Turmeric Milk

Turmeric has been recognized by yogis and ayurvedic healers since ancient times for its manyhealing properties.

Grown mainly in India, the turmeric root is a close cousin to ginger root. It is dried and ground into a fine powder, brilliant gold in color, and used in many Indian recipes.Turmeric is considered highly auspicious in India and has been used extensively in various Indian ceremonies. Even today it is used in every part of India during wedding ceremonies and religious ceremonies.

Turmeric can be consumed as Turmeric Tea , Turmeric Milk, Turmeric smoothie etc.

Lets see how Turmeric Milk is made. 

Ingredients:

1) Turmeric Paste - 1/2 Tsp

2) Milk - 1 Cup

3) Ginger grated - Pinch

4) Cardamom powder - 1/8 Tsp

5) Ground Pepper - 1/8 Tsp

6) Palm Sugar - as per taste

7) Saffron - few strands

8) Water - little

Preparation:

* Place a pan on medium heat, add grated ginger and little water to boil (sometimes fresh ginger may curdle the milk.so I boil it in water to prevent that)

* Then add the milk, turmeric paste, ground cardamom, ground pepper and allow it boil.

* Then add palm sugar (panam karkandu) to it. once the palm sugar is dissolved strain it into a glass and top it of with saffron and serve.

Benefits:

* Milk and Turmeric provides bone health

* Powerful anti-oxidant

* Cure cough and cold

* Can treat diarrhea and indigestion

* Helps in blood purification and liver detox and much more

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Turmeric Paste

Turmeric has been recognized by yogis and ayurvedic healers since ancient times for its many healing properties.

Grown mainly in India, the turmeric root is a close cousin to ginger root. It is dried and ground into a fine powder, brilliant gold in color, and used in many Indian recipes.Turmeric is considered highly auspicious in India and has been used extensively in various Indian ceremonies. Even today it is used in every part of India during wedding ceremonies and religious ceremonies.

Turmeric can be consumed as Turmeric Tea , Turmeric Milk, Turmeric smoothie etc.
In all these drinks Turmeric Paste is used as a base.

Lets see how the Turmeric Paste is made 

Ingredients :

1) Turmeric powder - 1/4 Cup

2) Water - 1/2 Cup filtered water (Add more water if needed)

3) Ground pepper - 1/2 Tsp (optional)

4) Olive oil/ Almond oil/ Clarified butter - 1/2 Tsp (optional)

Preparation :

* Place a pan on medium heat and mix the turmeric powder and water.

* Cook till raw smell of the turmeric goes (add more water if needed)

* When the turmeric is completely cooked, add the pepper(optional) and clarified butter and remove from the heat.

* Transfer it to a air tight container and can be stored in the refrigerator for about 2 weeks.

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Whole Wheat Halwa

Whole Wheat Halwa is a very delicious and mouth watering dessert made out of the milk extracted from the whole wheat flour, clarified butter(ghee), sugar and nuts. 

Step 1: Ingredients

1) Whole Wheat Flour - 1 Cup

2) Clarified Butter (Ghee)  - 1/3 to 1/2 Cup

3) Sugar - 2 to 2 .5 Cups (increase or decrease as per taste)

4) Cardamom powder (elachi powder) - 1 Tsp

5) Nuts for garnish.

6) Water

Step 2: Extracting the milk from whole wheat flour

1) Knead the whole wheat flour into a soft dough by adding water little by little.(like a chapathi dough) 

2) Soak the kneaded whole wheat flour dough in 5 cups of water for a minimum of 3 hours.

3) The dough would have become very soft after soaking for 3 hours. Mix the soaked dough and water together.

4) Then filter the milk obtained through a mesh/filter.

5) The gluten will be strained out. discard the gluten and keep the whole wheat flour milk.

Step 3: Making the Whole wheat Halwa 

1) Place a non stick pan on medium heat and add 2 Tsp of clarified butter (ghee) and fry the nuts and remove keep it for garnish. 

2) In the same pan, add the extracted milk from the whole wheat flour and keep on mixing.

3) Within few minutes (5 -8 min) the milk will start to become thick in consistency.

4) Once it starts to thicken, add the sugar, cardamom powder.

5) Then keep adding ghee, 1 Tsp at a time till the halwa separates out from the vessel.
Thats when the halwa is done.

6)  Add the roasted nuts and transfer to a ghee greased plate.

Mouth watering whole wheat Halwa is ready  !!! Enjoy :) 

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Coriander Herb - Regrowing from market bought Coriander Herb

Regrowing the coriander herb from the market bought coriander herb is very simple and easy to do process. Within few weeks time, the herb grows and yielding you with fresh coriander.

