{ food, food, food. }

[delga]

So, if you've been around my eljay for a significant while, then you probably already know that I don't like food of any kind, but I happen to eat a lot of it anyway. But since Easter I've been steadily trying to clean up my bad food habits. I tried to start by cutting out the crap, but that sort of failed miserably around deadline time (I stress eat. I also eat when bored, so). Thereafter I tried something else: making sure that the meals I eat are healthy.

Cooking for me is HELLISH. I should know, obviously. I'm so picky! I don't like any sort of food that comes in a (near-) liquid state (so: soup, yoghurt &c.) and I freak out with vegetables that have a tendency to afflict my tongue (by which I mean, I CAN TELL YOU'RE IN MY MOUTH, SPINACH/BROCCOLI, STOP ATTACKING MY TEETH/TONGUE/CHEEK-WALLS). There's also a lot of foods that I either (a) can't eat because I can't look at them or (b) just don't like. Fussy doesn't know where it's at until it's come face to face with me. Also (yeah, there's more) I get stressed out when I have to cook. I just do, nothing can help me. I find it uncomfortable, messy, time-consuming, and then there are dishes to wash afterwards.

This summer was disastrous, too, because I wasn't the one cooking, and for the first month or so, I went from being a really fussy vegetarian to an even fussier vegan. Shopping for vegan food in The Dad's store is Really Difficult so that came to a stop.

Anyway, basically, Denz and I were talking, as we do, and now I have some recipes to share. Nearly all of them have spices of some sort (cinnamon, chili) but you don't have to add those, or you can reduce the seasoning. They're mostly healthy, a couple involve frying but if you're being careful over how many fried foods you eat, on the whole it's negligible.

Let's do this!

--

(not) mushroom risotto. serves four.

To begin with: I hate mushrooms. So, I just swap them out for another veg, maybe courgettes. When I head back south, I'm going to try making the same meal but with paneer.

• 4 oz (100g) mushrooms
  
• 8 oz (250g) rice
  
• 1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
  
• 1 red pepper, cored and chopped (if you want it less sweet, use green peppers. Alternatively, go half and half!)
  
• 1 tsp dried thyme (haha, I also add a teaspoon of blenderised green chillies)
  
• 1 tbs of chopped fresh parsley (Denz uses oregano. I never notice)
  
• 2 oz (50 g) butter (I usually use just a little bit less)
  
• 2 pints (1 l) vegetable stock (Denz and I... don't really use this. It doesn't make that big a difference for me? I just end up adding more water, or adding separate veg. The linked recipe is very good, though.)
  
• salt&pepper
  

Melt the butter in a large saucepan, or frying pan, then add the onions and fry them for about 3 minutes. The tip here is not to burn, obviously, so three minutes is a good enough time. I wait until they're light brown. Then add the red pepper and the (not)mushrooms, and fry for another 5 minutes or so. Stir in the rice, add the vegetable stock (or not) and bring to a boil. Add your herbs, salt&pepper, then simmer for about 20 minutes. Keep an eye on it, though, because you don't want the water to boil off. Add a few more spoons if you need to.

--

vegetable bake. serves four.

• 2 tbs of oil (I freak out about oil usage so I use a little less)
  
• 1 onion, peeled
  
• 1 clove of garlic
  
• 1 courgette
  
• 1 small tin of sweetcorn
  
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
  
• 1 oz (25g) of mushrooms (OBVIOUSLY I leave these out)
  
• 2 oz (50g) of cheddar (Denz always uses half/low-fat cheese; I halve the amount I'm using)
  
• 2 slices of bread
  
• 1 vegetarian stock cube
  
• mixed herbs
  
• a slosh of red wine (we don't always do this; doesn't make a difference)
  
• salt&pepper
  

Preheat your oven to 150ºC (300 ºF, Gas Mark 2, a little bit less for a fan-assisted oven). Slice your onion, garlic, courgette and (not)mushrooms, and lightly fry in the oil for about 5 minutes. Then add sweetcorn, tomatoes, herbs, salt&pepper, and the wine. Mix the stock cube with a cup of water, add to pan, simmer for about 10 minutes. Whilst that's going on, rip up your bread into small pieces (obviously, we LOVE this part), and grate the cheese, natch.

