Healthy Strawberry Shake

Ingredients:  Approx. 2 servings

• Fresh Strawberries - 8 cleaned and cut into halves
• Milk (low fat) - 2 cups
• Fat free Vanilla Ice cream - 1 scoop
• Honey - 1 tsp

For Garnish:

• Whipped cream
• Maraschino cherries - 2

Method:
In a blender, add cut strawberries, milk, ice cream, honey and Ice. Blend for a minute. Pour in tall glasses and garnish with whipped cream and cherries.
Enjoy your healthy yummy shake.

Note: You can add any protein mix of your choice to make it a meal.

Cucumber cooler drink

Cucumber cooler drink
Beat the summer heat with refreshing Cucumber cooler drink.

INGREDIENTS:
Makes 6 servings approx.

• English cucumber – 3 (peeled and cubed)
• Celery – 1 cup (cubed)
• Mint leaves - 10
• Fresh lemon juice – 1/2 cup
• Honey – 2 tbsp
• Ice

Method:
Mix all the ingredients in a blender. Strain and serve chilled. Garnish with cucumber slices and mint leaves.

Note: Add Vodka and convert refreshing cucumber cooler into Cucumber martini.

Strawberry Yogurt Parfait

Serving healthy breakfast isn’t that hard. This easy recipe calls for what you mostly have in your refrigerator and pantry. And yes it requires no cooking skills.

Ingredients:
Approx. 4 servings

• Organic vanilla yogurt – 2 cups
• Fresh strawberries – 10
• Walnut & Pecans –  1/2 cup
• Kashi Go Lean Crunch Cereal – 2 cups [Or any cereal of your choice]

Method:

1. Lightly toast walnuts and pecans in a pan. Crush them in small bites. Keep aside. Cut strawberries in quarters and keep aside.
2. Take four tall glasses to serve parfaits. Layer each glass with 2 tbsp of vanilla yogurt. Now add 4-5 strawberry pieces, add 2 tbsp of cereal and 1 tbsp of nuts.
3. Repeat the same sequence, yogurt, strawberry, cereal and nuts in all four glasses. Garnish with strawberries.
4. Serve immediately or for later use, cover these glasses with cellophane wrap and refrigerate.

Enjoy as a yummy and healthy breakfast.

Zafrani Mango Lassi

Ingredients:
For 2 servings approx.

• Original or fat free yogurt - 1 cup
• Milk - 1/2 cup
• Fresh ripe mango or mango pulp - 1 cup
• Sugar or Splenda - 2 tsp
• Saffron - 5 strings
• Cardamon powder - 1 pinch

Method:
Combine  mango cubes or mango pulp, yogurt, milk, sugar/splenda, saffron and cardamom powder into a blender. Blend it for 2-3 minutes. Pour in tall glasses, garnish with cardamom powder and saffron.
Serve chilled.

Chocolate covered Strawberries

Celebrating Health

Good news for all health conscious people. I’ll be celebrating health for a month by posting healthy, low calorie, low sugar recipes. It will give you a kick start to get in shape for the summer. It will also energize your more for outdoor activities. I’ll also try to provide you the nutritional facts about the ingredients.

Hope you enjoy eating healthy, living happy.
I am starting the series with the simplest, mouth watering fruit dessert recipe.

A chocolate lover’s delight!

Nutritional facts: 

Strawberries : One cup (144 g) of strawberries contains approximately 45 calories (188 kJ) and is an excellent source of vitamin C and flavonoids.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_strawberry

Chocolate :Chocolate is often spoken of as being good for the heart, in more ways than one. Not only does it have a chemical said to mimic being in love, but studies indicate that chocolate can improve blood vessel responsiveness (important for the prevention of heart disease), blood pressure, and cholesterol. Other studies have shown it has potential for improving glucose tolerance, which is important to those of us who are using low-carb diets to minimize blood glucose spikes.

Ingredients: [For 12 pieces]
Low Sugar or Sugar free chocolate : 12 oz [ I prefer 12 oz Ghirardelli dark chocolate]
Fresh Strawberries      : 1 lbs
Parchment paper
Toothpicks

Method:

• Wash and dry thoroughly all the strawberries. Do not remove the green leaves form the strawberries.
• Insert toothpick in each strawberry. Keep them aside.
• In a double boiler [place a pot with some water on the heat and now place another pot on it with the chocolate], melt the semi sweet chocolate. Water in the pot below should not touch the pot sitting above it. Stir it till it becomes smooth and shiny.
• Dip the strawberries more than half way in the melted chocolate by holding them with toothpicks. Double dip to coat evenly. Let the excess chocolate drip in the pot.
• Now arrange all the strawberries on the parchment paper. Refrigerate them for 4-6 hours.

Enjoy these chocolate covered strawberries after your meals.

Colorful Carrot Salad

Colorful spring brings color to the food. This salad is perfect for bright, warm days. You can pack this for the picnic or the lazy afternoon lunch in the backyard. Salads are the best compliment to any meal. This colorful and healthy salad is even appealing to the kids. So here comes the simple yet flavorful recipe of Carrot salad.

Ingredients: For Colorful Carrot Salad [4 servings]
Fresh Ingredients:
Carrots – 2 cups shredded
Sweet Onions -1 cup diced
Tomatoes –  1cup diced
Cucumber – 1 cup diced
Cilantro -1/2 cup finely chopped
Lime Juice – 2 tbsp fresh

Dry Ingredients:Walnuts – ½ cup (optional)Chaat Masala* – 1 tbsp
Black Pepper – 1 tsp
Roasted Cumin seeds – 1 tsp (powdered)
Sugar – 1 tsp
Salt as per taste
Method:

• Prepare the fresh ingredients. Shred the carrots, peel and dice the cucumber and onions, dice the tomatoes and finely chop the cilantro. Also chop the walnuts for crunch in the salad (optional). Keep aside.
• In the salad bowl, add diced onions, tomatoes, cucumber, carrots, walnuts and cilantro. Mix gently.
• Now add lime juice, chaat masala, freshly grounded black pepper, roasted cumin seed powder, sugar and salt. Mix the salad again.
• Serve fresh with any meal or just as an anytime snack .

*Chaat Masala is easily available at all Indian grocery stores.