Lets wrap it! HOW TO MAKE SHAWARMA AT HOME

I have to share with you the ultimate wrap -Chicken Shawarma. 

Shawarma should be really cooked by alternating strips of fat and pieces of seasoned meat on a stick and roasting it slowly on all sides in front of a flame for several hours. 

As this is not practical for the kitchen and of course not healthy with all the fat, but my husband was really craving for a Shawarma so I am trying to recreate it by balancing taste and health!

I made a wrap with pita bread instead of Arabic flat bread which is called Khobez, stuffed with chicken made on the griddle in a span of 10 minutes, lashings of Hellmann's flavoured mayonnaise, tomato, onion and cucumber salad, shredded lettuce.  So that is my version of home made Shawarma, tasty but effortless!  

Recipe for Cheats Chicken Shawarma

Makes  4 wraps

2  Chicken breasts (trimmed and sliced across into 3 slices and make small pieces, cooks faster)

4 Pita bread

2 tbsp Hellman's flavoured mayonnaise (I used garlic and pepper, 1 tbsp i.e. 15 ml is 40 kcal)

Salad for dressings (use veggies of your choice, I used lettuce, cucumber, tomato and onion. Onion was mixed with salt and little vinegar)

Marination Spices: 1 1/2 tsp Pepper

1/2 tsp dark soya sauce

1 1/2 tsp Ginger garlic paste

Salt to taste

No oil (surprised!) (Thus we can get away by using little mayonnaise dressing)

  Marinate the chicken for 30 mins.




Cook on a griddle without any oil. It gives the chicken the black roasted feel and taste. It should only take ten minutes or so to cook as the pieces are quite thin. Remove from the heat and allow to rest for a few minutes. Cut into strips on a wooden chopping board. 

Use plenty of salad for dressing.

 Mayonnaise dressing: 1 Tbsp of each i.e. pepper and garlic mayonnaise and add 2 tbsp water and whip with a fork to make it nice and smooth. Also add a pinch of fresh pepper for a zing.

Use the pita breads. Make pockets in the bread and heat for 3 seconds in the microwave.

Fill the pocket with the chicken, salads and dressings as per your liking.

Grill lightly

Wrap in a foil to protect your dressing dripping everywhere.

Enjoy with flavoured water and candle lit atmosphere for a wee Arabian feel! Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I did!

Different shades of the Sky!!

I had mentioned about my visit to the Dundee clinic in my earlier post. It has been lovely travelling all over Scotland by train as I can enjoy the beautiful scenery. No doubt people say that Scotland is beautiful! I have clicked a few snaps from my phone (not a great way to capture nature's beauty specially from the moving train, but had not carried my camera and thought some glimpses are better than none!)

I started early morning and captured the beautiful shades of the sky throughout the day!








The cities beaming under the sunshine.....

Farm....(many came by but could capture only this one through the speeding train)

Water fronts....

A dose of coffee for everyone and fruit time for me.....

and the bright sun to welcome as I enter Dundee ....

On my way to City Quay in Dundee. It is a located on the dock which has been a former entrance to busy harbour.

It is a beautifully located clinic! Feels like a holiday....but working!

On my way back the sun seems setting in...soon it will be dusk! I have always associated this with feeling of calmness when the buzz in the city settles down and the day kind off folds in.

Must be wondering where is the food....but yes this post is not about food - taste - health.....it is about my journey exploring Scotland all by myself! Hope you enjoy reading this bit...as it has been a learning experience to travel by myself, exploring new cities as I work across clinics and using the wonderful Scot rails :-)))))))

Spotted my first Rainbow in Edinburgh :-)

I had to share these clicks with you all. 

Day before yesterday I came across this beautiful Rainbow over Edinburgh which was very intense and clear. It is the first actual Rainbow that I've seen. I was so thrilled that I took so many photos to capture the best shot against the sun. Here are few of the snaps.



I was wondering after uploading these photos on the blog...that if I had that array of colours in my food choices, the fuller range of nutrients I would be getting in my diet!

 

 

 

So Catch a Rainbow on your plate Everyday! You can do that by having 5 portions of different fruits and vegetables in a day.

 

 

Swinging to Good Health!!

Weeks are quick these days visiting Tina O' Doherty's Clinics all over Scotland. Next for this week is Dundee.

Weekends are just about catching up over cleaning, cooking, self pampering and most vital sleep!

It is sometimes good that nothing is planned over the weekend because that just gives time to do things spontaneously....

