inspiration required...

crana9

can someone please give me some new ideas of what I can cook...?

they have to be:
cheap
veggie (or easily made veggie)
healthy
makeable using 2 rings, 2 saucepans, and a microwave
can't involve frying, sauteing, etc.
for 1 person to eat at once, or something that can be kept in the fridge and eaten for more than one meal..

having set the fire alarm off the other day cooking for which ill be fined at least £70 and up to £200.. they really cant involve frying etc (which is strictly banned) or any kind of process involving excessive heat or smoke..

i normally make soups, casseroles, dhals etc,.. but could do with some new ideas

thank you in advance!

Magentasue

Easy Cauliflower Cheese

For a small portion, a head of brocolli might be better, alternatively a couple of leeks.

small cauliflower
small tub creme fraiche
handful of grated cheese
salt, pepper

Cook veg until tender, when almost ready gently heat the creme fraiche and season with salt and pepper. Cool a little and then stir in cheese. Drain veg and put on plate, pour over sauce. Nicer if browned under grill but fine without. You can also cook a little crushed garlic before adding the creme fraiche if liked.

Bubble and squeak

Roughly equal amounts of cooked cabbage and cooked potatoes, chopped.

You just combine and season with plenty of salt and pepper and cook. If you want, you can finely chop an onion, cook in a little oil or butter (not really frying ::) if you put in pan with a little butter and put the lid on.

Once you've got your veg mixed together, melt some butter in pan with a little oil and cook gently on both sides until brown. Again, this doesn't seem like frying because you're not using hot oil and creating smoke.

Other than soup, I use my grill or oven for nearly every meal :-/ , hadn't realised that until now.

crana9

"any cooking in oil" is banned.. the thing is.. obviously they dont have secret radar that tells them if you are or not, but if you are and you happen to set off the fire alarm (which is very easy to do as i found out to my cost) you get a much bigger fine than if you set it off, say, boiling something. or whatever!

squarecat

Hi,

How about getting yourself a cooks blow-torch. It does help with 'browning' things and is instantly controlable. It can also be stashed in a draw, so that you can deny all knowledge of it!

crana9

the kitchen is equipped with super-sensitive heat detectors

good idea tho

Petree

*ahem* toilet paper in the sensor *ahem*

take it out after....i assume your at uni?
Try talking to maintenance suggesting that they turn the senstivity down (dont believe them if they say they can't, they are all set manually)

hth

Anne_Marie_2

What about sauteing your veg, such as onions, mushrooms etc in a little marg/olive oil in the microwave? Just remember to cover bowl with spatterguard or partially cover with clingfilm. Wouldn't think that would set off alarms.
Another tip I had from a friend who was on a diet with "Scottish Slimmers", was to microwave mushrooms in a little water with a veg stock cube, to cut down on fat intake, and similar to sauteed. Tastes very nice indeed, maybe you can try that with onions too.

I often make tomato sauce in microwave, which you could serve with pasta, rice, couscous, whatever.

Tin tomatoes chopped (I do this in bowl to save mess)
Diced onion
Tomato puree
Oregano/basil/italian herbs - whatever you have handy
Chopped garlic (or puree/dried)
Salt & Pepper
I usually add splash mushroom ketchup (in place of Worcestershire sauce)

Put all ingreds in bowl, stir thoroughly, cook for 10-15 mins in microwave, stirring every 5 mins.

To basic tomato sauce you could add chilli for a bit of a kick.
If you like mushrooms, slice and add in last couple of mins of cooking time, likewise other veggies such as courgettes, peppers, which require little cooking time.
Add veggie or soya mince for spag bol, add kidney beans too for chilli con carne - or tin value baked beans.
Add lentils - I do these in microwave in boiling water 10 -15 mins, but you probably know all about that making dhals. You could cook lentils when cooking tomato sauce, adding some water, saving on cooking time.

Make up a bechamel (white) sauce in microwave, with flour, marg and milk, salt and pepper.
Melt butter, add flour, micro 30 secs, whisk in milk. Micro, whisking every min for about 3 mins (depending on amount).
Variations
Cheese sauce - add grated cheese and micro 1 min more- add some mustard if liked.
Serve with cauliflour/broccolli/leeks or of course, pasta.

Garlic, onion or mushroom - saute in marg for when starting to make sauce, and continue from there. (Or put all 3 in the sauce)
Again serve with veggies such as cauliflour, but nice on its own over a serving of rice or pasta.

Instead of milk, use veg stock cube in boiling water, or combination of milk and stock.

Add any herbs/spices that you like.

If you have made some soup, you can add any left over bechamel sauce to it, whisk it up for a "cream" soup.

Galtizz

Can you get one of those microwaves with a built in grill :-/ (if they still make them)

16011996

they do, i got one a fortnight ago at comet.

crana9

petree, it aint worth the risk of getting fined up to £200 if I set it off. Friend got fined £70 for burning somethin in the microwave last week.

Plus there are 3 sensors.. and how is it meant to work with the heat detectors? ???

And should I be caught tinkering with them.. that's the full whack £200 and big trouble.

Dont think asking maintenance to turn them down would help either unfortunately,. they set them high for a reason (to charge us loads in fines probably). Frying is banned full stop, even if you were frying something and not setting off any alarms and someone happened to come round to check something and saw you frying = big trouble, bigger fine.

Good idea with the microwave stuff. I'm not sure it's worth me getting another one with a grill :-/ but its a good thought.

I should add having a "mini oven" is also banned so dont go down that route :-[

rosie

Ps. I discovered that my quorn sausages (packet says you have to fry/bbq/grill/bake them) are actually okay microwaved... hehehe.

Galtizz

OMG! HOW perdantic are they!!!

Have you thought about going to your NUS rep? Yes, burning the place down with fire might kill many people but so will instilling a diet of microwave ready meals and take aways onto our students! ;D

In the mean time I've found THIS site which has a lot of recipes on it (not sure if you eat fish as it might be limited if not, or you might be able to use a tofu type substitute thing instead)

You could invest £1.94 in THIS book (+ p+p)

Or, ask santa to get you a slow cooker and look on here for recipes or get THIS book. In my experience all of the steam is contained within the pot so there is no heat for the sensors until you take the lid off and you could take it outside to do that if the sensors are that sensitive. Second thoughts a slow cooker would mean you getting up in the morning (i.e before 2pm) to put it on. So if you are a typical student this might be a problem ;D

HTH