Sabudana Khichdi (sago dish) – a perfect breakfast food

This breakfast recipe is one of the easiest meals which can be made in minutes if you have soaked sabudana (sago) with you.

Sabudana is a high energy but a low nutrient food so it has to be mixed

with some good nutrient vegetables or fruits to make a full meal.

Sabudana has to be soaked for 4-5 hours in a very little water after gently washing them.

Take 2 spoons of oil in a pan and add cumin seeds (zeera) to it. When they start cracking, add 1 chopped potato and let it turn very light golden. Now add 1 nicely chopped green chilli, one small chopped (toasted/grilled) capcicum , half finely chopped carrot and finally, the soaked and squeezed sabudana (sago). Add a little bit of salt and mix the ingredients on low heat for 2-3 minute only and then turn off the flame . Keep stirring the ingredients as sago has a tendency of getting sticked to each other. Add roasted peanuts, green coriander (hara dhaniya)or curry leaves, one spoon finely chopped onion, ½ spoon lemon juice and then mix the ingredients.

Serve this high energy khichdi in breakfast with hot ginger tea……enjoy

the winters………………: ) agoodstuff

Strawberry and sprouts salad

A nutritious salad diet in morning with some multigrain cereal keeps you

fit, fresh and healthy for the entire day. Making different salads

everyday is again a tedious mind exercise. Lets keep the life simple and

 make a fabulous salad in a few minutes.

 

Make some whole green gram (sabut moong dal) sprouts by hanging the

soaked dal in a water soaked muslin cloth for 24 hours(keep adding few

drops of water in every 5-6 hrs). The sprouts are the least expensive

superfoods which are full of protein and vitamin c ( anti oxitants).

Recipe: For 1 plate salad take ½ cup sprouts, 4  strawberries , 1 tomato

 chopped, ½  capsicum grilled on tawa with olive oil , 1/2 orange , ½ apple

sliced (grilled on tawa/griller with a few drops of olive oil and then add a

pinch of salt and  pepper to it. Orange slices make your salad more juicy

and tangy and little spices like pepper makes it ummmmmm…..munch on

 food.

Make it today and add a little of blue crumbled cheese or crumbled paneer

 to it and  eat it with a multigrain brown bread  toast ……….....……… : )agoodstuff

Mobile cover DIY

Make a simple and cozy cover for your mobile with your old clothes or sweaters. As we have already made a few usable things out of old woolens and recycled them very smartly, so, either you can cut out a piece of old woolen or you can use the left out pieces of the lower or sweater used in the previous DIY project for socks (make woolen socks at home from old sweaters). All the recycling projects (the woolen recyclying) are quite interesting, effective , easy and a real fun to do.
Just follow the steps shown below in pics and your mobile cover is ready without any hastle.

1.    Cut a piece of the sweater’s sleeve. Turn it inside out.

 

2.    Mark the size of the mobile and leave margins at top and a little bit

at sides( this margin will go under sewing)

 

3.    Now sew at the marked line and cut out extra portions.

4.    Now turn the piece inside out again and the cover is ready.

 

Keep crafting with woolen coziness this winter and send your beautiful and

 innovative ideas for recycling the woolens at agoodstuffhere@gmail.com.

Enjoy: ………………: ) agoodstuff

Woolen socks DIY from recycled sweaters

Another woolen recycle project is the making of beautiful socks for your kiddos and that too without knowing knitting. This DIY project is really simple with little steps and fun to do with your old sweaters.

Lets make it………………..

Material required:

Old woolen sweater sleeves/  kids old paijami or lower

A marking tool(washable wax color(cryons))

Scissor, needle and some yarn to sew

Making:

Place kids foot on the lower and mark the  shape of the foot (specially the

 toes ) and be sure to keep a margin of 1cm while marking as it will go

under sewing area.

Now turn them inside out and sew in socks shape.

Once sewing is done cut down extra woolen material outside the sewed

area. Turn the socks inside out again and see what a masterpiece you have

created : )

The overall product will look so cute that I can bet, you are gonna make a

few more after this and every new socks would be far better product than

the previous one as practice makes us perfect. Do a little bit of

embroidery if required.

Keep sewing and recycling old woolens………………: ) agoodstuff

Old sweaters recycling

Don’t giveaway your old sweaters to anyone as this winter you can create

 magic out of them. Lets recycle those woolens and use them in making new

 things or making the old ones usable.

