this is not reality

July 7, 2008

Orange soup & orange porridge

Before I forget - or more likely, lose the scrap of paper I jotted the ingredients on - a recipe for a quick batch of soup I made last night. I thought I should note it down for a couple of reasons: whenever I want to make pumpkin soup I can never find a recipe I fancy, and when a kitchen experiment of mine works, I’d really like to remember for next time.

Quick Orange Veg Soup
Makes about 4 lunch sized serves, freezes well

3 carrots, sliced
230g butternut pumpkin, cubed
230g sweet potato, cubed
1 onion, diced
1 medium potato, cubed
55g red lentils
3 chicken stock cubes
1 litre water
3 garlic cloves, crushed
~1tsp garam marsala, ½ tsp chilli powder (both to taste)
Sprig of rosemary

Sauté onion, add lentils and spices; once coated add vegetables and stock.
Bring to boil, simmer until vegetables and lentils are soft.
Blend once cool.

I’m cooking Sophie’s Carrot Cake porridge for breakfast tomorrow. Due to an early start at work, I’ve thrown all the ingredients into a (hopefully) leak-proof container, and will microwave it when I get there. It sounds delicious and is certainly a very good way to add an extra serve of veggies to the day. Veggies at breakfast is something I’ve seen suggested a lot lately, and this is the first recipe that’s really appealed to me for a weekday breakfast.Despite my previous comments about having a more balanced diet, it was not long after then I kind of fell off the wagon. I think that it all tied into the sleeplessness / stress cycle I’ve been in, which makes chocolate and lazy food habits all the more appealing. I’ve made a clean start today - no chocolate, and back to the food diary. When I was at the library late last week I was looking at the books on anxiety for some suggestions (and hoping a title Sarah suggested to me a while ago would jump out at me, but I still can’t remember it), and came across a bunch of books on eating. I’ve borrowed Eating Mindfully (Susan Albers), which sounds useful. I have a tendency to eat with very little mindfulness at times. I’ve only flipped through it so far because the library also had a copy of The Stone Gods (Jeanette Winterson) that I’m devouring whole.

jen at 10:00 pm

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June 16, 2008

Latest foodie links

What a difference a week makes. Compared to my last post, I’m a lot calmer - perhaps because nothing much has happened yet, perhaps because I’ve been able to accept that it’s all a bit come what may. It was good to be at Fred’s over the long weekend, and although I was a little cranky and out of sorts, I was able to get a little distance and perspective.

This past weekend has been very sociable for me. Both Friday and Saturday night we were out until after midnight, which is something that doesn’t happen often. Sometimes I’m so old for my age (or so Fred tells me!). Friday night Kate and I braved the madness that is Chadstone late night shopping. I was successful in finding a dress to wear to the wedding (that of a former flatmate and a former manager from my retail days, who I introduced at my 21st birthday), but now I also need at the very least a jacket and maybe shoes. Saturday night was a dinner party with another pair of couples (friends from uni and their respective partners), plenty of laughter and opinions and interesting discussions.

Fred remarked whilst flipping through the hostess’ cookbook that I knew everything about food. Whilst I was the first to point out that he was making gross generalisations, it is true that I’m interested in food and cooking, and am known to my friends and family as a bit of a foodie. Lately this has spread to my blog / website reading and it amazes me that it took me so long. So, with such an appropriate segue, here are the foodie links I’ve been perusing recently:

I’ve long browsed the Epicure section of The Age for the latest restaurant reviews, amongst other interesting articles and occasionally recipes (though I was disappointed when recipes were far more frequently shipped over to Cuisine.com.au - it just doesn’t work so well for me).
When Joy and Dan started posting about their foodie adventures, I somehow didn’t come across their site, Gourmeted for quite sometime. It seems a natural progression for the amount of foodie talk that Joy used to post about on her own site. Now it’s one of my regular reads - with drool-worthy pictorial step-by-step instructions and foodie commentary.
I found Kathryn’s blog, Limes & Lycopene, via Dietgirl’s list of useful stuff. Limes & Lycopene certainly is useful, as well as educational - Kathryn is a nutritionist. Despite it’s misnomer, her “Greek” chicken recipe is delicious, and has been my lunch alternate days during the week over the past fortnight. Yum!
Whilst waiting for the train, I noticed a sticker on a vending machine advertising Mealopedia. I’m glad my curiosity helped me remember the URL, because this site is my new toy. It enables users to create a weekly menu plan (dinner only), as well as the appropriate shopping list. Recipes can be altered in serving size, and you can send the ingredients list to your mobile phone for free. You can also search for recipes based ingredients. It’s a nifty little new toy, though I’m yet to actually use the meal planning function beyond just playing.

That’s just a sample of what I’ve been reading these days, and it’s certainly helping me with my approach to food. I’ve gone off the pre-packaged meals that earlier this year were my staple at dinner. Almost every weekday I’ve had home cooked dinner for the past couple of months, with a focus on all food groups. It doesn’t always work over the weekend (as a result by this past Sunday night I felt quite stodgy) but I’m glad most days are relatively balanced.

jen at 8:33 pm

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