Planning Ahead

 equals

Trying to eat the nutritarian way  can be a challenge when you have to cook separate meals for yourself!   The farmer is still very resistant to this way of eating and the firstborn and Twin 2 is right there with their Dad.  Twin 1 is being a little more open although if she asks what’s for dinner and says she doesn’t feel like it,  I offer her whatever I’m cooking.  She usually replies with “lentil soup!?” and rolls her eyes!   

So I try to make my meals easy and fast to make.  Items like bean burgers I tend to make during the school day when no one else is around and keep them in the fridge till I’ve eaten them all and embark on another cooking spree.  

As vegetables are such a big part of eating this way, I look to cook them fresh, however beans and rice are time consuming and take a long time to cook from scratch, yet are a welcome addition to a stir fry or salad.  To get around this problem I cook up a whole bag and freeze in daily portions.   This allows for a quick defrost in the microwave and away you go!

I cooked a 1kg bag of brown rice yesterday.   I soaked it overnight in water, rinsed it and then cooked it with fresh water.  Soaking it overnight reduces the cooking time dramatically and as a bonus releases the protein in the rice so that it can be absorbed by the body.    I use the absorption method and this 1kg of rice took about ¾ of an hour to cook.   The end result was 19 cups (!) of fluffy, light and tasty cooked rice (below)  – shown above all put into 1 cup portions ready to go into my freezer.  

I don’t necessarily eat rice each day, so this will keep me going for 3-4 weeks.  In this case, organisation is a small price to pay for tasty, healthy food!

PS. The date/pecan slice from last week made into 'truffles' for Melbourne Cup went down a treat... and they never even knew how good they were for them!

Remote living, Chickpea flatbread, Date & Pecan Slice

Living on a farm has its good points and bad points. 

Good – 

• lots of fresh air
• peace & quiet
• the opportunity to have a vegie garden and orchard
• a more laid-back lifestyle (well, when its not calving, sowing, harvest and so on!)  

Bad – 

• lack of adult company (or any company!)
• access to anything – schools, doctors, professional services, et al
• lots of high fat, high-sugar, low-nutritional-value food at any event you attend
• lack of shops

OK I’m sure they are more for both lists, but the big drawback when eating a highly nutritious diet is the lack of choice or even total availability of some products.   For example, my local town does not stock tamari – about 4 different types of soy sauce apparently but not the wheat free tamari.   So frustrating!   And if you want anything different to the standard fruit and veg, well, you're out of luck.

And of course, you can’t grow everything .  Even if you could most of it would take months to grow, dry and so on.   Tinned beans is a lifesaver but hey we all need variety !

In my effort to find nutritional yeast as a reported “cheesy” taste to dishes, I thought I would go online and let my fingers do the walking … as they used to say in the old yellow pages advertisements.

I found a few places that had various sized bags, most were small and postage was expensive.  I’m not sure how I found it, but eventually I located the Organic Buyers Group in Sydney.  A webstore, free to join, they deliver FREE to Sydney suburbs and only $10 to everywhere else, regardless of the order size.   

There I found nutritional yeast (a big size), organic dried chickpeas, lentils and black beans (the black beans are called 'turtle' beans), GM free popping corn (I air pop it), sinful Medjool dates and mixed berries, sundried (and not oiled!) tomatoes, organic dried coconut, a bag to make my own nut milk and so much more.    They also were happy to order in specific items that I needed (but failed to get last time I was in Mudgee at the health food store) and got them in within the week.    

Their customer service is top notch, their prices competitive and best of all, its all ORGANIC!  Do check them out  and tell them I sent you :)

(Now, if only I could find a vegetable & fruit supplier who had some of the more unusual items and delivered I’d be set!)

Anyway, with a few of the more unusual items in my possession, I embarked upon some trial and error recipes.  I just had to try out that nutritional yeast.  I found the easiest to be a chickpea flatbread  or “omelette”.

Chickpea Flatbread/Omlette

Serves 2-4

(original recipe via Eat to Live Facebook group – the one below is ‘tweaked’ to be easy)

Ingredients:

1 cup besan (chickpea) flour

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

½ tspn Herbs du Provence

1 small clove garlic, crushed.

For flatbread:

1. Mix all together and let sit for 10 minutes.   
2. Heat oven to moderate.  
3. On parchment or silicon mat, pour mixture to desired sized flatbreads.   
4. Cook approximately 15 minutes.  
5. Let cool slightly before peeling off parchment or lifting away from silicon mat.  

(NB. If you prefer to cook fresh each time, mix up the ingredients, without the water and garlic and leave in a jar.  When ready to cook use 1/3 mix 1/3 water and a tiny bit of crushed garlic for 1-2 flatbreads.)

For omelette:

1. Add ¾ tspn of baking powder.
2. Mix all together and let sit for 10 minutes,
3. Heat oven to moderate.
4. Line a small loaf pan with parchment paper and pour mix in.    
5. Add chopped lightly steamed vegetables if desired and stir through.   
6. Cook till mixture is firm (not runny).   
7. Let cool 5 minutes before turning out from tin and peeling off parchment paper.

