Category: Food and Drink

Ninja Foodi — Mixed Beans

By 5t4n5

Ninja Foodi MaxHow to make the perfect mixed beans in a Ninja Foodi

There is no need to pre-soak the beans or change the water.   The slow cooker takes care of the soaking bit and this is all the water the beans need, they’ll absorb it all.   When you’ve finished cooking these you will notice that the adzuki beans will have turned to mush and absorbed all the leftover, nutritious, bean cooking water, this is supposed to happen, it’s nice like that – mixed beans in pure bean sauce.

The following recipe is for a 7.5 lt Foodi.   If you’re using a 6 lt Foodi use 200 g of each bean and reduce the water to 2 lt)

This will make about 3500 g of cooked beans so you’ll need some containers to freeze a whole bunch down. I freeze them in 450 g batches and add them to everything i eat — super duper banging healthy.

250 g Chick Peas
2.4 lt Boiling Water

Start “Slow Cook” 4:00 on Hi

When countdown gets to 3:30 add:

250 g Soy Beans
250 g Black(Turtle) Beans
250 g Pinto Beans

When countdown gets to 2:55 give the beans a stir.

Continue slow cooking on Hi until timer reaches 2:20, turn off the Foodi, the slow cooking is done.

Add:

250 g Adzuki Beans

Stir to mix in with other beans

Turn off slow cooker and start pressure cooker on Lo set for 10 minutes.

When the pressure cooker beeps, do not release pressure.   Just leave it until the count up timer reaches 35 minutes and then release any left over pressure.

Stir beans well and place in a sink full of cold water to cool them with a lid on.   Continue to replace the cold water as the beans cool and the water warms.

#5t4n5 #food #health #microbiome #ninjafoodi #recipes #vegan #wfpb

The Blue Zones, Second Edition — Dan Buettner

By 5t4n5

The Blue Zones, Second Edition -- Dan BuettnerThere’s a lot of interesting stuff contained within this book.   Good luck if you can find yourself in a situation where you have all the support and society around you that allows you to achieve these things.

Sadly, most of us simply don’t have the land available to farm our own organic vegetables and fruit for every meal, most people don’t live in places where they can drink pure water that isn’t some other town’s poorly-treated sewage dumped upstream into the river that fills the local reservoir, and most people don’t get to live in places free of all the traffic, and industrial, produced noise and air pollution.

Most people won’t ever be surrounded by family and friends their whole lives that would support, share and help them in achieving the same organic wholefood, stress free, pollution free, clean living lifestyle that is espoused in these stories.

I’d heard a lot of good things about this book and i really was looking forward to reading it.   Having read it, i just find most of it disingenuous, in that it is utterly ridiculous to suggest that most people could have a lifestyle like this even if they wanted to.   But hey, don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater, maybe you can find some things within to help you.

It’s even suggested at the end of the book that you build your own blue zone.   Good luck with that, i sincerely hope you can find yourself some space in this ever more overpopulated world that leaves less and less space free from air pollution, light pollution, noise, junk food, bad people, traffic, noise, industry, habitat destruction and all the rest of modern society’s garbage: because that’s what you need to do.   Maybe when Antarctica finally melts you’ll find some nice, free, unpolluted land, but i reckon the corporations will have beaten you to it with massive military, mining and construction projects.

My biggest gripe with this book is that there are far better ways for people to be thinking about improving their health and longevity in today’s modern societies.   This book suggests 10 extra years of healthy life, but consider, when it’s becoming more and more common that people are sick and diseased and reliant upon medication to survive in their 30’s and 40’s, is 10 extra years all you really want?   I want 40 or 50 years of extra healthy life and this book isn’t offering that at all.

Dan’s Page

#danbuettner

Tomato Ketchup Recipe

By 5t4n5

Ketchup bottleWhatever you may use tomato ketchup for, stop using the shite you buy in bottles.   It’s not healthy or good for you and tastes crap because it’s made with crap.

Try a super delicious, super healthy, tomato ketchup instead . . .

You’ll need a good strong blender, i suggest at least 1500 watts: this is not some watery smoothie, it’s a thick sauce.

I am not responsible for your blender breaking if you attempt to make this recipe.   This is a thick sauce and it is up to you to decide weather to risk your blender or not.

Into a 750ml blender cup . . .

400g     Tomatoes (for a more tomato-ey taste, swap out some — or all — of this weight with tinned tomatoes)
30g     Apple Cider Vinegar
50g     Currants
100g     Apple (use all the skin of the apple and then make up the rest of the 100g with the flesh)
25g     Celery
25g     Onion
11g     Fresh Ginger
11g     Garlic
35g     Orange
0.8g     Black Peppercorns
0.8g     Whole Dried Chilli
2g     Coriander Seeds
1g     Cumin Seeds
2g     Dried Sage or Oregano
0.5g     Dried Thyme
1.2g     Star Anise
1.2g     Fennel Seeds
2.5g     Smoked Paprika
2.5g     Paprika
10g     Whole Flax/Chia Seeds
25g     Dried Tamarind
Add some water if you think your blender needs it.