Step 1:

Take the coriander herb plant and cut the bottom of the stem which has the root. Cut the stem one inch from the root.









Step 2:

*  Take a pot with good soil and plant the cut coriander herb such a way that the stem stays above the soil and root completely in the soil.

*  The soil should be moist and not wet.

*  Place it in such a place where u get a medium amount of sunlight. If too hot it will burn       down the coriander herb.

*  Within a week time the coriander herb starts to grow. 

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Rainbow Sugar Scrub

Rainbow Sugar Scrub is very colorful, smells good and refreshing. It can be easily made with the available ingredients at home. Simple to make and contains no chemicals.

Step 1: Ingredients

1) Granulated Sugar - 1 Cup (Organic)

2) Pure Honey - 1/4 Cup

3) Olive Oil - 1/3 Cup

4) Food Color

5) Essential Oils (optional)

Step 2: Making the Scrub

1) Divide the sugar equally in different containers depending on the number of colors chosen.

2) Similarly, divide honey and olive oil equally among the each bowl with the sugar.

3) Add different colors to each bowl.

4) Add desired essential oil to each bowl. (I added peppermint for blue and green, sweet orange for yellow and orange, lavender for red)

5) Mix everything well in each bowl.

Step 3: Assembling the Sugar Scrub

Take a clean glass container to store the sugar scrub, add colored sugar scrub one on top of the other. Slightly pressing down each layer.

Rainbow Sugar Scrub is ready to be used.

Note :

To use it as a Lip Sugar Scrub, instead of essential oil use little of desired fresh juice.(for example lemon juice, orange juice)

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Horlicks Growth Plus : Catch Up on the Lost Growth

Lesson from Nature:

I am a strong believer in nature as I have learnt many life lessons from it including the recent one on a necessity of timely growth.

With lots of love and care, I germinated few tomato seeds and enjoyed watching it grow into small saplings. I daily water it, kept it near my apartment balcony window for sunlight. Everything  was perfect but the plant stopped its growth and started becoming weak. I was worried and tried to provide homemade fertilisers like eggshells, coffee grounds and many on my own but nothing helped and my plant slowly started dying.

Finally one day I gave up and put the pot out on my balcony thinking it won't make it. But to my surprise after few day outside my tomato plant started to have new leaves and in few weeks it became stronger and healthier but it was not able to have flowers or tomatoes before the winter frost permanently stopped its growth. I was late in providing the essential nutrients for the plant. If I had acted soon, the plant could have caught up on lost growth. 

Lesson from my daughter's friend:

This made me understand that it is very important to have an adequate growth at the adequate time. Another incident that happened to my 5 years old daughter's classmate, who was obese and had less immune power which caused her to go through lots physical and mental pressure. Most of the time she won't be coming to the school due to sickness.

It all happened one day when I got the chance to see her parents who were sad and was talking to the class teacher about something. I realised they are discussing their daughter's situation and I thought of waiting near the school entrance to talk to them.

After 30 minutes, my daughter's friend's parents came out. I stopped them and asked them about the meeting and I was shocked to hear that my daughter's friend is quite unwell and she is admitted to a hospital to undergo an immediate medical treatment to control her blood cholesterol level.

For the next few weeks, every alternate day I took my daughter to see her friend as it makes my daughter's friend feel happy and that made my daughter's friend's mother and I close friends.

Once after the treatment was completed, I asked her to come over to my house for a lunch on Friday and she came as planned. During that time I asked her to know what went wrong with her daughter. After a little hesitation, she said that the doctors said it is because of the regular unhealthy food and the eating habits at her home were the main reason that impacted their 5 years old daughter's physical and the mental health. She also said that even though the treatment can cure her current physical illness, she was advised to stay away from her unhealthy foods, to do more physical activities and she won't be able to continue the school for the current school year.

This incident and the tomato plant incident has made me think how important is to have an adequate growth at the adequate time. Giving the child a healthy food and good food habits at the early age would make them grow stronger and sharper. Horlicks have been helping and supporting healthy child growth for many generations now.

I can firmly state that it is utmost very important to provide the child an adequate growth for a better themselves, country and the world and Horlicks Growth Plus  helps the Children to catch up on the Lost Growth.

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Ring Murukku (Fried Rice Flour Rings)

Ring Murukku (Fried Rice Flour Rings) is a traditional south Indian snackmade during special occasions. It is made using homemade rice flour ,black gram, sesame seeds and cumin seeds. The freshly homemade rice flour really enhances the flavor of the Murukku.

