The No meal plan week

Ahhh my dear readers... if you are still out there!! I feel all I do is either apologise or give you a sort of meal plan of late!! Without wanting to rant too much I am starting to feel that blogging for me personally is going to whittle out soon, or at least judging by the year so far!! Maybe the blogging gods have got it in for me as I do feel the odds have been stacked against me?! With three separate repairs to my laptop (including a new hard drive and a complete re-set each time!), each repair also resulting in at least 2 weeks downtime, not to mention the enormous amount of time wasted in between restoring my rather large photo collection, not to mention documents and other software to reinstall, the latest currently running painfully slow in the background as I type, its been somewhat challenging! And that's just been the technical issues!

Food has also been a bit tricky this year, as mentioned earlier in the year my long term digestive 'issues' came to a head and I had a nasty bout of reflux oesophagitis on top of it all, which basically means when it comes to meal planning, I write down all the things I want to eat, remove half as I can't eat it then still find the joy to both cook and eat it. Fortunately the reflux is abating slowly and I am off to see a specialist dietitian soon to try and tame my digestion! I've been experimenting with a few different alternative food options, and I've been fairly successful with reducing my dairy intake, and swapping to either almond or hazelnut milks instead for my morning porridge - or overnight oats, and it has done wonders for the reflux and IBS, so will be continuing with that. Though I can't stand either milk in my tea - so that remains moo milk!

When I look back at my first blogs, almost 10 years have passed and both my cooking and diet has evolved so much! I think its not just me either! The UK food scene has also evolved so much, talking about food now is 'normal' and chances are if you know me in person, we talk about food or drink in some way! During my imposed rest I've been catching up a lot on Masterchef episodes on the hard drive and the style is so different too, especially compared to when I remember watching it as a child, in the dark TV studio with the three coloured pods- they were red, blue and yellow if I recall correctly?! So you can see I am hugely interested in food still, and I really do hope I get back into blogging properly again. I love to create food, made with love to share with you all so do bear with me a while longer whilst I find my feet again!

Despite everything I've been trying to meal plan, often on my lovely paper planner I received for Christmas, however my last few attempts at meal planning have failed a little, with the technical and food issues, I then caught a bad sinus infection a month ago and was off my food again (don't ya love antibiotics!), then oh joy - last week I went down fast with suspected food poisoning, and only this afternoon I am starting to feel a bit more human and regaining a small appetite. I swear if the grim reaper had knocked at my door on Friday night I would of taken his hand willingly, I have no idea what triggered it but I really don't want it ever again!

As I am pretty much restricted to very plain foods for the next few days at least, I've not bothered to meal plan at all but I will be feeding my boyfriend via a mixture of freezer cheats I.e. fish fingers or sausages and mash. I felt bad the other night packing him off to the chippie for his tea but I doubt he was that disappointed hehe!! My only food highlight in the past week was toasted banana sandwich - it may sound a bit weird but I learnt it off a fellow patient when I was in hospital a few years back!

So overall I think my own personal plan if anything will be well cooked porridge, banana toasties and lightly cooked eggs! 

See you soon,

Anne's Kitchen 

xx

Meal Planning Monday

Last week I didn't bother writing a meal planning post - not because I didn't want to but it was the final week (I hope!) of another round of tests on my digestive issues, and I was on a very limited diet again, to which frankly I never want to drink hot marmite any time again soon! It reminded me of a very inadvisable crash diet to get into a bridesmaid dress a few years back! Fortunately and finally I have part of the puzzle solved - I have something called Oesophagitis, basically a moderately inflamed bit above my stomach, which explains nearly all the weird and wonderful joys like persistent heartburn that's kept me awake at nights, random vomiting, general miserableness and being off my food the past few months! Its also a relief was nothing more serious!

Did you have a good Valentines Day? I went to the cinema - twice - then cooked rather late when I got home - we had these lush Coquille St Jacques (I cheated and bought them!) It was the first time B had eaten scallops and he loved them, sad almost for me though as was secretly hoping to eat both of them! Our main was posh sausages, mash and fried courgettes! We were too full so skipped pudding and had it tonight instead - Strawberry blancmange! Soft food is good food!

Whilst its great I have some of the answers (there are still other issues) I've had to re look at my meal planning and choices. I adore chorizo and spicy food, which clearly is off the menu and in all honesty they have been in moderation anyway for some time but now are very much off menu! I've been utterly bewildered by the good old internet as to what is best to eat and read very conflicting advice... onion..no onion.. definitely no tomatoes.. confused about aubergine... who knows! Anyway I have made my meal plan, trying to avoid tomatoes but still make tasty food - I even bought a fresh basil plant on Saturday which is smelling heavenly on the windowsill and will be sneaking in meals to liven them up instead!

The plan is done, though there are a few items I bought I have not planned for so some of the sides might get moved around! This is why you should take a list....

Ham, egg and spinach florentine, baguette 

(made this years back, loved it then and sure will still do!)

Sticky cocktail sausages, stir fried veggies, noodles 

(Nigella recipe with honey and soy)

Salmon Fishcakes, peas, mash 

(cheaty midweek meal!)

Feta and olive Turkey burgers, roasted veggies, couscous 

(new recipe I found here, not had before but look good!)

Tuna in black pepper breadcrumbs, spring rolls, egg fried rice 

(a cheat item - both tuna and spring rolls bought reduced!)

Linky