Pour the veg into a casserole dish and cover it with the bread and the cheese. At this point, Denz and I usually sprinkle on some chili powder. Stick it in the over for 10-20 minutes. The breadcrumbs should be crispy and brown, not burnt, and the cheese should have melted.

We also tried making a variation of the above in lots of small portions. We just split the vegetable mix into ceramic-y type bowls and cooked the portions individually. It worked out okay, but I always find it's easier to cook for more people rather than less, so I've never actually tried to cook a single portion. Tell me how that goes if you work it out.

--

At this point, I was going to put in a recipe for curry but I couldn't work out a way to simplify it without adding pre-made curry powder which is so many levels of disgusting. Also, if I even tried to put up a recipe with pre-made curry powder in it, Denz would likely disown me. So. Moving on.

--

vegetable kebabs. serves 2.

You don't have to stick to these veg choices, naturally. I obviously DON'T.

• 1 oz (25g) butter (Again, I always use less)
  
• 1 green pepper, deseeded and cut into pieces (I use more peppers, to compensate for the lack of tomatoes and mushrooms)
  
• 1 courgette, cut into chunks
  
• 1 small onion, peeled and quartered
  
• 2 tomatoes, quartered (I can't eat tomatoes unless I can't tell they're tomatoes, so I don't actually use them for this)
  
• 4 mushrooms (I use cubes of paneer, potatoes, or tofu, all pre-cooked. Denz uses aubergines, broccoli and something else that I can't actually remember right now. Also, I double up on peppers. For the non-vegetarians, you can put meat things on this, natch, but WHY when you can dose up on veg?)
  
• salt&pepper (Haha, naturally I also use chilli powder and Denz uses oregano.)
  

Get yourself some skewers and skewer up your veg; daub said veg with the butter. Grill for about 15 minutes; remember to turn them over. At this point you can change the flavour a bit - Denz drizzles some honey over hers whilst grilling. I find this a little too sweet; I use soy sauce, or I sprinkle on some cinammon (Denz does this too, with the honey). You can eat these on their own, or you can serve them with rice as a meal. So quick! So easy!

--

stuffed peppers. serves four.

• 2 tbs olive oil
  
• 4 peppers
  
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped
  
• 1 clove of galic, peeled and finely chopped
  
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
  
• 2 tsp of tomato puree (Oh my god, tomato puree is a GODSEND for me. Tomatoes freak me the fuck out.)
  
• 4 oz (100g) mushrooms (Look, if you have a mushroom substitute that isn't more pepper, TELL ME. I use 2 oz courgettes and then skip the rest.)
  
• glass of red wine
  
• 1 tbs of chopped parsley
  
• 1 tsp of chopped rosemary
  
• dash of lemon juice
  
• 2 tbs of breadcrumbs
  
• salt&pepper (And chilli powder, of course)
  

Neither Denz nor I are all that big on parsley or rosemary so we tend to use less. Or use something else entirely.

So, top the peppers (DON'T THROW AWAY THE PEPPER CAPS/TOPS), pull out the freaky-looking seed pod (shudder) and then boil said decapitated peppers for 3-4 minutes. Take them out and plunge in cold water.

Heat the oil, fry the onion and garlic for a few minutes. Add the other ingredients, bring to a boil and simmer for about 10 minutes. Fill the peppers with the mixture, replace the tops, and bake in the oven for 35 minutes on 220 ºC/425 ºF/Gas Mark 6. Denz and I nearly always forget to save the tops, so we sprinkle the tops with a little bit of cheese and some breadcrumbs.

Another mixture is rice with chillies and sweetcorn. You can also put the whole mix into a fajita wrap or pittabread.

--

Some shortcuts! If something needs a tomato-base sauce of some sort, use pasta sauce. For example, I make fajitas by cooking chillies, peppers, sweetcorn and courgettes together (maybe paneer) with diced onions, a little garlic, a dash of tomato puree, and two or three tablespoons of water (to make sure it doesn't burn). Once cooked, I add half a jar of spicy pasta sauce, wait until the sauce starts spitting (that means it's hot enough, obvs) and then serve with the usual accoutrements.

