The Depression Cookbook

Cooking and baking have helped me on bad days and I want to pass on what I've learned.

[chronicillnessresourcelibrary]

Disabled Kitchen: 11 Tips For Making Meal Prep Easier to Save Spoons

'Meal prep can take so much time, especially if you’re disabled. Wouldn’t it be nice if meal prep was easier? I often find myself reading recipes that say, “10 minutes prep time”, and the reality ends up being at least three times that amount because of my mobility issues. Then it comes time to making the recipe and it’s just too many steps.

You may have already read some meal prep tips and tricks. Every meal prep post I’ve ever read has been written by an abled person with the assumption that someone is going to cook every night of the week, telling you to prep things and then stick it in the fridge. Yeah, no thanks. You’re just asking that I throw everything in the compost after two weeks."

Disabled Kitchen: 11 Tips For Making Meal Prep Easier to Save Spoons - Disabled Kitchen and Garden

Meal prep can take so much time, especially if you’re disabled. Wouldn’t it be nice if meal prep was easier? I often find myself reading rec

(this article is archived here)

[memesandmylife]

hey jsyk while hellofresh is dummy expensive and i wouldn’t reccomend it if you already know how to cook (if you’re a beginner like i was when i had it for 3 months, then it’s worth it), you should know that ALL OF THEIR RECIPES are free on their website and they all fuck hard

i will say that all the cooking instructions for veggies are pretty much the same (season with salt + pepper and roast on the top oven rack at 425F), but if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

that being said, it also introduced me to methods i wasn’t at all expecting. i would have never thought to use cream cheese in my meat sauce, and now all my friends are constantly asking me to make my special rigatoni.

happy cheffin! :)

[bemusedlybespectacled]

I am a person who uses Hello Fresh for realsies because it is a bit cheaper than groceries here and definitely cheaper than takeout, but we also remake the recipes when we want a specific one and don't want to wait for it to come around in the rotation again, and therefore I know The Secret Translations of Proprietary Ingredients:

"Cream sauce base" = make a roux, add milk according to how much cream sauce base you're supposed to have (ex: 4 oz cream sauce base = 4 oz milk)

"1 packet stock concentrate" = either one tablespoon Better than Bullion or, if you want to be really accurate, Savory Choice Broth Concentrate packets are available on Amazon and allegedly that's what they use

"Italian Heat Spice"/"Blackening Spice"/"Fry Seasoning"/etc.: I promise you someone on Reddit has figured out what spices they use and in what proportions for each mix, if it's not just a straight up branded mix (like McCormick Grill Mates Brown Sugar Bourbon spice mix)

"Roasted Garlic Herb Butter" (and other compound butters, like truffle butter) = they're literally Epicurean branded butters, they do not hide this, you can buy them online

"Sweet Soy Glaze"/"Ponzu sauce"/"Hoisin sauce" = literally Kikkoman brand condiments: they don't hide that, either

"Sweet Thai chili sauce" = any sweet Thai chili sauce from the grocery store will do. We use Blue Dragon or Taste of Thai because that's what we can get in our grocery store.

[unpretty]

blue apron also has recipes on their website! i use it regularly to steal ideas when meal planning for the week.

[typewriter-worries]

there’s this extremely kind soul of a woman on instagram that makes accessible recipes that don’t require standing, chopping, or a stove and she might just have a permanent place in my heart

[peridotglimmer]

She's on YouTube too! For non-Instagram using friends:

I love her, she's great. Her recipes are friendly for both physical and/or intellectual disabilities. And her 5-year-old helps her cook. 🥰

Link to her YouTube channel:

Epicurious Expeditions

Celebrating the intersection of food and culture, travel tales, social commentary, grieving out loud. 🇳🇬/🇺🇸 👰🏽🧒🏽👧🏽👩🏽‍💼⚖️ Paid Collaboration

[depressioncookbook]

Tortilla Pizza

Ingredients:

Flour tortillas

Tomato paste (I recommend the tube kind over the cans)

Dried Oregano (optional)

Shredded cheese (Italian or Mexican blends both work fine)

Instructions:

Put the baking sheet in the oven and then preheat the oven to 350F.

In a mug, mix tomato paste and a little bit of water until you get the desired consistency and add the oregano if desired.

Put a flour tortilla on the hot baking sheet. (If you want a crisper "crust" you can put the tortilla in the oven for a minute before adding toppings.) Spoon the tomato paste mixture onto the tortilla and spread around with the back of the spoon. Top with shredded cheese.

