Back to 5:2 in the new year - Recipe for Yogurt-Salad ~120 cals

Dahi-Veggies Chaat or a Yogurt-Veggie Salad
Makes for a good lunch, easy to carry to work too, you can mix up the ingredients before eating

100 gram yogurt - 58cal
1/2 cucumber (87gram) 10 cal
small onion (40gram) 18 cal
a piece of capsicum (30gram) 6 cal
homemade green chutney (2 tsp) 10 cal (rough estimate)
1/2 tsp of sweet chutney (Dr.Oetkar's / FunFood)~10 cal

Total of 114 cal for a medium bowl full of veggies and yogurt
You can omit the sweet chutney but it makes it more fun. 
I had this for lunch today. 

My schedule since morning:
1 cup tea with 2-3 tsp of milk ~10 cal
1 mug coffee with 4 tbsp /60ml milk ~38 cal
1 cup tea with 4 tsp milk ~12 cal

I have 320 cal left for dinner - phew :)

Week 5 / fast 9 and recipe for 200 cal eggplant lasagna

Morning coffee with 2 tsp milk ~10 cal
Lots of green tea
Chai with 3-4 tsp milk x2 ~20 cal
2 Marie biscuits ~40 cal

few pieces of watermelon~50 cal
Eggplant lasagna for dinner - 200 cals
Ended the day at 320 calories

Also managed a 250 calorie workout today- such a high and hardly any cravings or hunger pangs.

Dinner
Recipe for Eggplant Lasagna ~200 cals
1 serving

Eggplant Lasagna - Low cal dinner

Ingredients
100 gram (very thinly) sliced and boiled eggplant (in salt) ~ 35 cal
240 grams (1 cup) cooked, peeled and chopped tomatoes ~44 cal
1 tsp evoo - 40 cal
3 cloves garlic, grated
dried herbs and fresh rosemary
1 slice cheese~62 cal

Directions
In a small pan, heat olive oil. Grate garlic into it and saute for few seconds. Crush the chopped tomatoes and add to this along with some salt, pinch of sugar and bring to a simmer. Add any dried herbs along with some fresh herbs. Simmer for 5 mins and keep aside.
In a small oven proof dish, place 2 tsp of tomato sauce and spread it.
Layer eggplant on this. Top with tomato sauce.
One more layer of eggplant on this and finally add all the remaining tomato sauce. Spread evenly.
Shred the cheese slice into thin strips and place on top.
You can either bake this at 190C for 5-7 minutes until cheese melts or use grill function of microwave for 3 minutes.
Sprinkle some crushed dried herbs on top along with black pepper.
Eat while still hot.

Week 4 /Fast 7 - recipe for a vegetarian 220 cal dinner

Am quite looking forward to mondays - my day of healing, learning to love the hunger pangs and the (hopefully) shrinking waistline from it all :)

Morning-Afternoon 3 teas with 8 tsp milk in all (24 cal)

Drinking a lot of cucumber-mint-ginger flavoured water

Afternoon - Saffola Veggie Twist Masala Oats (157 cal) with 10 cal worth greens chopped up
(167 cal)

Dinner - Mung sprout sprout with mixed veggies on the side
 (Quite unbelievable at ~220 calories (actual calorie count comes to 208, but I added an extra 12 calories for misc spice powders etc.)

For the Mung sprouts pancake (Pesarattu) - 76 cals
Ingredients
100 grams Mung sprouts - 31 calories 
Ginger+ green chilli - 5 cal
1 tsp oil - 40 cal 


How to:

Grind the moong sprouts, ginger, chilli with some salt and water to form a pancake batter.

On a non stick skillet, make one large pancake-a few drops of oil on this side. After 3-4 min on medium flame, flip over the golden side and turn and cook the other side. 

Cook on both sides and serve warm.

Fat-Free Dry Mixed Veg Curry (73 cals) or  132 cals with yogurt-pomegranate 

Ingredients
1 garlic clove
1/2 tsp each cumin seeds, mustard seeds
100 gram cauliflower -25 cal (broken into small florets- wash well and keep aside)

1 carrot small - 20 cal

1 cup chopped red cabbage  -28 cal

Coriander powder 1 tsp

Chili powder 1/4 tsp

turmeric powder 1/4 tsp

Curry powder 1 tsp

salt
water

to Serve2 tbsp Yogurt -50 cal
1 tbsp Pomegranate seeds  - 9 cals

How to make curry

In a wok, dry fry the chopped garlic, cumin and mustard seeds, until mustard pops. 

