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Some practical tips

Planning is the key to preparing inexpensive healthy meals using dried pulses and whole grain cereals. You don't need to spend a great deal of time actually working in the kitchen, but it is worth devising a weekly menu andbeing fairly organised. There are also certain basic kitchen utensils and gadgets that can make life a lot easier.

Stacking set A stacking set like this consists of pan base with a pasta insert, a steamer and a porringer and a bain-marie that sit on top of each other. It is invaluable, not only for turning organically grown oats into delicious porridge but also for cooking whole grain rice,quinoa, millet and other cereals. Pulses too can be left to cook perfectly, without sticking, while you prepare the rest of the meal. Traditional meals of meat or fish, vegetables and potatoes can also be very healthy of course, provided they are cooked carefully. In fact, potatoes are rarely a problem for people with allergies. The steamer cooks surprisingly quickly since steam is hotter than boiling water. Potatoes steamed in their skins, and vegetables very lightly steamed, retain all their flavour and nutrients. Try steaming vegetables for shorter and shorter times until you get used to eating them fairly crisp. It is also ideal for steaming fish or reheating cooked, frozen rice or pulses.

Slow Cooker

An electric crockpot or slow cooker is worth having since it uses so little electicity. Once pulses have been boiled rapidly for ten minutes to destroy their natural toxins, they can be transferred to the slow cooker and left to cook until tender. It also produces the most delicious casseroles and stews with the minimum effort, and cooking is a lot more enjoyable when it can be done well in advance.

You don't need a lot of expensive gadgets to prepare healthy meals, but that steamer/porringer or bain-marie, and a good knife and sharpener, together with a sharp grater really do make life much easier. Less essential, but also very useful, is a stainless steel pressure cooker. It reduces the cooking time for potatoes, meat, and pulses in particular, quite dramatically. The most fun gadget, though, is an electric blender for making smoothies!

Notes

The muesli is highly nutritious - packed with vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids - and it's very easy to make up.

Junket (the old-fashioned curds and whey that Miss Muffet ate) is really easy on the digestion. And smoothies are a fun way to be healthy.

Try out quinoa, not really a cereal but a seed. It makes a highly nutritious, useful, gluten-free ingredient.

Then there are some simple, inexpensive, healthy dishes. You can add meat to the basic tomato sauce to make a bolognese sauce for spaghetti and lasagne, or vegetables to make vegetarian versions of both.

The recipes use either fresh, dried or tinned ingredients so you can keep a stock of tinned tomatoes, chick peas and butter beans for ease. However, dried pulses are even cheaper, more nutritious and, with a little forethought, not nearly as difficult to prepare as you might think (see cooking chart).

Splash out a little if you can, on cold-pressed olive oil both for health and taste, and go for the really nutty organic whole grain rice. It's well worth the extra time it takes to cook.

For that special meal, try making the basic tomato sauce with fresh tomatoes and oregano leaves.

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Put the following ingredients into a large container and mix well:-

You could add any of the following - though quinoa (further down) is the most nutritious

You can use the muesli just as it is. However, when seeds are soaked overnight at room temperature a process begins which increases the nutrients in the seeds. So, each evening you could put a portion of the mixture into a bowl and just cover with water or apple or any other fruit juice.

The next day, just before serving, add any or all of the following:-

If sweetening is necessary, dribble a little runny honey over the muesli.

*you may need to get these ingredients from a health shop

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Note: This is a useful way to get those omega 9 essential fatty acids from olive oil.
Olive oil is also helpful in dealing with gut dysbiosis.

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2 large or 3-4 small tomatoes, sliced
125g (4oz) of mozzarella cheese (or any hard cheese), cut into small cubes
4-6 leaves of fresh oregano (or ½ teaspoon dried oregano)
1 tablespoon of cold-pressed olive oil
2 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar (or ordinary vinegar or lemon juice or wine )
salt and black pepper to taste

Place the ingredients in a salad bowl, toss gently then chill.
Serves 4.

To vary: Instead of mozzarella cheese, add ½ a small onion, thinly sliced and a small tin of tuna, flaked.

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Cold Rice Salad

225g (8 oz) cooked, cold rice (weight after cooking)
110g (4 oz) chopped or sliced raw vegetables (any mixture of carrot, celery, pepper, leek, cauliflower, broccoli, etc)
110g (4 oz) nuts (one or any mixture of hazelnuts, walnuts, brazil nuts)
4 tablespoons of simple 'salad dressing' (see recipe)
salt and black pepper

Toss the rice, raw vegetables and nuts in the salad dressing.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Serves 4.

