Healthier Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hello all you happy people. Today I am sharing with you my take on the chocolate chip cookies. They taste great, are slightly on the healthier side and are made in a pressure cooker (so that anyone can make those). Without further ado, let’s begin.

Ingredients:

Sr. no.	Ingredient	Quantity
1.	Whole wheat/multi grain flour	½ cup
2.	Choco chips	2-3 tbsp. (depending on your choice)
3.	Coconut oil/ melted butter	1 ¼ tbsp.
4.	Plain yogurt	4 tsp.
5.	Honey	1-2 tsp.
6.	Cornflour	½ tsp.
7.	Baking powder	¼ tsp.
8.	Water	2 tbsp.

Procedure:

1. Add all the dry ingredients, namely flour, baking powder and cornflour in a large bowl.

2. Add in the oil, yogurt and honey.

3. Add the choco chips and start kneading the dough.

4. Start adding water and knead the dough until it resembles your chapatti dough.

5. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes. Then separate the dough into 5-7 portions, roll out the cookies and press them slightly with your palms.

6. Put some kind of ring at the base of the cooker and put the cookies on a plate greased with oil/butter.

7. Put on the lid of the cooker, without the whistle. Let the cookies bake for 10-12 minutes on high heat.

8. After turning off the heat, let the cookies rest for 7-10 more minutes and then take them out of the cooker, allow them to cool down completely and then they are ready to be served.

These cookies are slightly gooey and chewy, but I am sure they would treat your chocolate cravings. I hope you will give this easy recipe a tr and if you do, let me know in the comments below how you like it. If you have any suggestions or you want to share a picture of your recreation of this recipe, feel free to catch up with me here or on Google+ or on Facebook () or Instagram (a.happy.girl.writes) or on Twitter (A_Happy_Girl2) or Tumblr (ahappygirlwrites) or on We Heart It (ahappygirlwrites). Until next time, keep smiling and I will be back soon. Don’t forget to have a happy day J.

How to motivate yourself

Hello all you happy people, motivating yourself every day to stay true to your goal is definitely a challenge. So here are three practical tips which will help you stay motivated.

1. Set a goal:

The first step is to set a goal, a destination which you wish to reach. Set a goal that would make you wake up in the morning and say “Yes, I can do this”. It should challenge you and make you push yourself harder every single day. It should be something that you always wanted to do, but never had the courage to do so. Just remember, your goal doesn’t have to be the same as everyone else, it can as simple as fitting into that t-shirt. What matters is, that it should bring about positive change in your life.

2. Remind yourself:

          Setting up a goal isn’t enough, you need to keep checking on it from time to time. One of the best way to do this is keep a journal. Bookmark all your achievements, record all the hard work that you have put into to come this far. So if ever you stray away from your goal, you can look at it and that in turn will help you stay focussed. If at all you feel like quitting, you can go back and see how far you have come. Another way to remind yourself is to post pictures or motivational quotes or just about anything that will help you stay on the track. Post it wherever you can see it every day, at work, at home, just about everywhere.

3. Get the subconscious:

Even after putting in a lot of hard work, there might be some other factors which might stop you from staying focussed. So training your subconscious mind is the key here. Meet people who have similar goals as you, read articles and watch videos not only about the benefits of reaching your destination, but also on what would happen if you fail to do so. We spend quiet a lot of time on social media and there are so many pages and communities that will inspire you, follow those. The best way to get the attention of your mind is to visualize your outcome, what would happen if you actually achieved your goal, the happiness that you would feel for having come this far in your journey. That would make you work harder towards your goal.

Just remember that motivation comes from within, it’s YOU who has the ability to make a difference and change for good. So friends, if you agree with me or if you some other tips, let me know in the comments below. If you have any suggestions, feel free to catch up with me here or on Google+ or on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/AHappyGirlWrites) or Instagram (a.happy.girl.writes) or on Twitter (A_Happy_Girl2) or Snapchat (ahappy.girl) or Tumblr (ahappygirlwrites) or on We Heart It (ahappygirlwrites). Until next time, keep smiling and I will be back soon. Don’t forget to have a happy day J.

The perfect woman of his dreams

Hello beautiful ladies. Today I am going to talk, rather “rant” about the “perfect woman”. It is written with a hint of sarcasm, a pinch of exaggeration and whole lot of reality. Hope you enjoy it.

The perfect “woman” (and not a girl) is someone who is strong, independent, matured yet not above him. She is the one who wakes up early in the morning, does yoga (to keep herself fit), then cooks healthy breakfast for the family and leaves for work, while dropping off the kids to school. She works hard and doesn’t “bother” him with “unwanted” calls or texts during the day. She also packs his favourite lunch. Then she comes home in the evening and starts making a three-course meal for dinner, which is ready before he gets home. She looks after his ageing parents, not so much about her own. She goes on brunches with his cousins, playing the perfect “bhabhi”. And on weekends, she invites his friends and family for lunch and whips up delicious dishes one after the other.