(NB.  I tried this on the stovetop but without oil and a non-stick pan, it was a big mess!)

Now, these are tasty, but not “cheesy”.   The mix has its own unique flavour I guess, and its good.  Just don’t expect it to be like a cheese omelette or cheese bread!

The other thing I made that was super yummy, was date and pecan slice.   So sweet and “moreish”.  And possibly something that you should limit, but my answer is just don’t make it very often – if I only make it once a month then I can’t be over eating it :)

Date & Pecan Slice

(photo at top)

(amended recipe using as a basis the Date Pecan Squares recipe on Hallelujah Acres )

1 cup organic dates

½ cup pecans

1/4 vanilla pod, scraped

1 cup organic raisins

1 cup desiccated coconut

1. Using a food processor, grind pecans to a fine meal (but not to ‘butter’).
2. Add pitted dates and raisins and seeds from vanilla pod.
3. Process until a dough like consistency – if necessary add a tablespoon or two of water if too dry.
4. Add ½ cup of coconut  and pulse till blended.
5. Line a loaf pan with non stick baking paper and sprinkle ¼ cup coconut over base.
6. Place date and pecan mixture on top and spread to cover bottom layer of coconut.  Sprinkle with remaining ¼ cup coconut.
7. Cover and chill.
8. Cut into small bite size squares and serve.  
9. Keep in refrigerator in airtight container.

I have a Melbourne Cup gathering to go to this week and thought I would take these.  Although I thought I might make these to look like truffles instead.  I'm going to take teaspoons of the mixture and roll till round in my palm, and then coat in coconut. 

Enjoy!

Lentil and Mushroom Rissoles / Burgers

In my endeavour to continue finding food that looks like (what my mind recalls as) "real" food, I've tried some rissole/burger recipes.   

Its nice to have a bean “rissole” or “patty” to have.   I tend to just have them as is with a salad on the side, but you could put them on a burger with some sprouted grain bread or even on a rice cake with salad.  These would also be great made into small bite-size pieces as finger food when you’re entertaining and as finger food would I’m sure be eaten by non – nutrarians/vegans/vegetarians.     

I made 2 versions this week with lentils the first amended to be ETL friendly.  One is hot and spicy and the other has a definite herby taste.  Beware, they’re both more-ish!  (And they're great with a dollop of hummus - recipe in my last post).

Herby Lentil and Mushroom Rissoles

Makes 6 rissoles

2 cups cooked green/brown lentils  (this will be approximately 1 cup dried before cooking or ½ 440g tins, well drained.

1/3 cup quick oats (100% oats)

2 tablespoons of polenta (100% maize)

3 large mushrooms, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced/crushed

1 medium onion, chopped finely

2 teaspoons of chia seeds soaked in 3 tablespoons of warm water till gelatinous

1 tablespoon reduced salt tamari or soy sauce

1 tablespoon tomato paste (100% tomato)

½ teaspoon each dried oregano, basil, paprika and thyme

Good grinding of pepper

1. In a small saucepan, add a little water and the onion.   Heat and cook onion till starting to brown. 
2. Finely chop the mushrooms in food processor using pulse.
3. Add mushrooms and garlic to the saucepan and simmer 2-3 minutes.  Add a little more water if things start sticking.
4. Move mushroom/onion/garlic mix into food processor and add lentils.     Pulse til lightly combined.   Add remaining ingredients and pulse till well combined.  Mixture should be sticky.
5. Set the mixture aside while you heat the oven to moderate (375F/   xxx  ) and place a silicon baking mat in a baking tray/biscuit sheet or similar.
6. Scoop heaped large tablespoons of mixture onto the silicon mat and flatten to about 15mm high.   Place tray in oven and cook for approximately 20-30 minutes.  Check them around 20minutes to make sure they are firm in the middle and cook further if necessary.  No need turn them over mid cooking.    
7. I turned the oven off and opened the door when they appeared cooked and left them till the oven cooled before removing them with a spatula and storing them in the fridge.  But they’re yummy hot straight from the oven too!   

Hot & Spicy Lentil and Mushroom Rissoles

This recipe came from "Carrie on Vegan" without modification.

Makes 6 rissoles

1 cup dried lentils cooked (according to packet)  (or 2 -2 ½ cups pre-cooked)

1 tablespoon ground flaxseed

3 tablespoons of water

3 large mushrooms or 1 huge Portobello mushroom, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1. In food processor, process ground flaxseeds and water till well combined – the mix went a little creamy for me.    Add remaining ingredients and pulse till combined.    Add a little extra water if mixture is too dry.
2. On a silicon baking mat on baking sheet or similar, place large heaped tablespoons of mixture and flatten into rissoles.   Bake for 25 minutes, turning once carefully.

