Eggy Roti Vegetable Roll

For the last and final day of the marathon, here is how to incorporate more veggies into your diet, but in a fun way --> Eggy roti vegetable roll.
When I tell my kids to eat chapathi with curry, they get bored sometimes. Instead, letting them stuff their roti with with they like cucumbers and carrots, its fun and enjoyable!
Adding some protein, like an egg on the chapati make it healthy more yummy!
For myself, I add bell peppers, onions too. Its something like a katti roll but without the katti part, only with veggies.

Adding egg is an option, you can leave it out if you don't eat egg.
You can add some chat masala on the veggies to give them a flavor, or just salt them!
Its one very easy and quick to put together meal and is also perfect for a lunch box. Just remember to carry the rotis and veggies separately, and do the stuffing later just before eating.

If you are not fond of raw veggies, go ahead and saute them. Veggies like onions, carrots, zucchini, bell peppers can be sauteed with some salt, pepper and amchoor masala, with a touch of chat masala. Saute them only so much, that they are not mushy but still have a crunch. Stuff the chapathi with sauteed veggies and you have a healthy meal put together.

I make it both ways, depends on how much time and how my mood is! :)
I don't mind eating raw veggies, so its much easy to put together all the raw veggies and build myself a roll.

Here you get a balanced diet of a good and perfect meal.

Ingredients:

2 chapathis or rotis

For Egg Mixture:

2 eggs or egg whites, which ever you like
pinch of salt
pinch of turmeric
chilli powder to your taste
Mix together are beat well

Required veggies:

Sliced onions
sliced carrots
sliced green and red bell pepper
sliced cucumbers

Method:

Heat the roti on a tawa.
Spread the egg mixture on the roti.
Let it cook and slowly flip over to let it cook completely.
Remove from the tawa and line all the veggies in the center and roll it tightly.
Serve immediately.
Enjoy!!!



Check out my Blogging Marathoners doing Group 3 BM#4 along with me



Diabetes Diet/Management: Kamalika, Smitha, Suma
Kid Friendly Recipes: Anusha, Cool Lassi(e)
Seven Days of Soup: Priya Suresh
Seven Days of Indian Bread: Jayasree, Pavani
Seven Days of Cakes:  Priya Vasu
Seven Days of Preserves: Gayathri Kumar, Vaishali
30 Minutes Meals: Priya Mahadevan, Srivalli





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Nimmakai Quinoa, Lemony Quinoa

For the 6th day of the Marathon, here is another Quinoa recipe which I am in love with. Just like Nimmakaya pulihora, Nimmakaya Quinoa pulihora. Lemony and nutty quinoa.

Its so hard to incorporate healthy food in our daily diet. In my house too, if I make changes to something like dosa, no one complains. But to something like quinoa, no one shows any interest. Its only me who enjoys eating some thing like this! and surely I do enjoy eating it too., so I make it only for myself. I hope someday my family will also enjoy it with me!

Since Quinoa is full of Protein, I am trying to incorporate it into my diet atleast 2-3 times a week. Its very versatile like the rice and is a good substitute for rice. So for diabetics when they want to eat less carbs and more protein, its a very good choice.
Try it in many different forms and you will surely like it!

Cooking Quinoa: Wash Quinoa 2-3 times. Soak for atleast 10 minutes. Bring 1 1/4 cup of water to a rapid boil. Drain and add the soaked quinoa. Bring the heat to a simmer and cover. Cook until all the water is absorbed, for about 15 to 20 min. Uncover and fluff. Cover and keep aside for 10 minutes.


Ingredients:

2 cups cooked quinoa

1-2 tbsp peanuts, groundnuts, palli pappu
1/2 tbsp chanaga pappu, channa daal
1 tsp urad daal, minapa pappu
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp jeera, cumin
few curry leaves
2-3 slit green chillies
2 dry red chillies broken
pinch of turmeric
pinch of hing, inguva, asfoetida
1 tbsp of oil
salt to taste
Lemon juice to taste

Method:

Heat oil in a kadai.
Saute the peanuts till lightly brown.
Add channa daal and urad daal and saute till brown.
Add mustard and jeera and let them splutter.
Add green chillies, red chillies and curry leaves.
Add a pinch of hing and turmeric.
Add this to the cooked quinoa along with salt and lemon juice.
Mix well.
Serve with any chutney or plain.

