I should probably spend more time on this entry than any other. I love my carbohydrates, and they love me. In fact, they never want to leave.  For me, going dairy-free and gluten-free is only possible because of the availability of other great carbs.

Rice

Rice is one of my key carb sources. It seems to provide body to any meal. I have grown to like sushi, so it fits well. Here are some things to know about cooking rice:

There are many forms of rice – white, brown, basmati, long grain, short grain, minute, … It is easy to ruin rice, even if you have a rice cooker, but the basic idea is this: too little water and/or too little time to cook and the rice is inedible. Too high heat,  and the rice is burnt. So, to cook rice generally twice as much water as rice, boil, lower flame, and let simmer (really low flame, or even none) for a long time. 20 min is a long time, 30 is longer. If you think it will be done in 10 min, you’re dreaming.  I like my rice sticky, so the longer it absorbs the water, the better. If you don’t like sticky rice, then you might have to actually read the directions.

By the way, if you’re worried about nutrition, long grain, brown rice does have more nutrients than white. Brown rice takes even longer to cook. You decide.

Corn

Corn is a starchy vegetable and comes in a variety of forms. If you want to eat it as a vegetable, it cooks quickly and combines with lots of other vegetables. If you want to eat it as a starch, it’s usually in the form of corn flour, which is then cooked into biscuits, bread, or tortillas. Be aware that because it is very coarse, biscuits and bread made with corn flour generally (not always) have wheat flour in them as well. I prefer my corn in tortillas.

Corn tortillas are one of the best foods for a lazy cook. First, you can buy them pre-made (as opposed to making the flour and rolling them out) and pre-cooked (to some degree). Then, they last forever in your refrigerator. You can use them as part of main dishes, or you can use them for sandwich-like things, e.g. roll-ups or spring rolls. To cook them, you could put them in a pan with some oil (olive oil) and kind of fry them, but I just put a few in the microwave for about a minute.

Potatoes

The best and the worst carbohydrate. A lot has been written about the potato recently regarding the “glycemic index” and the fact that potatoes are too easy to metabolize. So be it. However, a potato in its many forms in combination with protein instantly makes a meal for me.

 

 

 

 

 

Still working on this…