My 60 Day Juice Fast

The last time I ate solid food was Sixty days back!  

Ok, I will give you some context. Almost every other day I would look up on the Internet on how to lose weight, diet plans, exercise, etc. In early January, I found something that changed my life forever. I watched a documentary called Fat Sick and Nearly Dead by Joe Cross. I was really inspired and told my husband all about juicing and how good it is to drink a lot of juices and how we should buy a juicer immediately. My poor husband is very patient with me every time I come up with some crash diets like this (pm me if you want to find out :). 

After watching Fat Sick and Nearly Dead, and going through a lot of success stories and videos I decided to try this. I ordered my Omega Vert350 from amazon. I was not at all sure if i will be able to do this so I convinced my husband and bought a refurbished one for $200 where the new one is around $400. I was all determined as always and started on January 23. I have to mention here that the last two days before I started I ate a lot of my favorite foods (dishes that I thought I will miss while fasting).

The first day was the most difficult day for me because I had to drive my daughter for a class which was around 40 miles from home. I was exhausted and tired when I got back home and had a severe headache. I was so miserable that I thought I would quit. I just ended the day quickly and went to bed. My hubby went to the market and stocked the fridge with vegetables and fruits. The second day was pretty good, all I was thinking of was to drink every 3 hours and what juice can i make. It worked out well. The first few days we would go to the market almost every other day for some fruit or vegetable. Later, we kind of figured how much we want and also knew where to buy. Luckily we have two farmer's markets very close to where we live. My juices were mostly 80% vegetables and 20% fruits. On some days, when I felt really low or needed some motivation I just made myself a feel good juice. I will share my juice recipes soon. At the end of the first week, I lost almost 9 pounds and felt great. I had energy like never before and was happy about what I was doing.

I wanted to go for 60 days but was not sure how long it will go. I took each day as it came and was just focusing on completing that day. I added some coconut water to my juicing, about 16 oz a day and also one caffeine free tea. I learned that I should carry water, coconut water and hot water for tea wherever I go.

I wanted to start blogging from the very beginning but was not sure how long I will go. Now that I see the finish line, I decided to write about my experience. Along the way, the fasting experience transformed from weight management into a journey of self discovery. It did not hurt that I also lost a few pounds in the process :)

P.S: I have to mention here that my family thinks that I cooked my best during the past 60 days. May be I was living vicariously through others - LOL. I was always interested in making healthy and yummy food at home but this fasting journey inspired me to work on my food blog - Veggie Psyche. Check it out!

Beerakaya Tomato Koora- Ridge Gourd Tomato Curry

Beerakaya aka Ridge gourd is a favorite vegetable in Andhara Cuisine. We make different varieties of curries and chutneys with it. I will try to post different curries with it each tastes very different depending on how its made. Just talking about it is making my mouth water. My grand mother use to make this very simple curry with tomatoes which goes well with roti or plain rice.  My ammama use to make a lot of boiled vegetable curries, of all this was the one I was happy to eat specially this tomato version.

Preparation time -  20 minutes

Serving - 4

Ingredients

2 medium Beerakaya cut in to medium pieces
1 medium Tomato chopped
1 Tsp Channa Dal
1/2 Tsp Urad Dal
1/2 Tsp mustard seeds

1/4 Tsp turmeric Powder
1/2 Tsp salt

1/4 Tsp red chili powder or to taste

1 tsp Oil or Ghee
4-5 Curry Leaves

Procedure

1. Peel and cut the Beerakaya in to medium size pieces. Eat a piece and make sure its not bitter. Sometimes Ridge gourd is bitter we cant use that to make curry.
2. Heat the oil or ghee in a pan.
3. Add the Channa dal, Urad dal, mustard seeds and wait till it splutters. 
4. Then add the curry leaves, cut Beerakaya, chopped tomatoes, turmeric, chili powder and salt. Stir fry without covering on medium flame for 2 minutes. 
5. Cover it with a lid and cook for 10-12 minutes. Open and stir every 2 minutes.
6. The Beerkaya should be cooked but not completely mushy.
7. Transfer to a dish and eat with hot rice and some ghee.

