How to cook Quinoa

Quinoa is one of my favorite super foods. It’s really versatile – can be eaten hot or cold and is a great replacement to many different types of staples.

I use it in place of rice, I throw it in a salad to make it a fulfilling meal, I use it to make burgers and more.

As a part of my youtube channel, I work on teaching people how to make simple and healthy recipes. Today I am making a really basic recipe for quinoa.

Here is the recipe:

 

I will be uploading add-on recipes with what you can do with your cooked quinoa soon. Be sure to subscribe to stay up-to-date!

Cheers,

Sheetal

Quick and simple spinach recipe

Hi!

I have been trying to get all that spinach into my diet and I have been struggling with it. Other than in smoothies – spinach isn’t really a favorite of mine – so I set out to find really yummy spinach recipes and make them healthy and easy too.

Today I have given the traditional palak paneer (a spinach and cottage cheese dish) that’s loaded with cream and decided to leave the cream out to make it healthy. It did require some adjustment – and finally arrived at this recipe which is really simple!

 

The ingredients you will need are:

• 4 teaspoons oil
• 2 small chopped onions
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 2 small chopped tomatos
• 1 bag of spinach (chopped)
• 1 cup paneer or cottage cheese
• Salt to taste
• Chilli powder to taste

Be sure to add this recipe to your list – it hardly takes 15 minutes to put together and you will absolutely love the flavors!

Let me know how it turns out.

Subscribe to me for more healthy recipes!

 

Instant raw mango pickle

It’s mango season!!! The best time of the year is right around the corner and we are going to be indulging in mangos this season. Raw, ripe, raw, cooked – the whole 9 yards.

Today I have for you a recipe for an instant raw mango pickle. It’s a healthier take on a regular indian pickle – using less oil and salt than a regular pickle.

Here are the ingredients you will be needing:

1 raw mango

2 tablespoons of salt

1 tablespoon of oil

1 pinch of asafoetida

2 teaspoons of chilli powder

1 /2 teaspoon of mustard powder

1/4 teaspoon of fenugreek powder

You can see the recipe below for instructions on how to make it:

What did you think of the recipe? Do you have any questions? Be sure to let me know in the comments! And ofcourse, if you are looking for more simple, healthy and delicious recipes – be sure to follow me!

 

Sauteed onion curry indian style!

The other day I was going through Facebook when someone posted that they had too many onions and nothing to do with them. It got me thinking of this really simple sauteed onion recipe that has been passed down from generation to generation as a meal that you can make in minutes.

This is a simple Indian recipe that you can make when you have a lot of onions on hand, or even if you are looking for a simple but healthy side to your rice or roti.

The ingredients you will be needing for this recipe are:

Oil
6 small onions or 2 big onions
4 table spoons Gram flour (Chickpea flour)
1/2 tsp Turmeric
1 tsp Chilli Powder
Salt to taste

The instructions and exact recipe are here here:

 

Let me know how it turns out! And be sure to comment, like, follow, share or subscribe if you like the video!

 

Almond milk and date smoothie recipe

At Big Blender, we had an almond milk and date smoothie on our menu and it was an absolute favorite. The oats, the dates and the almond milk come together to bring you a flavorful healthy breakfast smoothie.

Now, handing over the recipe to you so you can make it on your own!

Here’s how you make it!

 

Ingredients:

1 cup almond milk (Find out how you can make your own here)

3-4 pitted dates

1/4th cup instant oats

Instructions:

Put everything into the blender. Blend! Serve.

Let me know if you try it and how it turns out!

How to start eating healthy

I am a self-declared health-food foodie. But every once in a while I find myself completely falling off the wagon.

I find it more and more difficult to resist the temptations of eating something unhealthy and soon, my body goes from craving healthy food to craving unhealthy food.

Having fallen off the wagon and gotten back on successfully multiple times, here are some quick tips to help you get and stay healthy:

1. Clean out your kitchen

This is the first step to your journey. I find that cleaning out my kitchen and getting rid of everything that I know is unhealthy for me is an amazing way to control what I eat. If I really want to eat a cupcake and I have only fruit at home – guess what I’m going to end up eating?

Yep – you got it. I’ll finally end up eating an apple or grabbing a bunch of nuts.

PRO TIP: Do not: hide away your “treats.” Get rid of them completely.

2. Shop smart

Now that you have cleaned out your kitchen, it is important to keep it clean. When you are out grocery shopping, you need to stop the evil from getting back in. Do not buy anything that you know is unhealthy for you.

It also helps to have a shopping list.

3. Learn to cook

I cannot emphasise this enough. Learning to cook gives you the power to decide what you are going to eat and when you are going to eat it. It also allows you to customize the food you are eating – maybe you feel like a little extra spice today?

4. Indulge your tastebuds – with healthy alternatives

This is the part where it all gets fun!