See you round like a rissole :)

Hommus

The first 6 weeks of my journey wasn’t very creative in the kitchen.  It looked nice with all its colour and tasted great and I discovered that you really have to forego that idea of what constitutes tasty from your old diet (laden with sugar, salt, oil) and start again.  But it’s still nice to have something people don’t look completely askance at.  So, now that I feel I have a handle on what I can (should) and can’t (shouldn’t) eat, it’s time to get a bit more creative in the kitchen! 

My first attempt at making something ETL (Eat to Live) friendly was hommus.  This middle eastern dip is made mostly from chickpeas (a.k.a. garbanzo beans) although bought versions and most recipes include a lot of olive oil in it.

Here’s my amended recipe:

HOMMUS

1 tin (450g) chickpeas, drained, rinsed thoroughly  (or approximately 1 ¼ cups of cooked chickpeas (soaked overnight, rinsed, fresh water added, brought to boil and then simmered till tender).

1 clove garlic, minced

1 ½ tablespoons of water

3-4 tablespoons lemon juice
1 ½ tablespoons tahini (ground sesame seeds)

A good grind of pepper

Throw the lot in the blender and process till mostly smooth, adding a little additional water if the mix looks dry.   You may want to add a little more lemon juice if its not tangy enough for you.

Serve with sliced fresh vegetables instead of crackers.   

Enjoy!

Starting Out

Eating the nutrarian way is a bit of leap.   The farmer wasn’t interested – he likes his meat, his cereal with milk and his chocolate/cakes/biscuits.    The firstborn wasn’t interested either – if it’s not cereal, pasta, lasagne or corn chips with salsa it wasn’t going to cut the mustard there.  Of course, part of that could be that he’s also a teenager!    And the twins (currently preteens) weren’t interested either, taking cues (of course) from the farmer and firstborn.     (Although I’m working on Twin 1 as she has tastes a little more like her mother!)

So, it was me against a household of not interested people who wanted their meals to remain just as they are thank you very much.    As I have had some health hiccups in the past (one of them being gluten intolerant), I’m acquainted with making separate meals so mentally prepared myself to get back on that track.

The one thing I found was that eating the nutrarian way, at least on the 6 week plan, was pretty easy.  The guidelines were clear and easy to follow and as the food was mostly fresh, preparation time was minimal.

As I mentioned in my introduction,  I live quite a long way from any large supermarket and even my small local supermarket is still 25km away.  So making do is with what’s in the pantry is a big part of my life in the kitchen!  Add to that my rather dismal gardening skills which equals a defunct veggie garden, although I do have a small orchard which I am endeavouring to spend a bit more time watering so I can fully enjoy its summer bounty.

As a guide, should you wish to embark on this plan, you should have in your pantry some

*dried beans (eg. lentils, kidney beans, chickpeas etc)

*canned beans (as above, preferably low salt and with the least number of additives/preservatives – if you don’t have any in your pantry get some!  If you only have the regular variety, then rinse them well before using).

*fruit

*tinned fruit, in juice, no added sugar

*fresh vegetables, particularly leafy greens

*frozen vegetables

*brown rice

*rice cakes (100% brown rice, no additives, preservatives  - most unflavoured brands I’ve found meet this criteria)

*herbs, spices (no salt added spice mixes)

*balsamic vinegar – buy a good one if you haven’t one in the cupboard, they’re much sweeter!

*salt reduced soy sauce or salt reduced tamari

*walnuts

*ground flaxseeds aka linseed meal.

Now, even the most disorganised household usually has most of these things (well maybe not the dried/tinned beans, perhaps not the salt reduced items and probably unlikely to have the ground flaxseeds) and as I only get to town once a week, fresh fruit and veg can be a bit tired looking, but I did have SOME.

Consequently I read the book and started immediately :)

The easiest way I found to eat was basically:

Breakfast:

3-4 pieces of fruit, cut up.  A handful of walnuts and/or 1 tblspn of flaxseed sprinkled over the fruit.

Lunch:

Salad made with whatever fresh vegetables I had to hand – lettuce (preferably cos, also called romaine lettuce), carrots, beans, snow peas, alfalfa sprouts, tomato etc.  A good drizzle of a good balsamic vinegar.  If I didn’t have the nuts in the morning, I’d often add them to my salad.

Dinner:

Stir fried vegetables – a mix of fresh and frozen.  Onion and mushrooms are especially good for you.  Saute in a little water and for flavour I added a little salt reduced tamari.  Then add  1 cup of cooked beans and 1 cup of cooked brown rice.  

Occasionally I would feel like eating something akin to a sandwich so instead of a salad I would basically assemble it on rice cakes with a little avocado, and forego the rice with dinner, although these are 'processed' and so shouldn't be the first choice.   Plus, as I started in winter I did make a lentil soup for dinner a few times - filling and tasty.

All the cravings went away after about a fortnight and my tastebuds have become acquainted to how food tastes without salt, oil and sugar!