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theaveragekenyan · 4 years

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Hungry Heart...

Hungry Heart.

A quick game of ‘Family Fortunes’. (Family Fortunes the game show where the answers were requested from a publicly polled question, i.e)

Q = Name a type of American Food.

A = Hamburger ....our survey says, Hamburger ✅ Top answer.

Next;

Q - Name a type of Italian Food.

A = Pizza …our survey says, Pizza ✅ Top Answer

Next;

Q - Name a type of Kenyan food.

A = Ugali…our survey says, Ugali ✅ Top Answer.

I’m confident the above responses would be the most popular answers to those questions if a survey were taken on the streets of Nairobi today.

Ask Donald Trump, what’s better than a Hamburger? Juicy, succulent ground beef with tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, pickle, mustard, ketchup all held together by an air pumped bread bun…nothing fake at all about that.

Or what about a Pizza? oven fired circular dough, topped with an infinite amount of cheese options under any mix of vegetables and meat varieties…a billion deliveries every year can’t be wrong.

And let’s not forget a Kenyan staple, Ugali, ground maize meal, mixed with boiling water and then formed into a solid white ball. Delicious, well, ok…it’s not really delicious…it’s more a way of life and enjoyed because there’s very little other choice.

Kenyan Food is interesting, because historically, food has developed into…well…food.

The food theory hasn’t moved too far away from the ‘don’t eat, die’ philosophy rather than into fancy cuisine.

This is why I find the average Kenyan meal to be “BnB”, basic and bland, and Ugali has to stand right up there as a great example of BnB food.

Ugali has various names across Africa and is eaten by many, so African’s aside, It is a guarantee that all foreigner’s will be quizzed by Kenyan’s to find out if they have eaten Ugali. If the answer is yes, the next question will be ‘do you like Ugali?’

And this is when the foreigner will become increasingly awkward, stutter and generally skirt around the BnB fact. The foreigner will mince out cloaked enthusiasm and say “Yes…I’ve tried it…it’s nice…I…..like it” blatantly, the foreigner doesn’t want to get anywhere near describing it’s taste or what it’s eaten with. Essentially anything to not offend the Kenyan national dish.

Then, in the not too distant future, the foreigner will be with the person, that asked all of the Ugali questions, when Lunch is served.

Naturally, the foreigner will be bumped up to pole position in the queue for food.

The food will be covered, all the lids down on the large metallic serving trays and then one by one up they pop. First serving tray open and it’s a large fresh tray of steaming Ugali.

As the cellophane is proudly pealed away, “Ugali” announces the Kenyan “You said Ugali is nice”

Now the food server hears this and loves it, how they laugh as the heavy serving spoon sinks into the epic Ugali field. The foreigner is now looking at the true scale of Ugali, out comes a Rugby ball sized portion and is placed on their plate “is that enough?” the server asks without irony.

“Yes, plenty, Asantee” squirms the foreigner politely. On piles the rest of lunch, but there’s not much room on the plate for anything else. So the foreigner sits down at a table, with their plate of Ugali and other small scale assorted bitings, as the Kenyan’s join.

They all ask the same question “Oh, you like Ugali?” “Yes, I do, but this is a little bit too much for me” replies the foreigner, only to be met with “Oh that’s not much really” from the Kenyan’s, the foreigner looks around and realises this is no lie, food is stacked up on top of Ugali which rises up to peoples chests, steam touching their chins. The foreigner takes the first enthusiastic fork full to barrels of laughter

“Eat it with your hands” say the Kenyans,

“We eat Ugali with our hands” the advice continues to come in.

The foreigner now has to quickly scan around to check how that’s done, they see many shovelling hands with golf ball sized portions of Ugali, scooping up sauce and trapping bits of meat and spinach. The foreigner gives it a go, but soon realise they’ve broken off too much Ugali and now their ball is the size of a Tennis ball. Oh dear, now they’ve got to eat up more Ugali than they thought they ever could. Each bite feels like it’s draining brain juice as their mouth dries to resemble the Sahara desert. There’s easily still 4 more bites of the Ugali ball to go. It’s time for evasive action, “hmmmm tha wath delithuth” splutters the foreigner as they stand up, turn around and spit their mouths content onto their plate and scrape it into the bin, I’ll never eat Ugali again they tell themselves.