If you do use tinned tomatoes, find ones that are vine ripened and tinned in concentrated tomato juice as they’re much tastier and richer.   Like these ones.

For making good home-mixed herb and spice recipes you’ll need something to weigh 0.1g increments.

Wherever possible always use whole spices as they’re living seeds, super healthy and much tastier.   The blender will take care of them, if your blender doesn’t deal with the whole spices then buy a better blender.

Give it all a good blendy whizz bang.

Sooooo much nicer tasting and infinitely more healthy than bottled junk-food ketchup.

Keep in the fridge and use quickly, there’s no preservatives and other garbage in this, it will go bad in a few days.   If you don’t plan using it all in a couple of days then store some in the freezer for later use.

#5t4n5 #vegan #wfpb #recipes

Custard Coffee

By 5t4n5

Do you like custard?

 

 

 

Do you like coffee?

 

 

 

Well you’ll love this:

Custard Coffee.

Into a big mug that holds at least 350ml place…

20ml     Lavazza Prontissimo Espresso or your favourite instant coffee
15ml     Billingtons Demerara or some other good raw cane demerara sugar (be aware that some shops sell Demerara sugar that’s made from beet sugar: check the package for “raw cane” stated on the label)
70ml     Alpro Vanilla Soya cold from the fridge

…stir well then add…

250ml     boiling filtered or spring water.

If you use standard mains water it’s not gonna taste as good.   Seriously people, stop drinking mains water and using it in cooking, it isn’t healthy and tastes shite.

…stir well again and enjoy.

It’s a rather strange taste at first because one isn’t really used to having ones coffee taste of vanilla custard, but once you get through that first mug it becomes a very enjoyable way to enjoy coffee.

#5t4n5 #coffee #recipes

Arrrgh!!! — and a Coffee Recipe

By 5t4n5

Too many websites, not enough life.

Too much everything and not enough life.

Still, i discovered the most delicious coffee today…

Get a 400ml+ mug, we’re having coffee so no pissy little thimble things: this ain’t France!!!
17.5ml Lavazza Prontissimo Intenso
12.5ml Dr Oetker cocoa
10ml Demerara sugar
Pour on refrigerated and shaken 100g Alpro original cashew juice
Pour on 260g Boiling water
Stir really well and enjoy.

Hint…   Buy a proper set of stainless steel teaspoon measures.   1tsp = 5ml   &   1/2tsp = 2.5ml

Guestimating with various sized, common garden teaspoons will never lead to anything tasting consistent and if it isn’t consistent then it won’t taste as nice as it should, because all human brains are hardwired to like consistency: the more consistent something we normally consume is the more our brains register that it is safe to consume.   This is why people clamour for those corporate clone coffee shops so much, it’s not that their coffee is actually better than anyone else’s, it’s because it’s always made exactly the same in every shop, it’s the consistency of taste, temperature, and even how it’s served.

Remember, it’s consistency and how often you consume the consistent that makes things taste nice: mcfilth — and other crappy junk food pushers — have been exploiting this hardwiring towards consistency for decades.   You can use the same hard wiring to make good things taste better for yourself in your own home: weigh and measure things with accurate measuring utensils.

#5t4n5 #coffee #recipes

Cafe Culture

By 5t4n5

I wrote the following article a few years ago for another website which no longer exists.   But i still like it so i’m republishing it here…

So once again Starbucks are in the news…

‘Starbucks agrees to pay more corporation tax’.

What perplexes me is why so many people get their knickers in a twist about this and think that complaining about Starbucks’ tax avoidance is something to get all uppity about.

Let’s put it simply…   No one, other than a complete fool, pays taxes that they do not have to pay by law.

You show me one of these anti-corporate-tax-avoidance-protest-moaners who pays tax that they are not legally required to pay by law and you’ll show me a utter fool.   So why do they think that they have a moral right to start bitching and whining about others who do not pay tax that they are not legally required to pay by law?

Everyone does tax avoidance.   Tax avoidance is simply not paying taxes that the law does not require you to pay.   People who run their own businesses put every receipt (loss) that they are allowed to by law through their accounts to lower their tax requirements for the year, this is no different to any other business putting any receipt (loss) that they are allowed to by law through their accounts to lower their tax requirements for the year.

