She Loves Me...She Loves me NOT....

If you can dream it,

You can do it...

Yet there are things I refuse to make in my Instant Pot,

As much as I love it...and I have owned mine for over 3 years...

Today is Sunday and I had no intentions of cooking...just watching Ready Player One with the boy and eat out. But on top of my mind were these two bananas in the fruit bowl that had reached their peak and I didn't really want to throw them away. So I ended up picking up a recipe from the trusty internet and firing up my oven (NOT my Instant Pot) and ended up baking two not one cake.

So here are things I would rather not make in my Instant Pot (or I have tried them a couple times and they were epic fails!

1. Adrak Wala Chai: I use grass-fed organic milk and organic ginger and two times out of three the milk split....so now I stick to making my chai cuppa on the stovetop with my trusty old saucepan
2. Cakes & Bakes: I usually end up getting a mush vs. the magic (like the picture above) which I have started taking for granted.
3. Dosa Batter: Honestly I see the number of cry's for help with the over-poofed up Dosa Batter and I refuse to put my Instant Pot through that abuse :-)
4. Poriyals (quick vegetable stir-fry): I  do feel the poriyals (cabbage, carrot, beans etc.) that I make in my wok on a gas flame taste so much better than what I make in the instant pot!
5. Mac & Cheese : now now I see all the wide-eyed disbelief but I have managed to muck up this recipe in the Instant Pot...I prefer making it on the old-fashioned stove top
6. Ghee: I make Ghee twice a year with grass fed organic unsalted butter and I tried making it one of those times in the Instant Pot but honestly liked the end product from my  stove-top version better!

Here are the things that I will cook every-day in my Instant Pot :

1. Steel-Cut Oats
2. Dal/Lentils/Sambar/Chana/Rajma
3. Soups & Stews
4. Wet Curries - Anda Curry, Aloo Matar, Matar Paneer
5. Pastas 
6. Grains - Quinoa, Barley
7. Kheer - Oats, Quinoa, Dalia 

So I know you love your IP but are there things you will not make in your Instant Pot?

Guru Purnima : A Day for Gratitude

Guru Purnima is the day to pause and note all that you’ve been given by the universe and celebrate with gratitude. However, feeling grateful for things we have only scratches the surface of our joyful cores. It is possible to feel grateful without an apparent reason and experience spikes of inner joy and celebration. 

                                                           ---- Art of Living 
So I had every intention of fasting till dinner today - I was attending an Art of Living Guru Purnima Celebration  in the evening where Sri Sri would be there in person, but hadn't really reckoned with the rumblings of the stomach (loud insistent complaints). So I quickly soaked some quinoa and chilka moong dal and in 20 minutes had the most nutritious lunch (all in between a bunch of calls)...some kind of magic that is!

What you need

1. 1 Cup Quinoa (washed in cold water and soaked with the moong dal 1/2 hr in hot water I boiled in my electric kettle)
2. 1 cup Chilka Moong Dal (the moong dal that still has its cover)
3. 1 /2 Cup - Frozen Vegetables (365 Whole Foods Brand is what I used)
4. 2  Cups Vegetable Broth (Saffron Road)
5. 1 small knob of ginger
6. Liquid Aminos (for seasoning), Avocado Oil (or any other oil), cumin seeds, Hing (asefoetida), turmeric powder, black pepper powder

To Cook 

1. Turn on your Instant Pot to Saute. Add your oil....add hing, cumin seeds and the roughly chopped ginger. Add turmeric and black pepper powder.
2. Add the moong dal and the quinoa (and the veggies if you added any) to the instant pot and give it a stir 
3. Add the Broth 
4. Put the IP on Rice Mode
5. When done open and add Liquid Aminos to taste (you can use salt instead of the liquid aminos)
6. Now add fresh lime juice and cut cilantro. Garnish with some raw chopped onions if you so wish.

