cookability

As I mentioned in my first post in this community, one of my major struggles with cooking is coordinating cooking and shopping. This is a recipe I find useful because all its ingredients don't go bad quickly, and therefore are easy to keep in stock, so I can make it even if I haven't planned ahead of time and gone shopping. Other things I find useful about it:
-It's vegan, and so is useful for the times when I need vegan recipes.
-It makes a large pot of food, so there are lots of leftovers which serve well as reheatable meals.
-It freezes tolerably well in single-serving-sized containers.
-Combined with vegetables on the side, it makes a complete meal.

It does have disadvantages; here are some obvious ones. It takes quite a while from start to finish. (It looks like it ought to take about an hour, but it usually takes me at least an hour and a half, and I prefer to budget two hours.) It requires considerable standing at the stove and stirring the frying onions and garlic.

I don't know if it will be appropriate to anyone else's needs, but here it is:

Moudjendra
(Lentils and Rice from Cyprus; adapted from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian)

Ingredients:
2 c. dry brown/green lentils
1 c. long-grain white rice
1 1/2 t. salt
7 c. water

7 T. olive oil
1 medium to large onion
1/4 c. lemon juice
3 cloves garlic

Instructions:
Combine lentils and water in a large pot. Bring to a boil. Turn heat down and simmer for 25 minutes. Add rice and salt and stir them in. Bring to a boil again. Turn heat back down and simmer for 25 minutes more. Mix lemon juice in.

While the lentils and rice are cooking[*], cut the onion in half lengthwise and then slice it into thin slices. Slice garlic cloves thinly. Heat olive oil in a frying pan and add onions and garlic to hot oil. Stir and fry until onion is medium brown.

Pour onion mixture over lentils-and-rice mixture and stir it all together. Ready to eat!

[*] I still haven't figured out exactly when in the cooking process it works best to start on the onions and garlic. If I start chopping them as soon as I put the lentils on to cook, they're done well before the lentil-rice mixture is ready. If I start chopping them after I add the rice to the lentils, the lentils and rice are done considerably before the onions are sufficiently fried. The latter is preferable to the former, but it would be nice to get them done at almost the same time. The details of timing will of course depend on how fast you chop things.

axelrod

I am looking for an easy, made-from-scratch mac&cheese recipe.

( possibly tl;dr version )

rydra_wong

This may be the lowest-spoon recipe I know that actually qualifies as a "recipe" rather than just "eating stuff out of a tin."

Pros: requires no cooking, can be prepared in under five minutes, made out of store cupboard/long-lasting ingredients, tasty, high protein and low glycemic load (useful if this meets your nutritional needs), limited washing up.

Cons: requires some chopping.

Ingredients:
1 tin butter beans (lima beans)
1 tin tuna in olive oil
10-20g raw red onion ("several slices" works fine)
1 tbsp cider vinegar

Drain and rinse the beans. Chop the onion.

Tip the tuna (oil and all) into a large bowl and mash with a fork. Add the beans, onion and vinegar.

Stir. Eat.

steorra

Hi, I just joined. I'm not entirely sure I belong here, but I think some of my struggles with cooking might fit with this community.

My main struggles with cooking have to do with meal planning, recipe selection, and coordinating associated shopping.

I don't think I've gotten any worse at these things over time, but I think in the last few years my circumstances have changed so that I'm in more challenging situations.

( long list of details )

So there's the long version. I suppose the primary things I'm looking for are:
1. Simple practically-vegan meal plans, or if not complete meal plans, vegan protein recipes that can be combined into my typical cooking pattern.

2. Simple meat-containing recipes that I can integrate into my typical cooking pattern.

I suppose it's worth noting my own dietary restrictions:
1. No nuts or peanuts (pine nuts are okay, though)
2. No hot pepper or black pepper (not a health restriction, but I find even small quantities unpleasant).

Finally, I'll present a very simple chicken recipe that I found useful in my first years of living away from home, though I'd almost forgotten about it and haven't made it in a very long time.

Oven-fried chicken:

Ingredients:
A.
1/2 c. flour
1 t. salt
1 t. paprika (optional)
1/4 t. pepper (optional)

B.
Pieces of chicken with skin on, as many as desired.
2 t. butter or oil (or 1 t. butter 1 t. oil)

Combine A. ingredients in a plastic bag. Add a piece or two of chicken and shake until well coated. Repeat until you have coated all you want.[*]

Heat butter/oil in a baking dish in a 425°F (about 220°C) oven until melted (only a minute or two).

