GO NUTS!!! A WAR WITH RAW for ENFF event ~ GROUNDNUT JUICE

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Confused with the title of the post? Yes, I am right when I have written WAR with RAW.  My blog has always had a war with raw food. This is a war of love for your body, your health and your life. Today I am going to share my thoughts, my experience with the raw food and few excerpts from GURUJI SHRI RISHI PRABHAKARJI's talks which are published in the book 'NUTRITION PACKED AMRUT AAHAR', "a cook book of uncooked food" by SHEHNAZ A THANAWALA.

Again confused?

Let me start it again. I came in contact with SSY(SIDDHA SAMADHI YOGA) course around 15 years back. And that changed my life. The way of thinking towards everything on this Earth changed, I started thinking positive. My stage fear disappeared. I became more friendly with everyone. It was a new life for me. I don't want to talk more about myself as we are here to talk about food.

The main thing changed was the food habit. I realised the importance of RAW food.

As the years went,though it was not possible for me to follow it 100%, but I always preferred having raw food everyday and whenever possible. Once a year, I stay on raw food for continuous 13 days which helps me to reduce my weight and cleanse the body.

{Now, whatever I am writing below are the answers from Pujya Guruji:

1.What is RAW food?

• Any natural food item which is not cooked or processed by heat can be called raw(or uncooked) food.

2.Is it difficult to digest RAW food?

• Not at all, actually it is easier to digest raw food (takes only 13 hours to digest) than cooked food which takes 24 hours to digest and Non Veg which takes about 72 hours.

3.Are all the raw foods are good to eat?

• NO, not necessarily so, It is the amount again how much we take and how we take it.

4.How much quantity of raw food one should eat?

• Normally  healthy people should have about 50% to 70% of their total daily food as raw food. But, for someone who wants to start newly, has to increase the quantity slowly from 20%.

One can do a 'raw food fasting; once a month where you can have 100% raw food or juices on that day.

5.Will the RAW food make me weak?

• No, in fact you can be strong and healthy. Initially people may have a diarrhoea or constipation as the body needs time to get adjusted.

6.Can one cure the ailments and diseased by having this Amrut Ahar or RAW food?

• Yes, many have succeeded. Chronic diseases can be effectively controlled by proper diet.

But, take care to consult proper teachers before you start it as a regular intake, considering your food allergies, the diseases you have.}

*****While I am typing this, I got the sad news that  Pujya Guruji Rishi Prabhakar has left for his heavenly abode leaving us to spread his worldly message.******

I don't know what inspired me to write about him in today's post or how it came in my mind that I should write about the raw food and him. May his soul rest in peace. I am sure that he is always there for us in our heart.

This post is dedicated to him.

Coming back to today's post,

Yes, I am following this diet with the Pranayam and the meditation I learnt during the course and It has helped me to overcome many diseases, mentally and physically.

I agree that it was not possible for me to follow it 100% as I take non vegetarian food and normal cooked food on daily basis, but YES, the RAW FOOD has always helped me to keep my health under control.

I have already posted many raw food recipes in my blog. You can click salad parade  to get the recipes and few more in my archived posts.

           Today's recipe is a unique one which I have taken from the same book. I always enjoy this juice which is very healthy and can have at breakfast.

Its groundnut juice. Surprised? Groundnut and juice?

I will come to the nutrition facts about peanuts.

It is full of proteins. Actually contains more protein than meat, about tow and a half times more than eggs and far more than any other vegetable food except Soya bean and yeast. BUT, its best to eat ground nut after it has been SOAKED OVERNIGHT.

Peanuts or groundnuts are rich in proteins and packed with essential nutrients like vitamin A, vitamin E, magnesium, zinc, iron, and dietary fibres. Peanuts provide optimum health benefits and are excellent energy boosters. 
click the LINK for more details.

And Jaggery  is loaded with nutrients such as calcium, iron, potassium, zinc, magnesium and phosphorous. Jaggery is often known as a cleansing agent because it helps to get rid of unwanted particles from the respiratory tract, lungs, food pipe, stomach and intestines. Extremely rich in iron, jaggery is advised to all those who have a low level of haemoglobin in their blood and are anaemic.

click the LINK  for more details.

Try to have it once or twice a week. As for every thing, even this has little side effect which is negligible.It is allergic to many.

If you are having first time, then may be you will get acidity, but don't worry if its not severe. 

To make one glass of juice:

Ingredients:

Groundnuts -20 soaked overnight

Banana or Chikoo or apple or dates or any two or one(choice is your)-1/2 cup

Jaggery to taste or 1 tbsp

Powdered cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp

Method:

Blend all in a mixer till smooth paste.

Add the water to bring it to the consistency of a milk.

Serve immediately.

Linking it to Eat Nutritious, Feel fabulous 

Keep Smiling,

Musk Melon Jam

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Fruits!!! Turn these in to juice, chutney, salad, Ice cream or JAM... Fruits are best used to make jam.. When I tried Apple Jam, it was a hit at home.But, then I forgot about it.. and never retried.