Yes, ok, one could argue about the level to which this is done by these huge multi-national corporations, but that isn’t the fault of the corporations, it’s the fault of the political classes who allow these loop holes in the tax laws to exist purely so that their own personal corporate investments can bring them bigger returns, and also to please their corporate masters who fund their election campaigns.   It’s not the corporations you should be complaining about, it’s the political classes who have their snouts in the corporate trough that are the problem.   And none of this is ever going to change while we have an unelected oligarchy/plutocracy/corporatocracy/ecclesiocracy, like the House of Lords (whose only purpose is to ensure that new legislation looks after corporate interests for the rich, wealthy and powerful), overseeing new legislation — but that’s another topic for another day.

What i want to rant about in this post is what is really annoying me about this Starbucks thing.   Yes, what annoys me more than politicos with their snouts in the trough, and the corporatocratic take over of the House of Lords, is that people are only boycotting Starbucks because of this tax thing; and they simply take their business elsewhere to other corporate clone outlets like Costa and Cafe Nero.   Like they think that makes them a bit more morally superior.   Well it doesn’t!

Every town that i’ve ever visited, and i’ve visited a lot of towns in my time, has a treasure trove of independent cafes and coffee shops that are small independent businesses that are fully part of their communities and only exist within their own communities.   So why is there even a discussion about Starbucks, et al, in the first place?

Next time you want a cuppa when you’re out and about, don’t got to a corporate clone outlet and look like a total fucking loser who thinks they’re in with the in crowd.   You’re not in with the in crowd, you’re just a stupid fucking herd animal that can’t think for yourself.   Instead, start frequenting your local, independent coffee shops and cafes, and get to know the owners and the staff and have a nice chat with nice people who are civilised and sociable and a real part of their communities.   There would be no corporate tax avoidance going on by these corporate clone coffee shops if everyone just used small independent coffee shops instead.   And you might even find that you will get a far nicer cup of coffee.

A good local cafe is run by local people for local people.   I’ve found many a local cafe/coffee shop with a notice board and leaflet shelves overflowing with local events, clubs, etc.. I’ve been in quite a few cafes that also serve as art galleries displaying local artists’ work for sale all over the walls.   And you can find good local cafes like this in every town if you just take a few moments to look around — and they’re not ripping millions out of the UK economy for their overseas, corporate masters’ profit margins.

So, have a good long think about where you’re going to buy your next cuppa when you’re and about next.   And remember, every penny you spend in life is a vote on how you want your world to be.   I’d like mine to be nice and local and lovely, but you can make your own choice.   Just don’t cry to me about Starbucks, i don’t care what Starbucks are doing with their profits because i don’t give them any.

Nuff said…

My next thought will be “Too Little Too Late”

#5t4n5 #coffee #thoughts

Spice Alchemy — Neil Cowling

By 5t4n5

Spice Alchemy -- Neil CowlingIf you like food with flavour then this is a great book.

If you have high blood pressure and want to get rid of salt out of your diet, then use spices and herbs to replace it — this is the book to show you how.

No, i’ve no idea how authentic the spice mixes and recipes are, but to be honest, they’re all really nice so i don’t actually care if my cajun spiced high carb salad dressing is authentic or not, it’s delicious and that’s all i wanted from this book.

The book has lists of various spice recipes from around the world, and also complete recipes in which to use those mixes, if you chose to.   Personally, i just take the spice mixes and make my own things with them as i’m vegan.

My only complaint is that the spice mixes are listed in tsp and tbsp, some ingredients are listed as pre-ground, others are whole, so it all gets confusing in that regard.   I found i had to go to Cronometer and use their “Add food” thing with what was stated in the spice mix ingredients and then change the output to grams to get the exact weight.   That way i could use whole coriander seeds by weight to the same amount of ground coriander by tsp that was listed in the recipe. But if you’re happy using the pre-ground spices then all that won’t be a problem.

But, if you’re going to all this trouble of making your own spice mixes then do yourself a favour and buy whole spices with as far away a ‘sell by’ date on them as you can find in the shops to make sure they’re as fresh as possible — you can even splash out and get organic ones.   You’ll notice a huge difference.   Pre-ground spices are stale by nature as once you grind a spice it starts to degrade rapidly, with fats oxidising and going rancid and essential oils evaporated away.   Most whole spices, that you grind fresh each time to the exact amount you need, are living seeds that you should be able to plant and grow — they’re very fresh!!!   If you do want to get into the weighing whole spice thing then you’ll also need a micro scale (ebay) that weighs to 0.1 grams or finer — well worth a few pounds if you want to make some seriously consistent spice mixes that are repeatable.

That all said, even if you do just want to use tsp and tbsp with pre-ground spices, this book is very much worth the 99p to begin your journey into mixing spices and having some real flavour and health in your food instead of just salt and high blood pressure.

Neil’s Page

#food #recipes #neilcowling