April 6, 2021

Soy Beans, Oatcakes, and 32 Samosa

Soy beans and bean juice destined for the freezer cooling on the windowsill.



We try to make as much of our own food as possible. 

We try to do it in a way that saves money, tastes better, reduces waste, is cleaner and more nutritious.

For us it is a source of great satisfaction, mostly because we do it together. 

Linda is the brains behind our diet, and I am the body that gets the pot-banging done. 

I moved a chair into the kitchen and do as much as I can sitting next to her. 

I don't mind taking the weight off while working culinary magic, and think every kitchen should have a cook's chair. Or, more appropriately, a throne.





Oatcakes are a tasty, hearty use of rolled oats.


There is a reason easy foods are popular. 

Slow food is hard food. But it is good food.

Making good food happen is a never-ending process. 

You are always either:

1) Preparing to cook.

2) Cooking.

3) Eating.

4) Cleaning up from cooking, or

5) After a slight pause, see number 1. 

It can get exhausting. 

That is why we take the time to spend a day cooking and making things like soy beans, oatcakes, and 32 samosas. 

These are all things that can be easily prepared and stored for later if we do not feel like cooking, or need something quickly.




32 samosas right out of the oven.




We don't see the time spent cooking as getting in the way of life. 

It IS life. We are what we eat. 

There is nothing more important, or more deserving of our attention. 

It is much work, but any work that results in providing the requirements for a healthy life is a wholesome, vital, and joyous way to spend ones time.





5 comments:

  1. Mmmmmm samosas! I do a couple of cooking prep mornings each week and this makes getting a healthy meal on the table much easier. I will usually cook a grain, a pot of beans or lentils, roast some veggies, maybe whip up a sauce eg tahini/lemon/garlic, tomato or peanut sauce, do a batch of healthy biscuits or some stewed fruit etc...I also like to cook big pots of soup and freeze in 2 serve portions.

    I think it was Michio Kushi who said, if you don't make time to cook you will certainly have to make time to be sick! I tell this to all of my macrobiotic counselling clients, and to myself when I'm feeling lazy!

    Madeleine

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    Replies
    1. I love the Kushi quote. So true!

      Scott Nearing died a very old man (100?) without having used doctors or the sick care system much at all throughout his simple life. He was a lifelong vegetarian that grew a lot of his own food.

      I am going to try tahini/lemon/garlic. Sounds yum.

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    2. Anonymous4/13/2021

      Helen Nearing described Scott's death as "the conscious leaving of life brought about by fasting." He was so healthy that at 100 y/o he decided to take matters into his own hands and stop eating because he'd lived long enough. He was on fluids - otherwise, I'm sure his death would have been quite painful? There is a documentary on Youtube about them - Conscious living/conscious dying. Amazing couple! Deva

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  2. Put a little shoyu sauce in too if you have it - mmmmm ;-)

    Madeleine

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  3. I love every moment spent in the kitchen. I love the chopping and prepping. I love the cooking and creating flavour collaborations. I even love the cleanup. The pandemic has given me time to work on sorting out lifelong digestive issues. The cause is self-evident: for much of my childhood the only food we had for weeks on end was macaroni, cheap margarine and salt and pepper - sugar and powdered milk if we were trying to beat the boredom by having something different. I took a good chunk of last year and - with the help of a great GP - ran some serious elimination tests. Lo and behold, what makes my digestive system and the rest of my body/brain sing is going back to the diet of my Indigenous ancestors - ditched the sugars, ditched the grains (yup, all of 'em) and stopped trying to sneak legumes, which I am highly allergic to (especially soy), into my stomach and in the process also "gave up" joint aches, muscle aches, IBS, pre-diabetes, high blood pressure and brain fog.

    ReplyDelete

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