For Shivarathri, when mom bought Musk melon, I was happy to eat it. But my kids did not enjoy it much, and there was more than half of a musk melon at home. I was thinking of making juice and have it. I peeled the skin and was about to cut it into pieces to put in the juicer, suddenly I thought of making jam with it. I was not sure again as usual, but thought of trying with little quantity.

So here comes the recipe of easy jam.

Ingredients:
Musk melon, peeled, grated - 1 cup
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Finely chopped almonds - 1 tbsp
Ghee - 1/2  tsp
Cinnamon powder - a pinch
Pepper powder - 1/8 tsp or less
Method:

Heat the ghee in a thick kadai, fry the almonds. Remove and keep aside.

In the same kadai, add the grated musk melon and on a medium flame, keep on cooking, when its half done, add the sugar and cook till it becomes dry. It takes lot of time as melon has more water. 

Now add the finely chopped almonds, Cinnamon powder and pepper powder. Mix well and cook for some more time. You will see the glazing. 

The jam is ready. Cool it and store it in a jar in the fridge. 

It goes very well with wheat chapati and bread. 

THE WHOLE THING CAN BE DONE IN THE MICROWAVE ALSO, AND ITS EASIER THAN THIS PROCEDURE.

This one is going to 

My event 

Event Announcement "Only Original Recipes" and Giveaway :-)))

A brain child of Pari.

Keep Smiling,

Fruit Salad for Shivaratri and Some Memories.

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Wishing everyone a very happy "MAHASHIVARATRI"

When we were young, we used to wait for this day. There were lot of things used to happen on this day.

We were almost 15 kids in a colony. Our day started at 4 in the morning. Previous night we used to plan and keep our things ready. Morning at 4.30 we used to leave the house with few elders and start walking. After walking for 5 kilometers we used to reach the temple. It was Someshwara temple. Its built in 12th century, by Chalukyas. It is a birthplace of  river Shalmala where she flows underground. There is a big pond. We used to take bath in that pond. Take the darshan of Lord Shiva in that big temple. Eat some prasad and come back home.

That was a day of fasting.

Mothers used to keep the breakfast ready. That was Sabudana kichadi.

The whole day we used to play and listen to the devotional songs.

Again evening was the feast time.

There used to be Chana usuali, fruit salad, Lime juice. Fresh dates....

As I grew big, I used to keep fasting without water also.

Those were the days. Now, we do not have that much patience. Only remembering the good days.

This fruit salad brings lot of memories back.

Sharing with you the recipe.

Ingredients:

Musk Melon : 1 big bowl or half of the melon(depends on the size) -skinned and cubed 

Banana - 2 to 3, peeled and cubed

Grapes - 15 to 20(I skipped it because my both the kids have cough)

Jaggery(grated or crushed or powdered) - half the quantity of melon, again check the sweetness of the Muskmelon.

Nuts - 1 tbsp, roasted in 1/2 tsp ghee

Method:

Mix all the ingredients in a big serving bowl. 

Keep it aside for 15 to 20 minutes for jaggery to get mixed well with the fruits. 

Serve it like that or

Keep it in the fridge for some time before serving to have chilled fruit salad.

Sending it to

Akila's Event: Dish Name Starts with F

Keep Smiling,

Event Round Up : MEC - FRUITS

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Yes, one more event round up! I am getting expert in handling Events. Am I?!!
I do enjoy hosting the events and now I am used for expecting more entries for my events and every day getting up to check my mails for the entries!! And I have become strong person also to face the situation where I do not get any entry or a single entry. But thats fair here. Many times I too do not get the time to participate in many events(I try hard to send at least one entry for most of the events) I feel I get encouraged to try new food if I take participation in any event.

Sorry guys! I am going on..... with my dry philosophy.

I am very happy with this event! The way it went, the way I took time to try something new with fruits.

Fruits, usually is consumed directly or in the form of juice. I was very happy to try some new dishes with fruits and that too in MICROWAVE!! It was a great fun.

I want to thank Srivalli for giving me this chance to host her event MEC-series.

Now, coming to the entries, I am really happy to know that my blogger friends
are so much creative and dare to  try new things.

I am posting the entries the way I got them!

Priya Srinivasan of Enveetu kitchen has sent
this healthy peda 

Vidhya of My Recipes has sent

these  Choco Dates Nuts Balls 

Next comes Priya of Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes with 4 entries

MW Watermelon Kheer

 MW Plum Jam

MW Apple Halwa

 MW Spiced Apple Chutney

Next is Lata of Flavours and Tastes has sent this jiffy

   Apple jam

AND

 Khajoor Imli Ki Chutney

Supriya of Celebrating Little Things In Life has sent 

Microwaved Pear with Dryfruits

Smitha of  Smitha's Spicy Flavors, cooking my way... has sent

Simple Pineapple Kaju burfi

AND

Mini Apple muffins in Microwave

Then Comes, Varshini's of If not, wat next? !! :) 2 entries with Apple

  Apple Sheera

And   Mixed Fruit Halwa

Lalitha of Indian spice Magic is here with

Watermelon Curry

Aparna of Apy Cooking! has sent 

Eggless Microwave Apple Walnut Cake

Srivalli of Cooking4allseasons has sent 

 Microwave Mixed Fruit Halwa.

