I wouldn't be me if I didn't live this...

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

Dinner Delights

Ok, so we're out with the old and already a month into the new. Like many many others who started 2009 "eating right" (notice I didn't say - and don't mean to say - "wanting to lose weight"), I evolved a bunch of food rules for me to keep mind, body and that all-elusive "soul" feeling good.
** Don't Ever Miss Breakfast. (Note the capitals.)
** Protein in the afternoon, to keep me feeling full; fruit-and-veggie-rich light dinners in the evenings.
** A fruit as a mid-evening snack - or a handful of nuts, if needed.
** Enough milk and yogurt, and, of course, two liters of water.
** Walk as much as I can, and try to smile just as often!
** Keep it simple (as they say).

Things proceeded smoothly till October - and then the deadlines started killing me. There was no time to cook - there was barely any time to eat. I'd started going back to Subway (eurgh! under most circumstances) for lunch, and eating frozen theplas for dinner when I was home. (It got worse - I had even started to eat combinations of the 100-cal packs in the lab on the days I knew I wouldn't "make it home".) Then, thank goodness, the parcel arrived from home. Mummy's goodies - home-made theplas, puran polis, kadipatta chutney as a quick accompaniment to rice, lots of other light snacks if I felt the urge. It was a lot better, but still, the resolutions as I knew it went out the window.

Now the deadlines are long gone (in fact, the new bunch is not too far away), the vacation is over, and we're back at work. Things have been stressful for the last few weeks, and, although I have kept within the rules for the most part, I hadn't the time to go grocery shopping. I'd been living on oatmeal with a bundle of fruits and nuts for dinner all this while, but I'd been craving a fruit and veggie salad I used to make. Yesterday, I finally made it to the grocery store and picked up ingredients. I made this "huge" meal (i.e., cooked lunch and chopped the ingredients for the salad for this week), and then finally put the salad together - and ate it.

Aaaaaahhhhhh!!

I cannot even express how happy I felt. How blissfully contented, how peaceful. The world suddenly appeared softened, like a mild late-April morning when all the flowers are in full bloom. If I'd been a cat, I'd have purred! I had no idea I'd missed it so much!! Here's a picture.


And here's the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:
Fruits and Veggies:
1/2 an apple
1/2 a cucumber (The cucumbers here in the US have thick skins and large seeds, so you may want to remove both.)
A handful (or two) of mushrooms
1 carrot

1 cup of yogurt - or greek yogurt (that's when I'm treating myself) + a little bit of milk

8-10 almonds, OR 5-6 walnut halves, OR a combination of almonds and walnuts, OR a little palmful of roasted flax seeds.

Salt

PREPARATION:
Chop the apple, cucumber, mushrooms and carrots into little pieces. You may want to lightly saute the mushrooms and carrots in olive oil - I find that it improves both taste and texture of the salad as a whole.
Chop the almonds and/or walnuts.
Beat in the yogurt with a little milk to get a salad-dressing-like consistency.
Mix the fruits and veggies in together in a bowl with the yogurt, the chopped nuts and the salt.
Ta-da!

You can use your own combination of fruits and veggies: sauteed corn, beans, steamed broccoli (if you're really that inspired) - a pear or a few chopped up grapes or berries. I usually keep a combination of these, chopped up in the fridge, to last me through the work-week so that I just have a 2-minute preparation time for dinner if I'm home late.

If you're adventurous, smash up a quarter of an avocado and mix it in with the yogurt. It gives a nutty taste and a creamy texture. Mmmm. Or, chop up half of a tomato and saute (or steam a little fresh spinach) with a few cumin seeds, then puree them in the mixer and add it to the yogurt.


This was one I made sometime last year. It contains pear and black grapes, cucumber and mushrooms, in a tomato-yogurt sauce, and topped with chopped almonds and walnuts.

Can't wait for dinner tonight! Oh, hold on, I just had that banana, right?

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