Your favorite meals

Hello All!!  I am committing to a healthier me and that includes what I am eating.  I eat fairly-ish healthy.  I cook my own meals at least 95% of the time. I buy  mostly (90%) fresh foods, frozen and a few packaged foods.  I try to buy in bulk when I can & store in my mason jars.

Each season has its own favorites:  Summer is mostly pasta salad with chicken, fresh cut veggies, and a few favorite fruits that I have on hand at any given time. I love to cook out as well with some favorite meats & veggies.   Fall & Winter are usually stews, soups, crock pot meals.  Often I cook with potatoes (at least 4x/week), rice 1-2x/week, and the staples of peas, green beans, corn, cabbage, etc.  Spring is similar to F&W, but a little less heavy.  

I do crock pot year round, I love cooking that way... dinner done!!!  

But I am looking for new meal ideas or recipes that I can add to my collection (I lost my recipes at my storage unit - mice attack).  I am trying to cut out as much package sugars.  Only natural sugars already in the food & honey.  So any new "sweet" ideas would be greatly appreciated.  I would consider unsweetened applesauce, etc. But really trying to cut back on processed/boxed type foods as much as possible.

Looking to learn how to make a delicious homemade tomato sauce & other condiment type foods.  I tried a few times and it just did not taste right to me, not sure if chef error or I just need to acquire a taste for homemade sauces, soups (ie tomato), etc.  

All your ideas, shares and suggestions are greatly appreciated!!!  --Tess

I think cooking for yourself gets you the first step to healthy - you're more in control of what you eat.

Did you see the permies recipe index Tess? That might be a good place to start.

I have a number of favourite recipes that I'll cook depending on how I feel and what I have to use up. I do like one pot meals (less washing up) and also meals that can be made into leftovers as ready meals to save preparation another time. I rarely follow a recipe so have a generic 'curry', 'chilli' 'risotto' etc. recipe, which probably bears little resemblance to an authentic one, but works for me.

We do have puddings (my husband has a sweet tooth!) but I admit I am less adventurous here and more likely to just have a biscuit or slice of cake. I suppose a more healthy pudding of ours might be a fruit crumble (or apparently my version is a fruit crisp? with oats in the topping). We also make a wicked bread and butter pudding with dried vine fruits, cherries and marzipan. Not particularly low calorie, but reasonably frugal, freezes well and definitely comfort food for the winter season!

Nancy Reading wrote:I think cooking for yourself gets you the first step to healthy - you're more in control of what you eat.

Did you see the permies recipe index Tess? That might be a good place to start.

I have a number of favourite recipes that I'll cook depending on how I feel and what I have to use up. I do like one pot meals (less washing up) and also meals that can be made into leftovers as ready meals to save preparation another time. I rarely follow a recipe so have a generic 'curry', 'chilli' 'risotto' etc. recipe, which probably bears little resemblance to an authentic one, but works for me.

We do have puddings (my husband has a sweet tooth!) but I admit I am less adventurous here and more likely to just have a biscuit or slice of cake. I suppose a more healthy pudding of ours might be a fruit crumble (or apparently my version is a fruit crisp? with oats in the topping). We also make a wicked bread and butter pudding with dried vine fruits, cherries and marzipan. Not particularly low calorie, but reasonably frugal, freezes well and definitely comfort food for the winter season!

Thank you Nancy!! I do the same, I follow a 'recipe', but mostly when I cook, it is from memory or what I like &/or have on hand.  I LOOOOVE cabbage rolls, can't get enough of those!  Love chili.  I make one mean, messy lasagna.  I usually have left overs, especially when I use a crock pot.  

I usually have meals for at least 3 days.  It's just me & my grandson (who is horribly picky), so when I cook, we almost always have leftovers.  Sometimes, I do cook smaller meals.  I also love to make one & done meals -- a taco night or some other type of 'special' meal.  Mostly I stick with what I know.  But I am looking for other ideas... I love to cook & I love to eat even more!!  I am open to new twists on some of the dishes.  

Recipe, for me, is a basic, general list of ingredients & maybe a dish name.  I will definitely check out the recipe index!  Thank Nancy  --Tess

Winter is Borscht.  Each time it is made differently.   This time of year it is perfect for the last of the root crops.

My favorite meals? Hummmm.

If I don’t mind spending a fortune, I’d say prime rib with baked potato. Or lobster stew. But that’s just an infrequent treat for us. And these are not something I make at home.