Jagruti of Joy of Cooking has come with two recipes

Strawberry and apple crumble !

AND

Tamarind And Dates Chutney

Last before my entries is Jayasri Ravi of Samayal Arai has sent

 Mango - Quinoa Halwa in Microwave

 

Last but not least is ME!!!

I have 

Bread and Fruit bars(M/W grilled)

AND

Apple Jam

With

Pineapple Chutney in M/W

And the last one

 Mixed Fruit Curry 

I would like to thank everyone who has participated in this wonderful event and has supported me.

Please leave a comment here if I have missed anyone's entry. I will update my post.

Hoping to get the same and more support for all my upcoming events.

Next series is continued with Smitha of Smitha's Spicy Flavors, cooking my way...,

"My First Event Anouncement - "MEC - Festive Dishes..."  

Visit her for more information and support her with your entries.

Keep Smiling,

Bread and Fruit bars(M/W grilled)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

I wanted to try something with bread and fruit in combination for my event. I never tried this combo. Two days back when I brought bread for breakfast, I kept on thinking what to make! Then this came in my mind. I do not know its common or something new, my kids loved it. I too enjoyed it!

Its a great filler in the evenings for kids and healthy too. If you get brown bread then its real healthy food for everyone.

You can take any fruits of your choice. I chose only apple and banana. The reason is these are the common fruits easily available and I do not get variety of fruits here.

Ingredients :

White bread or Brown bread slice : 4 

Apple - 1 

Banana - 1

Honey - 1 tsp

Cinnamon powder - 1/2 tsp

Mixed fruit jam or any jam - 1 tbsp for each bread

(I used ready jam and home made apple jam)

Fruit jam to decorate

Butter to spread on the bread

Wash and grate the apple.

Peel and mash or grate the banana.

Mix  well the grated apple, banana, honey, fruit jam and cinnamon powder. 

Microwave on HIGH for 2 minutes. Mix well and keep it ready.

Take little butter and spread on the breads. Microwave HIGH for 1 minute. 

Take out and evenly spread the fruit mix on the bread slices.

Cut the slices into four bars. 

Grill in MICROWAVE for 3 to 4 minutes. (check the power of your M/W)

Decorate these bars with extra jam.

Serve it as an evening snack with glass of hot milk.

Sending it to three events:

My event 

Microwave Easy Cooking - FRUITS, Event Announcemen...

AND

Akila's 

Dish Name Starts with: B

AND

Srivalli's Announcing Kid's Delight ~ Finger Food

AND

 Srivalli's 365 days of Microwave Cooking! event 

Keep Smiling,

Apple Jam

Tried and tasted by Nivedita 

Hi All,

"An apple a day keeps the doctor away" is the famous saying.

but I have a doubt,

what if a doctor is beautiful/ handsome?

"Keep that apple away"

When it comes to give the fruits to the kids, its difficult as many kids won't like to have fruit. But they love to eat jam with chapati, bread or toast. 

When I got the LG complimentary book, there was a recipe for this jam. But  I went of postponing to try it. Because my both kids do not like sweet and I am not much into jams. 

When I announced MEC - Fruits, this was the first thing came in my mind. I took the book and tried the recipe but used only half the quantity from given quantity.

It is the easiest and quickest jam to prepare. And kids will love to have it with chapati or bread. Or try it on toasts and with dosas.

Apples are rich source of antioxidant compounds. Because of the fiber content, it helps in regular bowel movements. The best thing is apple does not have any caloric content and helps in heart disease and helps to control cholesterol.

Apple - 1, cleaned, peeled and cut into cubes

Sugar - 1/2 cup

Lime juice - 1 tbsp

Take the apple cubes in a M/W safe bowl.

Cook it on HIGH for 3 minutes, covered, but stirring in between. Let the apple are soft and sugar is mixed well with apple. Remove it out and allow it to cool.

Put it in a blender to puree it.

Transfer it into the same bowl and cook on HIGH for 6 to 8 minutes. Stir in between and check for the jam consistency. As each Microwave differs with the  heating condition, please take care not to over cook it. 

Once you feel the puree has got the jam texture. Remove it from M/W. Add lime juice and mix well. Once it comes to room temperature, store it in a fridge or have it with bread or chapati immediately. You can keep it in the fridge for more than a week. I was glad that my daughter loved it and had it with bread toast.

Sending this wonder jam to 

My event 

Microwave Easy Cooking - FRUITS, Event Announcemen...

AND

Neha's (of Home Made Food) 

Kids Menu Event

Keep Smiling,