@Laurie Dal in a slow cooker might be up your alley, and it can phase down to extremely easy.

Most recipes online will have you chop veg, maybe even toast some spices, but you can make something edible and enjoyable with nothing but lentils, water, and a spice pre-mix (I use Patak’s).

Easy steps to add include adding some salt and oil, and adding some shredded or chopped greens (kale will retain texture, spinach will add flavor but wilt to the point of disappearing, etc). And, of course, if you have the energy, you can chop onions and toast sesame seeds and all that.

But you can make a big batch of something savory and nutritious with just the lentils, water, and a spice mix. Eat it for a week if that’s something you can do, or eat it for a day or two and freeze the rest–it keeps reasonably well.

Hope that helps!

@pencilears Thank you for your suggestion. I have a small table with chair in my kitchen so I can sit to chop, mix, and so on. It's great! The problem with it for now is that keeping my knees bent at a 90 degree angle increases the pain level even after as little as five minutes. And I can't stand for longer than about a minute before the pain is unbearable (I was at about 15 seconds, so it is improving :)) Hence the need for true dump and cook recipes.

@Laurie personally, when my back is bad I sit at the stove, dunno how big your kitchen is, but this might be an ok choice:

https://www.amazon.com/Cosco-11120RED1E-Retro-Counter-Chair/dp/B0000B35GY

@Sisuile I've poked around, and he's got some recipes that look lovely. Thank you so much.

@Sisuile thank you so much. I have some poking around to do!

@Laurie Disabled Kitchen & Garden has a lot of stuff that will probably be up your alley, here. https://disabledkitchenandgarden.ca/blog/instant-pot-mexican-ground-beef-casserole-disabled-kitchen-recipe/
Fair warning, this makes a *lot* of food. It feeds the two of us for almost a week.

This is dinner tonight here: https://pipingpotcurry.com/chicken-saag-pressure-cooker/ if you sub the chicken for a can of chickpeas (and then skip the blender), this is dump and go.

And this one is not as complex if you don't toast/saute as directed, if you just dump & cook, but still Very Tasty. https://www.indianhealthyrecipes.com/dal-khichdi-recipe/#Recipe_Card

@Laurie I use the congee function in our rice cooker a lot! I throw in some rice, ginger, garlic, onions, mushrooms, and chicken broth in the pot and come back 1.5 hrs later. Garnish with spring onions, salted egg, whatever else is available. 😊

I've had some nice replies to my post yesterday about #disabled #cooking, but my head hurts too much to even read through. :(

I'm not ignoring you, nice peeps, by choice. I'll try again later.

#DisabledCooking

@librarychic Thanks for your reply.

I've done that, but not always happy with the results.

Disclaimer: I have a toaster oven-style air fryer that also serves as my oven. I do not have a separate larger oven.

When I roast chicken, I spatchcock so it cooks more evenly. I've tried putting potatoes, carrots, onions on the tray beneath the carrots, but those that are under the chicken aren't cooked through while the ones that aren't are over cooked and burnt in places. I suppose the solution there is to use chicken pieces instead of whole chicken.

I'm open to suggestions. :)

@Laurie one way I get easy cooked veggies is just dumping them on a sheet pan, putting oil and seasoning on them and then roasting. There are also sheet pan recipes that include the meat (chicken, sausage, shrimp, fishe, etc.), so that’s the whole meal in one or two pans with very little hands on time.

@Laurie

Chili is easy to do in a pressure cooker, and if you're not a purist, you can chuck carrots, and onions in with beans, tomato sauce/paste, and (of course) chilis. Meat if you want, although we often don't bother.

If the rice cooker does steaming, that's an easy way to do greens.

You can also just throw all sorts of things in with rice and do the rice cooker setting - veg, spices, herbs. Even meat if it's in small bits. Or sausages.

@AspiringLuddite lol my chilli always has random veggies in it. I need my veggies!

Rice cooker - the meat pieces don't have to be small. I've cooked whole chicken thighs in it, and they were cooked through at the end. I test with a probe thermometer. I've made more than a few one-pot meals in the rice cooker. :)

@WearsHats I do that a lot, too, but I also need a fresh perspective sometimes, like when I get in a rut, which I am right now.

@JustJenny cool!

@Laurie Two things come to mind off the top of my head:

1. Roger Ebert's guide to using a rice cooker to make all your meals (he always traveled with one to cook in his hotel rooms): https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/the-pot-and-how-to-use-it

2. My niece taught me: Dice veggies. Toss with olive oil and spices. Roast/broil/air fry until the edges crisp (about 20 minutes). I use broccoli, carrot, mushroom, bell pepper, fresh garlic and oregano, thyme, basil, garlic powder, etc.

@WearsHats I'm laughing a bit right now.

Roger Ebert's rice cooker bit is something I post about fairly often. I find rice cookers to be incredibly useful, more so than most people realize.

However. I also have goldfish memory, so I forget these tricks I've found useful in the past. It's even worse when my head is pounding, which it has been more so lately.

So thank you for reminding me. :)

About roasted veggies. Right. We don't like most, but we do like some, and again, memory lousy, need reminding, yadayadayada merci.

#silentsunday

Lì a Tuath and Lochmaddy, lit by the last rays of sunshine.
#North Uist #LìaTuath #Lochmaddy #OuterHebrides #Scotland #Drone #Sunset

My insulin pump is connected via a tube to a cannula that goes through my skin.

The power outlet is connected to the grid, which gets some of its power from a nuclear plant in New Jersey.

I plug in my insulin pump to recharge.

If you follow the right wires, there is now an unbroken physical connection running from the inside of my body to the inside of a nuclear reactor.

@JustJenny bait hive. I had no idea this was a thing, but it makes sense. How often do you get new hive this way?