
6. A couple store bought appetizers such as spinach dip with sour dough around in a platter or Baby quiches
7. Marinated artichoke with melted cheese on top. Lay crackers around the dip. YUMM!

Okay top it off with a few bottles of wine. You can get all of this done in an hour. Promise.

A vegan lives the healthiest life

A vegetarian: My definition of a vegetarian is one who eats everything except meat, chicken, and sea food or anything that once moved. Sometimes, people call themselves vegetarians but eat everything except red meat. They are NOT true vegetarians and their idea of being a vegetarian is quite distorted.

I've always thought that being a 'a vegan' is extremely difficult since they avoid gluten foods as well, along with meat and dairy. However, the foods they eat have the least toxins or none at all. From everything I'm reading and from talking to several vegans, I understand they do have balanced and healthy diets. Lately, more people have chosen to become vegans.

With a little more research and help through cook books I'm sure it is possible. This is something to experiment with especially with grocery stores and restaurants having more vegan options.

Too much salt is really not that bad

Recent studies say that less salt intake is worse than too much salt. So, should all of us start using excess salt in our foods? Common sense tells us excess salt equals high blood pressure. So, what should we do?

I'd say stick to minimum salt. Balance is never a bad answer when it comes to food.

Happy New Year

Wish you all a fantastic year ahead.

I started off the recipe of this week with a Mango condiment called 'Mango Pacchadi', usually made in some homes in southern India. This recipe is a tradition of my family made on Tamil New Year's day which falls on April 14th; I have started the tradition of making it on Jan. 1st as well.

Check it out on vidyaswamyskitchen.com.