Weighty Wins

Recipe: Salted Almond Praline

As I look back on the past year, I realize that I have grown...

The only problem is that all my growth has been in size and that too horizontal ! :(


The funny thing is that I didnt look so fat when I looked at myself in the mirror....  It's only in photographs I looked ballooned up. (Later J informed me that the mirrors in our house actually makes one look thin!) When clothes got tighter, I just assumed that the fabric had shrunk and murmured to myself that they dont make clothes the way they used to!

I finally understood that I was actually putting on a lot of weight when I saw the photos of myself taken over the course of the last one year. I looked pretty ok in the photographs taken in Jan 2011. And as I looked through the pics taken in the subsequent months, I could see my cheeks getting chubbier and my hips getting significantly wider! By december 2011, I looked like a stuffed toy - round and pillow-like! That was the last straw!!!

Though I've always been on the plumper side of healthy, now I had clearly crossed over to unhealthy. My mind was set! The Battle against the bulge had to begin asap!

Come January 2012, and losing weight topped my list of resolutions... I was tired of everyone remarking about how much fatter I've gotten! (That is honestly an effective conversation-killer. If there's an annoying person talking to you, then you should just comment on how fat they've become and you can instantly rid yourself of their company.) And was even more tired of looking at old pictures and wishing I was that size again and that healthy as well.



It was not an easy task for me to slip into Tim Ferris' slow carb diet. In fact, for the first 2 weeks I had terrible headaches and indigestion. But what kept me going was that this particular method of weight-loss was tried by few of my family members since last december and they had lost considerable amount of weight.

The best thing about this diet is that one day in a week, we are encouraged to indulge in absolutely anything that we crave for and surprisingly the weight that we lost doesn't climb back on!

Now after 3 weeks of following it (or at least trying to follow it), I feel that my body has adjusted to this diet and I'm down by a couple of kilos already :) So it's time for a small celebration for the persistent start, isn't it.

To celebrate my tiny weight-loss here is my absolute favourite thing - this wonderfully caramelly, salty, almond candy! In fact I love munching on it (especially on the one day of the week that the diet allows me to eat anything I want :) This also makes the best topping for ice-creams, frosted cakes, or even with chocolate.

SALTED ALMOND PRALINE


Granulated Sugar - 1 cup
Water - 3 Tbsp
Almonds - 1/2 cup 
Salt - 1/4 tsp (this can be adjusted as per personal preferences)
A thick roasting pan
Butter for greasing


Butter a roasting pan and keep aside.

Place the Sugar and water in a heavy bottomed pan and place over medium heat. Do not stir.

Let the sugar melt completely. Add the almonds and give them a quick stir.

Just stir once in a while so that the almonds roast evenly. If the sugar crystallizes, then do not worry. Just keep stirring with a strong wooden spoon and it will melt once again.

After a few minutes, you will notice the sugar changing colour. Keep stirring once in a while. Wait it gets a nice dark amber colour.

Sprinkle the salt over it. Give it a quick stir and pour into the buttered roasting tin.

Let it cool completely. And then you can break off chunks of it. Enjoy it as it is or..

This can be crushed to a fine powder using a mortar and pestle or a food processor and sprinkled over chocolate or used as a delicious topping with frosted cupcakes or ice-cream.