She is caring, sweet, loving and dedicated only to him. She supports him in every single situation, without expecting anything. Well she does not have any expectations in general. She always makes right decisions, but only after consulting him. She puts him, his priorities, his dreams and his aspirations before her and her own.

She never ever gets tired or angry. She always keeps a smile on her face and never whines or cries. She laughs her way through PMSs, periods and pregnancy. She is smart, intelligent and professional. She is financially independent and super successful. She brings home a 6 figure salary every month and believes in saving it all. The only time she goes shopping is for groceries. She rarely visits a salon, yet looks nothing less than a Bollywood diva 24*7. She is just amazing in bed and puts her yoga moves to test when the lights go off.

Also did I mention that she is not real? What he wants is a combination of 4 “categories” of women, namely a Sati-Savitri types (totally lady-like for his family and rest of the world), Black Widow/Wonder Woman (because she is perfect in every sense), Priyanka Chopra (in terms of her ambitions) and Sunny Leone (at night). He might be couple of million miles away from being Ryan Reynolds, but she should be and must be no less than Blake Lively.

So girls, if you agree with me or if you think I missed to mention some “qualities” of the perfect woman, let me know in the comments below. If you have any suggestions, feel free to catch up with me here or on Google+ or on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/AHappyGirlWrites) or Instagram (a.happy.girl.writes) or on Twitter (A_Happy_Girl2) or Snapchat (ahappy.girl) or Tumblr (ahappygirlwrites) or on We Heart It (ahappygirlwrites). Until next time, keep smiling and I will be back soon. Don’t forget to have a happy day J.

Rice Flour Facepack

Hello beauties. Today I have an easy tan removal face pack recipe for you all. It is made with the ingredients that can be easily found in your kitchen aka beauty on a budget. So without further ado let’s see how to make it.

Ingredients:

Ingredient	Quantity
Rice flour	2 tbsp.
Multani mitti (fuller’s earth)	1 tbsp.
Turmeric	A pinch
Raw milk	3-4 tbsp.
Tomato juice	1 tbsp.

Procedure:

1. Mix the rice flour, multani mitti and turmeric in a bowl. Reduce the quantity of turmeric if its deeper shade of yellow as it might stain.

2. Add in the tomato juice. To make the juice, just slice 1 small tomato and put it in the mixer. Strain the mixture to remove the seeds.

3. Finally add in the raw milk until you get a smooth paste.

4. Apply the pack on your face and neck. Leave it until it dries completely and then remove it with lukewarm water. You can also use a towel dipped in lukewarm water (if you are okay with turmeric staining it).

You can also use this pack as a body pack, increase the quantity of ingredients accordingly.

        Let me tell you why this pack works. It contains raw milk which has been found to be loaded with nutrients which help your skin look younger, healthier and helps in evening out the skin tone. The magical ingredient called turmeric needs nothing but love and more love. I use it in most of my facepacks for its numerous benefits for every skin type. Rice flour acts as an exfoliating agent aka scrub. It helps in smoothing your skin and also helps in skin lightening. Multani mitti has been used since ages for glowing skin. Tomato juice is great for tanning as well as for skin discoloration. So this pack is loaded with all natural ingredients which help you get rid of that sun tan and get a heathier looking skin.

So friends, I am sure you will try this out and if you do, let me know how it works for you in the comments below. If you have any suggestions or if there is anything you want me to write about, feel free to catch up with me here or on Google+ or on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/AHappyGirlWrites/) or Instagram (a.happy.girl.writes) or on Twitter (A_Happy_Girl2) or Pinterest (ahappygirlwrites) or Tumblr (ahappygirlwrites) or on We Heart It (ahappygirlwrites). Until next time, keep smiling and I will be back soon. Don’t forget to have a happy day J.

This too shall pass…………

Hello everyone. I haven’t written since ages and I am happy to be back. Today I am going to share with you my story that changed me forever. I hope you get some positivity out of it. So here it is.

The story begins with my life falling apart. I never had a perfect life. But what I had was a good happy life. And then slowly things started changing for worse. I completed my education with good marks but failed to find a job and my family was falling apart. Every passing day was becoming a nightmare for me. Soon the problems started building and so did my anxiety and stress. The happy chatty me was turned into a sad, depressed me. I used to pretend to be happy old me, but from the inside I was broken. I tried to get up every day and face the reality but I just couldn’t. I just wanted the day to get over so that I could crawl back to my bed and lay awake crying. I had lost all the hope in life. I had forgotten how to smile. I was absolutely clueless about my own life and I struggled to take care of my family.

Those six months were the worst of my life. I felt like running away from all of the mess I was into, but there was no way out, I had to face what was put before me. That phase was the toughest test of my life and I could survive all of that because I had the love and support of friends and some of my family members. All of them listened to me silently and told me that it will all be fine. They did not sympathize with me but supported me just by being there for me. Their words made me stronger. At times all you need is someone to just stand by you and tell you that this too shall pass.