Rajma Recipe - Kidney Beans Curry

Rajma is a popular Punjabi vegetarian curry made of red kidney beans cooked with onions and tomatoes. Its usually served with white rice or roti. Aditya and Kirthana like beans a lot and they love rajma or chole with their roti nd i make one of theses at least once a week. Its a good source of protein and specially Aditya beacause he doesnot like is lentils that much loves these beans with rice or roti or just by itself. This version of rajama is very simple as it doesn't involve any grinding.

Preparation time: 40 min

Serving : 4 people

Ingredients

2 cup Red Kidney Beans or Rajma 
3 medium size Tomato cut to small pieces
1 medium onions finely chopped
2 green chilies slit lengthwise
¼ Tsp Turmeric Powder
1/2 inch piece Ginger grated
3 garlic pods grated
1 Tbs Coriander powder
1/2 Tbs Jeera powder
1/2 Tbs Red chili powder
1/2 Tbs dry mango powder or amchur powder (optional)
1/2 Tsp Garam masala ( I used Everest brand)
1/2 Tbs salt (or to taste)
½ Tsp mustard seeds

1 Tbs Oil
coriander leaves to garnish

Procedure

1. Rinse and soak the Rajma or red kidney beans for 8-9 hours or overnight.
2. Wash the soaked beans and pressure cook for 7-8 whistles on high
3. Heat a pan on medium high and add 1 Tbs oil.
4. Add he mustard seeds and when they splutter add the onions and saute till transparent.
5. Add the green chills grated ginger and garlic and saute for a minute.
6. Add the tomatoes all the spices in the ingredients list except the coriander leaves and cook till the tomatoes are soft and all mussy looking like a gravy about 5 minutes.
7. Now add the pressure cooked beans and also add some of the water they were cooked in to the gravy.
8. Cover and cook for 20-30 minutes on low flame.
9. Garnish with coriander leaves.
10. Serve with rice or roti.

You can use canned red kidney beans they also work good and it is easy on a busy day when we do not have time to soak and pressure cook. ( Two 16 oz cans for the above recipe)

There is Rajma masala available in the Indian store and it tastes very good. If u get that then you can only that and salt and do not need all the other spices mentioned above.

Tomato Peas Fried Rice withPaneer

This can be made in a Jiffy. It is a very flavorful, delicious and quick recipe. This rice is very special to me because it's one of the one pot meals I make that my MIL loves. There are days when you want to eat something very yummy and hot but do not have time on hand or do not have veggies at home, that happens to me sometimes. This is it make Tomato Peas Fried Rice. I just added some paneer in it today which my kids loved as it was different from the usual tomato rice I make. its a one pot meal you can cook it in the same pan you saute everything together or transfer to a pressure cooker or rice cooker and its ready in 20 minutes.

Preparation time - under 40 minutes

Serving - 4 -6

Ingredients

1 small onion (finely chopped)
2 big tomato (finely chopped)
1/2 cup frozen peas
3 cups basmathi rice or long grain rice
2 Tbp Cooking  Oil
1/2 cup Yogurt
1/2 cup cubbed paneer pieces
1/2 Tsp Mustard seeds
 1/4 Tsp Cumin seeds
1/2 Tbs Garam masala (Everest)
 1 Tbp Salt

 To grind 

1/4 bunch Mint leaves ( handful)
1/4 bunch coriander leaves (handful)
1/2 inch piece ginger
2-3 garlic pods
2 chilies
little water

 Procedure

1. Wash and soak the rice for 15 minutes in water.
2. Grind all the ingredients in the  to grind list in to a fine paste in a blender.
3. Heat a pan add oil, mustard seeds, cumin seeds and let it fry for a minute.
4. Add onions  to the oil and saute till transparent.
5. Add the tomato and saute for  2 minutes
6. Pour the ground mint/ coriander paste in to the pan and now add the salt.
7. Add the yogurt and garam masala to this and saute.
8. Cover with a lid and cook in medium flame  for 5 minutes or until the raw smell goes.
9. Drain the rice and add to the pan mix the whole thing together.
10. Add 6 cups of water and transfer the mix to a pressure cooker and cook for 3 whistles. 
11. Open the lid  mix once and serve hot with raitha and chips. 

