Daniel Diet--Making Chapattis

So for the next 2 weeks, starting tomorrow morning, I'm going on the Daniel Diet. If you haven't heard of it, it's the diet that Daniel and his friends went on in Daniel 1:8-16. It's basically fruit, vegetables, and water. You can't have anything refined, anything with yeast, or anything with added preservatives. No meat or animal products are allowed, and no sweeteners of any kind--not even honey. So, yesterday I went to Wal-Mart and basically bought the entire produce section. (I'm really busy with work and school and church, so I'm trying to pre-make as many meals as possible.) Last night I made chapattis, aka Indian flat bread (to be honest, I'm not sure if that's American Indian or actual Indian flatbread! haha). The recipe is really simple,and they're actually pretty good!

First, you start out with 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour and a pinch of salt. At first I tried to sift mine but that doesn't work so well with the whole wheat and I'm pretty sure it's not necessary anyway.

Next, add water to the flour and mix with your hands until a soft dough forms. The recipe calls for 2 cups of water but I used around half that much. Knead the dough for 5 minutes, cover with a wet cloth, and refrigerate for an hour.

Heat a cast iron skillet on medium high heat until very hot. (My mom's cast iron skillet was in the attic and I didn't feel like getting it, so I used a regular nonstick skillet. It worked very well.)

Pinch off a little over 1/2 of a handful of dough, round it and roll it out. I rolled mine out pretty thin but I think you can make it thicker; you'll just need to cook it longer.

Place a chapatti in the skillet; cook for 1 minute. Flip and cook the other side for 1 minute, pressing with a towel until the chapatti turns brown. (I skipped the towel because I forgot about it--I'm not sure what it's supposed to do anyway??) Since mine were pretty thin, I wound up cooking them about 45 seconds each side. I had it down to an art--I'd throw a chapatti in the skillet and have another rolled out by the time it was time to flip it.

My first attempt; I cooked it about 30 seconds too long, so it's a chapatti cracker...

This is more the right... consistency? Is that the word I'm looking for? Haha.

My plateful of chapattis! The recipe says it makes about 10; mine made 15. (I think that was because I rolled mine out pretty thin.)

Favorite Places in NY, part 3: Central Park

Of all the places I went when I lived in New York, the one I photographed most is Central Park. Whenever I had an afternoon of free time, I loved to walk from 34th St. up 5th Ave to Central Park and "play photographer." Here are some of my pictures--hopefully they'll give you some idea of what it's like, because it's gorgeous!

My favorite bridge.

Sheep's Meadow. (No sheep, just lots of people.)

The Carousel. It's over 100 years old. Yes, I've ridden it--I'm 6 at heart.

Bench.

Favorite Places in NY, part 2

Ok, so VBS is making me miss the city, big time... I've got to head up there sometime soon!! Here are some more of my favorite spots:

St. Paul's Cathedral: This is right across from Ground Zero. The graveyard is really cool--most of the graves are at least a hundred years old. It's a very pretty spot.

The Majestic Theater! Phantom of the Opera plays here; it's the longest-running show currently on Broadway. (And, in my opinion, the best!)

Most of the stores on 5th Ave. decorate their windows for Christmas. This is a snapshot of one of the windows at Lord & Taylor's. They were all breathtaking.

Union Square. Almost every Saturday there's a farmer's market. You can buy all kinds of things--produce, of course, but also art and clothes and such. There are also street musicians all over the place.

Brooklyn Bridge! My favorite bridge, and one of my most favorite places in the city. It's especially gorgeous at night--when you walk out on the bridge and look back, the whole skyline is before you, all lit up and reflected in the water.

The Empire State Building. I went there every day for school, and lived less than a block away. This building epitomizes NY for me. This picture was taken from the roof of the guys' apartment building.

Favorite Places in NY, part 1

It's almost Spring Break!!! I'm sooo ready... even though all I'll be doing is helping with Vacation Bible School and working. But, on the bright side, I'll have no homework and no classes, so that's exciting. The theme for VBS this year is the "Big Apple Adventure", so I'm sure it will really make me miss New York :( I'm ready for a trip back there! Here are some pics of my favorite places--This is going to be a 3-part post (with 1 section reserved for Central Park, my absolute favorite place in the world).

Times Square--it's crazy, but that's why I love it.

This was taken from the trolley/lift from Roosevelt Island to Manhattan.

Powder puff football on Roosevelt Island--great memories :)

Herald Square. My apartment building is just to the left of this pic.

Columbus Circle

Madison Square Park/the Flatiron Building. There are random little tree houses all through this park--just for decoration.

The East River. I came here when I really needed to see the sky.

Bryant Park. Every winter they pull up all the grass (not shown in this pic) and make it into an ice skating rink, and every spring they re-sod it.