Some situations were out of my control so the only option I had was to gather up all the courage I had and face the reality. Slowly things started getting better and I was getting back to being normal. I might not be completely happy and my life is far from being perfect. But I am positive and hopeful of making best out of my life. Such situations teach you much more than a book can ever teach. I look at it as a tested my endurance, my strength which pushed me beyond my limits. Now I am confident of facing any problem with courage. I might cry, but I won’t give up, I wasn’t ever meant to. I came out of it stronger, happier and more positive than I ever was.

So if you are going through a bad phase, I would tell you that this too shall pass and the life will be rainbows and unicorns soon, never stop believing in yourself and never ever quit.

So friends, if you have such experiences to share, let me know in the comments below. If you have any suggestions or if there is anything you want me to write about, feel free to catch up with me here or on Google+ or on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/AHappyGirlWrites) or Instagram (a.happy.girl.writes) or on Twitter (A_Happy_Girl2) or Snapchat (ahappy.girl) or Tumblr (ahappygirlwrites) or on We Heart It (ahappygirlwrites). Until next time, keep smiling and I will be back soon. Don’t forget to have a happy day J.

Keep walking….

Hello everyone and I wish you all a very happy new year. Hope you have a great year ahead. Today I am going to talk about something which I have been experiencing for quiet sometime and even you might have experienced it at some point of time in your live. So here it is.

We say that life is a journey and yes indeed it is a special journey. Your path might seem similar to someone else’s path, but I believe that everyone has a unique trip planned. Also each person has a different approach on how to walk this path. There might be times when you feel that there is darkness all around you and you can’t really see your way around. Just remember that the night is the darkest right before the sunshine, so just keep walking and I am sure the glorious sunshine will greet you soon. At some point you might take a wrong path and it might lead to a dead end. This is really hard to deal with but, all you can do is take a U-turn, get back to the main road and find a road that is worth travelling. It doesn’t matter how many times fail, what matters is how many times you pull yourself up. Just keep your head held high and be the creator of your own destiny.

Initially your family and later onthe experiences teach you how to carry on with the journey, but it is always you who has to walk. You will always find co-travellers, some will stay for a short span and some forever, some will guide you and some will mislead you, some will cheer for you and some will try to pull you down, some will fill you up with light and some will leave you with darkness. It is up to you to decide whom to walk with, so choose wisely. All I can say is you cannot expect life to be easy, else how you would know your true potential. But remember that the rainbows come right after the rains, so just keep walking till you find the sunshine. And I am sure, there will be a day when you would learn to run J.

If you have such experiences or if you have some other views on the journey called life, let me know in the comments below. If you have any suggestions or if there is anything you want me to write about, feel free to catch up with me here or on Google+ or on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/AHappyGirlWrites) or Instagram (a.happy.girl.writes) or on Twitter (A_Happy_Girl2) or Snapchat (ahappy.girl) or Tumblr (ahappygirlwrites) or on We Heart It (ahappygirlwrites). Until next time, keep smiling and I will be back soon. Don’t forget to have a happy day J.

Eggless Chocolate Cupcakes in a Pressure Cooker

Hello everyone. The New Year is just around the corner, so I thought I would make some easy cupcakes for you all. They are not really healthy. But it’s okay, a cupcake on the New Year’s Eve never hurt anybody. And all of you will be starting your healthy diet routine from 1^st of January 2017, right? So cupcakes won’t be a problem (wink). Here is what you will need,

	Ingredient	Quantity
1.	Flour (I used multi grain one)	2 tbsp.
2.	Chocolate	50 grams
3.	Butter	25 grams
4.	Curd	1 tbsp.
5.	Honey	1 tsp.
6.	Baking Powder	¼ tsp.
7.	Baking Soda	A pinch

Procedure:

1. Melt the chocolate in the double boiler. Read this article on how to set up the same (http://ahappygirlwrites.blogspot.com/2014/11/peanut-butter-chocolates.html).

2. Sift all the dry ingredients i.e. flour, baking soda and baking powder.

3. Add in the softened butter and mix it really well.

4. Add in the curd and honey.

5. Finally mix the melted chocolate.

6. Add the prepared mixture to medium sized silicone cupcake containers. The containers should be filled only halfway. Place these cupcakes in the flat bottomed vessel.

7. Place this vessel in the (aluminium) pressure cooker. You can also put a cooker plate below it.

8. Put the lid on the pressure cooker without the whistle and let the cupcakes cook for 10-12 minutes on high heat. You need to let the cooker cool down and it will take 10 more minutes and then your cupcakes are ready to be enjoyed.

I know this isn’t how a traditional cupcake looks like, but that’s my version. So, I hope that you will give this easy recipe a try anyways and if you do, let me know in the comments below how you like it.If you have any suggestions or if there is anything you want me to write about or you want to share a picture of your recreation of this recipe, feel free to catch up with me here or on Google+ or on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/AHappyGirlWrites) or Instagram (a.happy.girl.writes) or on Twitter (A_Happy_Girl2) or Snapchat (ahappy.girl) or Tumblr (ahappygirlwrites) or on We Heart It (ahappygirlwrites). Until next time, keep smiling and I will be back soon. Don’t forget to have a happy day J.