Food, simply glorious food

Folowing on from yesterdays post on keeping things simple, I thought I would tell you a little about my eating habits. As you know I do not like to spend too much time in the kitchen. I use the minimum amount of utensils, pots and pans etc, so I don't have mounds of washing up to do. I would not dream of having a dishwasher, for one person it would be totally unnecessary, a waste of water and heating it, and too expensive for the tablets or whatever you use to clean the dishes.

What do I eat? I steam a lot of veg, it all goes in one saucepan with the mesh basket in the bottom. I might grill a veggie burger or a piece of fish, and that will be it. No faffing around with sauces which mask the taste of the food, and make more dirty pots. My simple lunch for today was a bread roll out of the freezer, zapped in the microwave and sliced in half, and a tin of mackeral fillets spread over it. No need to butter the bread, the fish juices were enough to moisten it.

I occasionally buy scones or teacakes. These I eat straight out of the packet, or I might spread a bit of honey on it. I never eat jam by the way, too much sugar.

Last night I was visiting my friend, she was preparing a meal for herself and three others. Of course she was taking a bit of time preparing the dish, and as I was chatting I noticed that at the halfway point of preparation I would have stopped. The vegetables were steamed, the pasta was cooked, she then mixed it up and put it into two caserole dishes. Then she stired in some of that fancy fromage stuff, and some grated cheese. The topping was breadcrumbs mixed with cheese, and then it was put in the oven.

As far as I could see everything had already been cooked at the halfway stage, so why would it need further cooking in the oven? My version would be to put the veg and pasta on a plate and sprinkle grated cheese on it. Simple. I must say though it looked lovely when it came out of the oven, and I know you need to make a bit of an effort when you have visitors. I'm not knocking anyone who wants to go to a lot of trouble with their food preparation, some people enjoy their time in the kitchen, but for me it is not a hobby. Food is just the fuel to keep my body alive.

Tonight I have another plate of my home made veggie stew. I made it last night and there will be enough left for lunch tomorrow.

I like to eat food which is simple to prepare, the quickest and shortest way to make it palatable. I like to taste the food itself, and not smother it in sauces. My stews have a few herbs and spices thrown in, usually a veggie oxo cube and a shake of turmeric, perhaps a squirt of tomato puree. It's a bit hit and miss really, but this is my idea of simple cooking. I must be doing something right because my weight stays constantly at just over eight stone :o)