Convalescence foods
This week, I have mostly been ill.
Some unspecified lurgy, which is different to the normal lurgy that I occasionally get and can cope with (hacking cough, gunge, runny nose, etc etc). No, I had all the joys of feverishness and shivers, oversensitive skin, sore neck and general lack of go.
And, oh yes. Loss of appetite.
This makes me definitely know that I am ill.
On Tuesday night, just as I started getting Ill, sessifet25 came round and we cooked together. Luckily I was still mostly ok and ate the food more or less happily (though not as abundantly as I normally would have) and it was num. Sessifet brought her delicious 3 squash soup, and then we constructed a lasagne based on vague ideas of how to use stuff I had in my fridge, plus a few extras picked up en route. This was the result:
It turned out *really* nicely. I mean, damn that was good. Very rich though, so I was only slightly suspicious that I was quite happily satisfied after eating only half the contents of one of the dishes. I hear the other dish got a good home. Then we had pancakes with chocolate sauce and a bit more creme fraiche for pudding. Yum.
Anyway, so the next day I struggled out of bed for an appointment at 10am, and straight after said appointment returned to bed feeling quite sorry for myself, canceling all other appointments for the day. I took receipt of a mercy delivery of lucozade (thank you muchly those concerned!), which was all I consumed until about 8pm. I felt a little bit better in the evening, and managed to put a 'snack size' pizza from the freezer in the oven. I struggled to finish it.
Roll on Thursday. And here's where I started getting creative with things in the fridge that needed using up. 'lunch' was half of a half portion of porridge. I decided in the evening that I really should try and have some dinner. I had some leftover rice that I didn't trust keeping another day, so using all my available Go I put the rice in a baking dish, put some tinned tomatoes on top, put some spinach leaves on top and put a (frozen but previously bought from the butcher) minty lamb burger on top. 45 minutes later it was hot and the lamb was mostly cooked so I broke it up with a spoon and smooshed it all around to be mixed in evenly. Then I put it back in the oven for another 15 minutes, and after that tentatively dished myself up a quarter of what i'd made. It was absolutely delicious! And you know what? I struggled to finish that quarter portion...
So onto today. For lunch I had a bit more of the ricey tomatoey lamby thing, but still had to throw some away (being leftovers to start with it wouldn't really withstand another reheating). And then this evening for dinner another experiment. I had a small squash that i'd roasted half of a few nights ago in expectation of doing *something* with. So I took one of the leftover lasagne sheets, cut it into strips, boiled it then added it with a bit of the resulting water to some smooshed up squash and a dab of butter with some seasoning. Again, amazingly delicious! And yet again, I couldn't finish the meagre portion i'd allotted myself...
So, the moral of the story? I seem to be very good at creating yummy food which requires almost no preparation out of leftover bits and bobs. But when i'm unwell and have no appetite that fact is almost depressing because I don't eat the results! Ah well. Hopefully i'll be better soon. At least my waistline might be appreciating it!
At some point I might do a catch up post, not involving cooking. But to sum up: Doing Business stuff. Going well. Doing job applications. Going slowly. Doing fun stuff, intermittently. Doing some Jewish festivals, overeating involved!
Some unspecified lurgy, which is different to the normal lurgy that I occasionally get and can cope with (hacking cough, gunge, runny nose, etc etc). No, I had all the joys of feverishness and shivers, oversensitive skin, sore neck and general lack of go.
And, oh yes. Loss of appetite.
This makes me definitely know that I am ill.
On Tuesday night, just as I started getting Ill, sessifet25 came round and we cooked together. Luckily I was still mostly ok and ate the food more or less happily (though not as abundantly as I normally would have) and it was num. Sessifet brought her delicious 3 squash soup, and then we constructed a lasagne based on vague ideas of how to use stuff I had in my fridge, plus a few extras picked up en route. This was the result:
- A full colander worth of fresh spinach, wilted down in a frying pan with some butter and two cloves of sliced garlic
- Two salmon steaks, sliced thinly and cut into sections and lightly fried on both sides in the pan the spinach was done in, and set aside
- Half a small log (150g) of very nice goat's cheese, rind removed, cut into small cubes. Popped into the above frying pan with
- 3 good tablespoonfulls of creme fraiche, and reduced to a sauce.
- 4 sheets of fresh egg lasagne, layered in two small oven dishes with the above
It turned out *really* nicely. I mean, damn that was good. Very rich though, so I was only slightly suspicious that I was quite happily satisfied after eating only half the contents of one of the dishes. I hear the other dish got a good home. Then we had pancakes with chocolate sauce and a bit more creme fraiche for pudding. Yum.
Anyway, so the next day I struggled out of bed for an appointment at 10am, and straight after said appointment returned to bed feeling quite sorry for myself, canceling all other appointments for the day. I took receipt of a mercy delivery of lucozade (thank you muchly those concerned!), which was all I consumed until about 8pm. I felt a little bit better in the evening, and managed to put a 'snack size' pizza from the freezer in the oven. I struggled to finish it.
Roll on Thursday. And here's where I started getting creative with things in the fridge that needed using up. 'lunch' was half of a half portion of porridge. I decided in the evening that I really should try and have some dinner. I had some leftover rice that I didn't trust keeping another day, so using all my available Go I put the rice in a baking dish, put some tinned tomatoes on top, put some spinach leaves on top and put a (frozen but previously bought from the butcher) minty lamb burger on top. 45 minutes later it was hot and the lamb was mostly cooked so I broke it up with a spoon and smooshed it all around to be mixed in evenly. Then I put it back in the oven for another 15 minutes, and after that tentatively dished myself up a quarter of what i'd made. It was absolutely delicious! And you know what? I struggled to finish that quarter portion...
So onto today. For lunch I had a bit more of the ricey tomatoey lamby thing, but still had to throw some away (being leftovers to start with it wouldn't really withstand another reheating). And then this evening for dinner another experiment. I had a small squash that i'd roasted half of a few nights ago in expectation of doing *something* with. So I took one of the leftover lasagne sheets, cut it into strips, boiled it then added it with a bit of the resulting water to some smooshed up squash and a dab of butter with some seasoning. Again, amazingly delicious! And yet again, I couldn't finish the meagre portion i'd allotted myself...
So, the moral of the story? I seem to be very good at creating yummy food which requires almost no preparation out of leftover bits and bobs. But when i'm unwell and have no appetite that fact is almost depressing because I don't eat the results! Ah well. Hopefully i'll be better soon. At least my waistline might be appreciating it!
At some point I might do a catch up post, not involving cooking. But to sum up: Doing Business stuff. Going well. Doing job applications. Going slowly. Doing fun stuff, intermittently. Doing some Jewish festivals, overeating involved!