One of the things that I love most about cooking is that I have found many healthier alternatives to the unhealthy food that I love. I find that I can introduce the same flavors, the same textures etc by using healthy alternatives. You can get creative and indulge yourself in the flavors you love.

5. Plan, plan, plan! 

I overestimated the power of this – but once I’ve gotten into the flow of planning – it makes your life so simple. You know exactly what you need to buy when you are grocery shopping, exactly what to prep when and you don’t waste your time wondering what to eat.

Plan out your meals a week at a time! I find that keeping a list of simple, healthy recipes really helps.

Here is my youtube channel where I make quick meals and snacks live, so you know exactly how long it takes:

Here is the link

6. KISS – keep it simple stupid

Health food recipes often feel like too much work. Too many ingredients to prep and takes way too much time. The simplest way to battle this is by keeping it simple.

Keep the recipes you plan to use on the week-days simple and pick up pre-cut salad greens, veggies and fruit to save your time!

Hope this article helps! I know its a long and difficult journey but together we can do it! Let me know if you have any other tips that have really worked for you!

Spiced carrot salad

 

I love a good salad. And a spicy salad that takes just minutes to make is always a good idea to serve with dinner. Coming from India, we definitely love a little heat in our food and this salad is just brimming with Indian flavors.

This is a favorite in my house – we hardly go a week without this popping up on the menu.

Spiced Carrot Salad Recipe:

• Serves: 2
• Prep: 5 minutes
• Cooking time: none
• Total time: 5 minutes
• Difficulty: Easy

The ingredients you need for the spiced carrot salad are:

• Shredded carrots
• Peanut Powder
• Roasted Gram Powder
• Spiced Chillies
• Salt
• Spiced Oil
• Lime/ yogurt

Instructions:

Place all ingredients into a bowl and mix! Serve with roti’s or as a side to rice.

If you are looking for simple, healthy, vegetarian recipes then be sure to follow me!

 

 

 

 

 

Forgetting the little things

Some times its the little things about being a family that are most important.

Sometimes we should just pause and remember the millions of little things that our nearest and dearest ones have done for us.

The times when they nursed us back to health, did something they consider a bore to make us happy, to go out of the way to make us feel special, to take a moment and consider us before making decisions; at times seem to go unnoticed.

Thinking about the sheer amount of time that they would have spent, re-arranging their lives so you so perfectly fit in sends shivers down my spine.

Today. Let’s do something for our families. Call them. Make them feel special. Go for a walk. Plan a picnic for the upcoming weekend, or a game night. Cook for them. Make them feel like every moment they ever spent on you was totally worth it.

The significance of little

If you have ever felt insignificant, then maybe this video can give you some perspective on how important just a little can do in this world.

Whether is spreading a little love, planting a tree, leaving some water out for the birds in summer or recycling a little something, we can all have a great impact on the world around us, just like these wolves.

How “I wish” can change the world

My company is being incubated by Microsoft ventures for the Accelerator Program. Its been an exciting one month, and another couple more to go. The things I have learned just being around the founding teams of 16 start ups, mentors, established players in the industry as well as entrepreneurs who have “made it big” has changed caused a paradigm shift.

We have been meeting a whole bunch of angel investors and venture capitalists. Reputation has it that these are the biggest, meanest sharks out there. They are interested in one thing, and one thing only: MORE MONEY.

They expect your baby business [which you love, which grows, which changes every day] to be some kind of inanimate black box. This black box – doesn’t matter who, what, where, when or how – but they want to put in $100 and get back $150. And they want it quick.

Knowing everything we knew, we created our PPTs, full of numbers, charts, proof that our idea could be that little black box they were looking for.

Standing infront of them. The first question they asked us was: “WHY?” Why this business, why did you start it? Why do your customers need it?

We looked at each other – this was so unexpected.

After that meeting, I talked to the rest of the companies – and the first question thrown at them was the same.

And when you ask that question, the most exciting stories come up. Answers like:

1. I wished I knew how to dress better, but can’t afford a stylist.

Business: Voonik.com ; your personal stylist online for free

2. I wished my mom could sell her home cooked food and it could reach out to more people:

Business: imly.in ; an online store where home chefs can set up store fronts and foodies can discover home food around them

3. I wish I could access my contacts from anywhere

Business: Intouch ; a way to auto sync your contacts from all your accounts across all email ids, phones, tablets etc with a single app.

What I love is that they changed their “I wish” to an “I do”.

We all use these same words, but more often than not, our wishes remain wishes because we are waiting for someone else to fulfil it.

The biggest businesses, the best entrepreneurs and the things that have shaped out lives started with a wish. Next time you say these words, you may want to think about how many other people may have the same wish, and you might just have the idea that changes the world.

Happy wishing, happy changing the world.