Place coated chicken skin sides down in pan.

Cook uncovered 30 minutes.
Turn chicken; cook uncovered about 30 minutes longer.

At its simplest, this recipe would involve only 4 ingredients: chicken, flour, salt, butter/oil.

[*] Put a tie twister on the bag once the chicken is baking, label the bag, and put it in the freezer for the next time you make oven-fried chicken. You could also double or triple the coating recipe and put it in a plastic container to save time for the future.

rydra_wong

Stone Soup: reduce. reuse. recycle. how the 3Rs can help you with the washing up

Plus a sardine salad-in-a-bag which makes me feel much better about some of my eating habits.

vass

My main cooking problem is with executive function/attention/general brain fog. If there are too many ingredients or steps, I just tend not to eat, or to eat junk instead of cooking a meal. I once had a three day brain block when it felt too hard to make a banana smoothie. All I needed was ice cream, a banana, cinnamon, and milk, but I also had to get the blender down and wash it afterwards, and it just seemed too hard.

So, it occurred to me this morning that I should try googling for recipes with five ingredients or less/fewer. I found a lot of recipes, but one small problem: THEY CAN'T COUNT.

Take this recipe for crockpot mashed potatoes: it purports to have five ingredients, but actually has nine. I'm guessing they thought the condiments didn't count. Well, if I were adding salt and pepper to my own taste, they wouldn't count. But if they're a step I have to get over while following a recipe, they certainly do count. If I have to go to the supermarket to buy onion powder, garlic powder, and white pepper, because I've never used those things in my life, then yes, they count.

I used to be a good cook.

Does anyone have any brain fog friendly vegetarian recipes? Preferably not too starchy, since insulin resistance contributes to the brain fog.

birke

I make this out of the Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home quite frequently. Rather than copy it out, I searched the web for someone who'd done the work for me. The below is copied and pasted from a dating site, of all things.

The recipe as written includes a lot of chopping. I don't find this problematic because these ingredients are somewhat soft, but your mileage may vary. To make it easier on myself, I buy sliced almonds at the store and sometimes use dried basil and thyme and bottled lemon juice. I don't recommend using dried parsley, that just takes the flavor out.

Herbed Lemon Pilaf with Almonds

2 Tbs olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3-4 garlic cloves, minced or crushed
1 tsp turmeric
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 Tbs soy sauce
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 tsp fresh thyme
1/2 cup fresh parsley
3 cups cooked brown rice
1/4 cup hot water

Also:
2/3 cup chopped almonds
salt and ground pepper to taste
1 Tbs butter or margarine (optional)

Heat the olive oil in a good-sized saucepan. Add the onions and garlic and then sauté on medium for about 5 minutes. Mix in the turmeric, lemon juice and soy sauce. Lower the heat and add the basil, thyme and parsley. Add the rice and mix it well with the seasonings.

Drizzle in the hot water. Cover the pot and steam the rice on low heat for about 5 minutes or so.

While the pilaf steams, toast the chopped almonds (or if you're using toasted almonds, warm them just before serving).

Salt and pepper to taste and toss with margarine if desired. Top with the warm toasted almonds and go feed your starving guests.

This recipe is loosely adapted from "Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home". I make this often when I have dinner guests 'cause it's delicious. The book suggests serving it with steamed green beans tossed with a honey mustard vinaigrette.

amadi

Pros for this recipe:

Prep is relatively simple and quick.
No fiddly cutting or chopping, and no time standing over a hot stove or grill.
Can be prepped as much as 8 hours ahead of time.
Easily adaptable to various dietary needs such as egg-free or gluten free by substituting ingredients as needed.

To make this recipe you'll need:

The dexterity to crush crackers, spread mayo on (raw) fish, measure spices and sprinkle cracker crumbs onto fish with a spoon.
The ability to move a baking sheet into and out of a hot oven.

~20 Buttery Crackers (I used 3/4 of a sleeve of Town House) coarsely crushed, some crumbs, some larger pieces
1 tablespoon dehydrated onion flakes
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon (or to taste) granulated garlic
1 pound tilapia fillets
Salt & Pepper
~2 tablespoons Mayonnaise

In a small container or bowl, mix the cracker crumbs, onion flakes, parsley and garlic together until well blended.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper/silicon mat/aluminum foil. Place the fillets on the baking sheet and dry each piece by patting with paper towel. Salt each fillet lightly and pepper to taste.

