I love food… growing it, preparing, cooking and most of all eating it!
I’ve already blogged about my marrow/ zucchini abundance and how I cooked and baked with it … but here is a dedicated lockdown FOOD post.
Being vegetarian with a preference for a dairy free, wheat free diet and zero waste… some people have a hard time imagining what it is I actually eat! I can assure you I eat well and often. 🙂
Here’s a run down of some staples/ usual stuff to do with Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Part 2 covers snacks, treats and drinks.
Breakfast:
I always have the same thing… I soak 3/4 cup of my homemade raw muesli the night before (with water) then in the morning add a bit more water if it looks dry and usually some chopped up fruit – using nectarines at the moment (my fave) or homegrown pears. The muesli is simply oats, raisins, sesame seeds, pumpkins seeds, sunflower seeds, linseed, coconut and almonds in a big container.
If I feel like a special breakfast, I make buckwheat pancakes (haven’t made them for ages) or the most easy and yummy little breakfast fritters: 2 beaten eggs, 2 mushed up bananas, 3/4 cup coconut thread, pinch of salt and cinnamon and optional teaspoon of lemon zest. Mix together and put dollops of it in a pan – fry in coconut oil. No gluten, no dairy, no refined sugar… yummy just by themselves although I usually squeeze lemon juice on them. Banana slices and maple syrup on top also go down well! This recipe is just enough for two people although I have once consumed them all myself!
Milk: As you can see I don’t use milk on my breakfast and Antony doesn’t on his either. Since trying to reduce our waste, we discovered that soy milk/ almond milk containers can’t be recycled so we stopped buying them. Now I just make oat milk when recipes call for milk. It works fine as a replacement in everything I’ve tried so far… just don’t try it in your hot drink! SO easy, SO cheap and zero waste if you buy your oats from a store that lets you put them in your own container. All you do is put 1 part oats to 3 parts water (1 part at a time) in a ninja and blitz. Then strain through a sieve and you have oat milk plus oaty mix you can throw in baking or give to your chooks – ours LOVE it.
The milk doesn’t last for that long (2 days?) so I just make what I need when I need it. If you want to have it on cereal you might want to add a bit of vanilla and/ or pinch of salt.
Bread: We don’t eat much bread but since getting back from overseas we have bought bread once a week at the Farmer’s Market (Antony likes the rye bread best). It’s not packaged so I can put it straight into my own bag but it does contain wheat and dairy (which I generally avoid). Of course now we are in lockdown the market isn’t happening and there’s no unpackaged bread in the supermarket bakery either.
So that means we need to get into making bread again. I make a heavy 6-seed sour-dough rye bread which is a bit hard for Ants to stomach… but I like to have it sliced up in the freezer, ready for when I’ve got nothing else and I can make toast. My favourite topping is miso and avocado or tomato.
We sometimes ask TimeBankers to bake bread for Antony – he likes a wholemeal loaf. Here’s my rye bread heading in to the oven after the sour dough starter did its thing on the bench for a couple of days then it was mixed with the rye flour and seeds for another 24 -36 hours to soak in and rise a bit… bit of a long process.
I am thinking of branching out and trying to make other more Danish forms of rye bread (rugbrød)- as Antony quite liked that when we were in Denmark… and we can get rye flour from a local organic grower and mill. But the new recipes require a trip to the supermarket for supplies i don’t have (e.g. yeast, dark beer). I am avoiding supermarkets during lockdown but might have to venture back so will see if they’ve got what I need.
Apparently New Zealanders are all turning into bakers in lockdown as the country can’t get enough flour and yeast on the supermarket shelves! Good news for our friends who grow wheat- big demand right now. Here’s what my rye bread looks like when it’s done…
At this time of year when I have lots of zucchini I also make a zucchini bread which uses buckwheat flour. It is delicious and more like a loaf as I opt to put in honey for a sweeter version. It’s also great sliced and in the freezer for when I feel like a little something!
The other far easier and quicker bread I make is flatbreads. I literally just mix flour (pea-flour or buckwheat flour) with water until it’s the right kind of consistency, add a pinch of salt if I remember and then pour into the pan to make pancake type things. Who knew flatbread/ wraps could be SO easy. Why they cost a fortune at the supermarket is beyond me.
Lunch
Usually I have leftovers in ‘normal’ life but in lockdown we’ve had soup quite often. Seeing as we have been filling the freezer recently after my zucchini baking frenzy, I also noticed there was quite a bit of pumpkin from last year still in the freezer! So I used it up to make a thai pumpkin soup this week… pumpkin is not my favourite vegetable but this soup is quite nice, warming and easy.
Broccoli soup is easy and really good – a common favourite for me, along with minestrone. Recently I’ve discovered how to make tom yum soup too which is delicious if one has fresh coriander on hand. Marrow soup is a great way to use up marrows. I often make a big batch of soup, have enough for a couple of lunches plus put a couple of single portions into the freezer, ready to take for school lunches.
