Healthy Cooking

5 Healthiest Ways to Cook Your Favorite Meals

Even if you use the healthiest of ingredients in your recipes, certain cooking techniques can actually eradicate the goodness from foods.

For healthy cooking, give the following techniques a try:

1.Avoid using charcoal or gas grills, as these can increase the production of cancer-causing chemicals. Use an electric grill, instead.
2.Steam your vegetables. Boiling depletes vegetables of many of their nutrients, while steaming removes far less of the good stuff, leaving vegetables with a wonderful taste and texture.
3.To reduce the amount of fat when cooking, use broiling, baking and roasting pans (drizzle your items with extra-virgin olive oil instead of drowning them in margarine). Chinese steamers is also good low-fat cooking option.
4.Never microwave anything in plastic wrap or plastic containers. If you must microwave, use glass containers and covers.
5.Replace all saturated fats in your kitchen with extra-virgin olive oil, canola oil (organic), grapeseed oil - these monounsaturated fats are much healthier than the saturated ones.

Delicious and Nutritious Salad

Ingredients:
Wild blueberries
Cranberries
Blackberries
Prunes
Raspberries
Strawberries
Red Delicious apples
Granny Smith apples
Sweet cherries
Black plums

Method:
Wash all fruits and mix together after cleaning, peeling, cutting into pieces...
In a separate bowl, add sugar, lemon juice, water and fresh mint. Mix, then pour on the fruit.
Mix up the fruit salad really well, to incorporate all of the wonderful colors of your fruits.

Herbal Health Tips

Skin Cleanser:
Found in your own kitchen is a simple, chemical free cleanser – good oil’ unboiled milk. All you need to do is dip a piece of cotton wool in milk and wipe your face with it. It also cleans unseen dirt and goes down into your pores. Another fine cleanser is almond oil, especially effective in protecting the delicate skin under the eyes.

Skin Moisturizer:
For normal skin care, you can take 1 cup of yogurt, 1 tablespoon orange juice and 1 tablespoon lemon juice and mix it into a paste. Apply it on your face as a mask and keep it on for 15 minutes. Then clean it off with a wet tissue watch your complexion glow. For dry skin, you could use a mixture of cooked oatmeal and honey; it will not only help moisturize the skin but also acts as a good cleansing agent.

Skin Nourishment and Bleach:
For nourishing your face try a protein mask. You can prepare this mask by first soaking 1 tablespoon urad dal and 4 almonds in water overnight and then grinding them into a paste. You can then apply this protein mask to your face and wash it off after half an hour. This exceptional protein mask will not only nourish the skin but also bleach it.

Wrinkle Prevention and Softer Skin:
To prevent wrinkles and soften your skin, you could try pure castor oil; it is known to slow down the aging process of the skin.
Skin Conditioner:Another simple and excellent skin conditioner that can be made out of 1 tbsp. honey blended with 2 tbsp. cream (of milk). Leave it on for a few minutes and wash it off. It works like magic.

Skin Blemishes:
For skin blemishes, you can try rubbing a raw potato on your face.

Sun-Protection Lotion:
It’s summer time. Time to cool off. So let’s wind up with a good home-made sun-protection lotion. Take cucumber juice and equal amounts of glycerin and rose water and make a concoction. This should be refrigerated. Try it, it’s really cool.

Nutritional Greens

Make a habit of eating Keerai atleast twice a week.

Nutritional value of Keerai is twenty times more than in other vegetables.
Keerai is a valuable source of nutrients, rich in iron, calcium, vitamin A, anti-oxidants and veg proteins. Some leaves are believed to keep blood sugar levels low.

Siru Keerai (Tropical Amaranthus):



Ponnanganni Keerai :



Ponnanganni Keerai - Pink:



Pasalai Keerai(Spinach):



Paruppu Keerai:

Mulai keerai:

Manathakkaali Keerai:

Drumstick Leaves (Murungai Keerai:

Arai Keerai(Amaranthus Tritis):

Agathi Keerai:

Cherries and Melons

Papaya:

Papaya is sweet and juicy and it offers numerous health benefits. It improves digestion, prevents heart disease, arthritis, lung disease, and eye disorders.
Papaya is an excellent source of vitamin A and C and a good source of fiber and folate.

Cherries:

Cherries can increase antioxidant levels, and an abundance of antioxidants may help slow the aging process. Cherries are also full of vitamin C, calcium, potassium, and fiber.
Fresh cherries are even better and may lower heart attack and stroke risk.

Watermelons:

Watermelons and Indian summers are made for each other.
High in water content and low in calories, watermelon is a cool option on a scorching afternoon. Melons are excellent food.

Jujube(Ezhandha Pazham):

Jujube also known as Red Date or Chinese Date is originated in China and have been cultivated for more than 4,000 years.

The fruit is a drupe, varying from round to elongate shape and from small gooseberry size to plum-size. There are hundreds of varieties available all over the world.

In Tamil Nadu, the fruits are in small round shape and mostly sold by vendors near the schools. Children eat these along with chilli powder and salt.

The ripe fruits are generally consumed raw, but are sometimes used for making candies, pickles and used in desserts.

Fruits are Healthy

Mangos:

Mangoes are one of the most delicious and nutritious foods.
Mangos are an excellent source of vitamins A, C and E.

Naaval Pazham:

Jamun fruit, which is known in Tamil as Naaval Pazham or Nagapazham, also called as Java Plum, Black Plum, Jambul and Indian blackberry is a precious but humble fruit.
Chikoo Fruit:

Chikoo Fruit (called as "Sapota pazham" in Tamil Nadu) is a rich source of digestible sugar, protein, fibre and minerals like phosphorus, calcium and iron.

