Thursday 29 March 2012

A Veggie Cook Book Classic ~ Low Fat, Low Sugar - Rose Elliot

Workroom Play List:

Thunder ~ Everybody's Laughing
Rosemary Clooney ~ Half As Much
Otis Redding ~ These Arms of Mine
Jeff Beck ~ Hi Ho Silver Lining
Heart ~ Tall, Dark Handsome Stranger
T-Rex ~ I Love to Boogie
The Rolling Stones ~ Honky Tonk Woman
INXS ~ What You Need

You know you are loved when you are cooked a beautiful dish for your evening meal..despite the fact that every ingredient in it..would make your Love very ill if they ate it too..and it used to be one of their favourite meals. Since starting on the new meds My Love has tried to take over the cooking of fresh meals for us..instead of falling back on..well..quicker methods of sustaining ones self. Grateful that I am for anything My Love manages to throw together for the both of us when I am unable to do kitchen duties...the choices are usually based on speed not health.

Goodness me, that sounds like I'm a 50's housewife..to clarify..I am not but I do happily cook for us both when I am well. I am a passionate vegan foodie..otherwise I wouldn't write a vegan based blog, eh? Just so ya know..lol

This last week has been just lovely..food wise. I have felt an increase in energy..despite feeling dreadful..does that even make sense? lol. And my inspiration and interest is starting to flow back to me. Last night's meal came from a cook book that I have had in my library for probably 10 years? And as a book it's looking very abused and battle worn. You know..one of those books, you open and silently pray that another page doesn't come away from the spine. Yeah? I think we all have those..lol. I bought Low Fat, Low Sugar by Rose Elliot because at the time I was vegetarian and I've always been interested in lowering fat and sugar. Simple really.

The very excellent little cook book Low Fat, Low Sugar by Rose Elliot
On the whole the recipes are naturally vegan but there are a few that call for the odd egg white or dairy milk. But I have made nearly all the recipes in this book over the years and all are easily veganised. Rose Elliot did write a vegan cookbook Vegan Feasts too which I also have. lol. (I think I have nearly all her cookbooks..) We make and use the soup recipes so often we practically know them by heart...which is good given the books' worn out state. Every section has wonderful recipes and they are easy to make. I think in all the years we have only disliked one recipe which was the Potato Casserole..but one isn't bad when there are so many others to make instead.

Last night My Love cooked the Red Bean Chilli from the book. Why we had never eaten before is baffling to me as we both love a good chilli. Or maybe that is it? I have so many other veggie/bean chilli recipes this one simply got overlooked? But what a shame..Sad to say I haven't got a photo to share with you but picture this...

A large green plate with a single serving of freshly cooked brown basmati rice...nestling on top a rich red tomato sauce with grated carrot, pieces of red pepper and kidney beans...and on the side some steamed broccoli and cauliflower. The savoury smell of the basmati rice blending with the rich spicy tomatoey sauce..and the green goodness of the vibrant broccoli...Did that help?? lol

My Love said it was very easy to make but made one sub..the recipe calls for 1/2 tsp of hot chilli powder but the bottle couldn't be found so 1 tsp mild chilli powder and 1/2 tsp red chilli flakes were used instead. Oh.My.Giddy.Aunts.....was it delicious and a pure delight to eat. I slowly munched my way through the plate and savoured every last mouthful..And it freezes well too! Bonus.

I love all the recent vegan cookbooks that are published and have most of them in my library but they do tend to be huge and I think that the smaller books can often get over looked. I loved this cookbook from the moment I purchased it..and still do. I couldn't recommend it more highly if you were looking for a cook book to help with reducing fat and sugar. And I feel over the next few weeks we are going to be revisiting it more..and I promise recipe and photos when I do..

Health Update

I do believe that if my energy levels keep improving like this I will be back in the kitchen soon but naturally..not gonna run before I can walk. But I have had my first check in with my Specialist and although I'm feeling dreadful..the outcome is looking positive after just 6 days on this new med combo. So I did a mini Happy Desk dance after I got the news...so only 3 more weeks of feeling yuck and then I may actually start feeling well...Hopeful..always hopeful.

Thanks for stopping by..And I hope your Thursday is a good one....

~R~