How to log cooked meals

lkn42

I made this Tunisian Rice recipe for dinner tonight. It was delicious. Now I have no idea how to log it. Do I add each ingredient then guesstimate how much of it I ate? Is there an easier/more accurate way?

Ingredients
2 cups organic white basmati rice
1/3 cup olive oil
3 Tbsp tomato paste
1 pound (2 bunches) fresh organic spinach, chopped
1 large bunch flat-leaf parsley (2 to 3 cups, chopped)
2 medium sweet white onions (about 2 cups chopped)
1 medium head of garlic, chopped finely (about 1/4 cup chopped)
2 medium potatoes, cubed
1 medium tomato, chopped
3 large carrots, chopped
1 cup cooked chickpeas
1 1/2 Tbsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground caraway
1 1/2 Tbsp smoked paprika
1 small dried hot red pepper (or 1 tsp hot pepper flakes)
1 tsp turmeric
2 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Directions
Rinse the rice well. Drain the water out and place the rice in a large bowl. Add the olive oil and tomato paste and mix well.
Now add the chopped spinach, chopped parsley, chopped onion, chopped garlic, cubed potatoes, chopped tomato, chopped carrots, chick peas, and all the spices to the rice. Mix everything together very well.
Pour this mixture into the top part of a large deep steamer and place on top of approximately 1 inch of boiling water. Make sure the top of the water isn't touching the bottom of the steamer.
Cover the steamer with a lid and allow the whole thing to steam on medium heat for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, check the water level in the bottom pot and add more water if necessary.
Carefully spoon out the steaming rice into a large bowl and gently mix it with a large wooden spoon. This will allow the rice to finish steaming more evenly.
Return the rice mixture to the steamer and continue steaming with the lid on for 30 more minutes or until the rice is cooked to perfection. Serve warm and enjoy!
Yield: 6-8 servings

rosebarnalice

Use the recipe builder. This will require putting in the number of servings.

If you're not sure about the number of servings, weigh the finished dish and use the weight as the number of servings.

For example, I recently made a casserole that weighed 2341 grams when it came out of the oven (yes, I weighed the empty pan before I built the casserole). I entered it as 2341 servings, and then when I ate 360 grams, I logged that I had 360 servings.

GummiMundi

You can either create a recipe using those ingredients (but you have to decide beforehand the exact amount of servings it's going to yield), or log all the ingredients and estimate how much you ate.

I cook only for myself, so admittedly that makes it much simpler, because when I start cooking I know already how many servings it'll give me. I weight everything raw (and no cups for me, sorry), divide the weight of each ingredient according to the number of servings, log it, and copy the meal to the following day (or whenever I plan to eat it).

For example, if I'm making pasta with chicken and tomato, and the total weight of the ingredients going into the pan is 100g of pasta, 200g of chicken, 150g of tomato and 4g of olive oil, I log on today's dinner 50g of pasta, 100g of chicken, 75g of tomato and 2g of olive oil. And then copy all those into tomorrow's dinner log. Even if I eyeball the halves when putting the food on the plate, I know that they will be adding up accurately when considering the two meals combined. And I prefer to weight everything raw instead of cooked, to eliminate variations due to absorbed or evaporated water.

carolgrn

I fell off the wagon in 2018 when I started taking care of my parents, too many activities, and having a stroke myself.
I used to use the recipe builder all the time. Using cups or sizes doesn't work well. Always enter by ounces or grams.

@rosebarnalice had a great idea with weighing the finished product after cooking and using the ounces, or grams for your portion sizes.

lkn42

I found the recipe builder. It's wonderful! I have a ton of recipes loaded in there now. Thanks!