If I don’t mind eating commercial food, then I guess it’s orange chicken — breaded chicken nuggets baked then slathered in Chinese orange sauce. Totally unhealthy and only indulged in a couple times a year.

Now for healthy, homegrown food—- it’s got to be our breakfast smoothies. We’ve been eating them for years and haven’t tired of them, maybe because they are always different.  I blend up a variety of fruits and veggies. No set recipe, just what’s in season. For example, this morning was guavas, a banana, steamed greens (Chinese cabbage, lettuces, pipinola (chayote) shoots, cholesterol spinach leaves, and (for the first time to try them) pumpkin leaves, cooked soybeans, a small piece of cooked pumpkin, one hard boiled egg, and enough homemade pineapple/sugar cane juice to make the ingredients blendable. As I’ve said, every day is different ingredients, but I aim to include fruit, greens, a protein source, and other veggies. The liquid might be fruit juice, veggie juice, or milk (sheep, goat, or cow depending upon what’s available).  Breakfast is normally our main meal. Lunch and dinner are usually just snack or small sized meals. So breakfast is a hot cup of coffee and a jumbo smoothie.

Get me into a good restaurant, and it’s prime rib, steak, or lobster for sure. My hubby opts for pork chops.

Do I love comfort meals? Of course! But they are not our normal fare. So anytime I wrap myself around a plate of French toast or gravy over rice, hubby knows that I’m stressed out.

This thread might give you some inspiration for meal ideas

https://permies.com/t/360/1126/dinner#3730572

John F Dean wrote:Winter is Borscht.  Each time it is made differently.   This time of year it is perfect for the last of the root crops.

John, I've never heard of Borscht.  I will check it out.  Thank you!!  --Tess

Hi Tess,

It is peasant food … and I mean that in a good way.   Every culture has multiple versions of food thrown together … stew, shepherds pie, jambalaya, chop suey (Literally means ‘this and that’).

"Eat as closely to Nature as possible" is my motto.
Lately I've been roasting chickpeas as a snack, and I was pleasantly surprised how much a frozen banana (with a few other ingredients; there are many recipes online) can emulate ice cream as a healthy sweet treat.
I also LOVE kale chips. Break the leaves into pieces the size of a business card or smaller, drizzle oil & salt on them, mush them around to coat them all, and spread them on a baking sheet & put them in the oven low & slow until they're crispy. You may want to turn some or all of them, especially to make sure they don't fall flat on the pan and burn; just turn them upside down or make them lean on others.

My tomato sauce comes out differently every time. We usually sautee diced peppers & onions & garlic, and maybe add other veggies like zucchini, or even chopped greens. We use a large can (28oz) of diced tomatoes, some tomato paste or a can of tomato sauce (not marinara with ingredients; just canned tomato made into a sauce texture), and let it simmer. If you want it thicker, use an immersion blender to puree some amount of it. I also add a can of red or kidney beans because I don't eat meat, so it adds protein. We like the sauce chunky. You can use typical Italian spices, but honestly I think you'll just have to experiment, and write down everything each time so you can repeat it or change it.

And I highly recommend (to everyone) that in your mission to eat healthier, to try switching to pastas & breads that are as whole-grain as possible. Also try brown rice instead of white, and try new grains that are whole grains. Mix them in with processed (white) at first if you're not used to it, and increase the proportion. Many people do great with cooking at home, but if they are eating 1-2 servings of white flour products at every meal, well, that's a processed food people don't think about.

John F Dean wrote:Hi Tess,

It is peasant food … and I mean that in a good way.   Every culture has multiple versions of food thrown together stew, shepherds pie, jambalaya, chop suey (Literally means ‘this and that’).

Thanks, John!  That is basically how I cook.  Whatever I have on hand &/or whatever I am in the mood for.  I keep hearing: plan your meals, plan your week, plan... but I can't do that.  I never know what I will be in the mood for on any given day!! LOL  But I do try to plan ahead to make sure I have food stuffs on hand to cook. I haven't had sheperd's pie in a loooonngg time.  I think I am going to make that this weekend!!  Even more, my grandson loves it!  a 2fer win win on that dish.

--Tess

I’ve been making a blueberry dessert a lot lately from home-canned blueberries. I don’t have a name for it yet, but I’ll share the method here in case anyone would like to try it.