Another great lunch is to eat eggs (from our silly but productive chooks), with my homemade kimchi and something from the garden, potatoes or bread. Antony prefers boiled eggs (he doesn’t like messy food!) and I prefer poached or fried. I almost never scramble eggs but I did actually do that last week to change it up (first time in years)… and it was really nice, with a bit of fried onion and tomato in it. I also have a recipe for sesame eggs and a Japanese style egg roll which I hope to try out soon.
I love kimchi and now I know how to make it myself I keep the fridge well stocked with it! It’s a bit smelly to take to school for lunch but I enjoy it lots at home. I also make sauerkraut so the top shelf of the fridge usually has a few jars of each version of fermented cabbage (plus pickles and relishes I may have made or been given).
Dinner
I try and vary things up and keep it seasonal. That means lots of whatever we have in the garden… i.e. silverbeet, zucchini at the moment and only fresh tomatoes for example during summer/ autumn. I like to plan meals about a week in advance so when I get home from work and before heading off to a meeting I don’t have to try and think of what to cook! I just look at my plan and way I go. It also means I don’t have to shop very often as I make sure we have what I need, only needing to go once every 2 weeks or so to the green grocer and Bin Inn/ Piko… and the supermarket once a month or so for loo paper, tissues and a couple of other things I can’t quite do away with (namely tin tomatoes, tomato paste and coconut cream).
I like to mix it up so one night is rice with lentils or curry, one potatoes + veg/ salad/ eggs, one fritter type things, one oven dish/ bake/ pie/ roast veges, one beans based (e.g kidney beans, chickpeas), one is another grain base (e.g. polenta/ quinoa). Planning in advance means I can make sure I soak and cook beans for when they are needed. E.g. Week 1 lock-down meal of Mexican beans with homemade Zucchini salsa and guacamole… I soaked the beans the night before and boiled them in the morning. (Tip: never use salt in soaking or boiling beans as that hardens them).
While I do cook with beans they are better for you and go further if sprouted… I usually always have some bean sprouts on the go. My favourites are the small brown lentils and mung beans. These two are really quick to sprout (chickpeas take the longest). You can sprout almost any lentil, bean or grain (except kidney beans). It’s super easy – just soak the beans in water over night, tip out the water and then rinse and tip out water several times a day. Keep jar on side so water drains out.
I have a mesh lid but you can also just do it in a bowl and make sure the sprouts aren’t getting too wet or dry. It takes just a couple of days of rinsing and draining to have them ready – bit longer when it’s cold in winter. Note in photo collage below how few beans are needed to produce quite a lot of sprouts! This is so cost-effective and your body can absorb the goodness of the lentil/ bean way more in sprouted form than if you cooked it. I put these in salads or on top of soups or cooked vegetables.
A word about Tofu. First week of Lock-down I got an email from someone who stayed with us 5 years ago through the warm showers network … to be honest I don’t actually remember the guy – most cycle tourists we host only stay a night as they are on the move. Anyway after 5 years he writes saying that the tofu I made him for dinner was the best he’d every had and he wants the recipe! I am amazed he can remember the meal when I am struggling to remember him even staying in our house!
Since going zero waste we have largely stopped buying tofu but I did buy a packet a couple of weeks ago and recently had it for dinner with Asian Slaw (one of my all time favourite combinations). For those who want to know what to do with tofu (often people ask me) this is soooo easy, quick and delicious. It is the only way I eat tofu. Cube it, fry it in a bit of oil, medium heat… brown (ish) all sides (top left pic) then splash some tamari (a delicious GF soy sauce, not to be confused with teriyaki!) on it (top right pic) and turn it a bit in the pan to get it all covered in tamari.. (bottom left) and that is it! Take it off the heat at once and serve on a salad or with garlic’y silverbeet or whatever. No marinating or anything required.
So that’s a bit on the 3 meals… Note: prior to Lock-down we didn’t eat dessert… fruit crumble the only exception.
Here are some kitchen staples I use in my kitchen… sesame oil (for asian slaws & asian cooking in general), olive oil (dressings and cooking), Apple Cider Vinegar (for dressings and sauces), tamari and braggs (when things need a bit of something usually a dash of either of these does the trick). Pictured in the jars I have organic dehydrated soy pieces which I use like a ‘mince’ in bolognaise, lentils, mung beans, polenta, brown rice and nutritional yeast (a must on popcorn and in polenta). I have kimchi which is good to go anytime as a side, eggs in constant supply from our chooks and lemons (love it squeezed on veges & in hot drinks and dressings). Onion, garlic and ginger (I love ginger) are pantry must haves and I also love Spike (for potatoes) and Massel beef stock (which is vegetarian).
Righto… that’s long enough for today! I will endeavour to write Part 2 tomorrow…. which will cover crackers, snacks, treats and drinks.