Bake for 6-8 minutes, depending on how cooked you like your cheese.

Best eaten hot so I recommend making them one at a time.

[the-rain-monster]

Cookbooks

A NYC grad student working on food stamps for her thesis has released a free cookbook for those living on $4/day.

[dinosaurs--on--a--spaceship-dea]

Baked goods at the Depressed Cake Shop are always gray or black to represent the feelings associated with depression and mental illness. But, inside many of these treats are brightly colored goodies like rainbow cake or candies to symbolize hope. “Cake is a great way to get people discussing traditionally tough conversational topics,” founder Emma Cakehead said. “It’s about challenging stigmas and labels. When someone says ‘cupcake’ you think pink icing and sprinkles. When someone says ‘mental-health issues’ an equally unimaginative stereotype will pop in most minds. By having grey cakes we’re challenging the expected, and getting people to challenge the labels they put on those who suffer with a mental illness.”

[depressioncookbook]

Ninjin Shirishiri

This recipe calls for for carrots, canned tuna in oil, egg, and sesame oil.  This makes a delicious protein rich lunch and is fairly easy to prepare.  If you find grating the carrot(s) too frustrating you can cut them into thin pieces.

[depressioncookbook]

While varied diets are healthier, having a few go-to meals that you make often and easily will help on those days when your depression makes it hard to do anything.

[depressioncookbook]

Egg and Tuna melt

Ingredients

1 egg

1/2 can of tuna

1 or 2 slices of bread (depending on whether you want an open faced sandwich)

Cheese (whatever kind you want, I used mozzarella)

optional:

1 mushroom

1 slice of tomato

Toast the bread. Slice the mushroom and sautee in butter.  Add in the egg and scramble it.  Add in the tuna as quickly as you can and cook until the egg is cooked to your satisfaction.  Put the egg and tuna on the bread and quickly add the cheese so it melts.  Add the tomato slice and the second slice of bread and allow to sit and cool and melt for a minute before eating.

[depressioncookbook]

healthy spinach and tuna salad

This is a flexible recipe: add or leave out whatever you do or don't like.

Ingredients:

2 cups of spinach

1/2 can of tuna (in water)

a handful of broccoli florettes

2 mushrooms

1 carrot

Slice the carrot and mushrooms.  Put the spinach in a bowl.  Tear the broccoli florettes into smaller pieces and put on the spinach and add the mushrooms and carrot pieces.  Drain the tuna, put it on top, and enjoy.

[moonweave-deleted-deactivated20]

Never again say "I don't have the right ingredients"

http://www.supercook.com/

posting as a link because it’s literally the best website ever. you just tell it what ingredients you possess and it flings recipes at you!

[twinkgami]

well there goes my dinner plans

[fuckingrecipes]

THE SOULS OF YOUNG CHILDREN IS AN ESSENTIAL INGREDIENT!

WELL, I GUESS WE CAN DO WITHOUT.

[depressioncookbook]

Here's something for you guys to look at while I work on getting back on my feet.

[depressioncookbook]

I'm starting to get back on my feet but I'd like to set up a bit of a backlog of recipes in case I start feeling awful again.

What recipes would you like to see here?

[depressioncookbook]

SORTED

Quick, simple, tasty recipes for novice cooks, all seasoned with stacks of banter

Sorry for the lack of updates, I'm in a kinda bad place right now so there won't be any new recipes for a while.  In the meantime I highly recommend Sorted Food for both recipes and entertainment.  The videos have gotten me through some tough days and nights.

[depressioncookbook]

Egg drop soup

I tried a version of this last week with just canned chicken broth and soy sauce for the broth.  Surprisingly it keeps fairly well in the fridge for a day or two so you don't have to worry too much about making too much.

[depressioncookbook]

Would you all rather I post bread recipes that use yeast or ones that use sourdough starter?

[depressioncookbook]

SORTED Focaccia bread

Quick, simple, tasty recipes for novice cooks, all seasoned with stacks of banter

I love baking bread.  Kneading is really relaxing, especially if you put on some music while you do it.  Everyone is impressed by fresh baked bread.

This recipe is actually fairly simple, but you need to set aside enough time for it.

[depressioncookbook]

Frozen berries

This is for when you have some berries you know you won't eat up before they go bad or just want a summer cold treat that's a little healthier.

Ingredients

Strawberries

or

Blueberries

or

Whatever berries you have

Put your berries (before they start to go off) in a freezer bag or a freezer safe container and put in the freezer.  You can add sugar if you like.