Enjoy!!!

Check out my Blogging Marathoners doing Group 3 BM#4 along with me



Diabetes Diet/Management: Kamalika, Smitha, Suma
Kid Friendly Recipes: Anusha, Cool Lassi(e)
Seven Days of Soup: Priya Suresh
Seven Days of Indian Bread: Jayasree, Pavani
Seven Days of Cakes:  Priya Vasu
Seven Days of Preserves: Gayathri Kumar, Vaishali
30 Minutes Meals: Priya Mahadevan, Srivalli

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Warm Broccoli, Asparagus and Garbanzo salad

For the 5th day of the Marathon, here is another salad, all freebies again. A very short post as I am pressed for time!! :))

A warm salad with lots of fiber and chick peas for protein.
I like broccoli or asparagus when just sauteed with olive oil, salt and pepper. Very totally yum! Here I added in chick peas just for some texture and protein. I used black chick peas, but you can use regular white chick peas!

So to what we eat and how much we eat --> all healthy and can eat how much you want to! :)





Ingredients:

2 broccoli heads, florets taken apart
few Asparagus, washed and chopped into 1 inch pieces
Chick peas as needed (I used black, you can use whatever you have available)

1/2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Heat the oil in a open pan.
Add the chick peas with some salt and cover and cook for 2-3 minutes.
Add the broccoli florets and chopped asparagus. Sprinkle salt and pepper.
Saute by mixing everything together, until the broccoli and asparagus is just slightly cooked through, but has a crunch too!
Serve warm!
Enjoy!!!

Check out my Blogging Marathoners doing Group 3 BM#4 along with me



Diabetes Diet/Management: Kamalika, Smitha, Suma
Kid Friendly Recipes: Anusha, Cool Lassi(e)
Seven Days of Soup: Priya Suresh
Seven Days of Indian Bread: Jayasree, Pavani
Seven Days of Cakes:  Priya Vasu
Seven Days of Preserves: Gayathri Kumar, Vaishali
30 Minutes Meals: Priya Mahadevan, Srivalli

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Flat Mediterrean Pizza

For the 4th day of the Blogging Marathon, here is a Flat Mediterranean Pizza and more feta cheese!! :))

Pizza!! who doesn't love pizza?? Who doesn't love the convenience of ordering in a fully loaded pizza?? all the cheese, all the white dough!! only good part is the veggie topping!! lol,...

Well tho we know its not a perfect dinner or lunch, we do tend to order it!...well I guess its fine to have it once in a while, whenever you crave for a good pizza, but don't crave for it too often!!

It surely is easy to make it at home. I sometimes make the pizza base myself at home or now days you will find pizza dough in the bakery section or the freezer section of your local grocery! For more convenience, you will even find the pizza base ready too.

But I nowadays like to buy the pizza dough rather than the pizza bases. They are very easy to bake and prepare.
Well if you like making the dough at home....make for at least 2 or 3 servings and freeze it for later.

The good part is you can make or get the whole wheat pizza dough! No white only whole wheat!! :)), going with the whole grain theme!! --> this is what you eat!!

For how much you eat --> instead of a thick or pan dish type, make a thin or a flat bread pizza. Less calories and less carbs. Load it with veggies, lots of fiber and good good stuff!

There you go, you are getting the your satisfaction of pizza, less calories and less carbs all in one!
For this pizza, I made it not the regular type but a Mediterranean type with feta cheese, pesto and simple veggies. You don't have to follow this, but instead you can use your own toppings! Just make it Flat and thin as possible.