To vary: Use cooked quinoa, millet or buckwheat instead of rice.

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Note: tuna is rich in health-promoting essential fatty acids

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Quinoa is very high in protein and is closer to the United Nation's FAO ideal balance for amino acids than any other common cereal grain. Quinoa is high in essential amino acids: lysine, methionine, and cystine, which are particularly important for vegetarian diets and in correcting deficiencies in legume diets. Quinoa is high in calcium, phosphorus, iron, vitamin E and some of the B vitamins.

To cook quinoa

A porringer or bain-marie is the best way to cook grains (it preserves the nutrients and prevents sticking). Otherwise, boil the quinoa (like rice). Put 1 part quinoa to 2 parts water into the porriger or pan and cook for 15mins (or until the quinoa grains have turned slightly transparent and the spiral-like germ has separated)

Note: This can be stored in the fridge for a few days, and added to the soaked muesli – or used like rice or cous cous in other meals.

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Quinoa Tabouli

Substituting highly nutritious quinoa for the traditional bulgur wheat gives this tabouli a lighter, fluffier, and slightly nutty taste and enables people allergic to wheat to eat this Middle Eastern dish.

1 cup water
½ cup quinoa (rinsed clean)
3 med ripe tomatoes
1 cup chopped parsley
1 cup chopped shallots (or onion)
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/3 cup olive oil
2 tablesp fresh mint
Salt to taste

1. Pour water into a 1-quart saucepan. Add quinoa; bring to the boil. Reduce heat to a simmer; cover. Cook for 10 to 15 min, or until all water has been absorbed. You will know that the Quinoa is done when all the grains have turned from white to transparent, and the spiral-like germ has separated.

2. While the quinoa is cooking, finely chop the tomatoes, parsley, and shallots. Add lemon juice, oil, and mint to tomato mixture. Stir in cooked quinoa and salt. Mix well.

3. Let tabouli sit in the refrigerator for a day to blend flavours.
Serves 4.

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Mediterranean Quinotto

1 cup per person of quinoa, millet or whole grain rice (organic)
2½ cups per person of vegetable stock (or you could use boullion cube or powder to make the stock)
a little olive oil
1 onion
1 tbsp. per person nutritional yeast
1 glass of wine (optional)
1 chopped pepper (any colour)
3 sticks of celery, chopped (or use any vegetables of your choice)
chopped parsley (optional)
salt-pepper as needed
Soy sauce (to suit taste)

Wash the grains.
Mince or finely chop the onion.
Put the olive oil in a heavy or non-stick pan and sauté onion until golden on low heat.
Add the vegetables and sauté until limp.
Add the grains, the stock, (and a glass of wine if desired).
Bring back to simmer, and stir occasionally until all the liquid is absorbed.
This should take about 20 mins if you use quinoa, 30 mins if you use millet,
or 50 mins if you use wholegrain rice.
Sprinkle with chopped parsley (optional),
Serve hot.
Serves 4.

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Pasta

225g (8oz) wholemeal dried pasta shapes or wholemeal spaghetti (or gluten-free).

Bring about 4 pints of water to the boil in a large saucepan. Add pasta, stirring gently until water returns to the boil. Boil for not more than 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain immediately. Use with basic tomato sauce, bolognese sauce (or vegetable variation).
Serves 4.

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Bolognese Sauce

For use either in lasagne (see recipe), with wholemeal (or gluten-free) spaghetti, or with whole grain rice.

Prepare the basic tomato sauce but add 500g (1lb) of lean minced lamb or beef and simmer for 20 minutes. (This sauce can be thickened, by adding 3 teaspoonfuls of cornflour, mixed to a smooth paste with a little cold water, for the last minute of cooking time).

To vary: Instead of meat, add a grated carrot, chopped celery, sliced courgettes, or any spare vegetables you have in at the time, to make a vegetarian version.

To vary: The meat or vegetable sauce can be spread on the bottom of a baking dish, then topped with mashed potatoes and baked in a hot oven or grilled until brown on top.

