Three Positive steps for a productive New year!

There are holiday wishes which we make when the New year begins - and then there are wishes that should really count... With the new year we all get into the phase of losing weight, going to the gym, being fit, but are always stuck with the thought, "where do we start from???" As health is the relationship between you and your body, we thought why don’t we start this year with few wishes and things to do first for ourselves, for our house and for the world.

Personal Goals

Having certain wishes for yourselves is very important. Only if you are in happy space you can make things better for the people immediately around you and the world around you. Here are some of our wishes for ourselves.

1. Avoid "JetBellly": The feeling of being five times larger than what you are is something most people go through. Also most people try everything to reduce weight; right from dieting to work out but there is an underlying reason why it still doesn’t work for you. The cause is sodium which is usually present in all our foods and is particularly high in any fried food, cocktail mix, carbonated bubbles. It is necessary to counteract all the salts by sipping water throughout the day. The best way not to forget drinking water is to set a reminder in your phone for an interval of every hour. Since it is recommended to drink at least 2 liters of water everyday, having a water bottle with measurements helps. Most people mostly avoid

drinking water because it has no taste. To make it more tasty, add some lemon, mint, ginger & cucumber to the water, refrigerate it overnight and sip this flavored water the whole day. This flavored water also helps in detox.

2. Join the small plate club: Until we started travelling we did not know so many different varieties of mouth-watering food which existed. This puts us in a complex situation where we are tempted to try everything but we still need to control, watch our weight and stick to our healthy eating habits. You can solve this by making a rule to use smaller plates, start off with veggies, and make just one trip down the lane in a buffet. Another option which we follow while travelling is to indulge in the local delicacies for one meal and have a meager meal for supper/dinner.

3. Healthy snacking: This can be anything from dry fruits, nuts to fresh fruits, protein bar, healthy oven roasted banana chips or a small home-made healthy muffins (our banana muffin link), have them in your kitchen, or with you at work and eat to kill the hunger pangs every second hour.

Home and family goals

1. The 15 min routine: Cleaning can be a bit overwhelming if you save everything for later, so make it a habit to clean one part or one room of your house thoroughly for 15 min everyday.

2. Meal planning: “What’s for dinner?” is a question which crosses the mind of every cook in a household. It is better to start meal planning for the week thus not waste your time in thinking about what to cook. On weekends try to do meal prep based on the menu you plan for the week and thus you get to spend more time with your family.

3. Date nights: If you are a busy parent try to make a date night to spend more time with your partner. It can just be a takeaway and a movie on DVD but still try to make that effort.

4. Involve kids: Try to involve kids in household chores and decisions. For example: while meal planning ask them what they would like to include in the menu or when would they like to go for a picnic.

5. Organize files: Try to maintain a household folder to keep all the important papers, files and letters safe and organised.

Global goals

1. Segregate waste: If your local municipality follows waste segregation, try to follow it. When we lived in India we did not have the option to segregate our waste (although it is starting now slowly in few cities even in India) so we could not practice it. Now when you have the option to do so, use it.

2. Do not litter public spaces: Always use the public litter box to put your wafer covers or coffee cups. Now a days they are everywhere, so use them always. If you have pets, please clean up your dogs' poop. When in a fast food restaurant clear your tables after you have finished eating, whether you are in India or abroad.

3. Go Green: Try to plant small tree near house or more plants in your backyard garden (if you have one). You can start by growing your own herbs in your garden or small flowering plants. It could be an activity to involve the kids too.

4. Charity: If possible get involved in fundraising programmes like baking or raising money for charity by running in a marathon. Also if you have time and interest you could also be a helping hand in a charity shop.  

All these wishes might be small steps towards something big. Being healthy and responsible towards the society should be part of your overall lifestyle… and not just a New year’s Resolution. Finally, Love yourself enough to live a healthy lifestyle :)

Happy goal setting!!

Tomato Ghotsu/chutney for Diet Pongal

Tomato ghotsu or Koshtu as they call in South India is a one pot dish, which is quick and easy to make. It is one of the perfect accompaniments for Diet pongal (recipe given in earlier post).The ripeness of the tomatoes is very essential for the tangy taste of the ghotsu and this also adds colour to the dish which is characteristic of Indian cooking.

Ingredients

Tomato - 3 big (chopped finely)

Onion - 1 ½-2 medium chopped finely

Green chilli -1-2 nos

Ginger - 1  inch chopped finely

Dhania powder - 1 tsp

Red chilli powder - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - ¼ tsp

Rice flour - 1 tsp (optional)

Sugar - a pinch (optional)

Salt - to taste

Curry leaves - few

Coriander - to  garnish

For seasoning

Urad dal - 1 tsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Hing/Asafoetida - pinch

Oil - 1 tbsp

Method

1.Take a thick bottom vessel, add oil, when the oil heats add mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds start spluttering, add hing and urad dal.
2. Now add the chopped onions and fry until the onions becomes transparent. You can add the green chilli and ginger at this point.
3. Next add the tomatoes.You can either add chopped tomatoes or you can grind them into a paste and then add. 
4. Let the tomatoes cook well. You can add around ¾-1 cup of water and add salt and let the tomatoes cook properly.

5. Once the tomatoes have cooked properly and the raw smell is gone add red chilli powder and dhania powder.

6. Let it boil for sometime until everything integrates well into a uniform broth. The volume would have reduced a little too. You can add rice flour if you want it to be little thick and for uniform texture. You can add a pinch of sugar, as it brings out the flavours.

Tips

1. You can add one tbsp of sambar powder instead of the dhania powder and red chilli powder
2. You can also  add cooked moong dal  in the last step after adding the tomatoes .

This simple side dish takes the accompanying dish to a whole new level be it for diet pongal, idli or dosa. It is a very versatile dish that can be made in a jiffy with basic ingredients available in your kitchen, so do give it a try it with Venn pongal for “Pongal festival”and it will soon become your staple side dish for everything you make.

Happy Relishing ghotsu!

Welcome 2016!

It’s the beginning of yet another year, time surely does fly. We had a wonderful Christmas and we have shared some pics with you from all the Christmas festivities and we hope you all enjoyed too. Though we can make short term changes for our day-to-day activities, we particularly wait for this day for a new beginning as we hope this will stay with us throughout the year. Resolutions and wishes are made by all but only some are lucky to have them fulfilled and for some the list continues for the next year, still we think we must take at least one resolution as that will remind us what we want for ourselves or what  changes we would like bring in our lives.

Ourlilsojourn has also made a resolution for this New Year: To never end this beautiful journey we have started together and always share our experiences with the world.

 We are also sharing our individual resolutions with you, which we hope to follow throughout the year.

Akki : Take less stress and be healthy.

Bharani: Make more “Me time” and make a wish list of little things to do (for myself).

Tanya : Improve creativity and spend more time for it .

These resolutions might not seem like they are very ambitious but believe us these are the most important ones for us as they focus on improving our attention on ourselves and helping us in knowing what we want as we often put ourselves last when it comes to time.

Please do share your resolutions with us if you have made one, we would love to hear from you.

We wish, pray and hope that this New Year brings you all the happiness in the world and may all your dreams come true. Have a Healthy, Happy and Prosperous year ahead.

Happy New Year!!