Kids outsize the last year sweaters very easily and we are left with no

choice but to give away them to somebody else. Cut down your old useless

sweater's border  and sew them below the borders of your favourite sweater to 

increase the length. Have a look at the pictures and you can figure out the easiness 

and practicality in the same.

         

You can always decorate them with a matching patch or making small

embroidery of similar colors.

It’s a beautiful craft and a beautiful way to retain your favorite woolens

for another year……recycle old things………: ) agoodstuff

Plastic Flower Lights for festive season: A DIY Project

 

Can you imagine any purpose of used aerated softdrink plastic bottles? Yeah, I know most of the people specially kids make pen or pencil holders or stands out of them.

One more easy and quick use of these is in making of colorful flowers to decorate the room walls, vases, garlands etc.

 

 

Lemme explain you the things required in this project.

1.    Plastic coke/pepsi/soda or any other drink bottle

2.   A scissor

3.   Acrylic pearl or metallic paints of your choice or faux stained glass color for a glassy effect

4.   And above all a little patience…. : )

Making is again very simple. Remove the cap and cut the bottle  as shown in the pics below.

 

 Now, cut the petals out of it and it is really easy to shape them as the bottle material is not so hard. Large size petals should be cut in starting so that you can cut them or trim more easily to make equal petals.

Fold the petals in outward direction and hold them there by pressing them in that direction. As a flower shape has come to your piece, you can paint it from outside to give a glassy look or oteherwise paint them from inside to have a normal look.

 

 

 

 

Use this recycled bottle thing to brighten up your house and garlands with lights on Christmas/New Year and all the year around…whenever you feel like……………… : ) agoodstuff

 

Dahi Kabab:

I’m a very adventourous diner and often look for kababs or some spicy kinda starter before I order the main course. The dahi kababs, one of my favourites, are often the heavy oil and dry fruits loaded snack which either reduce my apetite for the main course or sometimes put a full stop to the next courses.


 My own favourite version of these kababs are low calorie ones, baked on non stick tawas or grills without or with very little oil and is really yummy and a fantastic starter to a multi-course homemade dinner.

For six piece serving:

Ingredients:

Brown bread – 3 piece

Hung curd (1/2 cup)

Shredded capcicum (1/2 spoon)

Shredded onion(1/2 spoon)

Shredded ginger(1/4 spoon)

Coarsely grinded walnut powder(1 spoon)

Raisins (5-6)

Black pepper powder, Salt and Oil as per taste.

Mixture: Mix hung curd, capcicum, onion, ginger, walnut powder, black pepper and salt in a bowl.

Roll the bread with rolling pin, remove the corners and add a few drops of water if required. Place a small portion of mixture at one half triangle part and then fold the other half to cover it up. Now join the open ends by pressing with help of water.
Place these triangles on a grill or non stick tawa and make them golden brown from both sides.(optional:brush both sides with little oil).

 

Cut them in halves or desired shapes and serve with some tangy sauce or chutney. Enjoy: ………………: ) agoodstuff

Cosmetic on Discount (at Lifetstyle stores):

Cosmetic Discount at Lifetstyle stores:

20/9/13

Latest eyemakup from international brands with irresistible offers :

Make the most of it and get the look of Diva………………: ) agoodstuff

Beautiful Living Room Decor Ideas

The lightings, wall color, wallpapers, furniture, sofa design, cushion covers, curtains, blindes, paintings, wall accents, corner decoration, centre table decor , carpet, vases and a lot more comes into picture when we talk about drawing room. A place,  which is designed keeping in mind of our interests along with the comfort for guests. This is the only area in house which is most spacious and requires most valuable or smartly designed good stuff.

Have a look at some beautiful decor ideas captured at my iphone. I hope they can provide some great inputs while designing your home.

Festive season has already begun ... it would a great idea to do some revamping at some corners of home. Send pics of the new decor of your house........ it would be great to watch and publish them here.………………: ) agoodstuff

Chipping of nails

The reasons behind chipping of nails are many but in most of the cases the culprit is insufficient minerals and vitamins in our diet. The other major reasons could be climate changes (sudden changes in temperatures or extreme weather conditions), side effects of diseases like psoriasis or yeast infections on skin, doing a job that requires frequent immersion of hands in water, some kinda regular chemical exposure like pest control, using cheap nail paints or nail care products that contains formaldehyde, toluene and dibutyl phthalate.

