[nurishment.phsyical] Tea kettles and cooking

[wispfox]

So, um, apparently electric tea kettles are normal in Britian.

I have a stovetop one, and even _those_ aren't particularly 'normal' a thing to have. I think the normal method of boiling water for beverages is microwaving it in a cup (which I sometimes do, since I don't think there was a tea kettle in my house at all growing up).

This conversation fascinates the _hell_ out of me. Seriously! Both the conversation in the post I linked to, and the conversation in the comments _that_ post links to.

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I don't cook. Pretty much ever. I try, infrequently, but it seems to be something for which I have the initiative only rarely, which means I never get good enough at anything to do it more or less automatically. (And no, I don't count boiling water for pasta - for example - as cooking, even though I often don't have initiative or energy for _that_) And I'm _way_ too easily distracted and fairly poor at keeping track of what all I'm doing, neither of which are good for cooking purposes.

Far more likely to want to bake than cook, I am. Even then, though, it's rare.

So the fact that I have nearly as many tools/containers for cooking as I have (a decent amount - I don't tend to frustrate people who want to use my kitchen nearly as much as I could!) is mostly because I hoped I would eventually actually 'learn to cook'. I no longer think it's about learning, though, and am more thinking that I just don't really _want_ to, healthier for me though it absolutely would be. And cheaper.

I suspect this is partly the fact that I don't really understand how cooking could be fun, especially if I'm cooking just for myself, or if it's something I need to do regularly (which, since I get tired of food quickly, is usually the case). Nor do I tend to like eating for its own sake. So it's a chore, and not - for me - a particularly easy or quick one. Especially since, when I'm aware that I'm hungry, I'm probably already starting to have low blood sugar problems.

Comments

[dancingwolfgrrl.livejournal.com]

Electric kettles are fabulous inventions. The only reason I use a stovetop one instead is that space on the stovetop is less in demand than counter space in my kitchen at the moment.

Cooking: I'm trying to do it more because I know that given the chance, I will eat no vegetables in a given day and subsist on starch, and that's not good for me :) My tricks are:
*recipes with few ingredients so that a zillion leftover vegetables don't turn into science experiments in my fridge
*shameless use of convenience foods: I use boxed rice pilaf in particular all the time, as well as canned beans and frozen mixed veggies.
*things that freeze well! (Leftovers in tupperware in the freezer means I have lots of choices that are quick.)

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

*recipes with few ingredients so that a zillion leftover vegetables don't turn into science experiments in my fridge
*things that freeze well! (Leftovers in tupperware in the freezer means I have lots of choices that are quick.)

Any suggestions? I might actually cook if I had a reasonable sense of what would be reasonably easy, healthy, and such.

[dancingwolfgrrl.livejournal.com]

Yes!

Frozen mixed veggies are your friend. I buy huge bags of peas/carrots/corn at BJs, but grocery stores also have them.
1. Make rice pilaf (I love the Near East mix -- dump in boiling water, wait 20 minutes, and presto.) Put frozen veggies in bowl, microwave for a minute or two, put rice on top. Add cheese if you like it.
2. Make pasta. Throw veggies in for last 2 minutes of cooking time. Drain and put in tupperware (I make a week's worth of this at a time.) Before eating, microwave and douse with balsamic vinegar and salt or with pesto.

You can make your own burritos really easily and freeze them. Get a pack of tortillas, a box of Spanish rice mix, a jar of salsa and can of refried beans. If you're motivated, you could chop up a pepper and onion and stir fry them for 5 minutes in olive oil. Smear beans, rice, and veggies if using in a tortilla, add some salsa on top. Fold the ends in and roll it up. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and stick in freezer. Reheat in microwave. (The perk of this is that you can use up all the rice and beans at once.)

Pasta with roasted red peppers is one of my favorites: slice the pepper into strips, toss with olive oil and a clove or two of garlic you put through a press. In the oven for 10-15 minutes at 450 -- until all soft. Mix the peppers and oil from the pan with the pasta. (Using tinfoil on the sheet makes this much easier to clean up :->) Only needs one veggie!

Black beans: Drain a can of them, put them in a frying pan, add a little olive oil and some salsa (about half a cup). Cook with no lid until most of the liquid from the salsa is gone -- 10 minutes or so? Yummy with tortillas, tortilla chips, or couscous. (If you haven't discovered couscous, give it a try -- it takes 5 minutes to cook and is, IMHO, much more foolproof than rice :-> Also, to me, the whole wheat version, which is good for you, does not taste appreciably different than the other kinds.)