There Is No Cure Like Home Food

After several days spent in a hospital, I’m finally home and ready to re-integrate life again, but slowly 🙂

And nothing feels more like home than your favorite home cooked food. Especially after several unsuccessful “face-offs” with some hospital choices. It’s a common knowledge that hospital and airplane food are pretty much equally awful, but this time around, I think hospital food is a definite contender for the most inedible offering.

I did have some entertainment though, three times a day I got to play “name that food” game, and I was only right on fruit and beverages (that’s all I could possibly have there anyway).

Granted, feeding me is trickier than feeding a picky toddler, with all the gluten/dairy/eggs/soy restrictions, but deep inside me I was still hoping for some spark of common knowledge and nutrition-specific education among the dietetic department staff. I was wrong. Each and every meal came with some kind of food item that contained either of the four groups I can’t eat, it’s like there are no other foods on the planet that don’t come either breaded, smothered in cheese, butter or gravy, and there are no protein choices other than milk and eggs.  So, I guess whoever was assembling my meals, was really having fun with it. As if the orders say “no gluten (wheat/barley)”, I could get a rye toast (but it didn’t say rye!!!). Or for no dairy order, I was consistently given Lactaid milk (people, no lactose does not automatically mean no dairy!). On a third day, I finally stopped getting any bread, but all those unrecognizable meat choices were drowned in some kind of gravy (like that would make the meal more appetizing!). I was pissed and also purely entertained by the total ignorance and apparent lack of common professional knowledge (and a total indifference I’d also add) of people who are supposedly in a “diet and nutrition” field.

But of course, I didn’t starve, my mom was diligently supplying me with allergen free and most definitely edible food choices 🙂

What’s Cooking This Week

The first thing when you get home after a hospital stay is to have some nice homemade meal, but nothing too time consuming or complicated as you still feel kind of “off” and need to spend a bit more time resting. Yet you don’t have to compromise on a taste and the “hominess” of the food. Zucchini pancakes could be a perfect combination of all factors. I make them pretty often as they are quick and versatile, could be a nice breakfast or lunch food or even an appropriate side dish. Of course, I make them gluten/dairy free but you can substitute GF Bisquick for a regular one and use milk instead of water and sour cream instead of mayo (though I love mayo because it gives an extra zing to it). I don’t eat eggs in their pure form, but I can tolerate them in mayo or when they are “baked-in”. Also, I often buy European mayo as only egg yolks are added (as it’s supposed to be), which I could tolerate much better than egg whites. If not, I like Hain Foods Safflower Mayo, it’s all natural and doesn’t contain soy oil. I also tried this Magic Seasoning Salt and thought it was pretty good 🙂

Zucchini Pancakes

1 large zucchini, grated

3/4 to 1 cup GF (or regular) Bisquick (depending how thick you want the batter)

1 tbspoon of mayo (or sour cream)

1/2 cup water (or milk)

1 egg

seasoning to taste

Combine grated zucchini, water(milk) and mayo (sour cream), season as desired and taste if you want to add more seasoning. Once satisfied, add a beaten egg and Bisquck, I suggest adding it in small portions to see how thick the batter gets. Mix everything well, heat up a frying pan with a few spoons of oil and drop a spoonful of batter to form each pancake, you may flatten them a little once they are in a pan. Fry on each side until golden brown, serve immediately. Makes about 12-16 small pancakes. Use whatever toppings or sauces you like, I prefer them with scallions and honey-mustard sauce. Enjoy!