Banana, Date and Almond Protein Smoothie

Lately I've been paying more attention to the food I eat and trying to be more active.  One thing I've been doing is trying to eat more protein.  This Banana, Date and Almond Protein Smoothie is one of the ways I've been trying to increase my protein intake.  I will have this smoothie after my workout.  I personally don't like the taste of protein powder so in the recipe I've given a range to use.  You can start out with less and try to increase the amount as you get used to the flavour.  Currently I use about 3/4 scoop in my smoothie.

Chicken Tikka / Tandoori Chicken Biryani - Dum Style

One of my boys' favourite dishes is biryani.  I find the traditional Hyderabadi Biryani to be the simplest and easiest to make.  I found a recipe for Chicken Biryani, Dum Style in the cookbook Mangoes and Curry Leaves.  It was basically the recipe for Hyderabadi Biryani.  What make this type of biryani so easy, is that the meat is marinated overnight.  When it's time to cook, you put the raw meat at the bottom of the pot, top with parboiled rice and bake!  This recipe layers the raw meat in the rice and it all comes out perfectly.  I changed things up and made a Tikka/Tandoori version and everyone fell in love.  In fact, the last time I made it was for my eldest's birthday!  We love to have it with plain yogurt.  I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do!