No-frills Bow Pasta in Tomato-Basil Pesto Sauce

There are so many posts lying in my drafts with pictures cropped, colour-corrected and uploaded… yet I haven’t been posting as regularly as I should. Mostly because I feel I have nothing new to say! Hmm... And if you are suggesting I just write a non-nonsense recipe, what’s there to say, then you really don’t know me. I have to say(write) something before I type in the dish of the day. Otherwise I feel like a failure :l

Strange, no? I put pressure on myself and then feel bad that I haven’t delivered. What a vicious cycle I tell you! 

So… Pasta. Yup… that ubiquitous dish that crops up on every blog. So how is my Pasta recipe different from any other? Umm… am not sure really. It’s easy? It’s so easy that it ‘s out of a bottle? Oh, and it has lotsa vegetables! Ok, it is super yummy.  Oh well…. I give up. It’s no gourmet dish. This pasta is regular, unoriginal and even the picture looks so bleh… but it is hearty and tasty. So if you are craving some minimum effort, no-frills, good food - you can turn to this post.

Moodiness and Muri Mixture

Statutory Warning - Long rambling post follows! Just skip to the recipe below if you are in no mood to be subjected to my ranting... Also to apportion blame where it is due, 2 fellow bloggers - Maria and Lakshmi, inspired me to assault your senses with this overdose of philosophy, verbosity and self-analysis :)

So...What do you do when you feel detached from the world? Ummm… no, I’m not talking about the Buddha’s nirvana kind of detachment, but more of a ‘meh! I-couldn’t-be-bothered-making-small-talk-with-anyone’ kinda detachment. And it’s not just that… It’s like all of a sudden, my threshold for people in general has gone down. People I have earlier thought I was close to – I find I have nothing to say to them anymore. Either I have really outgrown them or I’m in an extreme anti-social mode. 

I even went through my phonebook and deleted all those contacts I can do without now. Quite something, huh? I have always been told that I have way too many friends in way too many places all over the world. And now I believe is the time for pruning… I don’t know why, but it just feels right. So many people in our lives who mean nothing and yet we struggle to keep in touch, be friendly, make polite conversation… Why make so much effort? And then there are those who meant everything at a point and are no longer a part of our lives today...

Mini Meal #2 - Pasta with Grilled Vegetables

I know I started the Mini-Meal series with great optimism about my gymming and following a healthy diet plan, but I must admit the inevitable has happened. I have bid adieu to the gym and haven't exercised in the last 1 month :( The good thing is at least I haven't paid a year's gym fee in advance!

But I'm still trying to follow the 6 meals a day diet in an attempt to maintain some semblance of fitness... so here's a really simple pasta dish that works great as a filling and nutritious snack or mini-meal.

The Mini Meal series: Of Gyms, Diets and Size Zeroes!

I hate gyms. And I have always hated the idea of working out. My only other tryst with gymming was more than 5 years ago when I enrolled at a gym along with a bunch of office colleagues and paid a 3 month fee upfront. Yes, you guessed it right - I actually went for less than about a week! And no, there was no fee refund. So I surprised myself when I started going to the gym again about a month ago (thanks to G's company)... not in any effort to lose weight, but to have some form of exercise worked into my daily routine now that I am on a break from work and have a tendency to just vegetate for hours together reading a book, watching True Blood or surfing blogs!

So the fact that I have been (almost) regularly working out for a month now is really quite something! Though I have a sinking feeling that this enthusiasm may not last too long, I'm making the best use of it while it lasts. And a part of that effort is the decision to eat right. You see around the same time that I joined the gym, I read this book "Don't Lose Your Mind, Lose Your Weight" by Rujuta Diwekar - the nutritionist who trains Kareena Kapoor and is said to be responsible for her "size-zero" frame!

Before all you readers baulk and run away from my blog, let me assure you I have no intentions of being a Size Zero! But Rujuta Diwekar's entire fitness mantra had me hooked. It is not about starving or "dieting", but eating balanced meals and eating every 2 hours in the day. So that means, other than your regular 3 meals, you need at least 3 "mini-meals". And this is the regimen I have been trying to follow for me as well as Sid. Of course this means that Sid ends up lugging a bag full of big and little boxes to work containing roti-subzi, fruits, nuts, salads and rolls or sandwiches! But who said keeping fit was easy??! :D

So anyway, this whole regimen now means I have to think up of new and innovative, yet quick and easy mini-meals everyday. And what better way to record them than on the blog? So here is the first in my series of Mini Meals...

Mushroom Rolls

Ingredients:
Button Mushrooms - 200gms
Onions - 1
Garlic - 8 cloves
Soy sauce - 1/2 tsp
Tomato sauce - as per taste
Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil
Rotis - 2

Wash , clean and quarter the button mushrooms and thinly slice the onion. Chop the garlic cloves finely or mince them if you like. In a pan, heat 1 tbsp of Olive Oil and fry the garlic till golden brown. Add the mushroom and saute for 5min. Sprinkle some salt and pepper and continue to cook till there is no water left in the pan released by the mushrooms.

Divide the mushrooms into 2 or 3 portions, add the raw sliced onions, a bit of soy and tomato sauces and roll them up into the rotis. Use a toothpick to keep them in place or just wrap them up in aluminium foil for a take-away Mini Meal.