Microwave Paneer Cheese Rolls!

Well I had lot of plans for making something interesting and elaborate in microwave this month for my Microwave Easy Cooking event hosted by dear Raji. She did send a gentle threatening mail, saying afterall its my event, and I got to send her an entry...Ok, I know I have been kind of held up with lot of other things, that I hadn't been able to do things that I planned. I guess it happens to the best of us, so I can be excused. But how can I ignore her note, knowing well I got to pinch in!

Anyway brainwave for this roll came from the fact that Peddu loves bread and I was kneen on introducing him to Cheese. I had already given Paneer cubes and he liked it. When I show him bread, he is ready to eat it anytime. That is his love for bread. And he loves Jam and Sauce. Chinnu doesn't like neither. Konda loves both. Well I have a choice I know, so I decided to do this roll, that I normally do with either Jam or Potatoes.

Coming a bit early home today, I went along to pick them from school. The boys were elated seeing me, and we all happily took a ride back home. I knew I had to do something nice for them to munch on, so decided to do this immediately. Its very simple and there is really no recipe for this. You can let your imagination take charge!

Ingredients Needed:

Fresh Bread slices - 4
Cheese cube -1
Paneer - 150 gms
Salt to taste
Chili powder - 1/4 tsp
Pepper powder - a pinch
Oil - 1 tsp
Butter/ Ghee - 1 tsp

Method to prepare:

Fresh bread works out fine for this, as you need to roll them out flat using the rolling pin. Trim the ends if you must, most times I leave them on.

In a microwave bow, crumble the paneer, add the salt, spice powders, Oil and micro for 20 secs. The paneer will get soft but well mixed with spices.

Once you have the bread all rolled out plain, top it with the paneer and grated cheese. From one end, roll it tight, covering the paneer.

Brush the bread with ghee, micro on wire rack for 1 min.

Serve hot with sauce!

Peddu loved this a lot, am sure I am going to experiment a lot with the stuffing to suit toddlers

Sending this to Raji @ Rak's Kitchen, who is hosting the MEC themed on Paneer this month. Sorry Raji for such a late entry, hope you like this and make it for your lil one!

Calorie F.A.Q. - Not All Calories Are The Same

Q. Is calorie a bad word?

A. No, it’s not bad—just misunderstood! Most people who use the word calorie simply don’t know what it means. Also, in my experience, most people to go pale at the mere mention of the word. Based on those facts alone, I would eliminate calorie from the English vocabulary if I could.

Q. Why is calorie such a misunderstood word?

A. The American public has been told, time and time again, that people who consume more calories than their bodies burn will gain weight. As I explain in The Diet Solution: Start Eating and Start Living, this statement is only partially true. All calories are not created equal; calories consumed from healthy foods and unhealthy foods are quite different.

Q. What exactly is a calorie, then?

A. According to Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (11th edition), a calorie is “a unit equivalent to the large calorie expressing heat-producing or energy-producing value in food when oxidized in the body.” In plain English, a calorie is a unit of energy released from the food you eat to power the body.

Q. How are calories “burned”?

A. The body needs energy from food—calories—to perform many functions, the most obvious of which are physical activity and exercise. However, the body also requires energy to function at the most basic level: to breathe, digest food, and maintain organs and systems.

Q. How many calories should I eat each day?

A. The short answer is “enough.” The calories you consume must provide enough energy for your body to perform all necessary functions and activities—and bring about optimum health. The long answer is that the number of calories needed varies from person to person and depends on weight, foods consumed, sleep, stress and activity levels, age, and a long list of other factors that affect metabolism. In The Diet Solution: Start Eating and Start Living, I provide a calorie equation to help you estimate, according to these factors, how many calories you should consume to lose weight or maintain weight. It also includes charts to help you choose the right sources of those calories to support your efforts.
Q. Is it possible to eat too few calories?

A. Believe it or not, yes! The most serious problem with low-calorie diets is that although they may bring about weight loss, they also can cause serious health problems. One common side effect of low-calorie diets is muscle breakdown, which can occur when the body doesn’t consume enough calories from protein. Especially vulnerable is the heart, a muscular organ. If a person does not consume an adequate amount of calories each day, the heart muscle begins to break down, possibly leading to serious cardiac conditions (e.g., cardiac atrophy).

Q. What are the consequences of following low-calorie diets off and on over time?

A. Low-calorie diets typically do not supply enough energy to keep organs and systems healthy. In effect, they can lead to malnourishment. For clients who have repeatedly followed such diets, I recommend high-calorie meal plans that will provide their organs with adequate fuel to repair themselves and regain healthy function. Most of my clients are surprised, at first, to see how much food they can consume on a healthy weight-loss diet—not to mention the high level of health that they can achieve.

Stay tuned for Part 2...

You can learn much more about losing weight, living healthy, and great food in The Diet Solution Program.

Natural Weight Loss and Physiology

Any natural weight loss program focuses on balancing nutrition with your own physiology. Here, Isabel De Los Rios, talks about how your own metabolism type affects your weight using the The Diet Solution Program.

Q: Do you think people can lose weight on a fat free diet?