I think the closest comparison to Ugali would be Mashed Potatoes, well mashed potatoes if you don’t add salt, pepper, butter and milk. At least with mashed spuds, the extra additions don’t stop there; cheese, beetroot, butternut, Brussels, balsamic vinegar, mustard, soy sauce, chilli sauce all work to break up the classic spud recipe’s monotony. Nothing like that with Ugali, oh hang on…it can be made either white or brown…the only difference being, brown Ugali soaks up your blood.

Speaking of Mashed Potato, there is a fancy mash version here called Mukimo, it’s very nice. It’s bright green and has whole kernels of hard maize in it. I prefer it to Ugali, but it’s definitely one to serve yourself and not have a Kenyan do it for you.

For the the larger part of Kenya, food is readily available, but with the poverty found in such places as the Nairobi slums, food has to be simple and within a ridiculously low daily budget, people don’t have too much of a choice to be flambéing duck or questioning how many times their chips have been deep fried.

From my travels, I’ve noticed that many Kenyan meals will have been cooked for a good proportion of the day. Usually a slow cook involves beans and pulses, incredibly healthy, wholesome and organic, but also served incredibly dull. It’s essentially a bean stew with little flavour or signature kick. It’s like a can of ‘no frills vegetable soup’ that’s been boiled for 5 hours. It has a certain appeal, but it’s nothing special, yet to talk to a Kenyan about boiled beans or “Githeri” as it’s called, is, as if, it is some kind of speciality cuisine. Each region seems to have it’s own version, but the variety doesn’t seem to change that much, maybe one region adds carrots or potatoes and that’s about it. I guarantee, if that dish had originated in one of the poorest regions of China, it would be a real delicacy now. Sure you’d get the odd bat claw stuck between your teeth, but nonetheless, I imagine it would be an overall tastier experience than “Githeri”. Thanks Chef’s of Kenya, but I’ll stick with the English delicacy of baked beans on toast, cupboard to table in less than 10 minutes.

That slow cooking style reverberates through many culinary styles. In fact, most food is slow cooked, this is why the over 70’s love eating here. Pasta is never al-dente, cabbage doesn’t come with a crunch, meat is a lottery as to how how much jaw action will be needed and eggs are always over cooked. Unless you’re in a Western priced Hotel or restaurant, food is never considered to be served ‘just cooked’, I’m yet to find a boiled salad, but I know it’s out there. Note to self, Boiled Salad, somebody get me Heston Blumenthal.

The word Koroga means 'to stir’ in Swahili. A ‘foody’ experience, that is often talked about, is the Koroga. This is apparently a uniquely Kenyan Swahili experience. However, from my experience, what I was told about a Koroga and what I actually encountered at a Koroga were two completely different experiences.

This is what I was told about a Koroga.

A Koroga is a get together of family and friends who will start the event off by selecting meats, vegetables, herbs and spices and then start adding them all into a large pot. These ingredients will be cooked by the party as as the pot is regularly stirred by the party, whilst allowing everything to cook for about 4-5 hours.

A Curry based BBQ, I mean that sounds like a proper great time.

No, not quite, in fact from my experience, this is what actually happens.

A Koroga is a get together of family and friends who, once everyone has arrived and is indicated to start will instruct a Chef to add meat, vegetables, herbs and spices into a large pan and then cook everything for the guests, this will be then served 3-4 hours later when the most stirred things are the guests who are totally shit-faced from all the boozing whilst waiting for the food to be cooked. I just think the Koroga idea hasn’t really been properly thought out. It’s closest relative the BBQ or Braai work extremely well, but its USP is about DIY food and standing around the grill complaining. The Koroga’s USP is that the Chef decided to cook everything outside rather than in the kitchen, sorry, I just don’t get the appeal.

One dish that is cooked quickly, at least I think it’s cooked quickly, is Nyama Choma.

Translated literally - Nyama is meat - Choma is burn. A Meat Burn.

“I’ve heard it’s going to be lovely on Saturday, so you’re all invited around to ours for a Meat Burn”

Fortunately, the meat isn’t burnt, not like at UK BBQ’s,

The choices of meat are;

Mbuzi = Goat.

Kuku = Chicken.

Nyama = any other type of Red Meat that is from a Cow.

Sorry Lamb and Pork, this scene is not for you, go find your own Meat Burn.