Step 1: Ingredients

1) Raw Rice - 2 Cups

2) Urad Dal - 2 Tbsp

3) Red Chilli Powder - 1 Tsp (as per taste)

4) Sesame seeds - 1 Tsp

5) Cumin Seeds - 1 Tsp

6) Butter - 1 Tbsp

7) Salt - as per taste

8) Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp

9) Oil for frying

Step 2: Making of Homemade Rice Flour especially for Murukku

1) Wash and Soak the raw rice for 2 to 3 hours.

2) Drain all the water from the soaked rice and spread it on the kitchen towel and allow it air dry for few hours (2 to 3 hours)
3) The rice should only be 90% dry and should have little moisture in it. That is what is preferred.

4) Then Grind the rice into a fine rice powder and sieve it gently 2 to 3 times.

Fresh Homemade Rice Flour is ready now !

Note:

The Soaked rice should not be sun dried. It should be dried in shade till it is 90% dry.

Step 3: Making the Murukku Dough

1) Wash and Soak the urad dal/black gram for 2 to 3 hours.

2) Grind the urad dal into a fine paste with little water and keep it aside.

3) In a bowl, add homemade rice flour, ground urad dal/black gram, asafoetida, butter, sesame seeds, chili powder, cumin seeds and mix well.

The Murukku Dough is ready now.

Step 4: Making the Ring Murukku

1) Take a small portions of the dough and roll it into a string of equal lengths.

2) Then pinch both the ends of the string to form a ring. Make as many required.

3) In a pan, add oil and heat to medium to high temperature.

4) Then add the murukku rings to the oil and keep frying till it turns golden brown.

Ring Murukku is ready now !

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Watermelon Strawberry Lemonade

Watermelon Strawberry Lemonade is a very refreshing, easy to make drink especially during the summer. This super delicious summer drink will definitely impress your guests and also kids would love it.

Step 1: Ingredients

1) Watermelon cubed - 2 Cups

2) Strawberry chopped- 1/4 Cup

3) Lemon Juice - juice from 2 to 3 lemons

4) Sugar - 1/4 Cup (as per taste)

5) Water - 1 Cup

Step 2: Mix all ingredients

1) In a clean blender/mixer, add watermelon, strawberry, lemon juice and sugar.

2) Blend all ingredients until smooth (so that there are no chunks)

3) Now add the water and mix well. Check for the taste and adjust accordingly.

4) Store it in the refrigerator and serve chill !!!

Enjoy the hot summer day with chill Watermelon Strawberry Lemonade !!!

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Plastic Bottle Bird Feeder (Recycled Bird Feeder)

  

This Bird Feeder is very easy to make with the items that are available at home. Within 5 minutes the bird feeder will be ready. Fill the feeder, hang it on a tree and watch the birds eat on.

 Step 1: Items Required

1) Hot Glue Gun

2) Knife

3) Small Plastic Plate (yogurt box lid)

4) Water Bottle

5) String 2-3 feet Long

6) Bird Seed

Step 2: Making the Bird Feeder

1) To make the holes where the bird seed comes out, take the knife and make 3 rectangles around the base.

2) Then, cover the bottom of the water bottle in hot glue and quickly stick it onto the plate.

3) Next, take the cap of the water bottle and make two holes that are big enough for the string to go through. Loop the string through the holes.

4) Fill with bird seed and tie onto a tree branch. Next, wait for Birds to eat out of your recycled bird feeder!

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Baked Beetroot Chips

These Beet Chips are healthy, crispy, simple and very easy to make chips which are perfect for snacking. This way you can include beets in your diet even though you are not a fan of beets. Super healthy snack, even kids would Love them.

Preparation : 5 Minutes

Baking : 20 minutes

Step 1: Ingredients

1) Beetroot - 2 (Medium Size)

2) Olive Oil - 1 Tbsp

3) Dried rosemary - 1 Tsp

4) Garlic Salt - as per taste

Step 2: Preparing the Beets

1) Wash and peel the skin of the beets.

2) Using a sharp knife or mandolin or slicer, slice the beets into thin slices. Try to keep all the slices even.

3) In a bowl add the sliced beets along with olive oil, dried rosemary, garlic salt and mix well.

4) Allow it to rest for few minutes.

Step 3: Baking the Chips

1) Preheat the oven to 350° F and Line the baking tray with wax/parchment paper.

2) Place the seasoned beet slices on the wax paper such that the beets do not touch each other and spaced out well.

3) Bake for 15-20 minutes or until crisp and slightly brown. Watch carefully as the chips burn quickly.

4) Remove the beet chips from the oven and allow it cool down.

Beet Chips are ready to be served. These can be stored in a air tight container.

