Spice up your cooking with a hint of innovation!

Cooking can get really boring if you look at it as a mundane chore. Yet most of us cannot do without it. There is some good news though. There are hordes of innovative ways to spice up this task.  For people pressed for time and cannot afford to spend hours in the kitchen, let us try our hand with a few quick fix strategies to pep it up.

 Do some homework, set a menu! And plan your week ahead

Decide on what type of novel recipes you would like to explore in the week – a side dish, or a salad or any dessert! It could be an absolutely new variety of salads you have never tried before or an interesting global cuisine that you came across on a food show or a variety of soup recipes you found on the internet that claim to go easy on your tummies and give your dinners a healthy boost. Just make sure they are absolutely new on your menu. Make a day –wise planner for the entire week. Pick up those recipes that that do not mess up your calorie conscious diet regimes and take less time to prepare.  This is to ensure you come back to such fun activities in future.

Stick up the recipes of your choice on your kitchen’s cabinetry or fridge!

This way you have the ready reckoner available and you know what you plan to cook. It

Today’s menu

should also help you shop accordingly. Shop for all the ingredients you need in advance so that you don’t foil this fun assignment half way through.

Get the soup boiling and record the fun experience!

Take a quick look at your note every morning when you enter the kitchen. Look forward to that day’s menu and the episode of fun that comes along.  Start cooking and get the fun trip rolling. Take some random pictures all the way long right from when you start shopping till you lay them down on the table. It’s a beautiful experience when you look back once the activity is over. If it enthused you more than your expectations, get people to write some comments on the pictures and stick them up on your cabinetry of refrigerator for a few days. You can even post them on your blog too.

Try doing this activity once in a while. Makes one and all happy!

Green up life in apartments with Houseplants!

Pets are great stress busters! It is a well known fact. Equally true is the fact that plants do the same and often much more. In today’s fast paced life with limited leisure, it is very vital to make those few hours you spend at home a quality deal!

Let us take a quick look at how cultivating a small garden in your home helps you refine your limited living space.

• House plants clean and purify the air in the house. Every little aspect helps given the growing pollution levels in metro cities these days.

• A little greenery in and around the house boosts your spirit or soothes your worked out nerves after a long day’s work.

• Houseplants generally come in different shades of colors and most of them are flowering plants. They decorate your house with vibrant shades from god’s very own palette.

Start it simple! Make use of old plastic mugs or containers that allow plants to breathe a bit. Place them where they receive ample amount of sunlight. Window sills or balconies are ideal spots. If space is unusually limited, you could create wire hangings from roofs or rails around. Choose herbs to kick start the hobby. Coriander, Mint, Spring Onions, Salad Greens, Tulsi are easy to grow.

Depending on the type of plants you choose, over time you may even get to revel in the luxury of a meal made from your own kitchen grown vegetables and herbs. Imagine whiffing that fresh scent of mint in the morning!

You get perked up when you get to feel your first fruit of the effort. A cup of fresh mint or tulsi tea from your garden or dressing your curries with a bunch of freshly cut coriander from your own little plants grown with so much of love and attention.

The beauty of this hobby is that the efforts are not only yours. God contributes to it in a great way too. Your little plants do their bit in making your life a little more enjoyable.