Sometimes I cook with lid closed at low flame in the pan itself until the rice is completely cooked or in the rice cooker. Depending on the time I have to make the rice. If you do not have mint leaves or coriander leaves you can skip and the rice is still good. It tastes good even with plain yogurt or just with some plain chips. If you want to make it vegan you can exclude paneer and yogurt.

Enjoy!!

Lunch Menu 1 - Lunch Recipies

This is an attempt to show what we can cook for a meal together. In our house the Sunday lunch is special. we all sit together and eat, talk about things we do not get to talk about on a daily bases. Some times I also have a problem thinking what to make for a proper thali with everything in it. By everything I mean protein, carbs, fat and vitamins ( a complete meal). I also serve like this is small cups and tell my kids that they should finish everything on their plate, So they like how its presented and try to do a good job finishing it up.

You can click on the items in the menu and see how its made.

Preparation time -  1 hour
It takes me one hour for this as i have 4 burners and I use the pressure cooker ( 12 liters one) for dal and rice. 

Menu:

Cabbage Koora
Bachali koor tomato pappu
Beerakaya pachadi with tamarind
Red pumpkin Sambar
Yogurt
Plain Rice
Vadiyalu

Red Pumpkin Sambar - Gummadikaya Sambar

Sambar is a lentil-based vegetable stew made with tamarind popular in South India. I like my sambar with any one of the vegetables as the base - that way the sambar gets the taste and aroma of that vegetable. On Sunday we have a tradition of sitting together and eating our lunch at the dinning table as the rest of the week we all have different schedule for lunch. So i try to make proper South Indian lunch menu. The kids love it as I serve everything on the plate and we enjoy our lunch.  Red pumpkin sambar is easy as I use only that vegetable so not much cutting and once the dal is ready you can put everything together in 20 minutes.

Preparation time - 40 min

Serving 6 people

Ingredients  
250gm Red Pumpkin cut in to cubes
1 small Tomato cut to medium pieces
2 green chillies   

1 1/2 cups Toor dal 

1/4 Tsp Turmeric powder 

1 lemon size Tamarind 

1 1/2 Tsp Sambar powder

Salt to taste

 For Seasoning (Popu)

1 tsp Cooking oil

1/2 tspMustard seeds

1/2 tsp urad dal

1/4 tsp methi seeds

1-2 red chillies

2-3 pinches Hing/ asafetida 

Curry leaves few

coriander leaves to garnish 

Procedure

1. Soak the tamirind and extract the juice.
2. Peel the red pumpkin and cut it in to cubes.
3. Pressure cook the toor dal with 2 cups of water for 3 whistles on medium flame .
4. In a kadai or pan add the red pumpkin and tomato Add enough water to cover the pumpkin and cook it on high till it is cooked but not mussy. This might take 8 minutes.
5. Add the tamarind extract, salt, and boil for 5 minutes.
6. Mash the pressure cooked toor dal mix it in the cooked red pumpkin, add the sambar powder, coriander and simmer it for 7-8 minutes.
7.  If the mixture is to thick then add some water. 
8. Heat a small pan on medium add the oil and put on the ingredients for seasoning in the same order mentioned and fry.
9. Add to the sambar and switch of the flame.

Enjoy this with hot rice. I also use this as a side for idly or dosa. I like my sambar a little thick but u can adjust the water depending on the consistency you like.

    

Beerakaya Pachadi with Tamarind

Pachadi (పచ్చడి Telugu) is a traditional south Indian pickle used as a side dish. It is made of fresh vegetables and served as a accomplishment for rice. In Andhra pachadi is made out of almost all vegetables. Growing up I remember my mother making these daily pachadi's as my grand dad did not like spicy pickles like avakai or magaya that they made once a year.  These have much less oil compared to those and are fresh. You can use the same vegetable and make pachadi in different ways. You can see my blog about Beerakaya Tomato Pachadi to exclude the tamarind. They both differ in taste and the tomato version is good with dosa and idly also. Its  a healthy alternative to coconut chutney.