Solutions:

·        Lets focus on the dietary issues first. Make sure that your every day diet consists of a large number of vitamins (like A,E and B) and minerals like zinc,calcium, iron and biotin. Biotin is critical to nail growth and the sources of this mineral are: Egg yolk, fish, cauliflower, lentils, soybeans, pea nut butter etc. Usually a vegan diet has to be monitored carefully if nails are chipping off (take supplements of above mentioned vitamins and minerals) .
viz: HealthAidNail-Vit Capsules  etc

·        In a lot of cases, the rich lotions are perfect to be rubbed on finger nails in morning and evening everyday. Products like Cuticle cure from Nail Aid are perfect for this kinda practice.

·        Nail care products like Nail Aid’s Peeling Nail Intense Repair Gel or vedic line cuticleand nail cream  etc.

 

Home remedies:

1. Gently rub the chipped/brittle nails with a cotton ball immersed in olive or castor oil

2. Soaking of the nails in luke warm salt water for some time. And then applying a good moisturizing cream or tea tree oil on nails is very beneficial.

3. Avoid acetone on a regular basis as they tend to strip off fingernails of moisture and make them dry.

 

Have beautiful and healthy nails………………: ) agoodstuff

10 tips to increase volume in hair:

Pollution, variations in weather conditions, harmonic changes, unbalanced diets, improper selection of shampoos and a lot of other factors are responsible for hair fall and hence the overall depletion of the volume of your hair. Thin hair has to be treated internally by proper diet and consultation with your hair specialists, Ayurvedic or Homeopathy Doctors.

I have some smart ways to give some volume to your hair. Go thru them, they are easy and definitely gonna help you out:

·       Use volumizing shampoos(KérastaseGL Revitalizing Shampoo, Loreal Professional Volumizing Shampoo,Marc Anthony Thickening Shampoo, Joico Luxe Thickening Shampoo, Kiehl’s Ultimate Thickening Shampoo, Matrix Amplify volumizing shampoo, Himalaya volumizing shampoo, Fat Hair Thickening Shampoo, Nexxus Thickening Shampoo and many more) and use conditioner also by keeping away from hair roots and towards the middle and tail part.

·       Flip wet hair after shower and then use towel to dry it up. Lift the roots up by wrapping a towel for 5-10 minutes.

·       Use jaw clips to tie up the front hair and their roots to make a puff and then redo the making of puff with some more or less front hair to avoid kinks. Let your hair dry with natural air and whenever you plan to move out just remove the clips and comb them slightly and see the bouncy effect.( pic a)

 

·       To create bounciness and volume in front, hold the front mid section hair in upward direction and then do some up & down brushing of the back layers of this section(close to roots) with a narrow bristled comb. Release the front layer over it and pin up this layer at the back making puff.

·       If using a dryer, hold the front middle section of hair upwards and then blow dry the roots (pic b) .

·       In - Salon treatments are also very effective(if comes in budget) as they volumizes fine hair with nutrients, with chemicals which reconstructs the hair fibre.

·       Sleep in loose, tucked in braids! This not only keeps your hair hugging each other, but you'll wake up with pretty waves in the morning and can skip heating tools all together! Try a small, clear elastic at your ends.

·       Use a curler beneath your front mid section wet hair and keep it for few hours to get a big volume in front.

·       Some women don’t comb in wet hair and let them dry as such. This automatically increases the volume in hair but sometimes it weakens the hair while taking out kinks.

·       Avoid high ponytails as you might loose a lot of front hair or will have a sunflower look (as pulling your hair back tightly tends to break fragile front hair and an all day high ponytail will just increase the trouble of short, whispy hair in front.

Try up any or all these techniques and style up your hair in smarter ways to give them volume and good looks......................: ) agoodstuff

Tricolor 15th August food:

One more addition to tri-color food is the sprinkled veggies on idlis. The circle shape idlis are looking perfect for an Independence Day snack or a lunch box food for kids as well.

