Sweet Pea and Feta Cheese Pasta Salad

Salad Sunday #1               

Healthier. Eating healthy. Healthy Living……. A huge list of these ‘healthy’ titles have taken over the internet. This healthy living is like a disease that people are catching. Even myself. Yes, Ayesha who basically runs away from most H words, except Hershey’s. But to be honest, these past few days I’ve been wondering if I should lead a healthier life style. That means REDUCING high calorie foods from my everyday life. Notice that I said reducing and not ERADICATING? Yep, I’m going to have high calorie stuff, but not  too much. Just now and then. This is not about weight(okay, so maybe it’s about that one pound I’ve gained in the last week), it’s about health. It’s about…errr……feeling good. It’s about feeling happy. (Let’s be serious, I can’t be all those until I get chocolate). Anyway weight is important to me. I don’t want to look like a pear or a football in near future(Those who feel good looking like that please don’t feel offended.By all means eat what you like. It’s just me I’m talking about.Personal opinions, you see?) So this is a Betty Crocker recipe I’ve modified to suit my own taste. All I can say is that when it comes to salads, It’s one of the tastiest.

Prep Time:25 min

Servings:6

•  3 cups Farfalle (bow-tie) pasta(8 oz)
• 2 cups frozen sweet peas(12 oz bag)
• 2 tbsp chopped parsley
• 1 egg boiled cut into cubes( Yolk discarded)
• 3/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 cup feta cheese grated (4 oz)
• 1 clove garlic finely chopped
• 1/4 cup olive oil

• Cook and drain pasta as directed on the package, adding frozen peas during the last 4 minutes of cooking time. Rinse with cool water and drain.
• In a salad bowl toss all ingredients together except olive oil. Drizzle olive oil after the salad is made.

Per serving: 310 calories  

I will be posting one salad recipe every Sunday. I’ll have these salads in place of lunch, so they have to taste good. So yeah, will need to think  a bit for that. Hopefully,I ‘ll remember to  post Salad Sunday #2 next week. 

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Delectable Low Calorie Pizza!

    I was a little low today. Maybe because of a dream-cum-movie( It was hours long!) I watched while asleep. I wouldn’t call it a nightmare. It was, for the want of a better word,’zany’. The kind of bizarre film that leave you feeling lethargic. Anyway I should be happy that it wasn’t Paranormal Activity 5. It could have been, given that I read a lot of true horror stories yesterday. An American haunting(truth behind it) and The exorcism of Emily Rose(truth behind it) being just two of them. Pictures never lie, words may or may not. These stories are accompanied with pictures of the horrifying details.I cried and even prayed for the alleged victims. Do we ever wonder how blessed we are,like ever?  If we look at those who actually suffer, we might stop whining about our so-called miserable lives and start being thankful for once. A lot of us don’t even know the S of suffering, and God forbid that we ever do. Its about time we began looking at the fuller part of the glass, rather than moan about the empty space. Anyway, I had to do something to get rid of yesterdays lethargic sadness. For that I made a feel good pizza today. It was the most absolutely delicious one ever. And there was no guilt, since it was low-fat. Not overloaded with cheese like pizzas usually are. To accompany the pizza I also read a lovely novel ” I’ve got your number” by the absolutely marvelous, my all-time favorite author Sophie Kinsella. For those of you who don’t know Kinsella, I pity you. She writes such light, witty ,amazing novels and has such a perfect comic timing. I was left absolutely refreshed and revitalized after the pizza and the novel! 

 

What you Need(For Dough)

• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp yeast
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 tbsp Yogurt

Method(Dough)

• Dissolve sugar and yeast in 4 tbsp warm water
• Mix rest of the ingredients
• Knead to make a soft dough(With warm water)
• Cover it with cloth. And leave it to rise for 1 hour.
• After one hour roll out the dough. Personally I prefer a thin crust over a thick one.But roll out as you wish.

What you need(for Topping)

• 1 small onion diced
• 3/4 cup boiled and shredded chicken
• 1 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp all purpose flour
• 1 cup milk
• salt to taste
• 1 tsp black pepper powder
• 1 tsp oregano powder
• 1 capsicum diced
• 1 carrot diced
• 2 spring onions chopped
• 4 green chilies sliced 
• 1 egg beaten

Method( Topping)

• Melt butter, add onions,cook till transparent.Add capsicum,salt,black pepper and oregano.
• Add flour. Stir and cook for a minute
• Add milk and cook till it thickens.
• Add green chili,spring onion,carrot and shredded chicken.
• Leave this filling to cool.

For Garnishing(Sprinkle over Topping before and NOT after baking )

• 5 tbsp Cheddar cheese. Yes that’s all the cheese in our pizza. Just slice it all over the pizza randomly.
• One small tomato sliced. Place slices randomly over the pizza.

Tip

* I bake the rolled out dough for 10 minutes BEFORE applying topping on it. The crust is firmer and tastier. The rest of baking will take place after applying the topping( that is 10-15 minutes more). Overall 20-25 minutes.