A yummy and healthy treat is possible with simple items like oats, cheese, vegetables and eggs available in your kitchen. There is no need to go to top supermarkets to buy imported items to put heavenly food on the dining table. In today’s world where diabetes, obesity and blood pressure is affecting the health of most people, our food plays a vital role in either exposing us to health risks or keeping us safe from them. Are you a figure conscious food connoisseur with fine taste buds? OK, let’s be healthy and enjoy the recipes below. The most delicious thing about them is they don’t consume much of your time.

Diet baked Palak Paneer (spinach with cottage cheese)

Ideal for diabetics

Serves 4

Ingredients:

One bunch of fresh spinach leaves

1 teaspoon of ginger garlic paste

1teaspoon of olive oil

2 tablespoon of oats for binding

One cup of cottage cheese

Preparation time: 35-40 minutes

Method:

Wash a bunch of fresh spinach leaves thoroughly and chop them well.

In a non-stick pan, add 1 teaspoon of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of oats flour or whole oats.

Sauté well. Add crushed garlic, salt and black pepper to taste.

Mix and cook well.

Add spinach and cook for another 2 minutes.

Keep aside.

Chop 1/2 kg low-fat cottage cheese (homemade/readymade).

Take a square piece of aluminum foil, grease it with olive oil and set the spinach over it in a square shape.

Pour chopped cheese over it and start rolling the foil from both ends and bake it for 20 minutes at 180 C.

Once baked, let it cool down for 5 minutes.

Unwrap the foil slowly and cut your spinach cheese into pieces and enjoy.

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Tricolor whole-wheat porridge (Lunch)

Serves 2

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

Two cups of crushed or whole wheat

Two grated carrots

Salt and pepper

Ginger garlic paste 1 teaspoon

One tomato chopped

Chopped coriander and mint leaves

Method:

Boil wheat in 2 cups of water.

Add salt.

Once boiled, divide it into 3 equal parts.

Take 1 teaspoon of olive oil in a nonstick pan.

Add ginger garlic paste.

Mix all well.

Add tomato, red chilly and salt to taste.

Add carrots and one part boiled wheat, cook for few minutes and set it in a greased bowl at the bottom.

Second layer:

Take the second part of boiled wheat, add half teaspoon of olive oil, sprinkle it with crushed pepper (chopped boneless chicken can be added if you like).

Layer it above the first layer.

Final layer:

Take one teaspoon of olive oil (mint and coriander blended)

Mix it with third part of boiled wheat.

Cook for a while and pour in the bowl as the final layer.

Put a plate over the bowl and dish it out.

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Soya leaves and egg rolls (Breakfast)

Serves 2

Preparation time: 8 to 10 minutes

Ingredients:

Two eggs

A bunch of soya leaves (washed and chopped)

Few olives chopped

Salt and pepper

One tablespoon low-fat milk

Hot sauce (optional)

Method:

Separate egg yolk from egg white.

Beat them separately.

Add soya leaves, salt and pepper.

Pour one tablespoon milk in yolk.

Beat well.

Add olives, pepper and 1 tablespoon milk in egg whites.

Beat well.

Now spread beaten egg yolk on a greased pan.

Spread egg whites over it.

Flip it and roll it.

You can add hot sauce (optional).

Cut it and enjoy your breakfast.

(Hadeel Yousuf, a housewife, is a self-made chef based in Riyadh. She has been experimenting and coming up with newer recipes for a long time. Her recipes appear in India’s leading daily ‘The Hindu’. Her fan base on her Facebook page — Hadeel’s Healthy Lifestyle — is rapidly expanding.)

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Email: [email protected]