I have been going for a walk on most evenings (have been doing this as the weather has been good, but can now feel the chill and winds of autumn and soon it will be winter.......tooo cold for me) at this park which is a hop-skip and jump from my house. Great way to unwind my day and take in some fresh air.

Today I had made up my mind that it is a weekend so break from walking...I have been eyeing the swings from a week.....thought to go on one of them and enjoy the light breeze! The feeling that I get on the swings is as if 'I am flying' :-)) Notice the big smile on my face.....

I did this for an hour while talking to my husband who also joined in my madness on the next swing! (not seen here as he is clicking the best snap of me where I look a little less messed).

The hour flied by and then we strolled in the park (we are in our flip flops as the weather is pleasant and rarely it is so if I can say so, quite a tongue twister)

As I stroll I feel my arms sore as if I have had a workout. Curiosity sets in to know how many calories have I burnt in this fun activity?

Here is a fitness insight to make a Good time spent Better: For every hour you swing ...you burn 200 calories! Yipee ...I was still burning calories having fun!

For a 140-pound person like me, walking briskly  or walking slowly uphill burns 160 to 180 calories per hour. So swinging has given me almost the same calorie burning effect!

Swinging is different than most workout programs as it makes you feel like a kid again.

 

 So my verdict: You're never too old to swing. Swinging is fun and an exercise too!

 So keep Swinging to Good Health!



Kitchen Tip: Storing Fresh Herbs

 I like using fresh herbs (more often coriander and mint leaves) in most of my dishes...and sure many of you'll must be too!

 

I grow mint and thyme in my kitchen garden, and I have to say they grow so well without much effort. But still need to buy packaged fresh herbs like corriander quite often.

Buying fresh herbs can be fairly expensive and I end up using  only a small amount for the two of us and   leaving the rest to turn into green goo. So I thought saving the herbs can be a worthwhile endeavour.
One way that I have seen my mom storing these herbs was cleaning the leaves and keeping them in air tight container. It somehow doesn't work for me as I find that they still get sticky, wither and die.
 
So looked up in some books on kitchen tips and found a doable solution.....roll up the cleaned leaves, but not washed in a piece or two of kitchen paper. Then slightly damp the paper towels and store them in zip lock bags. That is your herb sorted! I did this for my coriander last week , here are few snap shots for you'll to see.

The herbs last longer this way....around 2 -3 weeks. So keep your fresh herbs fresh for longer!

HandBag Healthy Essentials when you are on the go!



This week has been adventurous one on work front. I have travelled to Glasgow twice and this meant an early start, walking through unknown streets with the iPhone app Around me guiding me to my destination,  eating on the go, food temptations all around at the station and catching on some reading on my way back!

 

Waiting for my connecting train to Jordan hill from Glasgow Queen Street............

 

 

Lovely view from the window......

Get my hands on the Metro.....

So here I catch an interesting article- 'A coffee a day will keep your work pains away'...

 

Let me think..........Do I need a coffee to wake me up and keep me going! Have I ever been fixated to the coffee mania?

Even when I had to stay up all night to study for an exam, I used to never feel the need for a coffee, or caffeine. Some friends came up with caffeine magic potions like double strength black coffee with sugar, Chocolate over dose and the list went on...But with the caffeine came in the sugar and a lot of unwanted calories as well as heart burn!

 

 

So what do I have in my handbag....Have a sneak Peek!

 

 

They are my essentials ...Water, Fruit (a peach here), Ryvita (Cracked Black Pepper Crispbread made of whole grain Rye Flour)

 

It took me less than a second to gather these  and throw in my bag! (Took me more time to click a snap of them while rushing through last minute things ;-))

 

Ryvita are wholegrain rye crispbreads that come in so many yummy varieties like original, sweet onion, dark rye, sesame, multigrain, sunflower seed and oats, pumpkin seed and oats, fruit crunch, hint of chilli, Mediterranean herb and cracked black pepper.

Nutritional Facts of Ryvita per slice

Energy- 38 Kcal

Protein- 1.0 g

Carbohydrate- 7.3 g

Of which sugar- 0.3 g

Fat- 0.2 g

Of which saturates- trace

Fibre– 1.6 g

Sodium- 0.02 g

 

This helped me snack on healthy stuff when there were hot puffs, muffins, cookies, chips and many more easy temptations around.

 

That is my shadow in the mirrors on the way back home! Still have a lot of things on my To Do List...Writing this post off the list now!