Soups and Salads #NaBloPoMo #day13

I love Italian and Mexican cuisine along with Indian. Indian cuisine is very rich with spices and different flavors. Although I don't like the famous Idli and Dosas, I love biryani and other rice varieties from South India. I am not at all a fan of street food, but I love chat masala and pav bhaji sometimes. 

I love soups and salads a lot. Eating fruits and vegetables in a natural way makes me love my salad. I love the natural mix of colourful vegetables like carrots, green peas, potatoes, capsicum, spinach etc., Soups are great appetisers. The aroma and taste of pepper in soup is soothing to the throat.

I  never attempted making soups and salads at home until a few years ago. It's not that difficult anyway to make a soup and salad which tastes same as in a restaurant. 

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Vegetable stock and Soup:
Any soup would need a vegetable stock. I prepare vegetable stock by boiling all vegetables (carrots, capsicum, onions, celery, cauliflower, broccoli, tomato), spices (cloves, cinnamon, bay leaves, ginger, garlic, cardamom, black peppercorns). See this link for the video.When the stock is ready, we can store it in the refrigerator for one week and in a freezer for a few months. For any soup, I will add all vegetables that I want to in 1 cup of stock and 1 cup of water and bring it to boil until they are cooked and soft, then I will add salt, pepper and 2 spoons of oats for thickness. Seems simple, right?

Salad (un-cooked version):

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For a salad, I will add cut vegetables like carrots, capsicum, spinach/ lettuce, broccoli, cucumber, cherry tomatoes and add some salt, pepper and lemon juice. I add croutons/ bread crumbs and use Cesar salad dressing on top of that. This is a quick salad for me.

Salad (cooked version):
I also prepare a cooked salad. I pressure cook cut vegetables like carrots, green peas, sweet corn, capsicum, potatoes and beans (just 1 whistle). Then I heat olive oil, add minced garlic, finely chopped green chillies  and onions and fry them lightly. I add cooked vegetables to it, add salt, pepper and lemon juice. It just tastes perfect! 

How do you prepare salads and soups quick? Please do share your ideas.

Until next time,

This is day 13 post for #NaBloPoMo challenge.

A healthy twist to the normal diet - WTFOW #day 6

Everyone is going health conscious these days. People changed a lot, don't you think?
Many started drinking green tea, avoiding rice in the nights, moving to organic and more traditional varieties etc., It's contradictory, but I am observing a tendency towards Junk food like burgers, pizza and coke and also a tendency towards organic and low carb diet. Even though we are very health conscious, we cannot get away with the craving for tasty high-calorie food. I was thinking, how good it would be to add a healthy twist to our normal diet.

Here are some options that I found:

1. Oats dosa

Dosa (a pancake made from fermented batter) is a very common breakfast in South India. Usually, we use 1 cup of urad dal and 2 cups of rice for the batter. But, to give a healthy twist, we can add 1 cup of urad dal, 1 cup of rice and 1 cup of oats. I tried it and couldn't see any difference in consistency or taste, so works for me :-)















2. Vegetable salads

There are two types of salads that i try - cooked and uncooked.

Cooked: I use potatoes, tomatoes, french beans, carrots and capsicums to boil in a pressure cooker with one or two whistles. Then, I fry chopped garlic cloves, green chilies in olive oil, mix them with the boiled vegetables and squeeze lemon juice. This made my salad taste better. Have you ever tried this?

Un-cooked: We don't have many options to make the uncooked salad. We can try changing the types of vegetables and using a low fat dip/ dressing. I use spinach, cucumbers, carrots, broccoli, capsicum, cherry tomatoes. I haven't tried yet but we can prepare a dip with greek yogurt, minced garlic, minced parsley and grounded black pepper.

3. Chicken Soup

I have learned recently to prepare chicken broth which can be used as a base for chicken soup. I pressure cook chicken, ginger, garlic, Indian spices (very less), broccoli, celery sticks, capsicum, coriander leaves, coriander powder, salt, and pepper. Filter this and store it in freezer as broth. Whenever I want to make soup, I boil this broth with chicken pieces, vegetables of my choice with a handful of oats(to get thickness) , salt, coriander powder, and pepper. Isn't it simple for dinner?

Do you also add any easy healthy options to your diet? Do let me know in comments. Would be happy to implement :-)

Until next time,

Linking this to Write Tribe Festival of Words - Day 6.

Ps:All images from google labeled for non-commercial reuse.

Gratitude List for May 2020 #GratitudeCircle

May continued to be 'New' Normal. Work from home, loads of office work, struggling with helping kids in e-learning, no option to travel and relax due to Covid etc., But, we are learning a few things due to Covid as family, and focusing on a few important things of our life. So, All is not bad.

There are many things to be grateful for :

•  Kids had their summer holidays started and thus, rest for us as we need not support their e-learning 
• Could improve my health and focus on home-cooked healthy meals
• Could reduce office stress by implementing a few methods
• Could, at last, make online dance classes work well 
• Could sleep for more time and relax a bit

Here is my Gratitude List for May 2020:

1. Improvement in health

I did a lot of changes in my lifestyle and diet to focus on my health. The good news is that I could see some improvement. I am sleeping more nowadays, reduced morning office calls, increased the intake of grains, vegetables, and fruits in my diet, and took things slow.

