{"id":5583,"date":"2020-05-15T21:58:59","date_gmt":"2020-05-15T21:58:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/?p=5583"},"modified":"2020-05-16T10:52:38","modified_gmt":"2020-05-16T10:52:38","slug":"4-things-to-cook-in-lockdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/2020\/05\/15\/4-things-to-cook-in-lockdown\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Things to Cook in Lockdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pre<\/span>-coronavirus, I generally enjoyed cooking every night\u00a0<\/span>as a\u00a0<\/span>way to<\/span>\u00a0destress<\/span>\u00a0(and save money)<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0Then, during the \u201cspring break\u201d portion of\u00a0<\/span>the lockdown when time was at its most unreal<\/span>\u00a0and grocery store shelves at their emptiest<\/span>, I lost interest<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Meals during this time tended towards<\/span>\u00a0digestive biscuits, large quantities of oatmeal, and<\/span>\u00a0raw carrots eaten despondently at my desk.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>But now that summer term has picked up, I\u2019ve gone back to cooking\u00a0<\/span>as a\u00a0<\/span>welcome\u00a0<\/span>distraction from everything.\u00a0<\/span>I find it a bit\u00a0<\/span>more of a challenge\u00a0<\/span>now that I only buy groceries once a week<\/span>\u00a0since I like to make whatever I<\/span>\u2019m feeling at the time instead of planning meals in\u00a0<\/span>advance<\/span>, but I\u2019m making it work<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>Frozen veggies\u00a0<\/span>and lemon juice\u00a0<\/span>a<\/span>re great friend<\/span>s<\/span>\u00a0to have.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Which brings me to\u00a0<\/span>the point of this post: a cooking diary, as suggested by\u00a0<\/span>one of my classmates (thank you, Anya!).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Disclaimer: I don\u2019t use measurements\u00a0<\/span>and have neither the lighting,\u00a0<\/span>camera<\/span>, nor energy to take Instagram<\/span>–<\/span>worthy food photos.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Oh, and everything\u2019s vegetarian<\/span>!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Caul<\/span>iflower cu<\/span>rry\/soup<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n
    \n
  • Fresh ingredients: onions, ginger, potatoes, carrots, kale<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Frozen ingredients: cauliflower<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Pantry staples: lentils, coconut milk, lemon juice, seasoning<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    You really can\u2019t go wrong with a big pot of soup, particularly when you have\u00a0vegetables you’re trying to use up\u00a0(carrots and kale in my case).\u00a0<\/span>I saut\u00e9ed the\u00a0o<\/span>nions, ginger,\u00a0<\/span>and\u00a0<\/span>cauliflower<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>in\u00a0<\/span>a\u00a0<\/span>pot<\/span>\u00a0for a few minutes until a little brown. Then added some water<\/span>, along with the lentils, potatoes, and carrots.\u00a0<\/span>I l<\/span>et that simmer until the lentils and vegetables were so<\/span>ft, then<\/span>\u00a0added to<\/span>mato paste, coconut milk,<\/span>\u00a0and handfuls of<\/span>\u00a0kale<\/span>. Let that simmer a little longer before\u00a0<\/span>adding in curry powder, salt, pepper, chili flakes, and lemon juice.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

    Pasta<\/span> with cauliflower<\/span><\/h4>\n
      \n
    • Fresh ingredients: onions<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Frozen ingredients: cauliflower<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Pantry staples: pasta,\u00a0<\/span>olive oil,<\/span>\u00a0sundried tomatoes,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>garlic powder, seasoning<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Less effort for this one; I\u00a0saut\u00e9ed more of my onions and frozen\u00a0c<\/span>auliflower\u00a0<\/span>while boiling pasta.\u00a0<\/span>Then combined\u00a0<\/span>everything with a little olive oil and some sundried tomatoes, along with my\u00a0usual additions o<\/span>f\u00a0garlic powder, salt, pepper, and chili flakes.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      \"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

      Vegetables and couscous<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n
        \n
      • Fresh ingredients: onions, sweet potatoes<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
      • Frozen ingredients: cauliflower, peas<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
      • Pantry staples: couscous, lemon juice, seasoning<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        Still making use of that cauliflower (it was a huge bag and we wanted to use the freezer space for ice cream<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0so the pressure was on<\/span>).\u00a0<\/span>On<\/span>ce again, I saut\u00e9ed it with some on<\/span>ion<\/span>. This time I added<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>s<\/span>weet potato and\u00a0<\/span>frozen\u00a0<\/span>peas\u00a0<\/span>and ate it with couscous.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        \"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

        Couscous\u00a0<\/span>fry up?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n
          \n
        • Fresh ingredients: onions, potatoes, eggs<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
        • Frozen ingredients: peas<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
        • Pantry staples: couscous (leftover)<\/span>, seasoning<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

          I w<\/span>as in the mood for\u00a0<\/span>some\u00a0<\/span>breakfast for dinner so was\u00a0<\/span>planning to\u00a0<\/span>just<\/span>\u00a0fry up some\u00a0<\/span>eggs,\u00a0<\/span>potatoes, onions, but then I remembered I had leftover couscous and should probably throw in something green so.<\/span>..I fried the potatoes and onions, then mixed in leftover couscous and<\/span>\u00a0frozen peas.\u00a0<\/span>As that was cooking, I whisked two eggs and threw that in on the side to cook at the same time, omelet style. Then I chopped up the omelet\u00a0<\/span>with the spatula\u00a0<\/span>and mixed u<\/span>p the pieces<\/span>\u00a0with the couscous and veggies, sort of like fried rice.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

          \"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

          And that\u2019s been lockdown cooking<\/span>\u2014<\/span>t<\/span>une in again for more\u00a0<\/span>similar-looking photos and\u00a0<\/span>ways to eat cauliflower<\/span>!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          Pre-coronavirus, I generally enjoyed cooking every night\u00a0as a\u00a0way to\u00a0destress\u00a0(and save money).\u00a0Then, during the \u201cspring break\u201d portion of\u00a0the lockdown when time was at its most unreal\u00a0and grocery store shelves at their emptiest, I lost interest.\u00a0Meals during this time tended towards\u00a0digestive biscuits, large quantities of oatmeal, and\u00a0raw carrots eaten despondently at my desk.\u00a0But now that summer term […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1414,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[103113,274465,300911,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cooking","category-covid-19","category-lockdown","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1414"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5583"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5588,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5583\/revisions\/5588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}