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How Do You Get Your Kids To Consume Lentils? Here Are 5 Fun Ways
There can be nothing more boring than a plain bowl of bland lentils; for adults and children alike. This surely does not imply it can be skipped especially when it is packed with a lot of nutrition. Lentils are a good source of fiber which is crucial for the digestive health of children. They also contain a good dose of iron, zinc, and potassium. Sneak in lentils into your healthy cooking regime for kids and get the little ones to eat them unwittingly at first. Let us now look into the how of it. Familiarise your children with lentils, through fun games. Pick a choose a lentil for the day and make it into the “star” of the day. Let’s say you pick chickpea- think of all that can be churned out using this ingredient for the day. Say a colorful veggie-loaded hummus or a patty that can go into a burger etc. Let us a look at more kid-friendly lentil recipes. 1. Puree lentils and add them to the regular food your child enjoys. Stir in lentil puree into pasta, or serve thick lentil pasta as a side with boiled vegetables or a homemade crispy. 2. Add lentils to a rich and creamy soup. Lentils like yellow dal or moong-dal (green gram dal) can be soaked; cooked until soft and dished out as a thick warm soup, especially during winter. Since lentils have a mild flavour, children will hardly notice the difference. 3. Use them in meatballs or meatloaf. Soak and grind a suitable lentil coarsely, spice it up adequately, add some cheese and pan-fry them on a skillet. You may serve these with noodles/gravy or as a dry snack. Alternately you can include a simple starch such as oats and flour, sauteed vegetables with the lentil paste, add spices and bake into a nice meatloaf. 4. Add them to veggie burgers and tacos. Chickpea patties are a popular choice as a burger filling. You may mix and match other not so delicate lentils as patties and serve them up in burgers. Make sure a lot of colorful vegetables are included for a nice crunch. You could also soak, grind and cook red beads as a filling for tacos/ tortillas. 5. Spice up your salads with red lentils. Brown, black or yellow lentils can be included in vegetable salads. Wash and cook any of these lentils and cook them for about 20 25 minutes, till they are done just right. Toss them into a vegetable salad of your choice with the right toppings- say a little honey might do the trick for the kids. Healthy cooking for kids is not really rocket science and making them eat lentils is not that much of an uphill task. One has to just focus and put a little effort into making kids consume lentils. Lentils are nutritional powerhouses and are very versatile and easy to cook. Before you know it, on an odd day, your little one will ask for that bowl of dal soup taking you back by surprise!
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Keep Your Smile On And Dive Into These Healthy And Clean Dessert Recipes
An absolutely decadent dessert holds the solution to many a conflict. However, this indulgence quickly leads to an escalation of numbers on the weighing scale. Let us unlock a chest of wonderful healthy Indian dessert recipes that will prove this wrong. Chikki- Roast 2 cups of peanuts till they are uniformly crisp and the skin peels off. Keep this aside. Heat a heavy-bottomed pan and add two spoons of water, add 1 ½ cup of the powdered jaggery and keep stirring for about five minutes. Once the syrup is glossy and thick, switch off the flame and stir in the peanuts well ensuring peanuts are coated well with the jaggery. Transfer into a greased tray immediately and make pieces. Chocolate Mousse with a twist- Soak 1 cup of chickpeas for five hours, rinse and drain. Pressure cook chickpeas in a liter of water. Put away the cooked chickpeas to use for another time. Take two spoons of cooked chickpeas in the water used to boil it, keep boiling this on medium flame, and reduce it by half. Microwave/double boil 75 gms chocolate and keep aside. Now take half a cup of this water and whisk it till it peaks. In this process, slowly add 2 spoons of jaggery powder to it. Now gently fold the chocolate into this mix, and allow it to set in the fridge for 4-5 hours. Garnish and serve. Coconut Laddoo – Roast 200 gms of desiccated coconut in ½ a spoon of ghee and keep aside. Boil ¼ cup of water and add 1 cup of jaggery powder to it and cook till all the jaggery is dissolved. Switch the flame off and add a pinch of cardamom powder to it. Add the coconut to this mixture and stir it up well. Once it cools down, pinch it into small balls and serve. Sweet Potato Brownies – A