Aren’t they pretty? This picture makes me want to start painting!! Until then, I’ll just keep drinking these yummy lassis. More on that in a minute…

When I meet new people and they learn about my blog (or at least my love for cooking), the first question is always “What’s your favorite thing to cook?” The answer is – I like cooking everything! Of course the focus is mostly on healthy meals, but I don’t limit myself to any particular ethnic angle. I feel like if I did that, I’d be missing out on so much deliciousness that’s out there. Variety is the spice of life, as they say!

So the second question is 9/10 is this (seriously, almost every time!): “Do you know how to cook Indian food?” And this is where I must confess my limitations. I love love love Indian food, especially the non-traditional dishes the likes of chicken tikka masala (I’m sorry, I know people in India don’t eat it but it still tastes like Indian food to me and that creamy/nutty tomato sauce it comes with just can’t be beat. It’s the best!!). But I haven’t been able to replicate the stuff to save my life. I follow recipes, often highly rated recipes claiming to have restaurant-quality taste, and they still fall flat every.single.time.

The other day, I was browsing through my blog archives and found this old post on pork vindaloo that got rave reviews from me and Adam. I thought, hey – maybe I can cook Indian food after all! This also happened to be a super quick dish so I was excited to give it a go again and hopefully also make it a little more appetizing to look at. The end result was this:

1. It was very easy to make.

2. This dish is hard to photograph but the pictures are definitely an improvement over my previous set.

3. It tasted just ok. I guess my standards have gotten higher. I will not be making this dish again. The search for a great Indian recipe continues!!

The bright spot of dinner were these DAHlicious Lassis sent to me by the company for review. Just in case you are unfamiliar with lassis – they are Indian yogurt based drinks. They are creamy and sweet – sort of like smoothies you enjoy with your dinner. Since a lot of Indian food is quite spicy, they add a nice cooling effect too. I enjoy them on occasion when out (although to be honest, they are typically quite indulgent and sweet and I usually don’t like to drink my calories).

DAHlicious Lassis are made with low fat Indian yogurt, made with milk from grass-fed cows (LOVE), are 100% natural and only lightly sweetened. When reading the labels, I also noticed that the banana flavor doesn’t even have any added sugar. Way to take advantage of banana’s natural sweetness. Very cool!

Here is what these pretties look like in a glass:

Again, love the color! The flavors offered are mango, vanilla, blueberry, strawberry and banana. Adam and I had a little taste test with dinner and honestly enjoyed every one. The creamy, slightly tangy taste of yogurt really comes through in every flavor. My favorites were vanilla (most yogurt-centric in flavor), banana – which had the perfect balance of yogurt and banana flavor (my favorite of the bunch, I think!! Also, this one gets bonus points for not having any added sugar), and blueberry – which has a much more berry forward flavor (most smoothie-like and Adam’s favorite too). The strawberry seemed to be just too mild at first but upon a second taste (since it was one of Adam’s favorites), I sort of enjoyed its subtlety. The mango seemed to the exact opposite – completely overpowering, ranking the least favorite of all.

So there you have it! I think these babies would make for a great on-the-go “snack” too, and they sure are tasty.

Would you like a chance to win some? One lucky Healthy and Sane reader will win 5 coupons for free DAHlicious lassis – so you can taste each flavor too and pick your own favorite (they are sold at Whole Foods and various independent retailers across the country)!

Here are the rules: there are plenty of ways to enter.

1) Leave a comment on this post – Tell me anything Indian related. And I will love you forever if you direct me to a great Indian recipe!

2) Follow me on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway (a link to this post must be included to qualify)

3) Pin this post on Pinterest

4) Subscribe to Healthy and Sane by email

5) Like Healthy and Sane on Facebook.

6) Link to this post on your Facebook page.

7) Add Healthy and Sane to your blogroll.

8 ) Link to this post on your blog, if you have one. If you don’t, let someone else know about this giveaway and tell me so in the comments section after they’ve entered the giveaway.

Please leave a separate comment on this post for each qualifying entry. This giveaway is open to US residents only (sorry!) and ends at midnight on Wed, February 8. I will randomly choose 1 winner using random.org and announce him/her the following day. Good luck!