The cooking thread

[Loopster]

I wanted to start a thread on cooking and how to make normal food better. I am talking about non-thirst provoking food, vitamin rich food, and long term storage recipes (such as the master cleanse lemon drink.) Perhaps we can start getting a list of food recipes that are NOT general how to cook ideas but rather, healthy things to add to food that can improve shelf life, nutrition content, and calories. Things that aren't bad for you.

I have a few recipes that I am going to try and cook with powdered vitamins combined with the standard recipe to see if I can get something going that actually tastes good and yet carries my full days supply of vitamins and minerals. Google searching is not really coming up with anything useful but the vitamin measurements are important as your body may process some vitamins differently than others, so be sure to check ahead of time. My sister in law died from Iron (vitamin) poisoning as her body could not metabolize iron so be aware.

Vitamin list:
vitamin A - 2500 IUs - vision, immune, anti cancer (more than 10k-25k IUs per day can cause poisoning.)
B complex - energy, digestion,
C 1000mg - antioxidant, immune, etc. (max daily dose 2000mg)

I am still researching the brain function supplements but Ginko, Ginsing, and Vinpocetine will be on the list.

Others
Sugar - short term brain function, energy, happy
Honey - preservative, sweetener

I know baking will cause some of the vitamins to be lost so I need to figure out which ones and how much. I am really just starting out with this so if anyone has any recipes, ideas, or info to contribute, go for it. I am going to contact a nutritionist this week to get more info about this so I will post later when I talk to her.

The first recipe is a poppy seed lemon cake. I will upload the recipe after I cook it but the goal is to try and fit as many calories, vitamins, and protein as you will need in a day, into a couple of small portable snacks that actually taste good. If I could get one biscuit to supply a whole days nutrition and last for a month, that would be ideal. Obviously its gonna take some time to figure this out but I think it might be able to be done.

[fire_missionary]

If they can make dog food which provides 85-90% of everything a dog needs to eat to survive, I'm sure it is doable for humans.

The problem is it may taste like crap.

Also, if you could come up with something, there's little money in it, hence why nothing is on the market like this.

I'm all for it though.

Another thought: Each person is quite different in their metabolism and such. It may be wise to try to get something with the 'minimum' of a lot of things in it instead of pushing the edge.


Anyway, Good idea. Keep us informed!

[Yugosaki]

How do you make normal food better?

Garlic.

Mashed potatoes?

Garlic mashed potatos

Chicken?

Garlic chicken.

Rice?

Garlic rice

ramen?

Garlic ramen

Ramen rice and chicken fried and mixed together as a meal?

Garlic rice noodles chicken.

that's good eating.

[Desette]

How do you make normal food better?

Garlic.

Mashed potatoes?

Garlic mashed potatos

Someone has some Italian in them. And possbily Irish due to Potatoes being first on the list.

I love garlic potatoes.

Spices do really make the difference in everything esspically if they are fresh I love buying fresh dill and other spices. I will attempt to get a spice chart for this thread for various meats and vegtables. I have one on my wall but its stuck there and I have no scanner.



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[Enki]

If they can make dog food which provides 85-90% of everything a dog needs to eat to survive, I'm sure it is doable for humans.

The problem is it may taste like crap.

Also, if you could come up with something, there's little money in it, hence why nothing is on the market like this.

I'm all for it though.

Another thought: Each person is quite different in their metabolism and such. It may be wise to try to get something with the 'minimum' of a lot of things in it instead of pushing the edge.

Anyway, Good idea. Keep us informed!

Haw! Dogfood is really bad for your dog. Imagine eating nothing but a "healthy" breakfast cereal every day for your whole life. While there are some foods that are pretty good, you should really still supplement with "real" food a bit. I sear (blue rare) stew beef for my dog, and she of course loves it. Some liver once in a while ain't bad.

All that said, dogs and humans have been living together and sharing meals for a LONG time. You could just eat dogfood.