A: Definitely not. The no-fat craze clearly made most Americans (and many other countries) gain more weight than ever before. Why? Because the right kind of fat is essential to the body and without it, your body can not metabolize the fat you don’t want. So unless you feed your body the fats that it needs, it literally holds on to all the fat you don’t need (and don’t want!). Eating a low fat or no fat meal plan is a huge mistake. Not only will you not lose weight but you may suffer from many conditions such as asthma, diabetes, and heart disease. This is usually one of the most eye-opening chapters for most of my readers. They can’t believe they need to eat fat to lose fat and are amazed when they see the results first hand. Now, of course, eating unhealthy fats (like the ones found in French fries and burgers) is not the right approach. You must focus on the healthy fats (again, as Mother Nature intended).

Q: After reading The Diet Solution I discovered that I am a serious 'Protein Type' - what the main thing I should do to increase my energy?

A: The main thing is not to be afraid of eating healthy fat and healthy proteins. Everyone thinks chicken breasts and egg whites is the only way to lose weight but, especially for a protein type, that is not the case. Actually a protein type may gain weight by only eating low fat proteins and a low fat meal plan. Someone like you needs whole eggs, dark meat poultry, beef, and healthy fats.

Q: What exactly is Metabolic Typing and why is it so important for each of us to know our metabolism type?

A: Metabolic typing is actually a very old science-based way to determine which foods respond best to your body. The best way to describe this method is: the foods that an Eskimo would eat are clearly different than the foods a native Hawaiian would eat. Why? Because their natural ancestors and their environment dictate how their bodies will process and digest food. So an Eskimo will need a meal plan higher in healthy fats to keep warm and a Hawaiian will need a meal plan higher in veggies and fruits to stay cool. Now, it is often not this simple. Each and every person’s metabolism responds very differently to all food and can vary greatly from person to person. For example, I feel my best and stay at my ideal weight when I eat higher fat proteins along with lots of vegetables where as many of my clients do better with higher amounts of natural carbohydrates and lower fat proteins. My book provides a detailed, easy to answer test to determine your own personal metabolism type and then tells you exactly which foods are the best fit for you.

Q: Can people lose weight by just starving themselves?

A: Back in the caveman days, there were periods of feast and famine. Our bodies have a natural ability to make sure we do not die of starvation. This mechanism in our bodies holds on to every bit of fat and every calorie possible to keep us from dying. This is obviously no longer a risk in most countries, but this mechanism is still present in our bodies. So when people starve themselves all day, the body sees this as a potential risk, and holds on to every calorie and fat gram it possibly can. This is why people become extremely frustrated when they “don’t eat all day” and still don’t lose weight. I know it seems counterproductive, but the only way to truly lose weight and keep it off is to start eating. But not processed unnatural foods. Your body will respond best to natural, wholesome foods and LOTS of them.

Q: How do companies get away with selling products with harmful chemicals in them?

A: I hate to say this but most food and pharmaceutical companies are really only concerned with one thing: money. So if they were to actually teach people the real truth behind how to lose weight and take control of their health, most of the food products, supplements and medications on the market today would be completely unnecessary. Let’s be honest. No one is going to get rich selling apples, you know? I think many of these companies are also feeding off people’s emotions. The more addicted they get people to their products and diet foods, the more money they will continue to make. But if you were to get someone to their ideal weight with natural foods like veggies, fruits and natural meats, there would be no food addictions to diet foods and chemicals, just good healthy eating.

Introducing pulses or dals to infants or toddlers ~ Tadka Dal!

I know mothers with infants and toddlers will surely retort to this dal every other day. When my daughter was 6 months old, Dad said it was time to introduce dal to her diet. Since she was the first baby at home, we were all very apprehensive on her intake and the food we give. Of course the feeling never changes. But with the twins, I was able to fall back on our experience. As Amma was cooking my daughter's lunch most of time, she created her own dal which my daughter used to love very much. We started introducing the dal water or the water in which the lentils are cooked, at about 6 months. Then slowly we introduced well mashed dals mixed with ghee and rice together. This was her lunch for many months. Then carrots, potatoes and beans were introduced slowly.

With infants, you should first introduce a little, see if they like it and then make it a part of their meals. You can give it as a mixed vegetable or as a single one at a time.The dal that Amma used to make for Konda, the same one that we latter gave to the twins, was the Tadka dal. Its a simplest way of cooking the toor dal and then seasoning it with few other ingredients. The resultant one is a perfect one to introduce a baby too. One just has to start with the basic one and improvise on it as the baby grows. I can still remember the way Konda's dal evolved!

Amma introduced every spice in a span of few months. It was a gradually improvement, which gives you time to understand your baby's taste and preference. First you start with just plain rice, well mashed with ghee and dal water. Pressure cook the Toor dal with lots of water. Just take the water alone and mix with rice. This can be given for a week or so, based on the baby's preference.

Till my kids were almost 18 months, this is how we did this dal.