I created this dessert trying to make a honey-sweetened crumble, but it turned out completely different to a crumble so I think it’s a new kind of dessert.

To make the canned blueberries, I cook them up on their own, and squash them a bit so that the juices come out, and then I hot pack it into jars and boiling water bath can it for 20 minutes. You could also use frozen blueberries for this.

To make the dessert, for every 600ml (pint and a bit) jar I mix (in a separate bowl) 1 cup flour, 3 to 4 tablespoons melted honey and 4 tablespoons butter. Put the blueberries in a baking dish, crumble the flour mixture over the top, then bake for around half an hour. The flour mixture absorbs some blueberry juice and turns into this beautiful fluffy cake-like thing with lots of hot blueberries around it. Delicious.

For savoury food, I make a lot of really basic meat/carbs/greens combinations - just get a pot of rice or some potatoes cooking, once that’s ready, fry up some steaks or burgers, then cook greens in the leftover meat juices, and it’s a simple and delicious meal. I alternate this kind of meal with one pot stews and curries, egg dishes, and homemade pizza and pasta and we have a really easy 100% homemade meal plan every week.

Here’s a photo of my lunch from today - absolutely delicious, and only took around 5 minutes of hands-on time to make.

My A Year in an Off-Grid Kitchen cookbook has a lot of my favourite one pot meals and other favourite foods.

Tess Misch wrote: I LOOOOVE cabbage rolls, can't get enough of those!

Oh? Can't say I've tried them - what's your recipe like?

Well, I don't know about you guys but I know that I want to go to Kate's for lunch!

I've been working on going "back to basics" with cooking techniques so I have not done anything really fancy quite yet. I'm working on things such as how to properly sear porkchops, how to best cook potatoes in a variety of ways (boiling, frying, ect ect), and how to make a variety of greens.

My current fight is how to make the best rice possible. I'm getting there, but I still flub up every once and a while.

i rotate between the same few basic dishes, interspersed with random things that suddenly pop onto my radar and look good, or are part of the current efforts to clean out the pantry or the veg drawer....

-small chicken (or chicken parts) stewed in the crockpot in water. This can become Chinese dishes like white chicken (or the unfortunately named "saliva chicken") or Thai/Cambodian soup/stew when I add Thai basil, cilantro, scallions etc., usually served with jasmine rice and some other veg sides.

-rice and lentils with caramelized onions (mujadara), rice and peas, sekihan (azuki beans with mochi rice), turkish chickpeas and rice. all bring their own side dishes depending on which cuisine they are. also, pasta e fagiole.

-borscht with blini (pancakes/crepes) and accompaniments. turkish red lentil soup with homemade flatbread and hummus. injera pancakes with shiro (chickpea flour stew).

-chinese meat/veg dish with steamed bread/buns or noodles, greens and pickles

- korean or japanese meal with meat/veg dish, various veg sides, rice and pickles

Every once in a while I'll get a fabulous deal on specific produce to make something interesting, and I have a huge pantry with pretty much anything you could imagine in stock.
So last night I had a lot of sad veg in the fridge and a jar of peanut butter, I made a maafé type peanut/tomato stew. Today I have a few more tomatoes that need to go, so I'll make savory pancakes stuffed with brown lentils and soy crumbles with a tomato sauce on top, and I have lots of collards in the garden so I'll make a side out of that.

As for your tomato sauce: this is my mother's recipe, she was raised by Italians and it's better than 95% of the sauce I get out.
When I get tomatoes cheap I cook them in the slow cooker, run them through my Omega juicer and then can the resulting passata. I take a jar of that, plus about 1.5 to 2x the same volume of chopped fresh tomatoes, but I also sometimes use 100% fresh tomatoes (you could conceivably use canned tomatoes, my mother does that). If you don't like seeds or skins, you can remove them, you can leave them in and blend the final sauce if you want more fiber but don't want to see them, or just ignore them (that's what I do).
If you want a meatier sauce, you can start by browning sausage or meat in a hot pan. If you don't, start with olive oil. I like onions in my sauce, so I brown some in the oil, add garlic and some fresh spices (thyme and oregano, maybe rosemary, not a lot), if you want to use tomato paste you can put in a bit after the onions are done. Add salt and pepper. Stir around, don't let the garlic burn, and add your tomatoes and passata if using. Stir up anything that might have stuck and let it simmer until the fresh tomatoes are broken down.
Some folks deglaze the onion/garlic with a bit of wine, or add sugar if their tomatoes aren't super sweet, or parmesan cheese rinds or whatever. I stick with the tomatoes, onions, and spices.
I let it simmer for a few hours, usually, with a spatter screen on top until it's reduced a bit. taste for salt, take out the spent herbs and add some new chopped ones if you like.

