Category: Healthy & Nutritious

Lemon Apple pops..


They’re cold, they’re delicious and they’re very very healthy (these ones at least). Pops somehow always evoke the memory of my childhood, buying the cheapest and the coldest lick lollies, orange or cola flavoured, dripping down all over my dress, running down my arm I always had the most satisfying orange grin and a tooth cavity.

These are great desserts and my sweet toothed husband never seems to get enough of these. As a grown up now, I have lost that fondness for them but these babies- they’re delicious and you’d never feel guilty about letting these drip down your arms..

AS the name suggest you need an apple and a lemon.

An apple nicely peeled and cored.

Juicy fat lemon

Zest of the lemon

200 gms of yogurt

add in the zest and squeeze the lemon making sure that no seeds get mixed up.

if you want some sweetness add in 1 tsp sugar, you can omit this if you want no sugar in your Popsicle.

I also added in around 1 tsp of blueberry jam. It just gives it a very slight tinge & tiny blueberry note.

That’s it. These are all the ingredients and we just need to blend them together & pour them into the moulds.

Freeze these overnight and you’ll have the most awesome lemony pops ever.. ever!!!

Enjoy !!!!!

Apple Pear Smoothie


This smoothie was a quick fix since I was feeling hungry, I didn’t feel like eating fruits alone, and I wanted to finish some leftover yogurt in the fridge, and I had to drink the glass of milk I had promised myself everyday..

So, instead of having it all separate, I might as well make something nice out of it.. and that’s how this smoothie came up.

It was unbelievably tasty, flavorful and healthy.. Took a total of 10 minutes, and I got two glasses out of it. Not too many ingredients required, and the best part is that you can change the fruits according to your requirements and availability..

Ingredients

1 apple

1 pear

2 packets of vanilla sugar (7.5gms each)- you can easily substitute vanilla extract for the same

250 mls milk

2 tbsp yogurt any flavour

1 tbsp sugar (not pictured) only if you need extra sweetness.

1 tsp blueberry or any flavor jam/jelly (not pictured).. this just brings some colour to it and an extra bit of flavor. you can easily omit it if you don’t want it.

I chopped my fruits because my blender starts acting crazy and refuses to blend fatter pieces.. it’s a bit of a nut my blender..

The rest of the steps are easy.. just put everything into the blender and blend till everything is mixed well and smooth. If you so wish you can even add in some ice cubes to the blender to have that gritty icy texture.. I didnt put any in mine, but it’s always an option.

This is a fantastic drink if you’re low on energy, low on activity and feeling lazy, or you need a quick drink before heading out to the gym or you need your kids to do some fruit eating and milk drinking. Wonderfully flavorful and Delicious…!!!!!!!

Bock choy stir fry


One of the perks of living in China is the vegetable market. Teaming with fruits & vegetables I had never usually seen before. A trip to the market is such a sight for sore eyes. Beautiful green vegetables, lush fiery red fruits.. initially all I did was buy dragon fruits by the tons and devour them in the privacy of my home.

Bok choy is one leafy vegetable I couldn’t have enough of. Wonderfully versatile and cooked within minutes. It’s easy simple and elegant on a plate. For the past week this stir fry has become sort of a staple breakfast- it’s easy, delicious, nutritious and a few drops of oil are more than sufficient.. i.e. healthy and low cal..

Ingredients

2-3 stalk of bok choy (see picture)

1 medium sized garlic chopped fine

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

2 tbsp water

1 tbsp any vegetable oil

very easy & very quick.

Wash your bok choys thoroughly and cut the base of the stalks so that all the leaves with their stems are separate. Wash the vegetable and pat them dry on a kitchen towel.

In a non stick pan heat the oil and add the garlic. Let it almost brown and add in the bok choys. Now this is the best part, before you start wondering how will these leaves ever cook, they start wilting giving off the greenest sheen possible. Just stir it well to mix it with the cooking garlic and pour in the water…. this is almost done now. Just mix it all together and keep stirring it for not more than 2-3 minutes.

Add in the salt and pepper and give it a final stir.

Now stand back and look at it.. so green, so luscious, so beautiful..

Enjoy….

Refreshing healthy salad


There are time when  I do feel the guilt of stuffing my face with comfort food every now and then, and considering my laziness I try and cook up something relatively easy to lower the guilt meter.It’s at these times that this easy as nothing salad comes to mind. Few ingredients, fewer work steps and lip smacking, tangy, juicy and delicious and oh so satisfying, and yes.. I do feel healthy the moment I apply it to my face.

the best part of this salad is the beautiful colours and the juiciness they render and the crunch in your mouth is veryyyyy refreshing.

Ingredients

1 cucumber

1 ripe, red juicy tomatoe

3-4 sticks of celery, leaves removed.

chopped coriander (optional. I didnt put any in mine, but it gives wonderful flavour)

juice of 1 fat lemon.

zest from the same lemon

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp chopped basil dried (you can use fresh if available)

that’s all folks…

chop them vegetables into not very tiny pieces and not too sizeable chunks either. Big enough to look pretty and small enough to effortlessly enter your mouth.

in another bowl squeeze the lemon and mix in the lemon zest. add in the salt, pepper and basil and mix with a frenzy to form a juicy, tangy dressing.. yummm. my mouth started watering as I wrote this.

Spread this all over your chopped vegetables and mix well to cover each vegetable piece with this wonderful dressing. If you like more salt in your dressing go ahead and add some.

Once everything is incorporated dig in, and feel less guilty about the cheese macaroni you had last night.