Pressure cook 1 cup of Toor dal with 3 cups of water with a pinch of Turmeric and Asafetida.
Heat a tsp of oil in a kadai, add a pinch of mustard, then add few chopped onions. Once they sautéed well, add half chopped tomatoes.
Then add the cooked dal with 1 cup water. Bring to boil, add salt to taste.

You can add little of Cumin seeds and then slowly include 1/2 tsp chili powder as the baby grows.

Now my sons are 26 months and pretty much eat most of the dishes that we make at home. Still we fall back on this dal at times. They also carry a packed lunch box.

Tadka dal gets its name by the process of doing the Tadka, which means seasoned dal.

Tadka Dal

Toor dal - 1 cup
Water - 3 cups
Turmeric a pinch
Asafetida a pinch

For Seasoning

Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Onions - 1 small (very little)
Tomatoes - 1 small
Red Chili - 2 long
Salt to taste
Oil - 1 tsp
Tamarind - 1 small piece.
Curry leaves - few

Method to prepare:

Pressure cook the dal till it is almost 90% cooked. Keep the dal aside and wash the cooker and heat with oil.

Splutter mustard, cumin seeds along with broken chilies, curry leaves. Sauté well. Then add the chopped onions, fry till its done. Then add the tomatoes. Cook for a minute.

Then add the cooked dal, enough water, along with salt and tamarind piece. Cover and pressure cooker for another 2 whistles or till the dal is well cooked.

Check to see if the dal is thin. When you serve the kids, remove the tamarind piece, chilies and mix with well mashed rice with ghee.

The way I normally do is, take the rice when its real hot, mash it with ghee. The aroma that comes out of this combo is awesome. Add the dal to the rice and mix well. The consistency should be thin, else the kids might have difficulty eating.

The above lunch box is what I sent my boys. I am planning to track and record what I send my kids so that it becomes easy for mothers with the same problem. Of course, this is a typical South Indian Lunch Box, but very suitable for any region!

It will be most interesting to know what you pack for your kid! Do share, I can have any many ideas as I can!

Sending this to Sunshinemon's FIC event, this month's being yellow!

Diabetes | What is Diabetes Mellitus? ~ An Introduction and a general note!

I would like to introduce my father Dr. Nagarathnam Jetty, MBBS,DPH,DIH,FIAOH.

He specialized in Public Health and Occupational medicine. Additionally, he has been in-charge for AIDS and other WHO activities in Central Government sector, India. He is also a social activist apart from leading many organizational activities. He is a recipient of many awards, including President award which he received from Dr. Abdul Kalam.

When I started this blog, one of my intentions was to share his ideas and experience in handling certain common aliments that can be prevented with care and good eating habits. So first on the list is to focus on Diabetes. Diabetes needs awareness and this series is aimed at bringing that to core. The focus will be taking care and living with Diabetes, with special recipes and menu to help tackle Diabetes.

Feedback and suggestions are most welcome!

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An Introduction:

With the advent of Modern Medicine, mankind has seen many things in progress. This includes eradication and control of certain diseases, relief of pain and suffering (reduction of morbidity), prevention of diseases and premature death and increased longevity.

Once a creature including man, is born, it has to die, but with medicine, we want to give a healthy life in between, devoid of disease and morbidity. Scientists and doctors from the beginning have been doing research, experiments and discoveries and inventions towards this goal. and they have been greatly successful.

With the vast improvements in the field of medicine, we could now eradicate certain diseases and achieve control over some. Addition of new drugs, techniques and biomedical equipments can now provide better health.

From a mere 37 years of Life expectancy at the time of Independency of India, we have come a long way to achieve the present level of 66 years. There are developed countries like Japan, where we have 85 years of life expectancy. If you consider the situation in India, out of the 66 years of life expectancy, the healthy life expectancy is only 53 years, which means that a period of 13 years a man has to make visit to the hospitals for medical care.

As we are living longer we many develop chronic diseases which can also be called life style diseases, like Diabetes, Hypertension, Heart Disease, Cancer and psychiatric problems. The major contributing factors for all the above diseases can be Obesity, lack of exercise, stress, food habits, smoking, pollution etc.

Diabetes and Hypertension has been increasing all over the world and India is definitely leading in the incidence. Food and food habits have a definite role in the process. In most of the developed and developing countries, the food availability has improved and consumption pattern has also changed. The incidence of obesity is increasing in all societies and it has reached almost 30% in certain society.

Food habits have changed and are continuously changing through the world. Junk foods are made available easily. With the improvement in Television and print media, we find habits and variety of foods traveling far and wide. Today it has become a fascination to know and try the diet and recipes of other societies and countries. Every magazine is seen publishing articles on new recipes and most TV Channels are broadcasting separate programs on cooking.

Today eating places, hotels and restaurants have become more and eating habits are fast changing. New recipes are introduced at hotels and at homes everyday. Recipes of all cultures are available in all countries. When a new recipe is introduced either at a eatery joint or at home, the medically important factors like calorie content, fat content, vitamins, minerals are neither considered nor thought to be important. Only the tastes and appearance and acceptability to customers and in case of house it is captive guinea pigs only matters.

In the coming weeks, the topics will cover How to diagnose. To take precautions, Dietary habits, Life style practices.