Spread each fillet with a very thin coating of mayonnaise. Cover each fillet completely.

Using a spoon, sprinkle the crumb topping over each fillet, covering completely in a generous coat. (You will have crumb spill over around the fish. That's okay, it'll taste good too.)

Refrigerate uncovered or very loosely covered, for at least two hours.

Bake for 13 minutes in a preheated 350° F/175° C oven.

If a crispy crust is desired, switch the fish to the broiler/switch the oven to broil for no more than 2 minutes at the end of the baking. Enjoy!

shalom

jumpuphigh asked me to post this recipe. I'm glad to share and hope I did this right....

Pros about this recipe is that it can be made with 1 frypan/skillet, max 1 or 2 utensils (spatula, tongs), easily-found ingredients, and does not require a lot of time in terms of prep or the cooking. It also provides a lot of flavor/taste and aroma from a minimal number of ingredients, and was easy to clean up (another factor for ease of a recipe).
Cons are that it does involve handling a larger, heavier container that will be filled with hot oil, both in bringing it from stovetop to oven, then again having to lift it out of an oven. Requires manual dexterity needed to separate cloves of garlic and skin them.

Enjoy!

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

In anticipation of Halloween, Alton Brown did a show all about garlic and vampires, in which he taught "The Count" not to be afraid of garlic. Yes, it was hokey as hell - classic Alton Brown - but the recipe is ridiculously easy and very tasty.

Instead of a whole cut-up chicken, my grocery store had chicken thighs on sale for $0.73/lb, so this was also a steal to make. Although I trimmed the skin on the thighs, I'm going to try it next time skinless, since there's no need for the additional fat, given the amount of olive oil in the recipe. I used dried thyme as well, and a large (14" diameter) deep skillet, but if your frypan/skillet couldn't go into the oven, I think this would be fine to first brown it on the stovetop, then pop everything into a baking dish in the oven. Given the ease of this recipe, it might make a good addition to a buffet dinner. Either way, your kitchen will be filled with the delicious aroma of roasted garlic.

I served the many cloves of garlic over the chicken and on the side. They were delicious spread on slices of fresh French bread.

Most time-consuming part of this recipe was simply skinning cloves from two large heads of garlic. Once you separate the cloves, give each a light smash with a mallet or side of a broad knife to loosen the skins.

Ingredients

1 whole chicken (broiler/fryer) cut into 8 pieces
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil
10 sprigs fresh thyme
40 peeled cloves garlic
Salt and pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Toss with a 2 tablespoons olive oil and brown on both sides in a wide fry pan or skillet over high heat. Remove from heat, add oil, thyme, and garlic cloves. Cover and bake for 1 1/2 hours.

Remove chicken from the oven, let rest for 5 to 10 minutes, carve, and serve.

Original recipe here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/40-cloves-and-a-chicken-recipe/index.html

rydra_wong

Con: requires use of a blender, possibly an icecream maker, time to freeze.

Pro: minimal ingredients, cognitive simplicity, compatible with a very wide range of dietary needs (vegan, paleo, GFCF, sugar-free).

Take your frozen banana (it's quite possible you could use a non-frozen banana; I just haven't tried it that way).

Blend with 200ml (about half a can) of coconut milk and a tablespoon or so of high-quality unsweetened cocoa powder.

Freeze in an icecream maker.

I should note that I don't have an icecream maker, and did it the old-school way by breaking up the crystals every 30 minutes, but I think you'd get a much creamier texture with a proper icecream maker.

It was still delicious.

Recipe cross-posted to

playeatsleep.

highlyeccentric

This one is my go-to for a potato side-dish: quick, easy, and a good way of getting several kinds of vegies in at once. It takes somewhere between 6 and ten minutes to prepare.

You will need to be able to:
- chop potatoes and other vegetables into small chunks (although it occurs to me that if you have the right kind of food processor, it could do this job for you)
- take a microwave-safe dish in and out of the microwave a couple of times

Things this recipe avoids:
- stoves and boiling water
- the ridiculous lengths of time it takes to cook potatoes in an oven
- the peeling and mashing involved in mashed-potato side dishes

( this way for instructions )

Leftovers of this dish work surprisingly well as a snack the next day, too!

neqs

This is a quick and easy chocolate fix for one person (or two if they’re really friendly).

