A new royal start

Aimingforthegoodlife

Hi QueenJess, have spent some time reading through, my goodness you have had such a time! I am sorry that you end up single parenting so much and DD struggles so much with sleep! DS sounds like a doll! I really hope that you can find something/someone to help you, its a whole lot to cope with. I love reading about food stuffs, you are amazing at cooking and baking, my mouth has been watering! You are doing amazing with the mortgage, paying off the full 10% is one massive achievement!

QueenJess

End of the weekend and I'm knackered already!  Made a frankly outrageous amount of food over the last 3 days and still need to pop out to buy some extra fruit/veg as we won't be able to last until the veg box on Thursday. 

Historically when DH did the cooking and shopping (when I was pregnant and until recently as it felt impossible with DD) he always considers meat to be the main thing of the meal and the veg is a little bit on the side (I consider it the other way around).  He also doesn't really do lunches so any fruit there is minimal and I have just discovered that when he feeds DS breakfast in the morning, he doesn't give him any fruit/veg.  So basically if I leave things to him, DS won't have any fruit/veg until the evening meal since DH will feed him toast/cereal etc for snacks.  Obviously things are different since I've taken over and I've talked to DS this weekend about the importance of fruit/veg everyday, how it is really tasty and how much I love it and how it keeps you all healthy etc.  He seems quite excited to keep trying different things (I really noticed the change since I took over as I make different things all the time) and has stepped up his intake and even made himself a little chart to tick off everyday!  Anyway, the result of all this is that I don't have enough fruit left and no more carrots, so need to pop out tomorrow for some bits.  However, I don't want to discourage him!  Really hoping he'll like hummus as it always feels pointless when it is only me eating it as I can't eat enough of it to make it worthwhile.  Anyway, looks like he had 8 portions today!  That's my kind of day

As it's my birthday on Tuesday and basically nothing is actually happening for it, I tried to do a few things for myself for a change.  It did add a lot to the cooking/baking requirements though and not sure if it was worth it, although I will probably appreciate it next week.  So I made:

• Candied orange peel dipped in dark chocolate (I tested a bit and it is lovely!)
  
•  A chocolate cheesecake (only ever made one cheesecake years ago, so hoping this one is nice too).  We are all sick of birthday cake by the time it gets to my birthday, so I thought this would be different enough
• Melted chocolate shapes (mix of white chocolate and dark chocolate)

However, in my effort to not waste any food, I ended up making a whole bunch of other things too:

• 24 orange and choc chip muffins (in the freezer) to use up the syrup from the candied peel
• 24 banana and choc chip muffins (in the freezer) to use up a very dodgy banana and the rest of the chopped up  bananas with freezer burn
• A batch of garlic flatbreads to use up an out of date yogurt that was a bit tangy

I was also trying not to shop, so I made a soda bread with sunflower seeds, but then I realised after that I would need to go out for fruit/veg anyway.

On top of all that, I have been cooking all the lunches and dinners.  Definitely going to have lots of lazy cooking days next week!  Today we had leek, pea and curly kale orzotto for lunch and dinner was chicken thigh casserole with kale stems, cauliflower stalks (some frozen veg for DS), veggie suet dumplings and some more of the big batch of roasted veg I made on Friday (beetroot, carrot and parsnip).  We had some friends round earlier as DS and their DC are friends and so we had the last of DS's birthday cake for afternoon tea.  I might treat myself to some vegan chocolate brownie ice cream for pudding later which I've been saving..

Next week is going to be a complete nightmare.  DH is going into the nightmare time at work and is talking about coming back every night after midnight .  I am definitely a single parent next week.  I twinged my back earlier (think I picked up DD and twisted or something) and my toe continues to throb, so fun it will not be.. Survival will be the name of the game I think.

Anyway, better actually do something useful this evening and get DD's birthday present ordered, sort out her nursery forms and try to think about what to do with nappies for nursery... if they will use hers I think we may need more plus a wet bag etc and I want to get those ordered soon.  Also need to think about shoes for her, although might leave that one until next weekend.  Still need to cancel this after school club for 4 days.  Better reinstate my list and start working through it I guess!  I did start washing the next size up of clothes for DD though and putting the old ones in charity bags ready to take.  I also changed some of DS's things for the next size up in his drawers.  Will start adding to the to do list again next week as my brain is rebelling so it's obviously had enough for today!

QueenJess

Aimingforthegoodlife said:

Hi QueenJess, have spent some time reading through, my goodness you have had such a time! I am sorry that you end up single parenting so much and DD struggles so much with sleep! DS sounds like a doll! I really hope that you can find something/someone to help you, its a whole lot to cope with. I love reading about food stuffs, you are amazing at cooking and baking, my mouth has been watering! You are doing amazing with the mortgage, paying off the full 10% is one massive achievement!

Thanks   I do spend a stupid amount of time thinking about food I think it's the one thing I can actually control, so it makes me feel better.  Plus I'm the cook in the house and if I leave it to DH we don't eat the way I want to and we have the same 5 things rotated all the time!

DD is currently going through a bit of a better phase.  She still wakes about 4x a night for food, but it is regular and I can cope with that.  I think she's also (fingers crossed) going back to some regular naps, so I get an hour x2 each day to get things done.  In-between she generally wants 100% attention, so that's quite draining.  I am hoping nursery will go well and I can have March to myself a bit before I drag myself back to work in April..  That's sort of keeping me going at the moment, although obviously a double edged sword as it is horrible to hand your child over and she's got a bit clingy again so will be really hard.