Pomegranate:

Pomegranates are not only delicious and beautiful, they’re also one of the most nutritious fruits we can eat. Pomegranates are being hailed as a super-food which can protect the heart.

Jack Fruit:

The jackfruit is Low in Saturated Fat, Cholesterol and Sodium and High in Vitamin C and Manganese. The seeds, known as breadnuts, are rich source of complex carbohydrate, dietary fiber, vitamins like vitamin A, C and certain B vitamins, and minerals like calcium, zinc, and phosphorous.

Wonderful Herb

* Gooseberry :

The Indian Gooseberry known as Nellikkai in Tamil and Amla in Hindi is reputed to have the highest content of vitamin C.

It contains more Vitamin C than orange, lime, guava or sweet lime. About 100 gms of the edible fruit contains about 600 mg of Vitamin C. 8.75 mg of natural vitamin C complex from Nellikkai is equivalent to 100 mg of the most commonly used synthetic vitamin C.

It also contains many minerals and vitamins like Calcium, Phosphorus, Iron, Carotene and Vitamin B Complex. It helps in dilating the blood vessels and thereby reducing the blood pressure.

It also helps reduce blood sugar in diabetics. It is a powerful antioxidant agent. It cures acidity, ulcer and improve appetite. It is very effective in treatment of Eye and Heart diseases, Diarrhea/dysentery and Hair loss.

The tree is considered as a sacred tree in India.Above all, most important fact is the vitamin C content in Gooseberry does not diminish with cooking.So either go for a fresh fruit or cook it whatever way you like. Raw fruit is very sour when you bite it first but slowly you will get sweet taste when you munch it. Drinking water after munching the fruit is different sweet experience.

* Nannari:

‘Sarasaparilla,' a wonder herb, popularly known as `Nannari.' is a natural coolant and has a lot of medicinal qualities. The strength of this herb lies in its roots.

It has considerable effect to heal skin diseases and can decrease body temperature, rejuvenating the body. Apart from these, Sarasaparilla is effective for inflammations of liver and spleen, urinary disorders, wheezing, anaemia and rheumatoid arthritis.

Nannari root is available in Sidda Medical shops. We can put the root in a pot of water and use that water for drinking purpose. Nannari concentrate or the syrup is available in all shops. We can make a herbal drink.

In a glass of cold water, add one or two teaspoons of lemon juice and two to three tablespoon of Nannari syrup and mix well. If you want, you can add a teaspoon of sugar or palm sugar to the juice.

*Mudakathan Keerai:

Mudakathan Keerai in Tamil is known as Indravalli in Sanskrit. Its botanical name is Cardiospermum halicababum and belongs to the soapberry family. It is a woody perennial climbing plant with large ornamental seed pods that resemble balloons.

Hence it is called Balloon Vine in English.Originating from Tropical Asia, Africa and America, it is named as weed in some countries because of its past growing nature and obstructing sunlight to other plants.But in India, it is not growing in large (it grows only near river beds and other wetlands) and it is used as a herb in Ayurvedic and other Indian medicines for treating Gout , Rheumatoid arthritis, Skin diseases, Cough, Nervous disorders, Piles, Muscle wasting, Dysentery, Diarrhea, etc.

Even though it has lot of medicinal values, it is not used in regular cooking because it is rare to find and tastes slightly bitter.

However, in Tamilnadu, you will get this keerai fresh in the morning hours in the vegetable market.To reduce the rheumatic pain, Kashayam is very effective.

To make Kashayam, put a handful of Mudakathan Keerai along with two cups of water, a tablespoon of jeera and a pinch of turmeric powder in a vessel and bring to boil. Allow to boil for five to ten minutes and strain it. Adding this keerai to one’s diet at least twice a month will definitely help in curing joint pain.It tastes slightly bitter when fresh, but when cooked, you will not feel the bitterness. Normally, people make dosa with this keerai.

Healthy Skin

Beautiful and healthy skin is one of the greatest beauty assets, when skin is healthy it looks amazing and attracts attention of people. If you are dying to have such a skin you should take care of it and get only right nutrients such as:



vitamins
Sounds as old as the hills yeah? But the following statement is a completely right one. The more the vitamins the healthier you and your skin. For example, vitamin C protects skin from sun damage, vitamin E makes your skin soft and smooth and you can find it in sunflower seeds and avocado.

Omega-3 fatty acids
These acids can be found in tuna and walnuts and salmon and they help to combat skin inflammations.

zinc
Zinc helps to get rid of acne and in can be found in pork, lamb and beef.

biotin
Such products as eggs and peanuts contain a lot of it. It promotes strong hair and nails.

Winter Healthy Eating tips

Winter is here and we have to be very careful in order to stay healthy and not to catch a flu. The following fruits will help you stay tuned and prepared to any winter viruses and colds

Guava

The following fruit has a delicious spicy cinnamon-like taste. Guava will provide you with a lot of useful antioxidants. You can eat this fruit fresh or add it to a cup of citrus juice.



Feijoa

The following fruit is very helpful in prevention from breast cancer. Fejhoa is tasty and sweet. Slice the fruit into two parts and eat their flesh with a spoon.



Kumquat

This fruit looks like a small oval orange but it has one more plus – its skin is fully edible and sweet. Contains a lot of fiber. Chop it, get rid of seeds and enjoy. You can add is to dishes.