Ingredients:
3 tbs milk
2 tbs sugar
2 tbs butter
3–4 tbs flour
1–2 tbs starch (ETA: by this I meant potato flour, but you can use regular flour instead.)
1 tsp baking powder
1–2 tbs cocoa

Equipment:
ceramic/microwave-proof bowl
small cup to melt the butter in
bowl to mix ingredients in
tablespoon
teaspoon
microwave oven

Instructions:
Melt the butter in a microwave oven. Mix the sugar and milk in a ceramic bowl. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Combine all ingredients and mix well. Heat in a microwave oven for about 40 seconds or until the top looks nice and ‘melty’. Since it’s egg-free it doesn’t matter if it’s not completely done, I think it tastes better that way! In its melty stage it’s easiest to eat straight from the bowl.

Pros: Easy, quick, delicious, chocolate-y. Ingredients are cheap and easily available.
Cons: Not the healthiest thing ever. May get stuck in your teeth and the roof of your mouth.

maewyn

Super easy method for baking potatoes in the microwave. Quick, simple, doesn't require many spoons. Does require some knife work (two cuts per potato, assuming no blemishes to cut out) and some dexterity for unwrapping.

-----------

Wash potatoes and scrub the skin a bit, taking care to remove any sprouting eyes. I usually dig them out with my thumbnail, but a vegetable peeler could do the same if you don't have much finger strength. You may need to cut bad spots out of the potato, if there are any.

Make two deep cross-wise cuts in each potato, like cutting it into quarters, but don't quite go all the way through the potato. If you do anyway, it's no big deal, you've just got potato quarters instead of a whole potato. The cuts are to prevent potato-splosion.

Wrap potatoes individually in plastic wrap (or, if you don't have the dexterity to wrap or unwrap the plastic, you can use a zipper-sealed sandwich bag). Pop potatoes in the microwave on high for 2-3 minutes per potato.

Let cool a bit and unwrap the plastic. This is usually the most complicated step in the process.

Mash with fork, then drench in butter and salt & pepper, sour cream and bacon bits, or other toppings of your choice.

somewhatbent

...or at least of few spoons. I have no real appetite (thankfully not one of the side effects I get from prednisone) but no spoons to spare, either. This totally rocks if you have a freezer for keeping 'semi-prepped' ingredients.

diced potato; raw or blanched (I keep a bag in the freezer, suitable for roasting or frying or...)
raw fingerling potatoes work fine as is, the red roasting potato (I have no idea the UK/European counterpart) gets diced then blanched briefly. Slicing with a food processor works also, but I like the chunky texture.

Ham scraps; could use bacon, leftover fowl... diced or torn in small pieces

Eggs; (I use two) lightly scrambled with a small amount of cold water

Cheese; whatever you like that grates or crumbles

Butter a small bowl or casserole. (searches mind for the right name for the crockery I'm thinking of -- I knew it once, I swear!) Can also be done in a small saute' on stovetop.
Add potatoes, 3/4 to 1 cup, salt and pepper as desired. Micro for 3 minutes. Saute' on med-high, turning for even browning.
Add eggs and meat, scrambling through. Top with cheese. Cover with parchment or usual anti-spatter cover. Micro for 2-2 1/2 minutes. On stovetop scramble eggs and meat with potato until egg begins to set, then add cheese. Enjoy!

Cons; requires some knife work, assumes access to fully cooked meat products.
Pro; protein dense, takes less time to make than it took me to type it - by far :-/

(the rest of the Breakfast of Doom was house blended Cinnamon/Vanilla Black Tea)

Generic handy tip - which may have come up here before I joined the community, but...
Adding cheese at or near the end of cooking reduces the likelihood of very firmly melting to pot, so cleanup is easier.

0jack

X-posted from my own journal and

boilingwater. This salad is cheerful and mildly sweet and healthy. This was maybe more delicious the second day, but the broccoli was not as brilliant green, more subdued/yellower, but still attractive.

You will need: to use scissors and/or a paring knife; measuring cups for liquids; to boil 2-4 liters of water; lift that pot and pour the water over the broccoli and cranberries; lift and drain the bowl of blanched ingredients; empty the drained ingredients onto a tray to dry.