Just like any badly managed BBQ/Braai, the final cook quality is hit and miss, the hits involve nice juicy tender bites of meat and sucked out marrowbone. The misses include, chewy, sinewy, fatty meat if you can find it, and once again the experience lacks imagination. The only seasoning you will get is salt and there will only be one accompaniment to the meat which is called Kachumbari, a mix of tomato, onion and chilli.

So Kenyan Meat Burn’s are for the real purists only. I do love Nyama Choma though, if not just for it’s back to basic 10,000 BC appeal.

One experience I never tire of, is a Kenyan breakfast in a Hotel. The breakfast routine follows the International standard of the best planned meal of the day. It starts at the Juice bar and ends up at the bloated Pig table. There’s always a great choice at a Kenyan breakfast, although many will be disappointed at the lack of bacon on offer, that’s because Kenyan’s prefer sausages to Bacon hands down.

I like that many of the previous nights dinner offerings will be now re-served for breakfast. So there are always surprises to be had like Green Banana Curry, Githeri, Fish stew, Roast Potatoes, Lentil Stew and anything else that didn’t get eaten the night before.

Hands down, my favourite experience of a Kenyan breakfast is observing the Egg Chef. You’ll know it’s the Egg Chef because they will be dressed like the top google image search for Chef.

The egg is treated with the most respect, kept separately and away from all the other dishes that are hidden underneath aluminium lids. The Eggs will never come into contact with the mixed up serving spoons covered in bean juice and banana curry, they are not good enough for the eggs. But wait, what’s this, what’s hiding underneath here?, oh it’s the Hard Boiled Eggs, the common, dirty poor bastard parent of the free and easy, liberated, naked eggs that the Egg Chef will caress and massage into a beautiful work of art.

The Egg chef will be situated at the start of the line, but when you want him, he won’t be there. I say he, the Egg Chef is always a he, no Woman in Kenya is considered prestigious enough to do this job. The Egg Chef and Kenyan President are two Jobs women will never perform.

So what tends to happen is this, in the absence of the Egg Chef people will pile up their plates first. Then the Egg Chef appears exactly when he wants, just like the true artist he is, only then will the egg orders be taken.

Now the only cooking utensils the Egg Chef possesses are a frying pan and a spatula. So this limits the type of egg available to either a Fried Egg or an Omelette. I always like to joke I’ll take a poached Egg, but it’s short-lived because nobody understands what I’m saying. Don’t be getting technical with the Egg Chef, his position of authority is untouchable.

Fried Eggs will be cooked in either two choices, “cooked” or “sunny side up”. The majority of times I’ve requested Sunny Side Up, the eggs have been served closer to raw, which is a little too avant-garde for me. So, they have to be sent back which will be re-served ‘cooked’.

My advice, request cooked.

If you’re asking for an omelette it will be either served “with everything” or “without everything”. “Without everything” is a plain egg omelette “With everything” is an Omelette mixed with finely chopped onion, capsicum and chilli pepper. Both Omelette varieties are good, but as previously mentioned, they will be “cooked”, i.e a properly cooked through, no nonsense, fuss free, nothing moving, Omelette. That said, they go down well and the pomp and circumstance of the occasion overrides any need for a fancy, modern, runny consistency.

I’ve spoken to many people that blame the style of Kenyan food on Colonisation.

Typical, blame the Brits for bequeathing a bland stereotypical diet.

This is not true, because anyone that says they don’t like British Cuisine then goes onto say, except they like Pork Pie, Mr Kipling Cakes, Sausage Rolls, Full English Breakfast, Chicken Tikka Masala, Black Pudding, Sausage and Mash, Fish and Chips, Mushy Peas, Deep Fried Mars Bar, Jammie Dodgers, Sunday Roast, The Tasting Menu at The Fat Duck, Gordon Ramsey swearing, Monster Munch, Jellied Eels and Roast Badger.

There, conclusive evidence that England has a varied and incredibly well established culinary tradition of original and modern food.

So whilst there is an excellent and extensive varied selection of Kenyan restaurants, serving truly excellent food, once you step outside of all that and roam into the realms of “lazy” Kenyan food, you will be craving Pickled Onion Monster Munch all day long.

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sweetseda · 4 years

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How to Make Pickles + 14 Garden-Fresh Pickle Recipes to Try

If you have never tried homemade pickles before, you are missing out! Pickling is one of the best ways to preserve a prolific veggie harvest and ensure the bounty of your garden can be enjoyed for months to come. In this post, I’ll walk you through the basics of pickling as well as the veggies and fruits (yes, fruit!) that can be preserved and enjoyed. Plus, I’ll share 14 pickle recipes to try. Keep reading to learn why pickling may just be the best thing that has happened to your garden!