cup of mashed sweet potato, ½ cup of peanut/almond butter, and ¼ to ½ cup of cocoa powder is what you need. Preheat your oven to about 180 degrees C, and coat a baking tray with cooking spray. Quickly whip all these ingredients, until just blended. Transfer to the pan and cook for about 12-15 minutes. A high energy super healthy dessert is ready! Apple and Walnut Crumble- Cook a cup of chopped apples until soft. You may add some ginger too while cooking. Combine the dry ingredients ½ cup of butter, ½ cup of roasted and coarsely chopped walnuts, a few spoons of oats, and a few spoons of jaggery powder. In a baking dish, transfer the apple mixture and top it with the combined dry ingredients. Bake for 10 minutes at 200 C in a preheated oven. Allow it to cool down and serve. Banana Halwa- A super quick clean and healthy dessert- take about 4 ripe mashed bananas and cook them in 2 teaspoons of ghee for 15 minutes. Keep stirring. Add 4 5 tablespoons of jaggery powder to this and cook for another 5 minutes. Add a dash of cardamom powder Remove from the flame, cool it down and cut into slices. Kheer with dry fruits and figs- Soak a few almonds, cashews, and pistachios in warm water for a few hours. Separately soak a handful of figs and raisins in water. Wash a soak ¼ cup of rice for an hour. Cook rice the rice in milk, till the rice is soft. This will take about 20 25 minutes. Grind the dry fruits now in warm water and gently add this paste into this mixture. Switch off the flame and garnish with the chopped-up figs and raisins. Refrigerate for a few hours and serve. Gajar Ka Halwa- Fry a cup of grated fresh red carrots in 3 spoons of ghee. Cooking the carrots will take about 15-20 minutes. Now add ½ cup of jaggery and stir it in. Cook the entire mixture for about 10-15 min, till it thickens up. Garnish with fried nuts, cool down, and serve. Don’t you feel heartened that there are desserts that can be clean, healthy, and absolutely delectable too?
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Bhel Puri: A Healthy Carnival Of Colourful Crispy And Calorie-Free Fun!
Good old puffed rice. Looks nondescript and boring right? But did you know that it is a nutritional powerhouse? Puffed rice or murmura as it is fondly called, is an easy-on-your-pocket anytime guilt-free indulgence. Healthy in its own right, it is rich in fiber thus promoting digestion. It can help the body fight infections due to its antioxidant and mineral properties. It is rich in calcium, iron, and vitamin D; it actively aids proper bone cell growth and regeneration. Facts apart, puffed rice is easily available, practically a versatile staple in an average Indian kitchen. Bhelpuri is perhaps the healthiest “avatar” of the humble puffed rice. Delicious and clean, Bhelpuri is a popular choice of healthy eating. Whipping up one anytime is also as hassle-free. Let us do this in steps. In a large bowl, pour out the desired quantity of puffed rice, broken wheat, and peanuts in equal portions. Now, this depends on the number of servings you desire. Finely chop up vegetables like onions, carrots, tomato, cucumber, and coriander leaves. Chop up a few green chillis as well. Slice a few lemons in half and keep them aside. Add the chopped onions and carrots to the puffed rice mixture. Add a little salt and a dash of cooking oil. This is to just make the ingredients stick together. Squeeze lemons, as per your taste, and add salt accordingly. Give this a good toss. Garnish with tomatoes, cucumbers, and cilantro or coriander leaves just before serving. You may want to play around with more flavors in your bhelpuri. For example, you can whip up a green chutney (pudina and coriander leaves) and add a dash of it to this mix. There is an oriental version of the bhel puri as well. Go on and experiment. The point of adding vegetables like tomato and cucumber, in the end, is to ensure that the bhelpuri does not become soggy. The bhelpuri is best when it is served the moment it is made and is crispy. You can take the nutrient factor a notch higher by adding whole green gram sprouts and some pomegranate seeds to your bhel. The right mix of savory and tangy. Play around with the rice puffs. You can mix and match flavors with ease. Using additional ingredients depends on how healthy you want your bhelpuri to be. Make a smart choice by not adding additional crisps or anything more than a dash of oil. There is not much effort that is needed to make a quick yet nutrient-rich bhel puri for a snack. The puffed rice can almost always accommodate anything!
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10 Super Healthy Snacks To Satisfy Your Late-Night Cravings!