Preparation time -  20 minutes

Serving - 4

Ingredients

2 medium size Beerakaya washed, peeled and cut in to small cubes
2 green chili 

1/2 Tsp mustard seeds
1 Tsp urad dal
1/4 Tsp channa dal
1 Tbp thick Tamarind paste
2 red chilies
1/4 cup fresh Coriander leaves
hing or inguva (optional)
Salt 1 Tsp

2 Tsp Oil

Procedure

1. Wash and peel the Beerakaya skin
2. Heat 1 Tsp of oil in a pan on medium 
3. Add mustard seeds, channa dal and fry for a minute.
4. Add the urad dal, red chilies and fry for a minute,
5. Now add the hing and transfer everything to a plate.
6. In the same pan heat 2 Tsp oil on medium high.
7. Add the beerakaya, and green chilies. cover and cook until the beerakaya is soft.
8. Keep sauteing in between.
9. Wait for it too cool down.
10. In a mixer first add everything except the beerakaya and grind when it is all  paste add the beerakaya and grind .
11. I save some of the mix that we fried and add on top of the pachadi as my husband like the crunchy tast of the dals.
12. Serve with rice.

Other names: peerkangai thogayal, Ridge gourd chutney

Cauliflower Avakaya - (Pickle)

Avakaya is a variety of pickle from Andhra Pradesh. Usually made with mangoes and mustard powder as the main ingredient, with a combination of spices for pickling.  Summer is a very exciting time in Andhra Pradesh. All most every house is busy making all kinds of pickles with mangoes. Nowadays we use similar spices and use other vegetables to make Avakaya when mango is not available or just for a change like I did. Cauliflower is in season now in march and every time I go to the market end up picking a huge one. I made Manchurian twice already and Cauliflower stir fry a couple of times. My mom use to make this when we were growing up and I loved just eating the pickled cauliflower by itself or with chapathi or plain rice. Its crunchy, spicy and tangy, all together all my favorite flavors put together. Yummy!!!

Preparation time: 20 min (Excluding drying time)

Serving : 20 oz bottle of pickle

I used a standard measuring cup for my measurements to make this.

Ingredients

4 cup cauliflower
3 Tbs Salt
4 Tbs Red chili powder ( I used three mangoes chili from India)
3 Tbp Fenugreek seeds powder
4 Tbs Mustard seeds powder
2 Cups Lemon juice
4 red chilies
2 Tbs Mustard seeds
Hing according to tasts (optional)
1 Tbs Garlic paste (optional I did not use)

1 cup oil

To make the Fenugreek and mustard powder:

I usually pan fry the seeds and grind them in to a fine powder. Recently saw avakaya post from Gayatrivantillu and learnt to do it in the microwave. Its easy and also the seeds are fried evenly. You can dry rost in a pan or use this method to make your powders.

Mustard Powder: In a plate spread the mustard seeds and microwave for 1 minute on high. Wait for a few minutes and when its still a little warm grind it in to a fine powder.

Fenugreek powder: In a plate spread the fenugreek seeds and microwave for 1 1/2 minutes on high, Let it cool down and grind in to a fine powder.

Procedure

1. Cut the cauliflower in to small florets with your hand. 
2. Wash them quickly under running water and pat it dry with a kitchen towel.
3. I spread the cauliflower florets on a plate and dry them in the sun for 4-6 hours.
4. Make sure there is no water as it will spoil this pickle quickly.
5. In a wide bowl add the red chili powder, mustard powder salt and the cauliflower florets and mix together. If your using garlic you can add that also in at this point. I do not like the raw smell of garlic so I avoid it in this pickle.
6. Now add the lemon juice and mix it well.
7. In a small pan heat some oil on medium high. when hot add the mustard seeds and when it splutters add the red chilies cut in to small pieces.Add the hing and take it off the heat. 
8. After 1 minute mix in the fenugreek powder in the oil let it cool down. 
9. Add the oil to the bowl with the cauliflowers and mix everything together.

