Myriad Musings

Another year bit the dust, another zillion resolutions have fallen by the wayside but hope springs eternal. I am once again going to attempt to Blog Regularly, Cook differently, Eat healthy, Get Fit and Of course, reduce procrastination. That last one had already fallen to the onslaught of my usual vices, this post is at least 25 days in coming :) When I ruminate over my cooking style and variety, I find I am known for a few classics: My Cocoa Brownie, Idlis, Chola + Phulka, Aaloo and the myriad varieties of side dishes possible with it, Rasam, Daal, healthy muffins, granola, rajma, veg rice, waffles, paniyaram etc...  I am certainly not discounting the value of the ability to cook regular food well.  It is nice when my youngest appreciates the basic Dosa + Coconut chutney I make for his snack box frequently.  Time is short, appreciation is rare and when I do get it I want to record it and frame it and press the play button every time I am bored/frustrated/...

Today I was done in 90 minutes flat! I made a complete breakfast and lunch with something green, something orange, lots of lentils.  The only dark spot was my white rice ;) I remember blogging about a vegetarian food pyramid a while ago, complicated.  Pyramids, such as these, are out of fashion now, plates are in .  The gist of a vegetarian diet especially, is, 1/2 the plate should be fruits and vegetables, 1/4 grains and 1/4 proteins. My usual plan is to cook to so that the resulting menu has 2 - 3 vegetables,  a good amount of protein and the usual grain(s). Today's lunch menu toed this guideline fairly well: Recipe / Meal Planner  This riff off the Weekly Menu Planner serves as a rather neat daily/lunch/dinner Menu planner right?  Kichdi with methi.  1 cup moong+masoor dal in any proportion or just 1 or the other dal 1 cup raw rice 1cup methi leaves 1 medium sized onion 2 spring onions cleaned and sliced white and green ...

This is the year of doing, not just resolving to do! Living greener lives : We had sorted our garbage for months, maybe even years.  Our plastics and kitchen wastes were stashed separately, so that the ragpicker could get it without having to go through really gross stuff.  But my new baby sitter is really lazy, she will dump all trash in the plastics only bin because it is right there in the balcony, unlike the kitchen waste bin under the sink.  She mostly has only fruit peels to dump after feeding ashu.  Now I have added a new plastics bin, to the balconey, shiny red and fully covered.  I have left my old open plastics bin for her daily use. We have also signed up online for regular sorted trash pickup a new service in Chennai .  Now chennai city corporation's uninterested workers cannot negate all the work we put into cleaning and sorting the trash!  I will update after 3 regular pick ups. I have ceased and desisted from buying everything tha...

My sis had twins!  Delivered at 32 weeks, each baby barely 1.4 kgs now and no bigger than the baby monkey's i see around IIT but mom and babies are doing well and together since yesterday!  I am sooooooo thrilled to finally have a baby girl in the family! Between her and work I have no time to write out or take pics of my bento inspired menu for the week: Breakfast Idli Sambhar Dosa, Peanut chutney Dosa, Tomato Gojju Vegetable Utappam, Peanut Garlic Powder Idli Sambhar Lunch Box Roti, Aloo subji Utappam, Aloo tikki, Sweet Karamani Sundal Fried rice,  with Knol Khol, Beetroot, Methi Leaves, Carrot and Paneer Multigrain Waffle sandwich with Lentil Patty Red rice, Karamani Kootu, Beans Bananas Apple, Nuts Cookies and Dark Chocolate Mixed Nuts Moong Sundal Snack Egg Sandwich Bhel Puri Chana Sundal Moong Sundal Makhana Kheer Dinner ...

I found it!  A tool to plan my menu every week!  From the justbento page! Each page is split into breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and notes for pre-prep.  I abhor the idea of printing a page and pasting on the fridge, so I am either going to spend on a whiteboard or simply work with soft copies. I know I don't quite pack my lunch into a bento box, but I think traditional Indian dabbas or their plastic tupperware equivalent my son loves work just as well.  I do plan out a protein, carbohydrate and vegetabes and/or fruits for each lunch box.  The traditional college tiffen box of pulisaatham or lemon rice does not pass muster in my house.  The biggest hurdle for me is the time - my son gets a meagre 25 min for lunch and he plays half that time.