Lately I’ve made a real effort to boost my veggies. I want plants to be the bulk of my daily carbs. I’m not trying to eliminate grains, just squeeze them out of contention with a ton of appetizing veggie dishes. (And extravagant sloshes of olive oil.)

Why am I doing this? Recent research regarding the effect of grain-based carbohydrates on heart disease, bolstered by the common sense intuition that you can’t go wrong eating a lot of vegetables.

Anyhoo, I have a new tip! (Huzzah!) If you have an Indian market near you, check out their prepacked spice mixes. I got one for Jaipur Vegetables the other day that I used on cauliflower and carrots that was incredible — just like I had ordered in, except that I knew my large serving had exactly 150 calories total. It took me five minutes to chop the cauliflower, and 10 minutes to cook on the stove. Next time I’ll add on another 5 minutes to whip up some raita - cucumber-yogurt-mint sauce - a nice compliment particularly if you’re skipping the rice.

I’m going to do a more careful check of the health of the ingredient list on these packets next time, now that I know they’re tasty. Probably this will be an occasional convenience food, not a staple, since I’m nearly certain to find a good quantity of salt.

In general, visiting an ethnic grocery store is a great way to discover new foods and refresh your palate. Great way to find cheap produce, too.