it is tough!
i have almost completely lost the desire to eat. don't get me wrong- i am hungry. i just don't want to eat because i am bored with my food choices. interestingly, i am more bored when i eat all three of the dal-bhat-tarkari in a single sitting, and have found some relief by "mixing it up" a little. on day 3, i ate rice and lentils for lunch and lentils and veggies for dinner. day 4 was a little harder. i took rice and lentils for lunch, but couldn't make myself eat the rice so only had lentils. for dinner i didn't have anything. i opened the fridge, stared a while at the three bowls holding my dinner possibilities, and i closed it again without selecting any. i had an apple and called it good. if you know me and how much i enjoy eating, that is a shocking revelation. without endless choices, food has become uninteresting. for a good part of my life i have suspected that it is healthier and less indulgent to view food as uninteresting...to view it as fuel instead of entertainment. i am still convinced that this is probably true, but its confirmation has kicked off a little mourning in my soul. i will have to examine that another time. there is an upside. the pounds are coming off.
day 5- a tiny rejoice!! i have decided that it would be acceptable, and completely natural, for me to be a little more creative with the food on hand while still staying true to the resolution to eat like they do in nepal. more accurately, i have kind of morphed it into eating like i would in nepal. what i mean by that is this- i am using the ingredients that i would find there but tweaking them in ways that the nepalis probably wouldn't and i probably would, if i lived there. for instance, for breakfast i made spanish eggs. (i have added a small breakfast to the regimen, since i am on a medication that has to be taken early in the morning with food). i took eggs- which are available in nepal- and fried them over medium. i topped them with a chutney (i like to call it salsa) made of simmered tomatoes, garlic, onions, chiles, and cumin (which is a favorite nepali seasoning). by NOT adding curry and only using garlic and cumin, i produced something with more of a spanish or southwest flavor. in essence, i got a little reprieve from my mexican craving. yay!!!
and YUMMMMMMMMMM!!
now for lunch, i plan to take the rice and fry/simmer it with the rest of the diced tomatoes, onions, chiles, garlic, and cumin to make spanish-style rice. i can't wait! oh...what is that??!! excitement for the coming meal??
who is winning- me, or the food? stay tuned to find out. ;0)
I don't know if you are allowed to tweak the diet this much but this is one of my favorites.
ReplyDeleteMjeddrah
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup diced celery
2 cups chopped onion
1 Tbsp. olive oil or butter
2 cups uncooked brown rice
6 cups water
1 lb. lentils
Garden salad
vinagrette dressing
1. saute carrots, celery, onion in oil
when soft and traslucent place in slow cooker.
2. Brown rice in Tbsp oil until dry add to slow cooker.
3. stir in water and lentils
4. cover and cook on high for 6-8 hours
When thoroughly cooked
serve in soup bowls, cover with fresh green salad and pour vingrette over all.
There are several recipes for this but this is my favorite. after eating it this way you can thin it out and turn it into soup.
Your niece,
Kathy
mmmmmmmm...sounds yummy. couple of questions- 1. are there any seasonings or spices (besides the vinaigrette?) 2. do you eat it hot with cold salad on top? very unusual!
ReplyDeletei found another similar stovetop recipe that includes the dressing ingredients:
ReplyDeleteMjeddrah
3 to 3.5 tbsp Canola Oil (the recipe originally called for olive but I used good quality non gmo canola)
2 large Onions, roughly chopped
1/2 tsp Salt
1 1/2 cups Lentils, rinsed
3/4 cup Brown Rice
4 1/2 cups Water
Salad Fixings (Lettuce, Spinach, Green Onion, Cucumber, Tomato, Sprouts, Radish, Red Pepper…)
In a large lidded skillet, saute onion in oil with the salt sprinkled on top for a couple minutes. Add lentils and rice and saute until onions translucent and rice opaque.
Add water and stir to combine. Bring to a boil and then lower heat, cover and simmer for about 45 minutes.
Serve lentil mixture on lettuce or spinach with other ingredients on top with dressing.
Dressing
6 tbsp Safflower Oil or other
2 tbsp Lemon Juice
1 tsp Paprika
1/2 tsp Dry Mustard or 1/2-1 tsp Djion Mustard
2 clovea Garlic, minced
1/2 tsp Honey
1/4-1/2 tsp Garlic Chilli Paste (optional)
Salt to taste
Combine all in a lidded jar and shake.
i think i'll try a combo dish tomorrow once i figure out if there are "salad fixins" in nepal. lol.
I use whatever seasonings I have on hand that sound good. The way I eat it is warm with cold salad fixins. I also eat it plan with out salad like stew and thin it out to make soup of the leftovers you can also add tomatoes to soup.
ReplyDeleteKathy
if you look hard enough you can also find a variation with pineapple.
ReplyDeleteI looked greens are available in Nepal. I have an idea. Why don't you post staple ingredients from nepal and see if your friends can come up with recipes using available ingredients? that way you might get variations and your still using foods that will be available. Might give you some variety.
ReplyDeleteKathy