Potatoes for Skin Care

Talk about a relaxed afternoon at home and there are high chances that you imagine yourself on a couch, gorging on to your favourite homemade potato chips. Potatoes in Indian culture and around the globe are an imperative part of diet. This is one of the most widely and commonly found vegetable in any kitchen. 

Apart from being used as an eatable in form of homemade potato chips or in any other eating variety, potato plays an important role in the skin care routine. Being rich in Vitamin C it is a wonder in maintain a healthy skin. These are the associated skin care benefits of this starchy vegetable:

-Removing Dark Circles

Potatoes naturally help you to brighten under the eye. Therefore applying potato juice or the slice of it directly helps in getting rid of dark circles.

Start by peeling and slicing a potato into large pieces. Place them in a cloth or handkerchief and put it on your eyes for the following 15-20 minutes. Wash it using warm water. Practising the method regularly shows a visible lightening under the eyes.

-Wrinkle Treatment

Potato is known to be an anti-ageing organic ingredient. Routine application of potato slice or juice to the skin helps in flaunting a natural glow. While softening the skin it keeps wrinkles at bay.

-Treating Dark Spots

This starchy vegetable helps in curing dark circles in the most natural way. For dark spots blend the peeled potatoes and apply those directly on your face. Give a gentle massage. Let them stay for 5 minutes and clean it with clear water.

So instead of munching on fried potatoes with pizza pasta sauce it is better to give quality time to your skin care.

-Keeping Sunburn at Bay

Being an organic remedy for treating sun burn, the treatment procedure is also simple. Begin by placing cold potato slices on the affected area or apply potato juice on the affected area using cotton. Giving a cooling sensation it diminishes the suntan.

The Best Packed Food To Hoard Up

Do you find yourself often too busy to grab a meal? Do you live alone and mostly find your kitchen a mess stockpiled on rotten food? Are you spending extraordinarily to grab snacks from outside to suppress those hunger pangs? An affirmation to these is a clear sign you are struggling to balance out a busy life or you are absolutely hopeless at cooking. Whatever the cause may be your nutritional needs are taking a hit in the course.

 

So to help you out with this, we have put together a list of must have packed or semi ready food items, that can cure you of hunger in no time.
 

Homemade Potato Chips- These are healthier than the average wafer you eat all day long. Refill your 

stock every weekend and prefer buying multiple but smaller packets. That way you will eat in moderation.
 

Coffee Beans and a coffee maker- If you don’t have them already, go get them now. An absolute must for any workaholic; this is the thing that keeps you moving through the day.
 

Dry Milk- How many times do you forget to buy milk or run out of it before you can refill? Just keep a big packet of dry milk handy. They have good shelf life and all you have to do is resist putting in a wet spoon, and they will last forever.
 

Pizza Pasta Sauce- Hungry at odd hours? Just put to boil a bowl of penne pasta in the microwave while you do your stuff. Add diced onions a generous splash of sauce in a skillet with heated oil and mix well with boiled pasta.
 

Oat meal or Muesli- It is the healthiest and quickest breakfast on earth. It is also very filling and keeps hunger away till midday. So, keep it, stick to it, make it a habit.
 

Jams, Marmalades, sandwich spreads- Just put them on a toast or a chappati and a quick and tasty refill is ready.
 

So, with these staples stocked up in your kitchen, your bachelor life should be happy and gay   
  

Homemade Mayonnaise

All your salads, burgers, sandwiches and toasts would be so bland without a perfect mayo. While licking on a fresh batch, I wonder how one thing can be so versatile and delicious at the same time. It is certainly one of my kitchen staples, what about you?

Well, if you are as fond of it as I am you will certainly appreciate the homemade mayonnaise sauce recipe. It’s the smoothest, lightest, fluffiest and tastiest of what you have ever had. Though, the flip side is it has a short shelf life and it’s not always feasible to whip your own mayo every time you want to have a sandwich.
 

I prefer Mrs Bector’s mayonnaise or their Thousand Island dressing India as it is the closest to the homemade version and when I can find the time, I make my own. Here’s how I do it.
Ingredients
1¼ Cups of cooking oil (divided)
2 egg yolks
½ tsp. English mustard powder
Salt
1 tbsp. lemon juice
 

Recipe
 

Well, it does not need a diploma in cooking to make the perfect mayo but yes, you can use up a lot of patience while doing it as you are set to do the impossible. Actually, it is an emulsion (a mixture of two liquids that wouldn’t naturally mix). So, to help it emulsify properly allow all the ingredients to be at room temperature and not cold.  
 

