So, this is the new year...and what have I done?
I defrosted the freezer early December last year then prepped a couple of dishes: feta and sweet potato enchiladas and a chickpea curry from recipe tin eats. Great! Actually, no. The husband had been dealing with some stomach pain/acid reflux for a while though we couldn't figure out what was triggering it specifically. Off to the doctors we went and he was diagnosed with an ulcer (need ultrasound to pinpoint it but sounds like an intestinal one...) and sent off with some medication and strict order to give up carbonated sugary drinks.
Now, it's no secret that our neurodivergent household loves its fizzy trash water and I decided to also give it up in solidarity but I tapered while my husband quit cold so we didn't have to throw out what we had in house. Withdrawal was a bit rough for each of us but I'm glad to have done it. Even when buying lidl's own brand, we were spending nearly ten pounds a fortnight on it and honestly, there's better stuff to spend that money on. We're always working towards a mindset of quality over quantity and this mission fit that aim.
As husband worked through the medication, we pinpointed that oily/fatty foods and spicy foods where bothering him so we're had to cut back on that...now, what did I spend time just before Xmas doing? Filling the bloody freezer with spicy food. Sigh.
As to the post title, for Xmas I treated myself to a subscription to NYT Cooking which was heavily discounted to nine pounds (which I've kinda paid for by giving up coke zero! Hurrah!) and so far there hasn't been a bad recipe in the bunch. The slow cooker chilli with beer has been very adaptable to making it a bit milder but still flavourful and the sheet pan mushroom parma is also highly recommended.
Would I pay full price for the subscription? Hmm. For nine pounds it is a bargain and not such a loss if I end up not cooking regularly from it but at full price? I think I would have to be making a few new recipes a month from it to justify it. As I've bought this subscription, I've banned myself from buying any foodie/cooking magazines so we'll see how it goes.
Today I had the energy for some baking so made the biscotti recipe from Budget Bytes which turned out okay. It lacked some of the steps/instructions I'd expect from a biscotti recipe and it's definitely a more American take on it. It took a while longer in my oven and I still ended up leaving them to dry out a bit more in the cooling oven. I added 1/3 cup each of sliced almonds and dark chocolate chips. Next time I'll probably try the King Arthur biscotti recipe which has some neat tips and tricks for getting a better result. That said, the budget bytes one is a good pantry basics recipe.
Hopefully this week I'll have enough energy to make some marmalade - cheating a bit by using Ma Made as the base - but making preserves was such a fun past-time for me before fibromyalgia became undeniable so if this helps me return to it, I'm happy. I'm going to fancy it up some with a splash of our wedding whisky and give some jars to the people who were there...a little under a year ago, it feels much longer!