( recipe follows, also photographs )

Some alterations:
* Use a bag of "broccoli slaw" mix from the grocery store, blanch for only one minute.
* Steam vegetables and cranberries together in microwave with a little water & a cover, stirring every 30 seconds on high until the vegetables are tender and crispy (maybe 2 minutes).
* Use a pre-made dressing.
* Substitute green beans or grated/chopped carrots for the broccoli.
* Use diced apples instead of the cranberries.
* Use a food processor to cut broccoli & avoid peeling the stems -- process stems and florets separately.

jumpuphigh

This is a throw-together recipe that I made today with the what's-in-my-kitchen method of cooking. It was easy, fast and required just a bit of manual dexterity.
( Super-easy Veggie Egg Sandwich )

0jack

I'm a 40 yr. old writer with chronic pain and some neurological issues as well as PTSD, food allergies, and food intolerances. I love to free-style cook and I am looking to make dietary changes because I've been diagnosed with "that looks like Crohn's!". I do pay attention to caloric/nutritional content, only as a source of information. I'm not cooking for weight-loss, but I do need to know what's going in my body--food affects my body very strongly.

Here's a recipe that my family likes that requires a minimum of attention. I can't eat lentils anymore, but this used to be a staple for me. Any cutting can be done with a food processor, and this can also be pureed if necessary for easier eating. It freezes well and is highly nutritious.

All of these ingredients just go in a heavy-bottomed pot (I have not tried microwaving, but if you used canned or pre-cooked lentils, this would cook up in the microwave on medium-low heat if you pre-blanched the kale) and are simmered, covered, with occasional stirring until the lentils are soft as you like them. (30-45min). Just take out the bay leaves and serve as is.

Kale and Lentil Soup
1 tin San Marzano Plum Tomatoes; use the whole thing, slicing the tomatoes and nipping off any tough ends
2c. chicken, beef, or vegetable stock, any way you want to get it
1c. French lentils, rinsed (these are beautiful green-blue lentils that hold up well to cooking)
1/3 bunch kale, washed (4-5 large leaves), either cut the ribs off, then roll the leaves up and slice into ribbons OR simply tear bite-sized chunks off the rib and discard the rest
1 small onion, sliced OR you could simply cut this roughly if you don't have the dexterity to slice it
2 cloves garlic, crushed using a garlic press or just smush it with the flat of a knife and then chop it roughly
1T olive oil
2 bay leaves, removed before serving

Current Mood: busy

axelrod

I just invented this recipe. I'm honestly not sure how cookable it is, but it's a fast way to make a rice dish with good flavor and interesting texture and that suits some of my needs so perhaps it'll suit someone else's as well. ( More about the cookability and pros/cons of this dish )
1) Sautee 1 quarter of a large-ish onion and three celery stalks (both chopped), till onion is translucent.
2) Add 1/2 teaspoon each coriander, ginger, and paprika. Salt and pepper to taste - I used cubeb pepper, which is very mild - white pepper would also be good, probably. There's something a little off about the seasoning - maybe too much coriander? I've hardly ever cooked with it all, so hard to tell - but it definitely works.
3) Add two cups pre-cooked rice. Mix it all up.

Protein for this dish could be bolstered with chick peas. Carrot, shallots, and garlic could be used to vary the flavors.

jumpuphigh

I follow the

stonesoup_feed and thought it would be a good rec for those of us in this community. She posts simple recipes with five ingredients or less. Her stuff is very creative. There is a nice mix of vegetarian and non-vegetarian. Where my idea of simple and easy often does not include veggies, her stuff always seems to. There are pretty pictures to inspire you to try recipes (and make you hungry which can be a benefit for those of us who have issues with appetite).

I have copied today's recipe under the cut so that you can see how she lays them out but I encourage you to look over her past entries as well. At least once a week I think, "yum, I should make that." Also, if you go to her blog, she has an ebook for free with recipes but I admit to downloading and then never working my way through it. The feed is just a more user-friendly for me and how my brain works.

( Scrambled Tofu with Tomato and Peppers )

faevii

I don't know if you're all aware that it's possible to make peanut butter cookies with just three ingredients. Until recently I wasn't, so I thought I'd spread the knowledge. These are the easiest cookies I have ever tried to make. I was afraid I wouldn't like them because I'm not really a fan of plain old peanut butter in general, but they pleasantly surprised me.

The three ingredients are:

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg

(I chose to use an entire (350g) jar of PB, which I estimated was more than a cup, then filled the empty jar with sugar to get the same amount again and added a second egg. Incidentally, this resulted in just enough dough to fill my whole cookie sheet.)

( Instructions )

Needless to say, this is not a low-cal or low-anything snack. That's why I like them. Once I've made a batch, I don't need to worry about getting enough food inside me for several days because I've got these cookies to fall back on if all else fails. They seem to keep well: even when I just left them lying around on a plate, they still tasted good three days later.

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Accessible Cooking

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Moudjendra (lentils and rice)

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