These days even if I order out, I order mine as a thin crust. And if you haven't tasted thin crust, I am telling you, its actually much yummier than a thick one! :))

Ingredients:

1 whole wheat pizza dough
Basil and walnut pesto (or any other pesto, enough to spread on the flat pizza dough)

Toppings:

Sliced green bell peppers
sliced red bell peppers
sliced tomatoes
sliced onions
sliced black olives
crumbled feta cheese ( I used seasoned feta cheese)
chopped basil leaves ( about 10 leaves)
spinkle of dried oregano
crushed red pepper flakes to sprinkle (optional)
Crumbled Feta cheese


Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Flatten the pizza dough on a round baking tray to as thin as possible.
Spread the pesto in a thin layer, enough to cover to the edge.
Spread the veggies over the pizza and tsprinkle the oregano.
Pop it into the oven for about 10-15 minutes. Since the pizza is thin, it should get cooked by then.
Sprinkle the feta cheese and put it back in the oven for another 5-10 minutes. If you feel that with in this time the feta cheese didn't brown, start the broiler for about 5 minutes on 350 degrees. Keep an eye on it or it will burn.
When brown, remove from oven and add the chopped basil leaves.
Sprinkle crushed red pepper flakes if you like it spicy.
Serve hot!
Enjoy!!!

Check out my Blogging Marathoners doing Group 3 BM#4 along with me



Diabetes Diet/Management: Kamalika, Smitha, Suma
Kid Friendly Recipes: Anusha, Cool Lassi(e)
Seven Days of Soup: Priya Suresh
Seven Days of Indian Bread: Jayasree, Pavani
Seven Days of Cakes:  Priya Vasu
Seven Days of Preserves: Gayathri Kumar, Vaishali
30 Minutes Meals: Priya Mahadevan, Srivalli

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Greek Salad

For the 3rd day of the blogging marathon, here is a quick, simple salad to put together!
Good examples of foods rich in fiber are fruits and vegetables, which are actually freebies for diabetics. You can eat how all fruits and veggies.

Salads are the best. Fruit for a snack should be medium sized and can be considered as 15g of carbs. There are few fruits which have a low glycemix index and those can be consumed in a larger quantities than some others like a banana. A banana is rich in potassium and other good minerals, so don't exclude it but eat a medium sized one.

Fruits which are low in glycemix index value are cherries, apples, plums etc.,.

So what is Glycemic Index? Its a value given to a edible item to show whats its value in raising your blood sugar. That is how I see it!!!

The lower the GI, the better it is to eat that particular item. Which means that when you eat that fruit or veggie or for that matter, grains or lentil, they don't immediately shoot up your blood sugars unlike if you eat rice which will raise your blood sugars immediately and also it will remain in your blood for a longer time, which is not a good thing!

So here is a salad which I personally like, tho I like all salads, especially fruit salads, I like Greek salad the best, because of the feta cheese, and peppers. Its a very simple salad and easy to put together.
Low GI and lots of fiber, whats not good about a salad!!!

Ingredients:

Bunch of roughly chopped lettuce
few cherry or grape tomatoes
few kalamata olives
couple pickled peppers (optional)
few chopped red onion and green bell pepper
Sliced cucumber
crumbled feta cheese
sprinkle of dried oregano
Greek salad dressing - 1-2 tbsp

Method:

Chop lettuce and mix together with tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, chopped onion and green bell pepper. Lightly toss with Greek salad dressing. sprinkle crumbled feta cheese and dried oregano. Add Pickled peppers if needed.
Serve chilled. Enjoy!!!

Check out my Blogging Marathoners doing Group 3 BM#4 along with me



Diabetes Diet/Management: Kamalika, Smitha, Suma
Kid Friendly Recipes: Anusha, Cool Lassi(e)
Seven Days of Soup: Priya Suresh
Seven Days of Indian Bread: Jayasree, Pavani
Seven Days of Cakes:  Priya Vasu
Seven Days of Preserves: Gayathri Kumar, Vaishali
30 Minutes Meals: Priya Mahadevan, Srivalli

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Brown Rice and Flax Dosa

So on day 2 of the blogging marathon, continuing with how much and what to eat....here is Brown rice and flax dosas.