Pickles. You either love them or hate them, right? For many people, their only experience with a pickle is the soggy, overly-salted disc that comes slathered in ketchup on a hamburger patty. However, there’s a whole world of incredible, crispy, flavourful pickles out there waiting, made from almost any vegetable imaginable.

As more and more of us are finding the draw to go back to basics in our lives, learning how to make pickles has become more and more popular. Not only is it a fairly easy activity with delicious results, but this is an excellent way to ensure your garden bounty can be enjoyed all year long.

What is Pickling?

First, let’s talk about what pickling is. Pickling is the process of safely preserving food by using either pickle brine or through fermentation. I’ll go into more detail about both methods below, but for now just now that either way will greatly extend the shelf-life of perishable foods.

Pickling isn’t a new thing either. In fact, there’s evidence of people learning how to make pickles as far back as 2030 BC! While some techniques may have been refined over the past 4,000 years, the basic process has stayed the same.

Which Foods Can You Pickle?

We all know that cucumbers can be pickled, of course, but there’s so much more. There’s an entire world out there of flavourful vegetables and fruits that have been preserved. Practically anything that you grow in your garden can be used to either become a pickle or as part of the flavour in the brine itself.

Fruits That Can be Pickled

Let’s start with the fruits. Many people are shocked to know that you can pickle fruit just as easily as a vegetable, but it’s true. Personally, I love the sweet-sour-salty combination that pickled fruit produces. Here are some of the most common fruits you can pickle:

As you can see, the list is quite extensive, even though it is not exhaustive.

Vegetables You Can Pickle

Likewise, although more people are familiar with pickled vegetables, they often only think of cucumbers. There are so many other colourful veggies that make excellent pickles, such as:

Other Foods You Can Pickle

It’s not just fruits and veggies that can be pickled. You can also pickle protein such as brisket (turning it to corned beef thanks to a salt brine) or even hardboiled eggs.

Pickle Brine vs. Fermentation

As I mentioned above, there are a few methods you can use when learning how to make pickles. While I have some fantastic recipes linked below that will walk you through how to make pickles step by step, I wanted to give you a quick overview of each method.

Pickles with Vinegar Brine – Water Bath Canning

When we think of pickles, we often think of the cucumber in a jar of vinegar-based solution. The proper name for this is vinegar brine. Pickle brine is made of a combination of vinegar, water, and salt. There are often other spices and seasonings added too, such as dill or peppers for example.

Once the food is emersed in pickling vinegar, it must be sealed properly for the food to stay fresh. This is done by the canning method of a water bath, similar to how you would traditionally can jams.

Quick Pickles or Refrigerator Pickles

This is the easiest and fastest way to pickle, thus the name. Using the same vinegar brine method as you would with water bath canning, you will prepare a sweet or salty vinegar brine and cover the veggies or fruit. Then, instead of canning them, they simply get stored in the fridge and eaten up quickly.

Fermentation

Fermentation is another way to preserve vegetables and create pickles. This can be done with almost any veggie successfully. Fermentation preserves food while also increasing the good-for-you bacteria. Well-known fermented foods include kimchi and sauerkraut.

To successfully ferment foods, you need to choose one of three starter methods:

Then, add the food to the starter along with distilled water into a fermentation crock. Make sure the vegetables are weighed down underneath the brine, then place the crock in a cold storage environment.

14 Pickling Recipes to Try

Now that you know a bit of history about pickles and a quick overview of each method, let’s dig into some recipes! Each of these fantastic posts will show you how to make pickles step by step.

The Best Ever Deli-Style Pickles

I have tried a LOT of pickle recipes in my day. When it comes to deli-style pickles, this recipe is my favourite, hands down. These pickles turn out crunchy and perfectly seasoned every time I make them!

Get the recipe for deli-style pickles.

Sweet Pickled Figs

This recipe for pickled figs had my mouth watering. Rather than your typical savory, sour pickle, these pickled figs are more like candy with notes of cardamom, cinnamon, clove, and all-spice. Spoon this over yogurt for a delicious treat!

Get the recipe for these pickled figs at Nitty Gritty Life.

Super Simple Quick Pickled Radishes

If you long for instant gratification in pickling, this recipe is as good as it gets. These delicious pickled radishes can be eaten the very next day! If you have never been a radish fan, I encourage you to give these a try. They just may change your mind.