If you, like me, freak out about spinach, I find that chopping it finely makes it easier to eat. Alternatively, green pasta is made from spinach so stock up for your proteins, huzz! If you like stir fry (veg stirfry is FOR THE WIN and so freaking easy) but don't like soy sauce, just use LOTS OF WATER. You'll be stirring like crazy but it really works.

If you're low on iron but freak out about your greens, there are three things you can do. (1) Disguise your greens (chop them up so that they're really small, and then put them in a sauce of some sort; or, use coriander) (This works for a lot of veg. Unfortunately, it does not work for lettuce or cauliflower). (2) Eat lentils. Lentils are fabulous. When I'm at home, I have lentils two or three times a week, especially moong beans and different kinds of dhal. I'm not big on other kinds of beans, so it's a good thing I'm Indian. (3) Eat nuts. Buy nut mixes. Swap out your snacks for nuts. Nuts are crazy full of protein, and they're dry, and they don't freak your mouth out.

You should really try to eat breakfast, guys, but sometimes it's difficult, sometimes your stomach complains, yadda, yadda, whatever. I love breakfast but these days I don't have any. I do, however, stock up on fruit juices, normally four cartons when I go to the store (I love saver deals!) and I drink it A LOT. I have to, just to make up for all the fruit I don't/won't eat (yeah, fruit is another thing that freaks me out a little. It's all those mixed textures, I can't handle them). But fruit juice is really good for you in the morning, and it's a nice breakfast. I drink water mostly, but that's gross first thing in the morning, so FRUIT JUICE. Cranberry juice is tres, tres good for your intestines, but it's also disgusting, so try mixing it with something else. I actually buy cranberry&raspberry which is tolerable; also, full of VitC, huzz.

--

OK, lecturing over. But the above are yummy.

--

eta: sweetcorn fritters. serves many.

• 1 lb (500g) potatoes, peeled and cubed
  
• 1 egg, beaten
  
• ¼ cup (2 fl oz/60 ml) cream (Again, Denz uses half/low-fat, I halve and use a little milk)
  
• ¼ cup (1½ oz/45g) all-purpose (plain) flour
  
• kernels from 2 corn cobs, about 2 cups (12 oz/375g)
  
• ¼ cup (¼ oz/7g) fresh coriander leaves, finely chopped (also called cilantro?)
  
• 1 egg white
  
• salt&pepper
  
• ¾ cup (3 fl oz/90 ml) sweet chili sauce, for dipping (Denz and I love that this is in the ingredients of the book where we found this)
  

Preheat oven to 110ºC/225ºF/Gas ¼ (Denz and I think this is a stupid and misleading instruction which is why you should ways read recipes through before you begin them. Unlike us). Bring a saucepan of salted water to a boil (pinch of salt, not much more!), and add potatoes and cook until soft, not mushy. That takes about 6-8 minutes. Drain them well, the mash them with a fork. Let them cool a little, then add the egg and the cream, and mix well. Stir in the flour, the corn, and the coriander.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg white until soft peaks form when you lift your egg beater/whisk. Gently fold the egg white into the corn mixture, add your seasoning of choice.

Get you a "heavy-bottomed wok" (we just used the deep frying pan we use to fry puri &c.?) Warm oil over medium heat, spoon 2 tablespoons corn mixture into the hot pan. (1 fritter = 2 tbs mixture.) Let them cook for 2-3 minutes each side, turning in between, natch; they should be golden. Remove from pan, holding them to the side of the pan for as long as possible to drain them of oil, and further drain on paper towels. Keep warm in the oven, and then serve with sweet chili sauce. Alternatively: mint sauce.

Comments

[sepiaxtoned.livejournal.com]

I'm certainly going to try some of these soon! I'm alergic to gluten so I hate trying to find food to eat etc.

[delgaserasca.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's got to be a huge pain. I hate just having to check for things like gelatine, so you have my sympathies. Most of the above are gluten-free, and if not, you can find gluten-substitutes, so hopefully these are helpful for you.