Add the cauliflower, carrot and cabbage - spice powders, toss well.

Add 1/4 cup water - cover and cook on low flame until done and water has evaporated.

Garnish with fresh coriander or some crushed kasoori Methi (dried fenugreek leaves)

I had this with a small dollop of yogurt topped with a few pomegranate seeds 

Count for the day is ~450 calories

Week 3 / Fast 6

Morning - 2 cups tea (2 tsp milk) 6 cal each - 12 cal
Coffee - 4 tsp milk- 15 cal
Homemade rasam - one mug - 60 cal
Afternoon - 1 cup tea with 2 Marie Biscuits (6+37) 43 cal

I have 370 cals left for dinner
YAY

REALLY SEXY VEGGIE-LENTIL-TOFU STEW
235 calories

100 gram Zucchini (17 cal) - diced
100 gram red cabbage (30 cal) -shredded
40 gram onion (1 small) 18 cal - sliced
1 tbsp tomato paste (15 cal)
100 gram tofu (75cal) - cubed
2 tbsp yellow split moong dal (75 cal) - wash well and drain
1 garlic clove - finely minced
1/2 tsp grated ginger
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
2 Thai chillies
1 maggi stock cube (5 cal)

In a pan, dry saute cumin until it smells smoky. Add the sliced onion, chillies and garlic and dry saute on low flame till slightly soft. Add 2 tbsp water and salt, saute some more.
Add all the remaining ingredients, 2 cups water, cover and cook on a low flame for 15 minutes or until the dal is cooked.

A sample feast day

Yesterday's fast day clocked well under 400 cals! Am i pleased or what. Since I had started the fast around 5.30 pm on the previous day (having skipped dinner) - I could eat something as soon as I woke up in the morning.

6.30 am - slice of banana bread baked the previous day

7 am - ginger chai with 1 tsp REAL sugar :D

9 am- 2 Pesarattu with a bit of jaggery and milagai podi with oil

11 am - another chai - no sugar

1pm - lunch will be Beans usili, broken wheat, keerai -vendhaya kozhambu

Fast 5 / Week 3

Morning drink - green tea (0 cal)

Mid morning drink - ginger tea with 2 tsp milk (6 cal)

12noon - Knorr cuppa magic masala - 60 cal

1 pm - Very thin buttermilk - 25 cal

Afternoon: Coffee with 4 tsp milk - 12 cal
Green tea

My fast day dinner salad - 172 cal
2 boiled eggs -132 cals
40 gram rocket- 10 cals
1 tomato (60g) 10 cals
2 tbsp yogurt-mint-red wine-lemon vinegar dressing ~20 cal

Since I've had only 100 cal since morning, i had 400 calories available for dinner- wondering what to eat/drink now for leftover 228 calories  I feel so happy about this  

Jamie Oliver's recipe http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/zingy-fat-free-dressing - do try this dressing, it's fab for fast days, zero oil.

Fast 3/Week 2

TOTAL TALLY FOR THE DAY - 442 CAL plus ended up tasting some food i was cooking, so kept it 50 cal less than target 500



Morning tea: 15 cal

Late breakfast: 165 cal
My BIG bowl of breakfast today:
Mixed up 1 pack (40g) Saffola Plain masala Oats (152 cal)
1 chopped garlic (negligible)
Handful of lettuce chopped + 1 piece zucchini grated (10-15 cal)
Microwaved with 2 cups water for 3 minutes
Squeeze of lemon
SO DELICIOUS - okay may be a little over 160, but the lettuce and zucchini add so much bulk with negligible calories (lettuce 1 cup chopped is 8 cals) and 1 cup zucchini is 20cals
And garlic and lemon are flavour bombs- SO important to add a ton of flavour when you eating less and cooking with no oil. These ready flavoured Oats packets are lifesavers-but they are quite high on salt so making them into a soup with lots of water dilutes the salt effect considerably, also when you add in some chopped leaves/veggies.

Afternoon tea - 10 cal
Evening tea-10 cal

Munchies - 3 Monaco biscuits (salt crackers) 42 cal
Dinner: 225 cal
2 eggs - 66x2=135 cal
1 tsp oil=40 cal
Veggies (yellow cherry tomatoes, zucchini, red bell pepper sauteed with garlic) 50 cal