Whole grains are very important to everyone and not only the 'diabetics'.
They provide with the necessary fiber which the body need, which is almost eliminated by eating processed foods.
Brown rice and Flax seeds both come under whole grains, rich in fiber. Fiber like protein makes us feel full and so we can eat less of whatever we are eating.
Flax seeds are fiber rich and now easily available to us as whole flax seeds or flax seed meal.

I started using flax seeds only very recently, better later than never.
If you are not sure how and if your family will accept flax seeds but if you are a regular dosa and idli eater, mixing it up with this will incorporate it into their diet.
Accordingly to me, flax seeds have no much taste and will not stand out! My kids haven't complained.

Brown rice is unprocessed rice with more fiber content than the regular white rice. Because of this it has a nutty texture when cooked and a nutty flavor too.

One Basic rule which can be followed (maybe not all the time, but most of the times) is --> SAY NO TO ANYTHING WHITE!! If its colored or colorful, it best for you!!

So therefore here is another recipe, this time Fiber rich food!, Just make sure you don't eat 4 or 5 or these dosas....remember that urad daal has proteins and carbs, rice has fiber and carbs. So if you eat a lot of dosas, you will miss the 40g carb rule.
Eat only about 2 medium sized ones and that will be good enough! :)

Now when you start getting more fiber in your diet, please remember to drink more water too.

Ingredients:

1 cup urad daal, minapa pappu
4 cup brown rice (you can use 3 if you wish)
2 tbsp flax seeds
1 tbsp menthi or methi seeds or menthulu

Method:

Wash urad daal and brown rice.
Add flax seeds and methi seeds.
Soak for at least 6-8 hours or overnight.
Grind into a smooth batter the following soaking along with methi and flax seeds.
Keep in a warm place for fermentation for another 8 hours or overnight.
After fermentation, the batter is ready to be made into dosas.
Add just enough water to make into dosa batter consistency, not too thick or not too thin.
Heat a tawa to about medium heat, to when u put drops of water, they make the 'shhhhh' sound and evaporate.
If its a fresh cleaned pan, rub an half cut onion with few drops of oil. This is so that the dosa doesn't stick!
Take a ladle full of batter and spread it around like a dosa. Sprinkle few drops of oil around. Flip over when brown on one side. Lightly brown on the other side and then its ready to be served!
Serve with chutney or podi, or with chicken curry or potato curry....its tastes just as yum as regular dosas!!
Enjoy!!

Check out my Blogging Marathoners doing Group 3 BM#4 along with me



Diabetes Diet/Management: Kamalika, Smitha, Suma
Kid Friendly Recipes: Anusha, Cool Lassi(e)
Seven Days of Soup: Priya Suresh
Seven Days of Indian Bread: Jayasree, Pavani
Seven Days of Cakes:  Priya Vasu
Seven Days of Preserves: Gayathri Kumar, Vaishali
30 Minutes Meals: Priya Mahadevan, Srivalli

Sending this also to 'Breakfast Mela', another event started by Srivalli.

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Parama 'Quinoa' , Sweet quinoa with lentils and milk

Hi Everyone!! I am back again with the Blogging Marathon # 4.
It was fun doing it the last two times and I couldn't miss doing it again this time!
Blogging Marathon is a creation of Srivalli of Spicing your Life Blog. I really appreciate the patience and effort she puts in all she does and has done for her blogs and the help she has done with starting this Blogging Marathon!!.. Thanks Srivalli!! :)

Disclaimer: Everything written on Diabetes is written by me and how I see it in my everyday life. Its written in lay man's language. Nothing is by the book! Its my knowledge of being a diabetic and management. Any mistakes or wrong perception, please let me know and I will correct myself! :)