Get the recipe for quick pickled radishes.

Fermented Pickles with Squash and Cucumber

Have prolific squash in your veggie garden? Give this pickled squash recipe a try. The fermented squash is reminiscent of your classic dill pickle with a little bit more sweetness to it.

Get the recipe for fermented squash pickles at Attainable Sustainable.

Lacto-Fermented Dilly Beans

If you have an excess of green beans in your garden, I encourage you to give this recipe a try. These pickled green beans are fermented in vinegar so you have those awesome probiotics packed into one crispy green bean.

Get the recipe for fermented dilly beans at Grow Forage Cook Ferment.

Golden Beets with Ginger and Star Anaise

The brine in these golden beets is slightly sweet with a bit of spice, which balances out the earthy beet flavour perfectly. These pickled beets make a great alternative to the typical beet and also happens to be one of my favourite salad toppings.

Get the recipe for pickled golden beets.

Easiest Fermented Pickled Vegetables Ever

Here’s another beginner-friendly recipe to try out when you are learning how to make pickles for the first time. With just a few minutes of preparation, you can have veggies in brine fermenting. The best part? You can enjoy eating them just five short days later!

Watermelon Rind Pickles

If you haven’t tried watermelon rind pickles before, you are missing out. I love that I can enjoy eating the meat of a watermelon and then use the rinds for pickling, rather than throwing it into my compost pile. Here’s a quick video showing you how to make this tasty treat.

Pickled Ginger

Pickled ginger is a lovely addition to sushi, of course, but it works with so many other meals. This bright and flavorful pickle is excellent chopped in salads, stir-fries, and just eaten as is.

Learn how to make pickled ginger from The Kitchn.

Garlic Honey Fermented Cloves

Garlic is one of the most popular ingredients for a home cook to keep stocked. While garlic and honey fermented together may sound like an odd combination, they truly work in tandem in this fermented recipe.

Grab the two-ingredient recipe for the fermented cloves at Nitty Gritty Life.

Sliced Pickled Jalapenos

Are you one of the lucky gardeners that have pots full of jalapenos ripe for the picking? If so, you’ve got to give these pickled jalapeno slices a try! Add them to nachos, layer them in sandwiches, or just enjoy eating them on their own.

Tarragon Pickled Beets

Pickled beets are both flavourful and colourful. This recipe seems to become even more delicious in time, so I recommend making a large batch and then letting them sit at the back of your pantry a bit.

Get the recipe for tarragon pickled beets.

How to Make Pickles with Asparagus

I used to get pickled asparagus at a favorite local restaurant when I ordered a Caesar (a Canadian savory cocktail similar to a Bloody Mary made with Clamato (clam + tomato) juice). The drink was nice but my favourite part of the entire thing was the pickled asparagus. Of course, I haven’t been able to visit the restaurant in several months, but thankfully this recipe lets me make my own at home to enjoy.

Get the details on how to pickle asparagus at The Elliott Homestead.

Spicy Pickled Carrots

I LOVE pickled carrots! I think I may enjoy them more than the classic cucumber pickle. My friend Crystal gave me a jar of these and they were truly delicious. I enjoy these layered on sandwiches and chopped into salads.

Get the recipe for spicy pickled carrots at Hello Creative Family.

How to Make Pickles: Final Thoughts

There are so many incredible ways to experiment and enjoy pickled produce. You’ll be amazed at how pickling will change the flavour of familiar vegetables in the best way. I hope this post gives you the inspiration to give it a try if you haven’t before.

More Recipes About Preserving Food

This content was originally published here.

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tawouk · 7 years

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When I am keeping to my established diet, here are the main food options I usually go for which I have found to be quite easy/doable in terms of maintaining a no sugar, no/low carb diet, which was daunting at first:

- Chicken salad: in the form of tawouk fattouch which is a common offering at Arab restaurants, and the one by my workplace has it on lunch special and the portion is huge, so for about $8 it’s a massive carton of fattouch (a Levantine salad) and a big piece of grilled chicken breast on the side. Fattouch normally comes with fried pita chips on top but I ask for it without. The amount of food is easily enough for two meals so I’ll have half for lunch and half for dinner, or leave half for the next day’s lunch and have something else for dinner. I get this quite a lot. Generally chicken and salad are big staples, whatever form that may take... most restaurants usually have a grilled boneless chicken item on the menu so that’s a great option, just get it with salad instead of fries. My “cheat” version of this is a buffalo chicken caesar salad which one restaurant around here does exceptionally well and also in a huge portion that I can cut into two meals, so I’ll “treat” myself with that every now and then; the buffalo chicken is breaded so it’s somewhat carby but I will get it without croutons, and not have any other carbs that day.

