Recipes Can be Used as a Template

I am away with some friends for a couple of nights. Despite being away from home during Phase 1 I’ve had no problem sticking to it. (I know this situation is a concern for some of our participants so I’ll be doing a post with advice on this topic in the next week or so.)
 
We are staying in a condo that has a kitchen so on the way up we stopped at the grocery store. I stocked up on what we needed to have the Brown and Wild Rice Cauliflower and Mushroom Curry. Unfortunately I forgot to pick up some of the ingredients that I needed!
 
I bought curry, but forgot the turmeric and basil but no parsley. I also forgot to get the spinach and oil.
 
To make up for the forgotten items I did the following:

• I added a little extra curry as a substitute for the turmeric
• I doubled the basil to make up for the missing parsley
• In place of the spinach I added extra mushrooms
• Without oil cooking the veggies posed a problem. As coconut milk has a lot of fat I used some as a substitute. It worked just fine.

 
As I’m in Phase 1 this is a vegetarian meal. I know my husband and friends would prefer animal protein with their dinner so I prepared some chicken to place atop of the meal.
 
I simply coated the chicken with some of the coconut milk and sprinkled it some of the herb of spice mixture on it. I baked it in the oven while I cooked the rest of the meal.
 
I easily was able to stick with Phase 1 and just as important – enjoy my dinner. Judging by the empty plates and compliments so did everyone else.
 
We’ve had readers comment about how they won’t make a recipe because they don’t have or don’t like one of the secondary ingredients. We want to remind everyone that recipes can be used as a template as I did here. Feel free to experiment and make modifications.
 
If there is a particular spice that you don’t have or don’t like you can use a substitution as long as it’s an allowable food in the Phase you’re currently in. If you’re new to cooking you can either do an Internet search to find a suitable substitute or contact us. We'd be happy to help.
 
NOTE: If you are going to make the above recipe consider doubling it and freeze half. White meat chicken comes back in Phase 2 so you can cook up some chicken to place atop this meal one day when you don’t have a lot of time to prepare dinner.
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Tips from Gail

• Cutting fresh herbs takes a bit of time. You can cut up enough for a couple of days at a time and store them in the refrigerator until needed.
• Do some prep work for the following night’s dinner after you eat dinner, before cleaning up the kitchen.
• Some of the recipes have a batter or coating. Coat the fish, poultry or meat and cover it the night before or the morning you are going to prepare the meal. This will save you time and also helps the batter/coating to stick better.

Don't forget, if you have a question be sure to be in touch via our site, facebook or email us.