Water in the fridge - ideas to make them more refreshing.

Found this floating on facebook - worth bookmarking

SPRING CLEANSE ~ YOUR BODY ~ Yes another post about water :) But if you really want to cleanse then DRINK, DRINK, DRINK. Here are eight (8) home made vitamin water recipes to help you keep the water flowing!

As a rule, you should try to avoid as much as possible industrial food and beverages

1) The classical : lemon/cucumber:
Mix in a pitcher: 10 cups of water + 1 cucumber and a lemon, thinly sliced + 1/4 cup fresh finely chopped basil leaf + 1/3 of finely chopped fresh mint leaves. Leave in the refrigerator overnight before serving.

2) The granite: Strawberry/Lime or Raspberry/Lime
Mix in a pitcher : 10 cups of water + 6 strawberries / 0r Raspberries and one thinly sliced lime + 12 finely chopped fresh mint leaves. Leave in the refrigerator overnight before serving.

3) The digestive: Fennel/citrus
First: infuse 1 to 3 grams of dried and crushed fennel in 150 ml of boiling water for 5-10 minutes. Allow to cool.
Mix in a pitcher: 10 cups of water + lemon juice (put the leftover lemon in the mix) + a small thinly sliced orange + 12 fresh chopped mint leaves + the infusion of fennel seeds. Leave in refrigerator overnight before serving.

4) The antioxidant: Blackberry/Sage
Note that a part from the berries, sage leaf is the herb that has the highest antioxidant content.
Mix in a pitcher : 10 cups of water + 1 cup of blackberries that have been very slightly crushed + 3-4 sage leaves. Leave in refrigerator overnight before serving.

5) Watermelon: watermelon/Rosemary
Mix in a pitcher : 10 cups of water + 1 cup of watermelon cut into cubes + 2 rosemary stems. Leave in refrigerator overnight before serving.
P.S: I also use watermelon mint a lot.

6) The exotic: Pineapple/Mint
Mix in a pitcher : 10 cups of water + 1 cup of pineapple cut into cubes + 12 fresh mint leaves finely chopped. Leave in the refrigerator overnight before serving.

7) The traditional : Apple/cinnamon
Mix in a pitcher : 10 cups of water + 1 cup of apple cut into cubes + 2 cinnamon sticks + 2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon. Leave in the refrigerator overnight before serving.

8.) The zingibir : Ginger/tea
In advance: heat 1 teaspoon of ginger in two cups of tea, let it cool down.

Mix in a pitcher: 10 cups of water with two cups of the ginger tea + 4-5 pieces of fresh ginger cut into cubes. Leave in the refrigerator overnight before serving.

Valentine Day's Special : Orange Zest + Wine Chocolate layered on Valentine Red Coconut. - Vegan

I love colors. I love oranges (even my perfume is orange). I love wine. And I also like dark chocolates.  Lots of people like milk chocolates but I can never bring myself to eat them. High-taste is a one way street after all :).

Anyways  I wanted to make dark chocolate with oranges ala lindt style but with no sugar and no apparent calories.

This recipe of mine is inspired from Richa's cool blog   - do check out she has some really awesome valentine day's ideas: http://www.veganricha.com/2013/02/zesty-pink-coconut-chocolate-bites.html 
I really love her recipes - her vegan pasta is house favorite.

My adaptation of her recipe is here :
1) Chocolate Layer:  I used my simple 5 minute recipe http://aratikadav456.blogspot.in/2013/02/date-chocolate-truffles-vegan.html. Except that I added lots of orange zest to it.
(orange zest is grated orange peel).
Recipe of chocolate in Brief:
Ingredients - 
- Dates (15),
- chocolate powder (2 table spoons, I use cadbury choc powder),
- wine (optional),
- orange zest (again optional but I won't have it any other way:)),
- coconut oil

a) In a mixie run dates, orange zest with chocolate powder. Add a little coconut oil and a spoon of wine if it is too dry.
b) Heat the mixture in microwave for 30 secs. If dates not well-done mash them with spoon. Can add a little spoon of wine again if it is too dry - dont let the chocolate be too wet.