- Chili: I love this because it’s a hearty, filling, yummy food I really enjoy, without high fat or carbs, especially if it’s not too heavy on beans (which are carby but like, not the same as eating bread or rice or pasta, and are a good protein source). I make a big pot of it at home sometimes but also sometimes pick up a cup for a few bucks at a halal restaurant that’s between my home and workplace and theirs almost feels like a veggie chili, it’s not heavy on meat at all even though it’s labeled as a pastrami chili. It’s nice to have that because my own chili recipe is quite basic as I don’t have the patience to put a million vegetables in it; it’s just beans, beef, tomato, chilis, spices (no onions bc I hate onions but I’ll use onion powder).

- Chipotle burrito bowl: the greatest thing!! It’s convenient too because there’s a Chipotle near my house so it’s easy to swing by. I don’t eat meat from there bc it’s not halal but it’s fine because the (tofu) sofritas is soooo good; whatever your protein is though the burrito bowls are an awesome way to have your protein + veggies and other burrito fillings without a carby tortilla (I don’t get any rice or corn on it either).

- Spinach salad: that I make at home, it’s tons of fresh baby spinach, diced tomato, sliced cucumber, diced avocado, lemon juice and salt. Normally I’d add olive oil to a salad but the avocado is already fatty and dresses the salad to an extent that I don’t miss the olive oil there. Sometimes I’ll add feta and occasionally pecans, which I love but they’re expensive lol.

- Chicken: that I make at home, with boneless skinless thighs, chopped up carrots, a ton of peeled sliced garlic, maybe sometimes a little bit of chopped potato, and a Moroccan-influenced spice combination; it’s my mom’s recipe and she adds diced onions and peppers too but I hate onions and peppers. I love the flavor that this certain spice combo gives and this is really easy and quick to make.

- Steak: the halal supermarket by my workplace sells these packs of 6 long thin steaks for like $4, which is a great bargain for me even if they are really not real steaks at all but just these long thin pieces of meat - I’ll buy a pack and split it into 3 portions of 2 pieces each and freeze them for quick meals. They’re so thin that I just season them and fry them in a touch of olive oil for 1 minute on each side on high heat, and then have that with some salad or guac (that I make) or carrots that I slice and grill in a bit of olive oil and spices under the oven broiler.

- Stew: sometimes I’ll make Arab stews at home, namely a lima bean/tomato sauce/garlic/cilantro/ground beef stew or green bean/tomato sauce/garlic/ ground beef stew or carrot/pea/garlic/tomato sauce/ground beef stew, and make brown rice along with it and have it with just a bit of the rice or no rice at all. The pea/carrot one eats especially well with no rice, kind of like a soup. We really love making lamb karahi (Indian style curry) as well but not so often, as it has a high oil content (even though we cut that down from the original recipe), takes a while to make and it’s the one thing we exceptionally make with white basmati rice instead of brown, because you really need to enjoy that dish properly (and frankly it’s spicy enough that you really need the rice to balance it out).

- Ablama: a variation on the traditional Arab stuffed zucchini, this is basically zucchini stuffed with a filling of ground beef/pine nuts/spices and cooked in a tomato sauce or yogurt sauce, served with rice; however I skip the stuffing part and just slice the zucchini in half, grill it then top it with the filling, add the tomato sauce (I don’t like it in yogurt) and bake; so simple. I’ll have it with just a little bit of brown rice.

- Pasta: I make a quick and easy sauce which is basically a pasta sauce jar + cans of diced tomato and tomato sauce + ground beef + garlic + herbs/spices + diced sundried tomatoes if we have some in the house. No dairy or oil or butter at all, not even to fry the meat. Generally whether it’s for pasta or stew or chili or whatever we buy lean ground beef without much fat in it; you can still easily fry it in a nonstick pan without any oil. Wholegrain pasta with it - which I do not mind at all; it was very easy for me to get used to over white pasta, moreso than brown rice over white rice. Sometimes I’ll forego the pasta altogether and just have that sauce like a soup, maybe with some cheese on top, so kind of like an Italian chili.