Kim Wills wrote:And I highly recommend (to everyone) that in your mission to eat healthier, to try switching to pastas & breads that are as whole-grain as possible. .....Mix them in with processed (white) at first if you're not used to it, and increase the proportion. Many people do great with cooking at home, but if they are eating 1-2 servings of white flour products at every meal, well, that's a processed food people don't think about.

So my husband was diagnosed pre-diabetic about 10 years ago, one of a family full of diabetics. We decided to cut sugar and white stuff over a month. He went from drinking sugary black coffee and eating white rolls with margarine for breakfast (you can just imagine the rest of the day) to eating oatmeal with ground pumpkin/flax/chia seeds, upward and onward. e takes lunch every day and that was the easiest change- swap brown rice for white with his daily beans&rice. Also we stopped deep frying, switched from margarine to butter and lard, and instituted The Drink Rule (drinks are water, caffeine, or alcohol, everything else we're too old to drink, with very occasional exceptions). Just those changes were profound and resolved the situation.

I am super lucky that 1) he happily eats whatever I make 2) he'll try new things.
The one situation we have, though, is habit. When he visits his mother, he will eat white rolls for breakfast, and that's as it should be (I think, personally).
But when he has soup, he starts ransacking the cabinets looking for crackers, and can eat an entire sleeve at once. Humidity here is so high there's no point in trying to make crackers myself, so I decided whenever we have soup we make some sort of yummy soft flatbread (think naan) as a distraction.

I have a 100% guaranteed minimal-effort flatbread recipe that can go from 100% white to 100% whole wheat, and whatever else I throw in there always works. Usually I have it at 80% whole grain, and it's still soft and lovely and EASY (in fact, I taught my husband how to roll it out and cook it while I'm finishing the rest of dinner, and now he's the flatbread guy).

Flexible no-knead stovetop flatbread (start a bit earlier, I usually start a few hours before dinner depending on the temperature)
3 cups flour (any kind. if you're going to use a rye, oat, amaranth, rice, etc [non-gluten] you'll need at least half gluten, or some sort of GF bread strategy [sorry, I'm no good at GF baking). I suggest starting with one cup whole wheat, one cup white, and one cup whole-grain-weirdo (amaranth, quinoa, oat, rye, etc) and then see what you like.
1.25-1.5 cups water (will vary depending on your flour mix: start with one cup)
1 tablespoon dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt (if you like)
1 tablespoon sugar (optional, I never use it, but if your yeast needs a kick....)

Mix one cup of water and the ingredients in a container with space to grow and a cover (I use a big salad bowl with a lid).
Add additional water, enough that you can mix it with a spoon and it mostly sticks together. it will be shaggy and messy and that's fine, you just don't want large piles of flour that are still dry. It doesn't need to be kneaded or even pull into a ball, just mixed enough for everything to be hydrated. You don't even have to touch it with your hands if you don't want to at this point.
Leave somewhere to rise.
After it's risen (and it takes fine to overproofing, it just might be a bit loose and harder to handle, in which case flour your table heavily when you turn it out and you can sort it out then), scoop it out of the bowl onto a floured table, where you punch it down and divide it into 6 portions that you'll roll into balls. Roll each ball out and bake on a hot griddle/frying pan/etc (no need to grease). Keep a dough scraper nearby to remove/carry the bread to the pan (in case you didn't put enough flour down). Watch them, because it doesn't take long (they'll change color as they dry out and may get charred spots if you don't flip them fast enough).
You'll discover that some mixes will tend to puff when rolled thinner or thicker. Play around. If you like seeds, roll the ball out on a layer of sesame, kalonji, or some other seed you like to integrate them. I have added sourdough starter and veggies, spices, seeds, etc. Never had it not work (except for the one time I used a majority of rye flour, but they still tasted good). The original recipe called for white flour and the sugar, and I loved the texture so much that I decided to play with it.

Nancy Reading wrote:

Tess Misch wrote: I LOOOOVE cabbage rolls, can't get enough of those!

