Cook more meals from scratch

My original approach involved adding the lentils and rice at the same time and letting it all cook together. Although there are some benefits to this approach the draw back is that it doesn’t help me to learn the two in isolation which would provide me a more versatile understanding.

I stopped adding the rice and focused on cooking lentils and vegetables with minimal seasonings. I put some oil in a Stainless Steal pot at dial mark 2 on the electric stove. Then I add some garlic, an entire onion chopped up, a bunch of celery, and then after that has gotten kinda juicy I add about two cups of French Green Lentils and as much water as I can fit.

I let that cook on the Low setting covered and stir it with a Wooden Spoon from time to time. I don’t monitor it too closely since it’s on low with a lot of water. After an hour or so passes I watch it more and when all of the lentils are soft I turn off the heat. I stir it a bunch to break up some of the lentils, add a little salt and usually some dried basil.

Next I put it all into wide mouth mason jars. Plastic containers are ridicules so I refuse to use them. Also the jars keep better, wash better, stack easier, and if a lid gets messed up then you can buy more lids. Plus you can recycle glass. Try to replace just the lid of a plastic container. If you can then try to replace the lid 3 months from now. Yeah. Mason jar lids will always remain compatible. They come in two sizes and in two parts.

I use One Pint(2 cup) Wide Mouth Can or Freeze Mason Jars. This type stacks the best with the bottom of one jar setting in the lid of the jar below. I can store my dry or cooked lentils, rice, dried fruit, anything. Moths, Ants, and other pest won’t get in. They won’t even know that food exist in your house.

Instead of rice I have been working with Hard Winter Wheat Berries from the bulk bins at WholeFoods. I cook them on low for a long time. The berries swell and split and the extra water becomes cream of wheat. This I can use for breakfast mixed with raisins, nuts, dried cranberries, and such or use as a rice like addition to the lentils bringing in even more iron and fiber. I call it Complete Cream of Wheat because the Bran and Germ haven’t been removed. It could be cooked less as well for less cream effect. Cream of Wheat is usually made with soft wheat.

Variation: Vegetables could be given less cook time by adding them after Lentils have cooked some. I would recommend cooking the Lentils by themselves and deduce how long it takes to get them the way you want them. Then with that duration in mind, throw in the vegetables whenever you want so that they finish up at the same time.

Feel free to let me know what you think of all this.

I want to cook more meals from scratch as well as come up with my own recipes for my needs. I am aiming for highly nutritional functional foods that are cost effective.

My first recipe project is Lentils and Rice. This combination alone makes a complete protein. This is important to me because I eat very little meat, typically well under 5% of my overall diet.

I am cooking Lentils and Rice just about every day and altering the amounts of heat, water, time, Rice, Lentils, and seasoning. I am also trying different types of rice. After I get a single serving method down I am going to double it to see if it works just as well in the same pot. I like to use the same pot as much as I can to save space in the kitchen.

need to plan and coordinate shopping with recipes

chicken
celery
onions
carrots
noodles
salt
two vegie bullion cubes
pepper
water
simmer all but the noodles for a long time
add al dente noodles
Oh, my!

my husband became the main cook in the house. We eat some home made meals, some ready made meals, and some pickup/delivery meals.

Today, just for fun, I went to a local farm market. It inspired me to think that we would benefit from eating fresher, healthier, and more economically. So tonight is White Chili night; featuring chicken chili made with navy beans, fresh basil, fresh cilantro, fresh tomatoes, fresh onions, and fresh garlic. Tomorrow I will make a vegie casserole with zucchini, tomatoes, onions, green pepper, almonds, and cheddar cheese. I don’t know how long I will work at this goal, but it is worth a try.

Mini pizzas stop being a convenience food when you have to make the bagels from scratch and cook up your own pizza sauce. They taste better and you know you exactly what is in them though.

And wanting to cook more meals from scratch is not the same as wanting to cook more….pffft.

Rachael Ray and Nigella Lawson, I am loving to cook!

Does just cooking meals in the toaster oven rather than the microwave count? If so, I am making progress.

Sigh. This sort of eludes me. Not enough time and a whole lot of effort.

Days are passing by so fast – it is too easy to forget about the quality of one’s own cooking. When you sit down with a meal you’ve prepared yourself, you have stepped aside from the rat race, you have relieved yourself from the everyday stress.

You have been good to yourself.

I have managed to increase the frequency of proper cooked meals so while it’s not all I might wish for I’m going to give myself a break and say it’s done.