I am grateful to get these wonderful 10 minutes to relish a bowl of khichdi with some yogurt. And yes! the complaints of the stomach kind have thankfully stopped. I am so ready for my evening session of meditation and gratitude

Throwing away my Fat Pants...

How many times do you weigh yourself in a day...go on be honest...ok I will go first (2 times a day)...I have always struggled with weight...being the pudgy kid in school with the thick glasses who loved her carbs (think rice)...I always dressed up 2 sizes larger to hide perceived and real imperfections.In January, 2012 I did both a mental and a wardrobe re-haul ..I dress to size...if there is a weakness I want to highlight it, so that I get a chance to acknowledge  and rectify it. Similarly if I sense a level of discomfort with a certain activity, I take a closer look at the reason for the discomfort and try to address it vs. try and hide it.

Here are some of the things I have done that have helped me :

(A) Take on an activity which is a stretch : Something I am not sure I will be successful at but I know I will learn from ( it is easy to take on tasks where I would succeed 100% declare victory and feel smug)...as my Yoga teacher Keith says - it is about stretching that part of your body that doesn't want to be stretched...when you see some progress, you know you have really progressed
(B) Exercise : I think the one thing that has kept me going has been hitting the gym regularly. In the process, I have found activities that are both uplifting (BollyX) and calming (yoga).
(C) Focus on the now and yourself without checking on your neighbor's progress : It is so easy to get caught up in the competition game of me vs. him/her. Just focus on what makes you truly happy ( in my case reading, Yoga, BollyX, solving complex problems for customers at work, spending time with my family...the list goes on and on, makes me happy)...and try to optimize on those moments of true happiness.


I now have my Instant Pot to help me create healthy meals in less than 20 minutes at least 4 times a week (I have a confession to make, I don't cook everyday! and we eat left-overs the next day :-) )

Last week I made a quick  delicious Vegetable Quinoa Biryani

What you need

1. Aachi Biryani Masala - 2 tablespoons 
2. 1 Cup Quinoa (washed in cold water and soaked 1/2 hr)
3. Roughly Chopped Onion (1 Big one), Garlic & Ginger paste, Roughly chopped Tomato (1 large tomato)
4. 1 Cup - Frozen Vegetables (365 Whole Foods Brand is what I used)
5.  3/4th Cup Vegetable Broth (Saffron Road)
6. 1/4th cup Light Coconut Milk ( 365 Whole Foods Brand is what I used)
7. Liquid Aminos (for seasoning), Avocado Oil (or any other oil), cumin seeds, Hing (asefoetida), turmeric powder, black pepper powder (turmeric+black pepper = wa wa whoom for health quotient)

To Cook 

1. Turn on your Instant Pot to Saute. Add your oil....add hing, cumin seeds the onions and garlic/ginger paste. Add turmeric and black pepper powder. Cook till Onion is browned and then add the tomatoes and cook further till the masala is no longer raw (or do what I did - add 3 tablespoons of my frozen magic mother sauce and then add turmeric powder and black pepper powder, I also sprayed some rough chopped onions with coconut oil spray and stuck it in my microwave to garnish the biryani with :) )
2. Add the veggies and the quinoa to the instant pot and give it a stir - give the ingredients a long minute to mix and work their magic
3. Now add the Aachi Biryani Masala (or your home-made biryani masala)
4. Add the Broth 
5. Put the IP on Rice Mode
6. When done open and add in the coconut milk+ Liquid Aminos to taste
7. Now add fresh lime juice and garnish with the microwaved onions and cut cilantro  
8. Dig into your biryani knowing that with this bowl of biryani you are adding 300 calories to your daily calories with 14 grams of Protein and 10 grams of Fiber (if you add in a side of yogurt or kefir like I did - for 60 more calories you just upped your proteins to over 20 grams and your fiber to 12 grams :-) )

Now what are you waiting for - are you going to let those "fat pants" stay in your closet or are you going to "throw away that life boat" and take a step towards more risks and heck yes! higher rewards!!!