It requires the basic process of making idlis. Mix 1 cup semolina with 1 cup water, 2 spoons of curd and salt to taste. Stir it properly and add nore water if required as the consistency should be thick but spoon should be able to stir properly without effort. Keep it aside for 10 minutes and then add 1 sachet of Eno to it and mix it thoroughly. Now, grease the dhokla tray and then pour the paste into it. Sprinkle some shredded capsicum on one side, shredded carrot on another portion and keep one portion plain. Microwave it for 3.30 minutes. Now invert this tray on a plate and invert again to another plate. Cut circular idlis with help of a cutter or small bowl.

Arrange them in Flag color and serve with green coriander chutney and red imli chutney or ketchup for kids.

Enjoy the colors………………: ) agoodstuff

Independence Day Colors in Food

The tri-color in our Indian Flag is something I wanted to picturesque in my food. I made this recipe in a single color many times but this time I combined all three and tried to bring an Independence Day celebrative mood in my food as well.

The recipe involves boiling rice in three pans.

1. Boil plain rice with one tsp of oil and salt (as per taste and requirement)

2. Boil rice with shredded spinach/green peas + capsicum +leaves of spring onion and add one tsp of oil and salt (as per taste and requirement)

3. Boil rice with shredded orange carrot (which is not as sweet as red one so it is ideal for salty rice) and add one tsp of oil and salt (as per taste and requirement)

Serve the colors as in our flag with a bowl of boondi or any vegetable raita. My kids have demanded rajma with this as it is full of green peas/spinach and carrot.

Say no to artificial colors and go for colored veggies.

Happy Independence week to all Indians………………: ) agoodstuff

CANON EOS 600D SLR (18-55mm IS Lens )

Three of my friends bought Canon 600D SLR and here is the review with all pros and cons, to guide you, if you are also interested in buying this camera.

Let me give you a brief description of some of the important features of this DSLR camera:

*18 Megapixel Camera with a CMOS sensor

*It can record at Full HD (1920x1080) resolution at 30, 25 and 24 fps. It supports H.264 movie format and JPEG and RAW image format

* LCD has a resolution of 1040K dot pixels with 3:2 aspect ratio and has dual anti-reflection and anti smudge coating  

* A built-in wireless Speedlite transmitter

* Scene Intelligent Auto feature, automatically selects the best scene for user.

*The EOS 600D allows user to set up self time of 2 and 10 seconds and can shoot at continuous mode at 3.7 fps.

* Movie Digital Zoom, which allows 3-10x magnification even while shooting Full HD movie. In terms of connectivity, the 600D supports

USB and HDMI mini.

* Canon's latest generation of DIGIC processor, the DIGIC 4, is the brain of the camera and is responsible for the superb responsiveness of all EOS models. Faster and more powerful than its predecessor, the DIGIC 4 processor gives exceptional performance and low noise at higher ISO speeds. If taking pictures in darker conditions, even if the ISO is pushed to the limit, DIGIC processing applies Noise Reduction algorithms – it takes clarity with grains and preserves detail. The speed of DIGIC helps in low processing time for longer battery life and faster start-up times.

Canon EOS 600D SLR is available at a lot of online stores at the prices mentioned below:

•    Rs.29,484 at http://www.junglee.com  EF-S 18-55 IS Kit Lens (Black) with 4GB SD Card, Camera Bag
• ·  Rs.30,499 at http://www.snapdeal.com  with 2 Years Canon India Warranty and Free Transit Insurance , free 4GB SD Card + Carry case + 3/6
• · Rs.31,500 at http://www.amazon.in  with EF-S 18-55 IS Kit Lens (Black) with 4GB SD Card, Camera Bag
• ·  Rs. 33,945  at http://www.flipkart.com   with 2 Years Canon India Warranty and Free Transit Insurance, Free: 4GB SD (inside the box) + Camera Bag + Tripod + Lens Cleaner + SanDisk Ultra SDHC 8 GB 30MB/S Class 10+ 58 MM UV Filter (Total freebie Worth Rs 1750/-)

* (prices as on 8/9/13, for current price pls visit the above mentioned sites.)

Lets compare with its substitute in same range, i.e Nikon D500:

The image quality and price are the two important aspects in which Nikon scores higher than Canon but can’t beat the video quality in Canon 600D SLR. The wireless flash option which is in 600D (Canon) is a handy feature, which is not there in D5100 (Nikon) and external wireless flash transmitter cost too much.

Since both Canon (550D & 600) are priced equally, you better go for 600D as both have almost everything common except the swivel screen in 600D & some bunch of software filters for post processing.

Happy Snapping……………… : ) agoodstuff