Otherwise: high protein powerbars/clifbar.

[Yugosaki]

Someone has some Italian in them. And possbily Irish due to Potatoes being first on the list.

Neither, actually. German and Scottish, woo!

I eats what I likes. And I likes garlic and taters.

[fire_missionary]

Garlic is excellent. I'll be growing some of my own fresh for use in dishes.

I like it more than anyone else I know.

I made some Shrimp Scampi once. The recipe called for a clove of garlic. Me, being naive, promptly put in 2 heaping spoonfuls _{(you know the bigger of the 2 sizes of spoons you get in the set)} of minced garlic into the mix.

I enjoyed it very much.

Everyone else who had some thought it was really, really, strong.

Haw! Dogfood is really bad for your dog. Imagine eating nothing but a "healthy" breakfast cereal every day for your whole life. While there are some foods that are pretty good, you should really still supplement with "real" food a bit. I sear (blue rare) stew beef for my dog, and she of course loves it. Some liver once in a while ain't bad.

All that said, dogs and humans have been living together and sharing meals for a LONG time. You could just eat dogfood.

Otherwise: high protein powerbars/clifbar.

I didn't really know it wasn't that great for them, but I can understand it fully. The concept of a one-food-for-all-nutrition is a good one, I think. Or at least with minimal supplements to it, it could be.

Also, dog food tastes like crap. What? I was young.

[sanetraitor]

How do you make normal food better?

Garlic.

Agreed.

[Enki]

How do you make normal food better?

Garlic.

+1

[Moon_dog]

Try making gernolia bars, spices like cimmamin and sugar will help cover up other flavors and adding powder vitamin. to should not be hard.  Shop for weightlifters where I would look too.


Taste test of rations with vitamin. everything you need to survive in one bar. 
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/worst_case_scenarios/4219185.html?series=29

I picked up some mainstay from a marine store have not tryed them yet.

[brokengret]

I'm going to go ahead and recommend The Herb and Spice Companion.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1577172159/?tag=stylefeeder-20&creative=380337&creativeASIN=1577172159&linkCode=asn

Also, a dehydrator is a really good thing to have.  I don't think an all-in-one is the best way to get your daily dose of nutrients, but rather have a variety throughout the day, of quick and easy meals/snacks you can grab.

Personally, I have a lot of food restrictions due to IBS(Irritable Bowel Syndrome), and preservatives are out of the question most of the time.  So I make a lot of food that I can eat through out the week, like veggie chili, and soups.  Nearly anything potato based works well too.

Like I said, a dehydrator can be a life saver(literally, as fresh food spoils so quickly).  While I don't have one yet, I'd go with a cold air dehydrator over a hot air one(hot air partially cooks the food.)  One can be assembled with a floor fan and furnace filter, I can't find any yet, but my example is based off of a unit in Good Eats: Withering Bites, and Urban Preservation II, The Jerky

[Yugosaki]

Also, a dehydrator is a really good thing to have.  I don't think an all-in-one is the best way to get your daily dose of nutrients, but rather have a variety throughout the day, of quick and easy meals/snacks you can grab.

I also want a Dehydrator, but mainly for jerky. jerky is good, jerky is great.

[avagdu]

Dehydrators are pretty awesome. Good way to get more fruit and veggies into the diet.

[Jebusura]

I will recommend getting some black pepper in there somewhere as it helps your body take vitamins into your system greatly.

I am very interested in what you come you with, keep us posted.

So far we have a plan to dehydrate some food, mix it with mashed potato and garlic, chuck in your powdered vitamins and some black pepper and mix...  yum

[avagdu]

Things to add in to food (yea, most of these are for baking stuff..):

Peanut Butter
Honey
Powdered Milk
Eggs (Powdered?)
Brown Sugar
Chocolate Powder

For flavor to dinner foods- I add hot sauce, salsa, pepper, cheese (powder?), to just about everything.