Chettinadu Lamb Curry and Green Beans Poriyal

Oh, what a perfect day today has been, with respect to my diet! Started the day with a 3 berries 'n' banana shake with soy milk and whey protein. For lunch, I tried cooking Chettinad Lamb Curry and garlic-beans-spinach poriyal based on the recipes from Arusuvai.com. The lamb curry turned out to be spicier than I prefer, but still I found it to be tasty with a nice aroma of black pepper!

by the way, here are some nutritional highlights of lamb and green beans from whfoods:

• 100 gms of lamb provided 100% of Trytophan - a essential amino acid thats increases Serotonin levels in the brain as well as Melatonin. Seratonin, as you might have heard is a neurotransmitter that affects Appetite, Sleep, Sex Drive, Attention and Pain. (the ubiquitous pill :-) Prozac works by increasing Seratonin levels to treat depression, OCD etc.,) In addition, Melatonin also induces sleep. So, eat more Lamb when you are depressed or want to relax ;-)

• 100 gms of Lamb also provides around 40% of Selenium, vitamin B12 (), vitamin B3 (Niacin), 25% zinc (boosts immunity), 20 % phosphorus (increases calcium absorption)

• Since Lamb has Purines which are broken into uric acid, people with gout or kidney stones should limit their intake of lamb :-(

• 125 gms of green beans provides 25% vitamin K (aids blood coagulation), 20% vitamin C, 18% manganese (aids healthy skin, bone, cartilage formation), 16% vitamin A(vision), 16% Fiber, 10% Potassium, 10% Folate, 9% iron!
  

In the evening, after burning some 700 calories in a elliptical :-) , I made a quick dinner burrito with a multi-grain tortilla (130 cals, 5 gms fiber, 5 gms protein) with some lamb curry pieces, some yogurt and the left over beans poriyal!

and then had a mango for dessert :-)

hmmm... wish everyday I ate healthy food like this!

Free Audiobooks from LibriVox

Hearing about Helen Keller in recent news about some new photos of her, I was searching for the audio book of her autobiography, 'The Story of My Life' and found it in LibriVox's website - This is a project for offering free audio books of famous books in the public domain. Here are two books that I am listening to, while panting in the gym :-)

Story of My Life - by Helen Keller

Origin of Species - by Charles Darwin

There is also, works of Jane Austen, Mark Twain etc.,

I feel that LibriVox is a perfect complement of Project Gutenberg which provides free e-books in public domain!

Indianized Black-Eyed Peas Chili!

okay, I am calling this dish as "Chili" just for lack of a better term - or may be call it Hummus ? though it does not have any Tahini and Olive Oil! some other closer indian names could be "Chutney" or "Thuvayal" or "Thogayal" :-) in my my mother tongue (Tamil)...

anyways, whats in a name - don't we all know that "A Dish by any other name would taste as Good" :-) I loved its taste and I just ate it without even bread or something - it kind of tasted similar to "Ven Pongal" and I have to admit that I found it's taste so irresistible that I ate like 2 cups of black-eyed peas just standing in the kitchen :-) and still had the satisfaction of eating a perfect meal (low fat, high protein, high fiber :-))

oh, here's the 1-line "recipe" :-) just fry 1 or 2 green chillies, 1 tbsp cumin, 1 tsp turmeric and grind the fried mixture along with 2 cups of boiled black-eyed peas and 2 tbsp (or less) of coconut and Voila!

here are some nutritional tidbit that make me love this dish and eat it more often :-)

• Black-eyed peas is one of the top low carb beans - only 116 cals per cup compared to 164 cals per cup of garbanzo beans (here is the beans nutrition comparison table)
• Has good soluble and insoluble fiber that will give all the goodness of fiber including satiety, good glycemic index, avoid constipation, reduce blood cholesterol in the long run etc., :-)

Enjoy!