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Spicy Chili Chicken

Spicy Chili Chicken is a very popular Indo-Chinese dish in India. It is prepared by first marinating skinless boneless chicken in chili sauces and then deep fried or shallow fried. The fried chicken is added into another Chili sauce made along with some vegetables. It is mostly served as an appetizer.

Step 1: Ingredients

Chicken Marination

1) Chicken - 400 grams (skinless boneless chicken cubed to bite size pieces and soaked in salted buttermilk)

2) Chili powder - 2 Tsp

3) Chili sauce - 2 Tsp (hot)

4) Pepper Powder - 1/2 Tsp

5) Corn flour - 2 Tbsp

6) All purpose flour - 2 Tbsp

7) Soya Sauce - 2 Tsp

8) Salt as per taste

9) Oil for frying

Chili Sauce :

1) Onion - 1 medium (sliced/cubed)

2) Chopped Garlic - 2 pods

3) Green Chili - 5 to 6 (sliced)

4) Spring onions - 2 to 3 strands (chopped)

5) Red Bell pepper - 1/4 Cup (cubed)

6) Yellow Bell Pepper - 1/4 Cup (cubed)

7) Chili powder - 1/2 Tsp

8) Chili sauce - 1 to 1 1/2 Tsp

9) soya sauce - 1 1/2 Tsp

10) sugar - 1/4 Tsp

11) Lime juice - 1 Tsp

12) Salt as per taste

13) Oil - 1 Tbsp

Step 2: Marinating the Chicken in Chili sauce and Frying it

1) Remove the chicken from salted butter milk and pat it dry with kitchen towel.

2) Add chili sauce, soya sauce, pepper powder, salt to the chicken and mix well. Allow it to rest for 40 to 60 minutes.

3) Then add the corn flour, all purpose flour and mix well.

4) Add the oil in a pan and heat it to medium to high temperature.

5) Fry the chicken cubes till it becomes golden brown on both sides flipping on both sides regularly.

6) When the chicken is cooked drain on a kitchen tissue.

Note :

* The chicken can either be deep fried, shallow fried or baked as per preference.

* Prior to marinating the chicken in chili/soya sauces, the chicken was soaked in salted butter milk for 4 to 6 hours. so that the chicken will be soft and not dry out after frying it.

* Salted butter milk can be made by mixing 1 to 2 Tbsp yogurt in a 1 cup of water and adding salt as per taste.

* In order to obtain the red color for the chicken and you prefer less spicy ,use half of chili powder and half of paprika. No need of food color.

Step 3: Making the Chili Sauce

1) In a pan, add oil, garlic, onions, green chili, bell peppers, spring onion one by one and saute it for few minutes. (try to keep the veggies crunch and not too soft )

2) Then add the chili sauce, chili powder, soya sauce, sugar, salt, little water(1 to 2 Tbsp) and allow it to cook for few minutes. (If preferred add more of chili powder/ chili sauce)

3) Add the fried chicken in to the sauce and saute for few minutes.

Garnish with spring onions and Hot Hot Chili Chicken is ready !!!

Note :

For Spicy Chili Chicken Gravy

* Mix corn flour (1 to 2 Tsp) with water, mix it lump free and add it to the sauce. Check for the taste and add more sauces if needed. Cook it till the sauce thickens a little. Serve it hot with rice or flat bread.

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String Wrapped Bangles

String Wrapped Bangles are very easy to make with a few items which you may already have in your craft boxes. This way you can turn your old and unused bangles to something new and colorful. So lets get started .

Step 1: Items Required

1) Bangles - any size

2) Embroidery Floss - different colors

3) Jump rings - different sizes

4) Charms

5) Fabric glue or E6000 glue

6) Scissors and Pliers

Step 2: Wrap it up !!!

1) Take a bangle and apply the glue (E6000 or fabric glue) on the top of the bangle covering a small area.

2) Then place the end of the embroidery floss on the glue and start wrapping tightly around the bangle till the place where the glue is present.

3) Keep applying glue little by little and wrapping the embroidery floss on the bangle.

4) Continue wrapping until you have reached the end, trim off the excess floss and add a dab of glue onto the bangle and finish wrapping.

5) For two colors, wrap the first color completely and add the other color in patches.

6) Then add the jump rings and charms as desired.

String Wrapped Bangles are ready to be worn now.

Note:

* When wrapping the floss, wrap it tightly and each strand should be close to each other but not overlapping.

* Apply glue little by little on the top of the bangle through out the bangle. If not glued it may move showing up gaps in between.

* I did not cut the embroidery floss from the spool as it was convenient to wrap with the spool and also I will not be short of embroidery floss.

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