- Kibbe: the love of my life, is an Arab dish which is basically a meat filling in a meat/cracked wheat shell; so it’s kind of carby but I’ll have it in moderation and it will be the only carbs of the day. It comes in different forms but commonly in egg-sized “footballs” which the deli at the Arab supermarket by my workplace sells at like 80 cents apiece so I’ll grab a few of them and some salad from there for dinner sometimes.

- Soup: so many non-carby soups you can go for! the restaurant by my workplace has the BEST lentil soup and a great chicken vegetable soup as well. The latter is a great healthy option to go for while the former is a bit carby what with the lentils, but I just love it so much. It’s enough all on its own as a light lunch for me. I love tomato soup as well so my “cheat” thing will be a bowl of that from Panera; it’s sooo good but more fatty bc of the cream and probably has a considerable sugar content too.

- If I do have bread: we only buy wholegrain bread, occasionally I’ll have a toasted piece of that with avocado spread (avocado/lemon/salt/pepper/crushed garlic) or peanut butter, which is the most amazing (non-carb/no sugar/good fat!) creation. Having it on celery instead of bread is also a great no-carb snack to go for. I avoid jams/jellies completely because of the sugar.

- Eggs: My kind of “cheat” thing that I occasionally make is poached egg + sliced avocado + sliced tomato fried in olive oil, all piled on a piece of toast. Not the most unhealthy combo ever but I consider it a cheat thing because it is a relatively high fat content, especially with the fried tomato (which I lovvvve). This is also a much healthier version of the way I used to make it years ago, where the egg and bread were also fried...... frankly terrible. Eggs in general are so great though and you can easily forego any kind of bread and have a great omelet with healthy ingredients, even throw some cheese in there, the fat content is fine as long as you’re avoiding carbs. Or poach the egg if you want to avoid frying and have it with fresh sliced avocado and tomato or whatever else you like.

- Fish: don’t eat as much of this as I should, but baked salmon or a shrimp stir-fry with veggies are a good way to go; tuna is also a quick fix I sometimes go for, without drowning it in mayo.

- Coffee: a bit of a struggle, because I lovvvve coffee and need it to be somewhat sweet, not overly but I can’t drink black/bitter coffee at all. What’s nice is that there is a regional Michigan coffee chain called Biggby that has sugar free flavoring options (so you could get a coffee with sugar free vanilla instead of sugar, or a sugar free mocha) and that’s what I opt for; a café au lait is a good option because being half coffee half milk it’s not so bitter. However the struggle for me, even with sugar free options available, is wanting coffee in the morning but resisting it to stick to my intermittent fast till noon. My night owl lifestyle has always worked out fine even if I have to be up early as long as I have coffee; sticking to the fast has made me actually need to start sleeping earlier lol. Which I guess is healthier anyway...

- Chocolate: No sugar and avoiding desserts is hard, even while I don’t have the hugest sweet tooth in general, sometimes it can be hard to resist. I do sometimes of course cheat, but try to keep it balanced. When I’m not cheating, for a leetle bit of indulgence, I have always loved dark chocolate anyway so a bit of that doesn’t hurt while I’m not having any other significant sources of sugar. Not all dark chocolate is created equal though, so I studied all the kinds at Target to find the one with the lowest sugar content without being too bitter. The winner is Ghirardelli Intense Dark 86% Midnight Reverie, a 90g bar of 8 large squares with 10g of sugar to the bar = 1.25g of sugar per square. That’s my go-to now and I usually have one square a night.

- Other snacks: peanuts!!! A great no sugar/no carb snack and I really love peanuts; it’s easy to go overboard on them so I bought like a box of the small individually packaged ones, the kind of thing you’d put in a kid’s school lunch, and that’s in my office desk drawer so I’ll have a pack as a snack occasionally. The small packs ensure sticking to a controlled portion, vs having a can of peanuts that you just dive into. Chips or cheez-its (which I adore) are not the worst thing on earth either in moderation, like those small 50 cent bags; there’s no sugar and a small serving isn’t the hugest carb intake so that’s something to occasionally indulge on. Plain tortilla chips with salsa also is better than like doritos or whatever - portion control is just the key.

#diet #diet blog #no sugar #no carb #low carb #I feel like I'm gonna hit post on this then recall a bunch of stuff I want to add but a n y w a y !

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