Cooking for one (Mark Two)

PasturesNew

Farway wrote: »

... up popped ...

What I've never mentioned is .... that my site's actually had well over a million visitors. It's quietly enjoyed by a number of people.


I'm not a big trumpet blower....

poppystar

Ok - this dratted cold has had me eating poor stuff or ready meals for over a week. Final ready meal will be eaten tonight and am resolved to avoid processed food next week completely! [A shorter challenge than your 2018 one PN but will be joining you in that:)]

This will be a huge challenge for me and have some ideas in the pipeline but worry about things seeming tasteless.

So first challenge to you my fellow CFOers is how to make a stir fry tasty. I have been having the M&S stir fry deal and thoroughly enjoyed but that comes with a pack of processed sauce. How do I achieve taste without that? Help;)

Deffo need more than salt and pepper which is about my limit in self seasoning:o

PasturesNew

poppystar wrote: »

So first challenge to you my fellow CFOers is how to make a stir fry tasty. I have been having the M&S stir fry deal and thoroughly enjoyed but that comes with a pack of processed sauce. How do I achieve taste without that? Help;)

No idea, never had one, not a frequenter of M&S for food .... but, start with reading what the box says is in it ... and see what's there/achievable for you to DIY.

Glad

poppystar wrote: »

So first challenge to you my fellow CFOers is how to make a stir fry tasty. I have been having the M&S stir fry deal and thoroughly enjoyed but that comes with a pack of processed sauce. How do I achieve taste without that? Help;)

Deffo need more than salt and pepper which is about my limit in self seasoning:o

fresh herbs, lemon/lime juice, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, fish sauce, honey, sesame oil, paprika

some of the above depending on what taste you want

caronc

PasturesNew wrote: »

The lone person/diner is most often swamped with family stuff, family recipes, family stories .... OH, DH, DS, DD, Gs ... and more.
It's stayed on course for being "cooking for one"

Well done for starting it; it's been an enjoyable zone free from "crowd pleaser recipes"

Why thank you - I've definitely got more out of the thread than I've put in:D

Glad wrote: »

I need some new ideas too now I'm CFO, I love cooking and experimenting but over the last few months I've been trying to eat 'clean'. So as little processed food as possible, and mainly organic and in season. I'm also trying to stick to Carbs 40% Protein 40% Fat 20% due to exercising to tone up a little.

My problem is that I generally need 2400 calories a day, and that is really difficult when I don't eat meat and am trying to keep the fat percentage low

I have a large organic fruit and veg box delivered weekly but my meals seem to all be veggie curries or stews etc

Strewth - that's a hard one to balance. Would it be worth considering a "cheat" day to boost your weekly calorie intake?

PasturesNew wrote: »

What I've never mentioned is .... that my site's actually had well over a million visitors. It's quietly enjoyed by a number of people.


I'm not a big trumpet blower....

That's brilliant :A:j

caronc

poppystar wrote: »

Ok - this dratted cold has had me eating poor stuff or ready meals for over a week. Final ready meal will be eaten tonight and am resolved to avoid processed food next week completely! [A shorter challenge than your 2018 one PN but will be joining you in that:)]

This will be a huge challenge for me and have some ideas in the pipeline but worry about things seeming tasteless.

So first challenge to you my fellow CFOers is how to make a stir fry tasty. I have been having the M&S stir fry deal and thoroughly enjoyed but that comes with a pack of processed sauce. How do I achieve taste without that? Help;)

Deffo need more than salt and pepper which is about my limit in self seasoning:o

My favourite is a tsp each of sweet chilli sauce, chopped fresh chilli, fish sauce or soy sauce, grated root ginger and lime juice with a crushed clove of garlic stirred in.

caronc

Good evening everyone,
As per the forecast it's turning into a cold one.:( I ended up going for the muffin with scrambled egg, toms and mushrooms again for lunch.
When getting the last muffin out of the freezer I discovered I was a bit premature in celebrating running down the bread products mountain as I still have two bagels frozen. Still it's heading in the right direction:). Mushrooms again with my steak later as I have a large flat one to use up. Thankfully I do love mushrooms and cooked they are one of my recommended foods as to due to my meds I'm at risk of potassium deficiency so a win-win really:D.

moneyistooshorttomention

I find its quite tasty to put a bit of nut butter in a stirfry - as well as some decent soya sauce. A bit of grated ginger is a useful addition too.

Little zonked-out - decided I'd have a(nother) go at a YouTube video (of the self-hypnosis variety) and a couple of hours later coming to and..."Errrrm....time to get up off this uncomfortable floor I've been lying on and make myself some food".

Summat quick and easy - so I tried out making porridge with coconut milk. Verdict - well I had done 3 parts coconut milk to 1 part porridge oats (which seemed to be round about the ratio I found googling). Added in some water to thin it down a bit and some defrosted mango pieces/little dribble of real maple syrup. Chuck a few hemp hearts on top. Verdict = nice. Will be trying variants on that again.

Now onto the sourdough bread toasted - as still hungry.

poppystar

Thanks for the suggestions

I have some fish sauce that is quite old now but think it may well stay ok,(?) it's been in fridge awaiting me thinking of something to do with it. I bought it for a Thai soup that I made then promptly threw all over myself and by the time I'd cleared up didn't fancy the little that was left:o

I love ginger and like the idea of nut butter too - cashew variety. I don't have chilli sauce but that made me think that maybe I could also try a curry flavour stir fry and add some mango chutney in (although I suppose that would fail the 'not processed' test:().

Fresh herbs and lime juice never crossed my mind but I may well experiment with those too.

I shall let you know how I do. My main hope is edibility and if I manage a flavour I like to it's a bonus:D

caronc

poppystar wrote: »

Thanks for the suggestions

I have some fish sauce that is quite old now but think it may well stay ok,(?) it's been in fridge awaiting me thinking of something to do with it. I bought it for a Thai soup that I made then promptly threw all over myself and by the time I'd cleared up didn't fancy the little that was left:o

I love ginger and like the idea of nut butter too - cashew variety. I don't have chilli sauce but that made me think that maybe I could also try a curry flavour stir fry and add some mango chutney in (although I suppose that would fail the 'not processed' test:().

Fresh herbs and lime juice never crossed my mind but I may well experiment with those too.

I shall let you know how I do. My main hope is edibility and if I manage a flavour I like to it's a bonus:D

Your fish sauce will be fine for decades.... If you don't want to use chutney, dried apricots (or fresh) would work. Personally I'd not consider mango chutney overly processed in the scheme of things, it's basically just fruit, sugar, acid (lemon or vinegar) and spices:)