One Day At A Time!

These days I rarely make sweets. Or I must say, both cooking and blogging have taken a back seat in my life. Everything revolves around my playful toddler. Its fun to be a kid again. Schedules and plans no longer work for me. It has turned out good for me. Now, I just go with the flow. Gudi Padwa is right around the corner. And festivals are a good excuse for some sweet indulgence. How about a healthy Oats dessert! Ingredients: Instant Oats - 1 cup Unsweetened Desiccated (Dry) Coconut - 1/2 cup Light Brown Sugar - 3/4 cup Pistachios/Pista - about 2 tbsp Green Cardamom/Elaichi - 4 pods Ghee/Clarified Butter - 1 tbsp Whole Milk - 1/4 cup How to make Oats Coconut Ladoo: Crush cardamon seeds in a mortar pestle to a fine powder. Set it aside. Roughly chop pistachios. You can use any other nuts of your choice or any dry fruits like cherries or cranberries to add some color to the ladoo. Heat a heavy bottom pan and dry roast oats for a couple minutes. Make sure the oats are heated...

Time for another breakfast recipe. But this time, its wholesome breakfast on the go. These homemade nutrition bars are perfect to start your day or as an anytime snack. It has whole grains, nuts and fruits. The best part about making it is, you get to pick your choice of fruits and nuts.

Hey everyone!  Thanks for all the emails and the sweet messages. I missed you guys too.  Hope you all had a great start in 2014. We are in the middle of severe winter weather and as the news readers say "Winter Wonderland". As far as new year resolutions, mine are still the same as last year... eat healthy, eat high calorie food in moderation and stay fit. Talking of healthy, let me tell you about a quick 20 minutes Oats dosa I made this weekend.

February is here and hope everyone had a great first month. My resolution for 2013 was to blog more about whole grain recipes, include more vegetables in our diet. One day at a time and everything in moderation. That takes me to our today's breakfast - healthy Oats twist to a South Indian Idli, with colorful carrots and bell peppers. Ingredients: Quick Oats - 1 cup Semolina/Rava/Sooji - 1/2 cup Yogurt/Curd/Dahi - 1 cup Carrots (finely chopped) - 1/2 cup Capsicum/Bell Pepper (finely chopped) - 1/2 cup Cilantro/Coriander Leaves - few sprigs Cumin/Jeera Seeds - 1/2 tsp Baking Soda - 1/2 tsp Salt How to cook Instant Oats Idli with vegetables: Heat a pan and roast oats at low heat for 4 - 5 minutes. Set it aside on a plate to cool. After cooling, grind the roasted oats to a fine powder. Now roast semolina at low heat for 4 - 5 minutes or until it slightly changes color and turns aromatic. Let it cool. In a big mixing bowl, add finely chopped carrots, capsicum, ci...

As I have mentioned earlier, Dosas are quite regular at our home. We love them both for breakfast and lunch. I keep looking for new ways to introduce more protein rich beans in our diet. Today's dosa is made of 15 Beans which are easily available as dry 15 Beans or 16 Beans or 21 Beans Soup packet. And Oats made it more nutritious. Let me tell you the different varieties of dry beans I used - Northern, Pinto, Large Lima, Yelloweye Bean, Garbanzo, Baby Lima, Green Split Pea, Kidney Bean, Cranberry Bean, Small White, Pink Bean, Small Red, Yellow Split Pea, Lentil, Navy, White Kidney Bean, Black Bean.

South Indian Dosa or Crepes made of whole mung beans, rice and oats. Mung Bean with its skin on is highly nutritious and provides more fiber. Ingredients: Oats - 1/2 cup Idli Rice or Medium Grain Rice - 1/2 cup Mung Bean/Mung/Moog - 1/4 cup Toor Dal/Split Pigeon Peas - 1 tbsp Fenugreek/Methi Seeds - 1 tsp Salt Oil How to prepare Oats and Mung Dosa: Soak rice, mung beans, toor dal and methi seeds in water for 5 - 6 hours. Aromatic methi seeds impart a nice golden brown color to the dosas. Wash the soaked rice and lentils well. Grind soaked rice, lentils and oats to a smooth paste. I used Quick Oats. No need to soak oats. Cover and let the batter ferment overnight. You can also add 1/8 tsp baking soda if you like. Add salt to the batter and mix when you are ready to make dosas. Heat a pan and grease the pan with few drops of oil or cooking spray. Do not add too much oil or else the dosas wont be thin. Spread a ladle full of batter evenly as thin as possible. Roast both sides ...

Every time I bake a cake or muffins, I look for low calorie options. Today's fruity vanilla muffins are made of milk and not butter. Also, oats and whole wheat flour make it healthier and nutritious. Ingredients: Apples - 2 Lemon Juice - 2 tbsp Whole Wheat Flour - 1 1/4 cups Quick Oats - 1 cup Light Brown Sugar - 3/4 cup Milk - 1 cup Olive Oil - 1/4 cup Baking Soda - 3/4 tsp Baking Powder - 1/4 tsp Cinnamon/Dalchini Powder - 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract - 2 tsp Nuts - 2 tbsp How to bake Eggless Oats and Apple Muffins: In a big bowl, add about 5 cups water and lemon juice. Peel the apple skin and dice it into small pieces. Add the diced apples to the water so that the apples  don't  turn brown. In a mixing bowl, mix all the dry ingredients - whole wheat flour, quick oats, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and ground cinnamon. Preheat the oven at 350 degrees F. Line a 12 muffin baking tray with cupcake liners or grease it with cooking spray. In another big mixi...

Masala Dosa  is the most loved breakfast in my family.  Oats Masala Dosa is our new favorite.  We all know that Oats is a healthier grain than rice.  But for these dosas to turn crisp, some rice is definitely required.  After a few trials and errors, I came up with this recipe for a crispy and healthy Masala Dosa with Oats.