One of the sweet potatoes started to grow into a plant with two very tiny leaves. Wanted to give it support in its growth. So asked my kind friend if she could share her small garden area for this tiny plant. She was more than happy to do that. In a week's time, the plant grew quick amazingly ( check the picture ) . Guess it was the love. :-) we are very thrilled.
Having been subjected to watching frequent advertisements of Britannia Treat biscuits, kids obviously ask for it, preparing themselves for the first taste. Then it becomes a habit.
Only couple of days back, wanted to check the ingredients - expecting kid healthy choices.
Shocked to see that the biscuits contain hydrogenated vegetable fat aka trans fat. City kids having trans fat foods with least physical activity is a definite bad idea. I believe government should not allow such products to be advertised in the first place. Kids are not mature consumers to understand what is really good and healthy for them in the long run.
A brief search in Google took me to this page: http://www.britannia.co.in/brandstories_treat.htm
The product seems to be a huge success but are the consumers aware of health implications. I have loved Britannia products for a long time and been a loyal consumer. Particularly, the healthy and nutri products of Britannia. Perhaps, emphasis and advertising should be encouraged on these products rather than the unhealthy ones.
Going a step ahead, advertisements in kids channels should be closely monitored. In fact, ideally should be eliminated from kids channels. Advertisements are negative in their very nature of telling consumer what they don't have and motivating to get it.
Whole wheat pizza
Ingredients for base:
Whole wheat pizza (1 cup)
1 tsp active yeast powder
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
Water (enough to prepare dough)
Warm the water and add active yeast. Let it stand for 5 mins and then add all the rest of the ingredients. Mix them well and knead them into a soft dough. Let it stay for a while - 30 mins or so. The dough will raise in the mean time.
Ingredients for toppings:
1. Tomato sauce
2. Sliced tomatoes
3. Sliced onions
4. Mozzarella cheese
5. Sliced green chilli pepper, soaked in some salt
Grease the pizza oven plate with oil. After the dough raised, spread the dough evenly with hands in the pizza oven plate. Sprinkle the vegetables evenly on the spread dough. Sprinkle cheese over the vegetables.
Preheat the oven to 220 degree Celsius. Pop in the filled up pizza oven plate. In 15-20 mins, the pizza will be ready. Please check if the pizza looks done before removing it out.
Kattu pongali (mashed mung beans + parboiled rice)
Ingredients
1/2 cup parboiled rice
1/2 cup mung beans (with or without peel)
1 cup of Sliced mixed vegetables (Carrots, peas, corn)
A handful of cashews
1 tbsp of oil for frying
Spice: Black pepper (whole), cumin seeds and salt
Preparation:
1. Heat oil in a pan and add black pepper, cumin seeds and cashews.
2. When they are lightly fried, add the vegetables and washed mung beans and parboiled rice.
3. Pour 3 cups of water and salt as desired.
4. Let it boil on medium flame till it turns out finely boiled and soft (porridge Like consistency)
5. Serve hot with some sauce and fruit pieces/juice for breakfast.
Lazy weekend afternoon; wanted to try something new. Just recently successfully finish organic lemon pickle (andhra style). Recipe of that some other time. I had some more lemons left and wanted to try something sweet.
So, took four lemons, washed. The end of the lemons cut and placed in a pan with 600 ml of water. After 1.5 hours of boiling, set it aside to cool it down. After cooling down, cut the soft lemon into small pieces, removing the seeds. Put these pieces back into the boiled liquid remaining, add 400 gm of brown sugar. Add grated ginger to the boiling mixture. Boil it till the syrup is thick and required consistency is acquired. Consistency is tested by letting a drop of the syrup to cool down. The drop should be thick like jam.
Marmalade experiment: success.