I haven't put any targets to complete any tasks for my blog/dance school/office work. I just went with the flow and did whatever I can without working hard.

I am usually more ambitious and tend to jump into multiple tasks at a time. I am trying to change this which will reduce my stress. So far, it's great.

2. One outing after a long break

Due to COVID, we couldn't travel at all for a few months. But, in the last month, we went hiking in our town itself. Colorado Springs is a nice place as we have many beautiful options to hike around our area.

We practiced social distancing, wore masks, carried sanitizer, didn't use public restrooms etc.,
Redrock canyon open space is a good place to hike on a warm day. There is a lake with geese swimming in groups. 2 hrs of our time were spent leisurely after a long time.

We also could go for evening walks in the last month as Summer just started and the weather is great here for walking. We walked only inside our apartment and kids enjoyed their bikes.

3. Researching and trying new healthy recipes

I am grateful to my Yoga teacher and of course the Google search that I am able to learn many new healthy recipes that can easily be made. I hate cooking, so whatever it is that I try, it has to be simple and quick. I don't like to spend much time in my kitchen.

Fortunately, I learned to make millet soup, minestrone soup, lemon rice with foxtail millets, tasty veg salads, healthy smoothies, and a lot. So, the last month had seen a big spike in my learning curve of healthy cooking. I am excited to continue my learning.

4. Art and Dance

I couldn't draw much in May as I said, I am not forcing myself on any task these days. I do only when it's possible and don't stress if I couldn't do it at all. I could draw my first Mandala.

I could make some dance videos for students and I could take online dance classes to my satisfaction now. Researched some tips on taking online zoom dance classes and seems like it is working. But, it cannot compare with direct Dance classes where it was easy for me to correct student's mistakes.

5. Blogging and Books

I could participate in a blog link up for creative writing prompt - Red Roses. 

I could read 2 parts of my favorite historical fiction 'Ponni's beloved' - An English translation of famous Tamil novel (Ponniyan Selvan) and here are the reviews of Part 2 and Part 3. Try to read these books if you love historical fiction.





After 2 months, I could write our travelogue of the New Mexico trip - Roswell and Bandelier National Monument. I got an opportunity to write a sponsored post as well in May.

So, overall it's a great month for me. Since summer is here, the weather will be great and we can have more outdoor time in June. Hoping for a good month with some travel if possible.

How was your May? Did you get used to the new Normal?

Let me know in the comments.

Until next time,

Linking this to #GratitudeCircle hosted by Vidya Sury.

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Golden leaves and Gondola rides - Aspen, CO, USA

I am fascinated by the changing colors of leaves in the fall season. The nature is always beautiful but the beauty enhances when the leaves of trees change to a golden hue and then to bright reds.

This small but beautiful town Aspen in Colorado Rockies is famous for skiing in winter. But, Summer and fall are also great to visit this place. Aspen is at an elevation of 8000 ft above sea level. This place is famous for mountain biking in Summer, to view fall colors in the Fall and enjoy skiing in winter. Isn't it great?

Maroon Bells 
The Maroon bells is an ideal location to view the splendor of fall colors. This lake with the backdrop of snowy mountains and orange trees is the most photographed place in Aspen. The beauty of the scenery doubles when the fall colors reflect in the water.

Maroon bells recreation area charges $10 per vehicle after 5 Pm and visitors can tour the lake between 8 Am to 5 Pm by a shuttle bus (adult - $7, kids - $5) from Aspen Highlands. This recreation area has several trails and camping grounds. Crater Lake trail and Maroon lake trail are popular. Maroon lake trail is an easy 1-mile loop around the lake.

Maroon Bells, Aspen

Gondola and Chairlift
Since this is a skiing town, Aspen and the neighboring town Snowmass have Gondola and Chairlift rides for the visitors. The Silver Queen Gondola in Aspen is the longest single stage Gondola in the world which takes its visitors to an elevation of 11,212 ft. The Sundeck restaurant on the top of the mountain is amazing with 360-degree views of the mountains.

Gondola ride in Aspen

Snowmass is the largest of all the four mountains in the Aspen/Snow mass area(Aspen, Aspen Highlands, Buttermilk). There are around 17 lifts. Elk Camp Gondola in Snowmass is open in Summer as well and the chairlift takes to the summit. Elk Camp restaurant has all varieties of food from Soup to Pizza and the food is tasty too. Chairlift is an entirely different experience. We enjoyed Chairlift in Snowmass more than anything else.

Chairlift in Snowmass

Summer Package worth $33 can be purchased online at https://www.aspensnowmass.com/. This package includes Gondola in Aspen, Snowmass, Chairlift in Snowmass, On mountain activities for kids, $10 lunch credit at Elk Camp restaurant and $5 beverage credit at Limelight longe.  We felt this package is good value for money.

Fall Colours
We found beautiful fall colors on the way to Aspen near Independence pass, from the Gondolas in Aspen and Snowmass and at Maroon Bells. Especially, the way to Maroon bells is in bright yellow hue.

On the way to Independence pass

On the way to Maroon Bells

This #TravelTale is written as part of Write Tribe Problogger challenge. #Writebravely #WritetribeProblogger.

Until next time,

 I am taking part in The Write Tribe Problogger October 2017 Blogging Challenge.