Your Pickle is ready. You can wait for 4-6 hours and serve with plain rice or chapathi. Store it in a dry bottle and let it soak. It tastes really good after a day or so. Refrigerate it and can be used for 2-3 weeks. But if your like our family this will be over in 3-4 days. Enjoy!!

Tirangaa Tofu Pasta- Tri colour Rotini Pasta in Tomato Sauce

Pasta is a staple food in our house. We all love Italian food and consider it as soul food; of course, second only to Andhra food. The twists and spirals of Tri-colour Rotini allow it to embrace both refined and simple sauce. Its a perfect choice for a simple pasta salad, or with light tomato sauce. My kids like pasta but I was not happy about the amount of carbohydrates and cheese that goes into it. So I try to include all their favorite veggies and was thinking about how to get the protein into this meal.

Enter Tofu! My kids like tofu and don't mind if I skip cheese if when I add tofu to the pasta. So, it is vegan. This is also great for school lunch. Kirthana loves to take leftovers for lunch next day.

Preparation time -  30 minutes

Serving - 4

Ingredients

4 cups uncooked Barilla Tri-color Rotini (any pasta can be used)
1 cup Tomato Basil pasta sauce (I used Amy's organic pasta sauce)
2-4 garlic pods minced
1 Red pepper
2 cups broccoli florets
2 cups cubed tofu
1/2 cup spinach
1 Tbs dried oregano
1/2 Tsp crushed pepper

3 Tsp Evoo (Extra virgin olive oil)

Procedure

1. Cook the pasta according to instructions on the package.
2. In the mean time heat a large skillet on medium heat. Add oil when hot and add the garlic, tofu cubes and stir fry till the tofu fries and Browns a little.
3. Now add the Red pepper, broccoli, spinach, dried oregano, crushed pepper and stir fry for 5 minutes  
4. Add the cooked pasta and the tomato basil sauce and mix everything together and cover and cook for 3 minutes.

Variations:

• We can exclude the tofu and it still tastes good with some cheese on top.
• We can make this using any kind of pasts it works best with penna, bowtie pasta and rotoni
• Any vegetables of you choice can be used

Enjoy!! My kids love it. I hope you do too..

Healthy Banana Bread - Eggless

If your looking for a yummy snack with your coffee or for the kids with their milk this bread is perfect. With just a few ingredients this is super easy to put together and we don't need to have super baking skills. I originally got this recipe from Dr Weil's Banana bread and totally love it. I just made some changes this time and it came out more moist. My kids love bananas and I buy them almost every week when i go to the market. Some times they don't eat them and they get fully ripe, these are perfect for this bread. Also its a very kid friendly recipe if you thinking of baking somethign with your kids as helpers. Even my 3 year old can make the mix for baking!! So here we go the easiest and a few ingredient banana bread.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Baking time : 50 minutes

Serving : 12 - 15 Slices

Ingredients

4 large ripe bananas
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 Tbs egg replacement flour (optional)
3/4 cup Honey
11/2 Tsp Baking soda
1 Tsp vanilla extract
1/4 Tsp salt
1/2 cup Walnuts or pecans finely diced (optional)
3 Tbs oil ( you can use any oil I used coconut oil)

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350 F and lightly oil a loaf pan.
2. In a big bowl cut the bananas in to circular pieces and mash it with a fork or masher.
3. Add the oil to this and mix well. If your using coconut oil melt it.
4. Add the honey and mix well.
5. Now add the vanilla extract, baking soda, salt, whole wheat flour, egg replacement flour and mix together. Make sure there are no lumps.
6. Mix in the nuts and spoon into a lightly oiled loaf pan.
7. Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
8. Take it out of the oven and let it cool down. I usually cut it into pieces after 6 hours.
9. Do not let the batter sit once you mix it together. This reduces the volume of the bread.
10. This bread tastes better the next day after baking as its moist and all the flavours come out.
11. Enjoy with tea or coffee or just by itself for a afternoon snack.