Hi everyone! One thing I've found has a dramatic effect on my mental health and stress levels is cooking for myself. I've been trying my best to cook every night and use the time to try out new recipes. Two of my recent favorites were chicken katsu and scallion pancakes. I've also wanted to start baking more but until recently all the yeast at the grocery store has been sold out!
Does anyone else feel the same way? What have you been cooking or baking during social distancing?
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I haven’t baked for 40 years or more until recently. My efforts have been a combination of Ready Steady Cook and Blue Peter!
Still it turned out well. Cheese and Onion Pasties, left over filling was used as a topping on Shepherds Pie. Corned Beef and Leek pasties. ( No onions left.) We fancied something sweet so left over pastry was used for apple and jam tarts, and apple and golden syrup sliced roll thing-ma-jiggly.
Back to healthy eating now.
That looks amazing! I'll definitely follow up with any breads/baked goods I end up making! 
Hey Calvin, I've been cooking a lot of pulses - you know the ones that are at the back of your cupboard that you keep meaning to use? I find that dahls and veg curries are a good way of using up old potatoes and veg. It feels relaxing and creative at the same time as I'm using so many spices
Am loving the veg curry suggestion. This is an inspiring, traditional dahl recipe and he makes it look so easy:
Calvin, I, too, have been cooking - nothing exotic, just the usual. It gets me away from the TV and the anxiety producing news regarding this stressful time.
Hi CalvinHU,
Nothing much has changed for me, as cooking and baking from scratch has been a lifelong thing, probably because I predate ready meals and 2001 varieties of biscuits and cake.
I do think it's a really satisfying thing to do, and it's so nice that you are finding it so too.
My husband's from Guyana so we eat quite a lot of fairly well spiced dishes and one thing I love to do is to make a typical Caribbean chicken curry and to have it with Guyanese roti. The recipe is almost the same as for Indian paratha roti and this bread makes a lovely change from having curry accompanied by rice. And as in the Caribbean, we often make the roti into a chunky wrap with the curry inside it.
My next adventure in the world of cooking is another similar thing I've come across from South Africa. It's called Bunny Chow and seems to involve hollowing out crusty bread and filling it with the curry. Sounds messy but delicious!
Oh wow bunny chow sounds so good! I once had something similar (but with soup in) and the best part was that you could eat the bread at the end
Hi HemaHU, yes, I've done that soup in a loaf thing, and I just love eating the 'bowl' so I reckon Bunny Chow is going to be right up my street! Take care 🙏
Yum! I love Caribbean curry!
Hi CalvinHU
I also cook for myself, I am married but both me and my husband eat completely different food, whilst I'm a Vegan he is a meat eater so I cook two meals each night although we do have some nights where I say let's just have something quick.
I'm following a low fodmap diet for IBS and am being careful what I'm eating so I go through quite a few recipes and pick which I like. Last night I had Quinoa Cakes which I made a few weeks ago and froze (I rely on both of my freezers, yes I have 2!), I made a Cream of Carrot and Parsnip soup a couple of days ago which I love, I made spelt sourdough bread 2 days ago and made a GF Vegan Oat Bread today as I haven't been able to get spelt flour so it's an alternative.
I made my hubby some biscuits yesterday.
Also, I'm sorry that cooking for yourself has had an effect on your mental health and I really hope that finding different recipes can inspire you.
Stay safe and keep well.
Thanks Hidden ! I should've clarified: I love cooking for myself and it has a very positive effect on my mental health! Your soup and bread both sound delish.
That's excellent and I'm so pleased to hear that, very positive. The soup is absolutely delicious and I'm so glad I've managed to find some decent low fodmap recipes.
Have a lovely evening.
How about trying sourdough?
Mix one part flour (I use a mix of half white, half whole wheat, with a pinch of rye) add a little sugar, set it in a warm place and it will start bubbling away in a few days.
You can use whatever flour you want though.
After it gets going it will need feeding now and then, take a little out then add more flour and water. I use mine a lot so the sourdough gets fed twice a day to keep it active.
Then look up a recipe for basic sourdough bread. It works for anything that uses yeast. Pastries included.
Plenty of sites available.
Hope that isn’t too much information. I can be nerdy when it comes to sourdough and flour.
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