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Ingredients

110g (4 oz) (uncooked weight) of dried chick peas (soaked and cooked - see chart)
1 medium onion, chopped very fine or minced
1-2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon of fresh, chopped parsley (or ½ teaspoon dried oregano)
salt and black pepper to taste

To flavour:
1 teaspoon of ground cumin (mildest spice for children)
- or 1 teaspoon of curry powder
- or 1 teaspoon of caraway seed
- or 1 teaspoon of aniseed
- or ½ teaspoon of aniseed and ½ teaspoon caraway seed

To coat:
1 egg white
oatmeal or breadcrumbs

Mince, grind or process the chick peas. Mix together in a bowl, the ground chick peas, onions, garlic, herbs, and flavouring. Add a little water to form a stiff paste then form into 8 small balls. Dip each ball in egg white then coat in oatmeal or breadcrumbs. Traditionally, falafels are fried in either deep or shallow oil but they could be placed on a well-oiled tray in the oven and baked for 20 minutes at 220 °C (425 °F or Gas Mark 7)
Serves 2-4 people.

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To vary: Cut thin, lengthways slices off a marrow and use instead of lasagne sheets (this is really delicious, and far more digestible than ordinary lasagne).

NB: The bolognese sauce must be thickened (with cornflour or potato flour) when marrow is used instead of pasta sheets.

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Wholemeal Garlic Bread

1 wholemeal baguette, cut in half lengthways and buttered
2-4 cloves of garlic, crushed (wholemeal bread tends to need more garlic than white bread)
1 tablespoon of chopped fresh parsley
salt and black pepper to taste

Spread the crushed garlic on the buttered bread, sprinkle with chopped parsley and season with salt and black pepper. Put the two halves back together again, and bake for 20 minutes without wrapping in tin foil, at 180 °C (350 °F or Gas Mark 4).

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Combining vegetarian proteins

The protein from vegetable sources rarely contains the full range of essential amino acids, and so must be combined in the same meal with other sources of amino acids. That way the full range of amino acids is made available at the same time. Traditional vegetarian meals around the world have evolved to bring together, pulses cereals and milk or dairy produce. This combination provides complete protein.

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Cooking times for pulses

The crockpot cooking times may seem long but it can be an advantage to have meals prepared and cooking well in advance.

Dried Pulses are high in fibre, and they are not only inexpensive, the food of generations of peasants, but they are very nutritious. More and more tinned varieties are to be found in the local supermarket these days. These are handy for the student or the person who lives alone and they can be used in stews, casseroles, chilli, vegetable curry, salads, falafels, and vegetable burgers. However, it's worth considering soaking and cooking a double batch of dried pulses and keeping some in the fridge for a couple of days for another meal. This works out much cheaper and retains more nutrients.

You can even soak, cook and then freeze pulses, moving them around during the early stages of freezing to keep them separate. That way you can simply grab a handful or two when you need them and pop them straight into a casserole, chilli or salad. It's also the easiest way to combine several varieties of beans in one casserole or salad.

Preparation
Spread out the pulses and check for any little stones before rinsing. Mung beans and lentils need no soaking, but larger beans can either be soaked overnight in plenty of cold water, or boiled for five minutes then the heat turned off and the beans left to soak for one hour. The beans will swell so make sure that you use plenty of water. After soaking, drain off and throw away the soaking water, and rinse the beans under a running tap.

Cover with plenty of fresh water and bring to the boil. All pulses must then be boiled rapidly for ten minutes to destroy their natural toxins. The heat can then be turned down and the beans can be simmered for the remainder of their cooking time, or they can be transferred to the slow cooker. Alternatively, the beans can be cooked in much less time in a pressure cooker and the high temperature involved does away with the need to first boil the beans rapidly for ten minutes.

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Cooking times for cereals

Note: Buy organic, whole grain cereals if possible (usually from health shops). The quantities in the chart are designed to allow the cereal to absorb all the liquid so that none of the nutrients are lost. They are best cooked in a porringer or bain-marie or, if not, a non-stick pan with a tight-fitting lid. These quantities are enough to serve four people. Use half ingredients for two people or a quarter for one person. The rice can be frozen, moving occasionally during freezing to keep separate.

Use rice as a base for casseroles, chilli, curry, bolognese sauce, or in cold rice salad. Buckwheat or millet can be used in the same way. Millet can also be cooked in milk instead of water and sweetened with honey to make a pudding. Porridge can be served with a little cold milk, and dribbled with runny honey if sweetening is desired. Quinoa is a highly-nutritious gluten-free cereal, which can be used as an ingredient for both savoury and sweet dishes.

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