2) Red coconut layer:  For the color of the mixture I just ran the beetroot in a mixie  with water and strained the water to get the red color.
Recipe of Valentine Red Coconut in Brief:
Ingredients- 
- 3/4 cup grated coconut (I used fresh, one can use dry coconut too),
- 3-4 spoons of orange zest,
- 1/4th cup oats (ground),
- 2 teaspoons sugar,
 - 1 tiny beetroot.

a)  On a tava (flat pan) - roast coconut so that it is dry. Remove. Roast powdered oats so that they change their color a bit.
b)  Grind beetroot in a mixie with water. Strain the red colored water, add 2 teaspoons of sugar in it for syrup and boil it a bit so that it becomes little viscous.

Coconut mixture and chocolate together.

c) Add b) to a) on the tava in a controlled way so that it is not too wet and take it out in few minutes when the mixture looks cohesive and done.



Put coconut mixture on a butter paper or newspaper and flatten. Put chocolate on top of coconut mixture. You can sprinkle some chocolate powder on top and make it more dark :).

That's it. Cut and decorate with orange zest!!

Oh no! It's that time of the year again.

The recipe is so simple that I had to give it a complicated name to make it sound exclusive. Anyways, happy Valentine's day to anyone who cares :)!

Date + chocolate truffles - Vegan

Time to make 5 mins.
Now this is really a winner. When I was making it I thought it would taste like dates but it tastes like nice lovely chocolate.

Ingredients:
1) 15 dates (deseeded)
2) 2 tablespoon chocolate powder ( I use Cadbury's cocoa powder)
3) Coconut oil (I used parachute - no seriously I did but a pure coconut oil parachute bottle and I use it) but you can use any oil like olive or groundnut oil
4) Dry coconut powder (optional - but I love it)
5) A spoon of wine or rum (optional)
Steps:
1) In a blender blend dates and cocoa powder. I added a little coconut oil for it to be together. Also secret ingredient was a a spoon of wine. You can also add lots of orange zest to it and it will be yummy.

Now this was a problem for me as when I blended the dates were not blending properly. Then Priya suggested that we can microwave it. And I microwaved it for 20 seconds and mashed it with a spoon and it was fine. Maybe my dates weren't soft that's why But make sure the dates are mashed well.

2) Apply some coconut oil in hand and roll small balls of truffles. Roll them on coconut/dark chocolate.

3) You can eat them as soon as you make or refrigerate and eat.

Simple and easy - banana oatmeal pancakes - vegan!

I have always loved pancakes but making them required lots of unhealthy ingredients and I never liked the taste when I made them. Also I like them sweet so that I dont have to load them with syrups but I dont like adding sugar to make anything sweet.

I came across quite a few recipes on net and this one looked too good to be true. Almost a recipe masterpiece as far as pancakes are concerned.
http://www.colourfulpalate.com/2011/06/22/vegan-banana-oatmeal-pancakes/

All the ingredients are ususally in my kitchen so I could try it out immediately!

Here is my variation customized for Indian, relaxed household.

The ingredient list here makes 3 pancakes - small sized and I used my small cup for measurements.

0) 1 whole banana
1)  3/4th cup oatmeal
2) 1/4th cup atta (whole wheat flour)
3) 3/4th cup milk (soymilk for vegan - I think  I will try with soymilk too as it has a nice subtle flavor also)
4) pinch of salt
5) baking soda 1 tsp (I used Eno as I didn't have baking soda and in the morning only 24 hour chemist below my house was open)


Mix all the dry ingredients first in the mixie (that is dont add milk and banana just yet). Once finely powdered only then  add the banana and the milk and mix them all. Don't overrun the mixie. Add milk to adjust consistency if the batter is too hard.

If you have non-stick awesome but if not, pour a little oil (I use canola, but people say coconut oil tastes better with banana dishes).  And pour the batter and make the pancakes. Trust me, they really taste good.
Only tip is cook on medium heat.
I will upload a picture soon. We just made 3-4 and it got finished off before I could click it. You can have them as is or have them with honey. Yummy.

If you have waffle maker, you can use the same batter to make awesome waffles. (Tip is add, 1/2 tblsespoon ground flaxseed for crispiness and  half teaspoon of vanilla esssence).

I love waffles a lot too :).