Going on, the humble kitchen ingredients needed for mayonnaise sauce recipe are a big mixing bowl, 

a kitchen towel, and a hand blender. Initially, you can put in the eggs, salt and mustard together and whisk for a while. Now add ¼ cup of oil and mix again. Now start pouring the remaining oil in a thin stream and keep mixing with the blender. The slower you’d be with the oil, the fluffier and lighter your mayonnaise will be. Finally put in the lemon juice and stir. You can use it within a day or two when refrigerated properly.
 

So, enjoy the homemade sauce. 

Types Of Potato Chips

Have you ever wondered why the texture of one brand of chips tasted different? Is it the difference in the variety of potatoes or is it just the way they are processed?

You are right. Mostly the difference in crispness, thickness and texture can be attributed to the way they are processed. You might have observed the fancy names under which they are sold, but had no clue what they were. The uniformly favourite crispy potato chips do come in a lot of variety. And by that we don’t mean just flavours.
 

Curious to know what you are eating and how it is made? Here is a list of every possible kind in the market.
 

Classic Wafers- these are the regular packets you purchase and probably have been eating for a while. Thin, uniformly textured ad easily crushable classic chips are put on a conveyer belt and passed through a very hot boil of oil, reducing them to a crisp fried state before the blink of an eye. The quick process doesn’t allow the natural moisture in starch to evaporate hence they are softer and easily crushed. The similar texture and colour is due to the strictly controlled temperature and pressure environment.
 

Kettle Chips- These are made the traditional way as mum used to do it at home. They are simply fried in a small vessel in batches. Since, every time a new batch is added the temperature of oil falls, the cooking process is much slower. The moisture in wafers is able to evaporate hence giving it a sturdier, crispier and better flavour. Moreover, they absorb lesser fat as compared to the former. Kettle chips India may be new to you but they have been around in the international market for quite a while.
 

Handmade chips- As the name is self-explanatory, from peeling potatoes to frying everything is done by hand.
 

Baked- These are baked in an oven rather than being deep fried.
 

Light Chips- These contain half the fat of regular product.
 

Crisps- These are made from potatoes that are dehydrated, flaked then rehydrated and pressed into uniform shapes.  

Switch To Healthy Snacking In Between The Meals

Are you bugged by between-the-meals hunger pangs while trying to stick to a healthy diet?
 

While it is common for people to keep munching on things in between work, students and housewives also tend to turn to food simply to occupy themselves. And on top of it, if you are trying to infuse some sort of a moderation in your diet it becomes hopelessly difficult to avoid eating something. Moreover the easy availability of homemade potato chips, samosas, fritters and everything else is like testing your patience.
 

Well, fret not, for we can help you make healthier choices that will take the guilt off your shoulders. Ditch your processed snacks and innocent looking beverages, and prefer these healthier snacks.   

Sprout salad
 

with less than 3 seconds cooking time and absolutely no hassle, it is one of the tastiest health snack. Just soak your favourite lentils overnight, squeeze half a lemon and toss with some salt and pepper and you are good to go. This can give you endless variety as well. Switch grains and pulses, experiment with flavours adding diced ginger garlic and onions or fashion out your own recipe. With zero fat it is an excellent source of proteins and fibres besides several other nutrients in small doses.
 

Healthy Potato Chips
 

Bake sufficient chips over weekend to last you through the week or if that’s too much of a hassle for you, choose organic and Trans-fat free packets of chips. There are some brands that offer packed homemade potato chips that are baked and not fried. Certainly a better option than your regular packet, you can save tons of calories simply by changing your choice of chips. Pick it once in a week to break the monotony while still sticking to your low fat goals.
 

Oat biscuits
 

So you are eating those husky tasteless biscuits just because you think they are healthier? Think again. The processed wheat flour of which they are made minimizes the benefits you could have had. Go for ‘Ragi’ or oats biscuits. Loaded with dietary fibres, they will push away any hunger pangs immediately and you would fuller and satisfied.