February WrapUp & A Strawberry Smoothie

2016 started with a resolution to read more books! 2015 I must have hardly read 20-25 books and I realised I was spending more time watching TV series or movies that I download on my laptop; and that many of them were trash. So I gave myself a target to read atleast 72 books this year i.e 6 books a month on an average.

February I read 3 coffee table books, 1 cookbook, 3 autobiographies/memoirs and 1 fiction; a total of eight books 😀 You can visit my Goodreads profile for more details.

1. Food Journeys of a Lifetime: 500 Extraordinary Places to Eat Around the Globe (Journeys of a Lifetime)
   by National Geographic Society (Editor), National Geographic Traveler Magazine
2. Silk and Cotton: Textiles from the Central Asia that Was (Review Coming Soon on the Blog)
   by Susan Meller
3. Devoted: 38 Extraordinary Tales of Love, Loyalty, and Life With Dogs
   by Rebecca Ascher-Walsh
4. India: The Cookbook (Read Review)
   by Pushpesh Pant
5. When Breath Becomes Air (Read Review)
   by Paul Kalanithi
6. In Other Words
   by Jhumpa Lahiri, Ann Goldstein
7. When I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
   by Maya Angelou
8. The Forty Rules of Love
   by Elif Shafak

I also decided to resurrect my blog this year and finally got around to posting in February. The target was to do atleast 1 blog post a week, but I ended up doing 8 blogposts in February itself. Not bad eh! Apart from this as a Declutter Mission 2016 I sent out another batch of books to the orphanage library. Also Prado’s Chinese colleague who came home for an Indian meal, got me some delicious Chinese Green Tea along with some monkey silver coins for GOOD LUCK. Now time to gear up for March.

Here’s a Strawberry Smoothie recipe to kickstart the fabulous month of March 2016.

STRAWBERRY-OATS-CHIA SMOOTHIE

PREP: 15 mins

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon rolled oats
1 tablespoon chia seeds
5-6 fresh strawberries
1/2 cup homemade coconut milk (How to make Coconut Milk)
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon honey

DIRECTIONS

Soak the oats and chia seeds overnight in the coconut milk.

Next day morning add the overnight oats and chia seeds with fresh strawberries, water and honey to a blender and blend for 2-3 minutes or until you have smooth paste.

Pour in a glass. Garnish with some cut strawberries.

Drink up.

Post-workout Smoothie with the Goodness of Coconut Milk

Have you ever had freshly squeezed homemade coconut milk? If not, you are missing out on something absolutely divine.

The first time I made coconut milk at home was a couple of years back when I was on a sabbatical. Troubled with tons of time at hand, a hyperactive nature and an inquisitive mind, I tried my hand at doing a lot of things; be it gardening or painting or cooking or baking for that matter. Not that I had not done these things before but then this time I had the luxury of time. One of the many things I experimented with in my kitchen was to make coconut milk at home. And it was such an eye opener. Easy to make and the freshness, sweetness and creaminess of the homemade coconut milk is a thousand times better (and I am not exaggerating!). TRUST ME ONCE YOU HAVE HAD THE HOMEMADE COCONUT MILK, YOU WILL NEVER LIKE THE ONE BOUGHT FROM THE STORE.

Coconut milk is often considered a “miracle liquid” since coconut milk nutrition offers great ability to build up the body’s immune defenses and prevent disease. Coconut milk, along with it’s relatives coconut oil and coconut water are among the world’s healthiest foods ( and they are my favourite too). Coconut milk builds muscle and helps lose fat, provides electrolytes and prevents fatigue, improves digestion and relieves constipation, helps manage blood sugar and prevents anaemia, joint inflammation, arthritis and ulcers.

Today my post-run smoothie has this “miracle liquid” infused with saffron and a handful of almonds and pistachio. This creamy golden yellow naturally sweet coconut milk smoothie is packed with nutrition and goodness and is very good for weight loss. Here’s the recipe.

COCONUT MILK WITH SAFFRON AND NUTS SMOOTHIE

PREP: 15 mins

INGREDIENTS

1 cup homemade coconut milk (How to make Coconut Milk)
1/2 teaspoon saffron
1/4 cup water
10 blanched almonds
10 pistachio
1 tablespoon protein powder (I use Amway Nutrilite Protein Powder)
1 tablespoon cold pressed coconut oil

DIRECTIONS

Heat the water until it is lukewarm. Add the saffron strands to it. Let it steep for 10-12 minutes.

Add all the ingredients to a blender and blend for 2-3 minutes or until you have smooth paste.

Pour in a glass and refrigerate.

Drink up once your back from the run or post workout 🙂