So coming to my theme, this time around I decided to blog about Diabetes Diet Management.
Diabetes is very common in Indians as well as Americans. We all come from a line of high carbohydrates  and sugars eating ancestors and forefathers. Don't you think so??...
So what are carbs or carbohydrates? This is the main culprit in causing or the underlying cause of Diabetes. Many people don't know or think that sugar is the cause, but sugar is also a form of a carbohydrate.
Whatever we eat is broken down into sugars and carbohydrates. That's where checking of the nutrition label becomes important. That is to see what are we eating? how many carbs and how many sugars. This is an important part to diet management when you are a diabetic!
An enzyme called insulin is required in the body, its produced by your pancreas, a small organ next to your liver. Insulin acts or breaks down these sugars or carbs to be absorbed by your body. The problem comes when you body isn't producing enough insulin to break down all the carbs that are entering into your body. That's when you become a "DIABETIC".
This can be managed by taking medications, taking insulin externally, by diet management and exercises.
Increasing the metabolic rate of your body is important for the medication and insulin to act effectively. This can only be done by exercise!!
...I know I know, Not everyone has the time to exercise because of many other aversions and distractions (I fall into this category), that's when diet management becomes very important!!
Its more about how much you eat and what you eat!! Avoiding carbs and sugars as much as possible.
So when high Carbs are eliminated from your diet, what left??
Fats, Proteins and freebies!!
Carbs are important, you cannot eliminate them all together, well you can if you are on a carb-free diet (like South Beach Diet), but otherwise, eating some like about 40 carbs per lunch or dinner is a minimal good start.
Fats should be taken in minimal amounts.
Proteins are, you know, meats, lentils, whole grains like Quinoa etc.,.
Freebies are all veggies and fruit. Few nuts also fall into this category.
That's why reading the nutrition label is that very important!!

So with all this in mind, here is a sweet I made for Ugadi, Parama 'Quinoa' just like Paramaannam, just with out the rice, using quinoa instead.
Quinoa is not a carb-free grain. Not any lentils or grains are carb-free. They do contain a good amount of carbs but on the other hand are very rich in proteins. That's where this grain is important to us!!
The main quality of proteins is to make you feel full when you eat only little of it. This is useful to us in dieting right!! :)
For that reason eating quinoa or protein rich foods is important for diabetics.
A third of a cup of quinoa has about 34g of carbs. And a third of a cup of quinoa makes a lot too. So eating a 1/3 cup of quinoa, keeps you under 40g of required carbs and gives a protein rich meal! So its good for you. :)
To make this sweet I used few split peas or channa daal and used splenda (artificial sweetener) for sweetening.



Ingredients:

1 cup cooked quinoa
1 tbsp cooked channa daal, split peas, chanaga pappu ( pesar pappu can also be used instead)
1/4 cup of milk ( use more if needed)
Splenda for sweetening ( I use 3 packets)
pinch of cardamom, elaichi powder
1 tbsp cashews and raisins, sauteed in couple of drop of ghee

Method to cook Quinoa:

Wash Quinoa in water 3-4 times. Drain all the water and keep aside for 10 min.
Bring about 1 1/4 cup of water to a rapid boil.
Add the drained Quinoa. Set the flame low, cover and let cook until all the water is absorbed. Remove from heat and fluff. Keep covered for another 10 minutes.
This way you get soft separated quinoa.

Method for parama quinoa:

Cook Quinoa and Changa pappu separately.
Bring milk to a boil and add the quinoa and chanaga pappu.
Add a pinch of cardamom powder.
Add the sauteed cashews and raisins.
I also added a pinch of food color.
For topping, I added few grated coconut pieces and kesar or saffron flowers.
Serve warm. Enjoy after giving Naivedyam to GOD!!!! :)))

So tho you made a whole cup of Quinoa, don't eat the whole cup of cooken quinoa, eat little and save the rest :)

Check out my Blogging Marathoners doing Group 3 BM#4 along with me



Diabetes Diet/Management: Kamalika, Smitha, Suma
Kid Friendly Recipes: Anusha, Cool Lassi(e)
Seven Days of Soup: Priya Suresh
Seven Days of Indian Bread: Jayasree, Pavani
Seven Days of Cakes:  Priya Vasu
Seven Days of Preserves: Gayathri Kumar, Vaishali
30 Minutes Meals: Priya Mahadevan, Srivalli



Sending this to WWC-Quinoa for Dinner @ Oh Taste n See

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