Self-Love Stew [VG/V/DF/GF]
I cooked for myself last night.
This is pretty good news, considering how blue I have been the last few days… Black dog came home, and cooking is the self-love I need but often the first thing it takes in its jaws. So I hereby christen this Self-Love Stew. I’ll reformat it into a proper recipe later on, with costings, but I just wanted to get it up and out there in case someone else needs it today as much as I needed it yesterday.
Take 2 cloves of garlic and an onion. Chop them and fry in a little oil on a low heat to soften. Stir, stir, slow and cathartic.
Add a finely chopped or grated carrot (or parsnip, or spud, or sweet potato – any root will do) and stir some more.
Add a tsp of paprika, and stir in. The stirring is key. It is soothing. It is mindless, not mindful. Sod mindful. My mind is full enough. It is a minefield. Tonight I want to stir some stuff and stare at my hands or into nothing.
Add chunks of tofu if you’re veggie/vegan, fish if you aren’t.
Add a can of beans. Baked or kidney or butter or chickpeas or cannelini or whatever. Add some beans. For goodness. For laziness. For filling comfort. For making it stretch an extra meal you won’t have to cook.
Pour over a tin of tomatoes. The cheaper the better, Basics ones are brilliantly sloppy and liquid and excellent for soups and stews.
Shred some kale in your hands. Rip it the heck up with all the stress and physicality you can muster. Go on. Tear it to shreds.
Drop it in. Stir it through, breathe, stir, breathe.
Bring to the boil, like your fury, heat it up and watch it roar… …reduce it to a simmer. Douse in lemon juice to brighten, salt and pepper to amplify.
Spoon it into a bowl.
Add chopped nuts or seeds of your choice.
Sit in your favourite spot.
Hug that bowl to yourself.
Enjoy every mouthful.
Shoulders down.
You did this.
You made this for yourself out of love.
You are nourishing yourself.
You are smart.
You are kind.
You are important.
You can wash up tomorrow.
#selflove #vegan #veganonabootstrap
#cookingonabootstrap #loveyourself #happymonday #15minutemeals #vegandinner #blackdog #selfcare #lowspoons #spoonie #spoons
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Categories: BEANS & LENTILS, Blog, DAIRY FREE, gluten free, Recipes & Food, SUPER SOUPS, VEGAN, Vegan Recipes, VEGETARIAN
So sorry the black dog has come visiting, hope he leaves very soon. Big hugs.
Linda
You are a life saver ❤
I think I’ll do this tonight. Thank you.
<3
What a lovely recipe! While I’m not a veggie/vegan, I do like meat-free dishes from time to time and I’m certainly going to do this one, perhaps with some (sustainable) coley pieces. I hope it did you some good and the soothing worked.
Keep going Jack you are an inspiration to one and all and your blog always cheers me up 🙂
Excellent recipe, and good advice to yourself (from a fellow visitee of the black beast).
Perfect. Thank you for this, and all the other recipes, but especially this. X
I feel soothed just reading this! Thank you
Thanks for the upload Jack =D I’ve made something similar before, its so yummy!! A great comfort meal. Before now, I’ve also experimented adding 1 tsp turmeric and 1tsp ground ginger, kind of turns it into a curry stew.
Since kale isn’t available where I live (we don’t even have a word for it) any suggestions for possible replacements? As in, would fresh/frozen spinach work? Rapini?
PS Take your time with the answer, it will be at least a couple of weeks before day temperatures start going below 30C and almost two months before the need for socks and warm soup arises again.
Fresh baby spinach worked a treat for me last night, as did adding a tsp of cumin. Also used some dried up aubergine from the bottom of the fridge rather than tofu.
spinach could work, but add it at the last minute. Could substitute swiss chard/silverbeet if you can get it or collard greens
I needed to read this just now. I’m about to continue with cbt for my anxiety, depression and OCD. What I really want to do is drink all the wine and eat all the chocolate. But I won’t. Instead I’ll about all the s**t that fills my head with some stranger. Love what you do and who you are. One day I’d love to share a hug (does that sound weird? Ah well).
*hug*
Hello there. I really know what you’re going through and hope sincerely that things get better soon. I too suffer from same things but wine really dosent work. Cooking is better than doing all the things that you know are harmful. Keep in touch.
Looks sooo good!! I’m thinking about going vegan myself actually
hi jack,hope youre ok,are you?youve touched my heart,i think youre wonderful,i know you have troubles,god bless xxx
On Tue, Aug 2, 2016 at 3:03 PM, COOKING ON A BOOTSTRAP wrote:
> Jack Monroe posted: ” I cooked for myself last night. This is pretty > good news, considering how blue I have been the last few days… Black dog > came home, and cooking is the self-love I need but often the first thing it > takes in its jaws. So I hereby christen thi” >
Hi Jack,
I hope you’re feeling better. I just wanted you to know how invaluable your blog has been for me. Until recently I worked in a women’s refuge. We held regular cooking sessions but had a very, very limited budget (think £5 to feed around ten people). Knowing nothing about cooking, I couldn’t have run those sessions without this website and the generous food donations we received from the community. And without some combination of these, the women and children I worked with wouldn’t have eaten. So thank you.
H x
You are smart.
You are kind.
You are important.
Wishing you well.
Sitting in my living room in Rome, trying to work out how to keep my increasingly disastrous finances afloat without giving up hope entirely on my dream of making a life for myself here, when suddenly your name popped into my head. I loved your first book and haven’t really kept up since, so I googled you.
Reading this is filling me with so much hope that there might yet be a way to battle through. Self love is the best.
Thank you <3
Oh my god. I need that in my life. That looks so amazing. Thank you for sharing. I know what is for dinner tomorrow now!
When the black dog comes to visit, find him/her/they a friend to ditch them on and have a brilliant day. Preferably someone like that codpiece you had to sue. Someone like that always deserves the black dog!
I see you posted this back on Aug. 2, 2016. Being from the U.S., I had never heard of the black dog coming to visit. It sounded like it might be depression although a search also brought up other possibilities. I liked this website – https://psychcentral.com/lib/when-the-black-dog-starts-growling-5-steps-to-leash-your-depression/ I have dealt with depression since about age 17… actually, probably puberty at 12… now am 65. Fortunately, just recently, I am having almost no depression but hearing about others struggling with it reminds me how it feels and makes a knot in my stomach. Jack, there’s just something about you that is irresistible. You have shared yourself with us. You don’t know me but I love you. I bought your cookbook just to support you because I resonate with your transparent heart and your activism. Be well… Patricia
We love this recipe. I cook it at least once a month. It’s always meditative. Thanks a lot.
This is my go to recipe when i need reminding that i am important to-thank you. 🙂
Thanks for posting this! Made it tonight. Such a versatile recipe. I’ve been looking for a blog with simple, yummy and affordable recipes and it looks like I’ve hit upon it. Sorry about the trolls, keep doing what you’re doing! 🙂
A good post, as the love of food dies when depression hits. I hope you are feeling much better now x
I made this last night and enjoyed it so much that, as I was greedily shovelling it in, I chipped my front tooth on my fork. Higher praise for a recipe I cannot imagine! Next time I make it I shall eat with more care.
I am sick now, some cold and it was the most warming, comfortable food I have had for many months x
Thank you