Visualize this. You had a long day. You sink into the couch to catch your favorite web series at night and you are looking forward to relaxing. And then about 15 -20 minutes later, the little demons called late-night cravings show up. They seem to have little voices that have a way of coaxing you to reach out to anything unhealthy in sight! You want to give in. Your entire day’s effort of sticking to healthy low-calorie food seems under threat now! Set this alarm bell in your mind- Late-night snacking increases your risk of snacking on more than you need, which can lead to weight gain. More so when you are mindlessly bingeing on TV! So what do you do instead? Figure out how best you can appease these late-night hunger pangs with healthy snack ideas. Read on now. 10 low-calorie snack ideas to handle those uncontrollable hunger urges at night! In-shell pistachios- Get and stock up on shelled plain pistachios, which you can grab at night and slowly deshell them and consume one by one. Pistachios are rich in unsaturated fatty acids and potassium and packed with fiber and minerals. Dark chocolates-Your palate demands sweet? Well, handle it with a little bitterness too. Store some chunks of dark chocolate and eat them. Dark chocolate is rich in disease-fighting antioxidants. Air-popped popcorn – Easy-peasy bags of corn kernels that are available at any supermarket. Buy the ones that can directly be microwaved. Cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and bite-sized vegetables are easy indulgences and almost next to nothing in calories. Greek yogurt with fruit is a dessert to die for! Refrain from buying from the store and try to make your rich creamy yogurt at home. Banana with peanut butter- This super versatile combination can be had in the mornings or smaller portions as dessert at night. Whip up a small portion of both, freeze for a bit and dig in! Kiwis are a super special fruit rich in vitamin C and support digestive and heart health. A standalone nutritional powerhouse indeed. Almonds- The good old snack, a fist full of them can last a long while any day. Baked sweet potato fries – A non-greasy healthy snack that is as filling as a meal itself. Roasted chickpeas and peanuts- Nothing too dramatic, effortless, and available at home anytime. Roast a substantial quantity, mildly spice them, and store. Rich in protein as well as folate, magnesium, and iron. It is easy to trick and indulge in what your body unreasonably demands at night time and in a healthy manner! While it is most ideal to stop eating anything at all after 8 pm there are some days when you do feel like munching. If you are prepared and ready with the list above, there is no more guilt you have to deal with the morning after!
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7 Smart And Healthy Meals That Are Anything But Boring!
Your daily diet can be made exciting, something to look forward to, and certainly does not have to be a grim reminder of your waistline. All it needs is some quick thinking on the feet and a little bit of planning. Pause and assess the so-called clean and healthy meals you have been consuming every day. This exercise will help you understand your relationship with food. Did you know that your everyday meal must be made up of at least one protein, a carbohydrate, and good fats? The greater the protein content, the more full you will feel. Consuming more starch, will help in being full for a shorter duration, and bang! Your hunger pangs are back. Some carbohydrates are indeed healthier than the others such as those in whole grains and vegetables. More colorful vegetables on your plate mean a lot of micronutrients vitamins and antioxidants. The added benefit? Glowing skin and lustrous hair. Healthy fats in your meals can come from olive oil and dried fruits and nuts. And now 7 smart and simple food combinations you can eat every day: Your regular vegetable salad can be easily spruced by adding a dash of olive oil, and some chat masala. Chat masala works well with fruit salad also. Hold off the sugar or salt. Instead, substitute using honey or pink salt. Load your salads with a lot of nuts for the added crunch. Hardly boring is it not? Eggs in different ways. Boil them, fry them (in a little olive oil), and bake them. Eggs are super versatile and can play just different roles on your plate and palate! Are you a vegetarian? Switch to tofu or paneer. Breakfast smoothies are a full meal by themselves. Just a ripe banana and a dollop of peanut butter blended is packed with protein and leaves you full for longer. Switch to millets. Millets are a wonderful source of carbohydrates that break down slowly and can be a direct substitute for any starch in your diet. Try to include one every day. Peanuts, Kabuli, black chana, lobia, or black-eyed peas can be soaked and pressure cooked and turned into tasty chats, salads, or even a curry-based side dish. They can be combined with any starch or consumed as a wholesome healthy meal in itself. Jaggery-based desserts work wonders to kill your sugar craving. Mix and match dry fruits and nuts and dish them out as chikkis and energy bars. Oat meals and multi-grain porridges are filling breakfast meals, that work very with any kind of fruits or nuts. Try and include a lot of leafy greens in your diet for that is essential for a healthy bowel movement. Stock up on different spices such as oriental, continental, and Indian so that your meals do not become monotonous. Get creative and do not hesitate to experiment! Work on making smart healthy meals. It is easy.
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