Oh? Can't say I've tried them - what's your recipe like?

Nancy, I mix ground meat, usually beef, with salt, pepper, garlic, onion powder; I add a half to one cup of oats or rice, an egg or two depending on the amount of meat, some steak sauce. I mix it together. I then roll the meat into balls about the size to fit in the palm of my hand.

I use either a deep pot or crockpot, in the bottom I add a thin layer of sauerkraut. I cut out the core of a cabbage, pull the leaves and wrap the meat rolls. I layer the rolls & sauerkraut about three high. I cut up the rest of the cabbage add it in the spaces, add tomato sauce. Cook several hours on low medium heat until done or 4 hours on high, 8 low in crockpot.  EAT up.

Thank you Tess, that's one to try - I like onepot meals. I'd probably just use chopped onion or leek rather than onion powder, as that is one of the things that I think affects my tummy (and don't know how easy it would be to get over here). Mind you, I haven't cracked sauerkraut yet. If I just have cabbage, what would you suggest?

Translation request - would worcestershire sauce do instead of steak sauce? that's my go-to secret ingredient in savoury dishes.

Nancy Reading wrote:Thank you Tess, that's one to try - I like onepot meals. I'd probably just use chopped onion or leek rather than onion powder, as that is one of the things that I think affects my tummy (and don't know how easy it would be to get over here). Mind you, I haven't cracked sauerkraut yet. If I just have cabbage, what would you suggest?

Translation request - would worcestershire sauce do instead of steak sauce? that's my go-to secret ingredient in savoury dishes.

Nancy, I use the green cabbage, but honestly, you could probably use your favorite, as long as it can take the cook time & temps w/o getting too mushy. You want a slightly firm cabbage after cooking, but not crunchy (too undercooked).  I will sometimes make a cornbread, make a favorite veggie.  I do add onion when I have them, but I don't always have them.  For me, I eat sauerkraut right out of the bag, I love it!  But it isn't for everyone.  Sadly, I do have to limit my intake as it does give me a burbly tummy.  But I just can't seem to give up my cabbage & kraut yet LOL!  

the stove actually worked today. made some broccoli, egg and cheese pies. its one of my favorites. Ive got too many favorite. im fortunate to have learned chef skills, cooking from scratch at very young age

bruce Fine wrote:the stove actually worked today. made some broccoli, egg and cheese pies. its one of my favorites. Ive got too many favorite. im fortunate to have learned chef skills, cooking from scratch at very young age

This looks DELICIOUS!!!  Thanks Bruce!!!  Another to add to my new collection of recipies   --Tess

recipe, ok, here is mine.
chop a large strong onion, one onion per pie, and sauté  in butter and shake in a bunch of black pepper to your taste
if you like to chew use a whole bunch of raw broccoli or if you like you can add in half or less cauliflower. or you can boil it for 5 or so minutes till broccoli or broccoli and cauliflower softens a bit. this is not a quiche, this is vegetable pie. its better to have too much veggie mix than not enough. if it all won't fit in pie shell extra can be used in stir fry or something else.
make pie crust or get frozen ones
in large bowl mix fried onions and broccoli together. the past few times making this I chop up the broccoli in bowl with Alaska Ulu knife
for deep pie shell/pan 5 lg eggs, for traditional pie height 4 eggs will usually do it.
in bowl good for beating eggs add eggs and a bit half and half, milk or cream. not too much though , add about a table spoon of pressed or chopped garlic, and about as much sdalt as you would put in bread, like maybe a teaspoon or a bit more if you like salty stuff.
with onions mixed throughout the bowl of broccoli get a layer that just covers the bottom into the pie shell. sprinkle in some sharp cheddar or similar cheese. now fill in the pie shell with the broccoli and onions mix.
beat up the stuff in the egg bowl real well but not to death.
make a pocket in center broccoli so egg mixture will soak in amount the veggie mix. pour egg mix in slowly so it soaks in all throughout the veggies.
after it is soaked throughout  close up the center pocket and cover lightly with shredded cheese, it has to be cheese that can take the heat of baking, mozzarella, provolone, etc. Italian mix is excellent here.
bake at 375 for about 50 minutes or till a knife will come out clean. or less if you like runny eggs.  do not overcook. burnt or rubbery eggs are not very delicious.

ok, let us know how it turns out for you.