h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hello my Dear,

Sorry for hi-jacking the aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhhhhh thread. I should really have done a journal entry of my own on the detox/fast. Now it is done with, I'll just report in weekly on the new eating plan, (which is going to be Montignac-ish, with an emphasis on loads and loads of vegetables).

You mentioned a recipe for quinoa risotto - I am planning on eating wholegrains again for the next few weeks, while I can. Could you point me in the direction of the recipe?

I hope you have a lovely time at the wedding you are going to. You will be missed at the meet.



B

The recipe is in the food doctor book which I left at home today (for the first time - typical!), I'll post the recipe on here when I get home but it is pretty simple and does taste good.

I'll have a guess in case you are getting ingredients today but I may get the quantities a bit wrong here, I made a double quantity so that I could have 1 portion that day, one tonight and J had two portions in one go.

Something like:
200g quinoa
2 medium leeks
100g portobello mushrooms cut into thick slices
Some spices ground corriander was one of them, possibly ground cumin, although that may have been the falafel. Will check
Clove of garlic (I put in double as I love garlicy risotto)
Tablespoon of tomato puree.
3/4 pint of water with a teaspoon of yeast-free boullion (can get from sainsbury, usually near the 'Free From' stuff.

Put water, puree and spices in a pan and add the leeks. Simmer for 5-10 mins. Dump in the quinoa and mushroom and simmer for further 15 mins or until all the water is soaked up.

Easy

Don't worry about hijacking my thread, all the discussion there is intersting and useful

k

Way cool! I am not going to do it today, more like Sunday. Going to London this afternoon, and to the Meet on Saturday.

Thanks, hon.

B

I knew I'd get some bits wrong - the quinoa should be 100g, the water should be half a pint. I forgot the 50 ml of olive oil that goes into the water at the start. It was 2 tsp ground corriander and 1 tblsp chopped fresh parsley (that I left out because I don't like parsely much).
This should make two pretty generous servings, it goes nicely with something crunchy like salad

Let me know how you get on

So have you had a got at this yet? Or have things been a bit too hectic to think about new recipes?

k
x

Not yet. I have made enough brown rice and lentil stuffing to feed an army, suffed peppers, stuffed marrows, and so on. I will try the quinoa later in the week though, and let you know how I get on.

B

Brown rice and lentil stuffing sounds good, can it be eaten cold? I am missing my starchy carbs so that could be a way of having some at lunchtime. Which way to the recipe?

Oh I just made it up.

I cooked 'some' brown rice and 'some' lentils, (I think they were the small green bullety ones called puy lentils), in separate pans, and fried onions and huge quantities of garlic and some finely chopped mushrooms in another pan, and then mixed them together with lemon pepper, but whatever seasonings you like would do. I added an egg to bind the stuffing and use up the egg, but you do then have to bake it to cook the egg. It was surprisingly successful.

I had overcooked the rice and lentils slightly - if I hadn't you could use them as a basis for a cold rice salad, which would be nice.

In fact I made far too much rice and far too many lentils, so I am probably going to either make a veg curry and have them both as side dishes, or make a veg chilli with the lentils and serve the rice on the side.

I am not particularly veggie at the moment, I just don't fancy meat that much right now for some reason.

B

Oh, and sunflower seeds. I put in sunflower seeds.

B

I am now seriously addicted to quinoa! Thanks for the recipe and the suggestion.

Do tell me more about your mother. It is always so much more interesting when my thinking doesn't work than when it does, and I am really curious about where I got it wrong about her.



Ben

Glad you liked it! Another very simple quinoa suggestion - another one from the diet:
Cook the quinoa in some bouillon (suggests the yeast-free ones you can get in sainsburys or the health food shops, I prefer the vegan version) then add a dollop of homemade pesto (whizzed pinenuts, tons of basil, olive oil) on top. I think they served it with baked tomato, which went very well.

"Tell me more about your mother..." *pictures self on psychiatrist's couch*

You said scorpios were all on the inside and you can't read them, well with mum you can practically see the thought arrive, then pass across the face a few seconds before it falls out of her mouth. It often doesn't stop for any processing/censoring on the way That was the bit that *really* didn't fit - although now I think about it she does remember 'crimes' against her family, not faux pas exactly, but if anyone makes any kind of slight against one of her own then she will hold it against them forever.

It is Friday and I'm giving notice of marriage today

Yep - that transparency is very un-Scorpio. If only the blokes I had met in my time had been like that! So-o-o-o-o much easier!

I'll try quinoa and pesto - it sounds a good mix, and I miss pasta and pesto sometimes.

Have a good weekend!

Ben