A matter of balance and some Christmas thoughts too

A balanced tiffin

While Daily Tiffin is busy with Christmas celebrations and tips, I'd like to sneak in a short post about the kind of tiffins I indulge DH with. It's generally a portion of healthy carbs, a portion of protein from lentils or legumes and a portion of vegetables.

What's in it?

This tiffin has 2 whole wheat chapatis (Indian flat bread), sauteed cabbage shreds and a black eyed peas curry to dip into.

The smaller tiffin is for days when he gets delayed in office. The dry roasted peanuts are for the energy to keep going and a couple of dried apricots because he loves them. A couple of 'Kisses' - Hershey's Dark Chocolate are for the endorphine boost to beat the stress at work.

Kid variation

A similar lunch box for the kiddies would be a sandwich stuffed with sauteed vegetable filling. The black eyed peas curry could be whipped in a blender to make a smooth dip for the sandwich. The fruit-nut-chocolate box treat could go in as it is.

Why is this good?

Legumes and lentils like black eyed peas, make sure your blood sugar rises up gradually and not shoots up and down erratically making you even more hungry at the sugar low. These are not only loaded in protein (a great source for vegetarians) but also in fiber. The advantages of fiber are only too well known. Read this to know more about the goodness of lentils. Investing in a small pressure cooker will make cooking different kinds of lentils a breeze of a task without any prior planning. These black eyed peas get cooked to a soft consistency in just 5 minutes of pressure cooking after a 2 hour soak. Even if you forget to soak them, no problems. Just pressure cook for 5 more minutes.

Green leafy vegetables like cabbage of the Brassica family, are rich in cancer fighting anti-oxidants and you could easily make this saute with a ready cole-slaw mix pack from the supermarket. That way, all it'll take you is 5-7 minutes of the sauteeing time. It's wise not to combine high starch veggies with carbohydrate sources, like bread and potatoes or chapatis and peas. That was you end up eating more from one group and less of the other.

Music for Christmas

As my team-mates on DT are giving you Christmas gift ideas, I'd like to share with you my favourite albums to jazz up your Christmas spirit.

Ella Fitzgerald's Christmas

Frank Sinatra Christmas Collection

The Spirit of Christmas - Ray Charles


Interesting reads

While you are running in a frenzy trying to shop, cook, bake and mind your kids all at the same time, these Top 12 Chilli Out Tips will be real handy.

Gratification overload is hitting many families this festive season. Read about it here.


This Post was written by Nandita from Saffron Trail.


Tags: Balanced lunch box, Lentils, Cabbage, Christmas music, Christmas tips