QueenJess

Well I am another year old as of yesterday, but it was mostly a horrible day.  DH was working (at home) and DD started the day off by waking up and crying every 50 mins from about 1am, so little to no sleep for me.  I then thought that although DH was working, he would at least do a few little things like hang out washing or whatever, but no.  He put the nappies in the washing machine but never put them on, so was up to me to sort out then hang to dry after along with another couple of loads of washing.  Also did the usual tidying, but left to get DS a whole hour earlier than usual as DD was refusing to nap all day and was driving me mad.

DH did cook dinner yesterday, but needed help as he didn't know how to make mashed potato (yes.. I know..) and didn't know where anything was.  On the plus side I did get flowers and presents from the list I gave out ages ago - so now I have nice shampoo bars and new ethical trainers (mine fell apart).  I also have money to spend on second hand books, so will have a nice time choosing those.  The chocolate cheesecake I made was so nice that I don't think it will last long!

So back to the usual survival mode today.   DH will probably be back after I'm in bed today and tomorrow.  Trying to make any progress with anything really today!  I would love to clear down DD's room a bit more as I still have her clothes to sort out from the larger sizes and smaller ones to pack up for charity.  I need to revisit the list of things to do as I keep forgetting what needs to be done!

Yesterday I was reflecting on my continuous ethical/environmental journey and considering how far I've come.  Tiny steps are definitely the way forward as otherwise it becomes overwhelming, even if I get frustrated with progress at times.  After taking over cooking/baking, I've cut our weekly compost from 3 to 2 small bags (still not sure what is taking them up and need to look through that and maybe one day reinstate my home compost heap..) and our rubbish bag is down from 1/2 a big bag to 1/4-1/3 of a bag.  However, our recycling has definitely gone up and so I have given myself two new things to do to try and cut that down a bit.  The first is trying oat milk in a glass bottle delivery from the milkman (already done this morning and it's fine for baking and porridge although I prefer the pea for cereals - not tried it in hot drinks yet).  The second is making my own chips for the freezer.  I've read up on how to do it and I used to just cut up potatoes as part of the meal prep each time, but I simply don't have the time with two kids.  If I can make this work then it'll cut out a couple of bags a month (yes, not much, but baby steps...).

Anyway, so my favourite subject of food... today will be a very easy day as I am on my own.  Lunch is pitta bread, cucumber, kale, carrot and hummus with pudding of frozen fruit and yogurt.  Dinner is fish fingers (the fish-less ones for me as although I'm not that keen on them, they do need to be used up), beans and chips.  Pudding is chocolate cheesecake of course!  Must plan some meals for the rest of the week at some point as I've only got up to the end of Thursday .

Oh and seeing as my toilet roll/kitchen roll bulk order is due soon (delayed from Jan), I thought I'd update on kitchen roll watch .  We were on the last roll of kitchen roll a month ago and it still isn't used up.  This is partly due to me doing all the cooking/baking as I only use it to grease something as I've not found an alternative yet (which I don't do often anyway), but DH has definitely been using significantly less.  Perhaps he listens sometimes as I moaned about the usage of it in Jan... It did amuse me that at the weekend when DS's friend was round and she needed something to wipe her hands, he ran to the drawer and got out the reusable cloth ones for her without any prompting!  Now I've said it, maybe I could use my silicone brush to grease tins with... will give that a go next time!

themadvix

Belated Happy Birthday Jess! I'm sorry to hear it wasn't all it was cracked up to be though. It sounds like you had nice presents - can I be nosy and ask which trainers you got? The chocolate cheesecake sounds lush! 😋

I have the oat milk from the milkman (had a 'newsletter' today and have seen that they now stock Rerooted milk too - like R'ford, which I thought was interested). I find the oat milk is fine in porridge, as you say, but a bit mouth-drying in tea. Works well for custard though, although it's a bit of a funny colour! DH finds it quite sweet if I have to use it in his hot chocolate (the only hot drink he will drink - but not regularly).

I used to make chips, but never found that they were great - let me know if you discover the secret! We just buy them occasionally now - either I'll make some with whatever potatoes we've got in or we'll have potatoes another way, but mainly we're rice and pasta eaters. I appreciate that this possibly isn't so easy with two small people though. And remember to be kind to yourself - you are looking after two small people (one of whom is very demanding by the sound of it!) - at least the chip bags can be recycled fairly easily now. Although I appreciate that recycling isn't the answer, you're still waaaay ahead of so many people - remember zero waste is about everyone doing it imperfectly, rather than a few who are perfect!

Silicone brush would certainly work with oil - and I'm sure I only use butter because that's what my Nan would have taught me! So that seems sensible! What do you do to mop up oil from roast potatoes or other greasy pans?

QueenJess

themadvix said:

Belated Happy Birthday Jess! I'm sorry to hear it wasn't all it was cracked up to be though. It sounds like you had nice presents - can I be nosy and ask which trainers you got? The chocolate cheesecake sounds lush! 😋

I have the oat milk from the milkman (had a 'newsletter' today and have seen that they now stock Rerooted milk too - like R'ford, which I thought was interested). I find the oat milk is fine in porridge, as you say, but a bit mouth-drying in tea. Works well for custard though, although it's a bit of a funny colour! DH finds it quite sweet if I have to use it in his hot chocolate (the only hot drink he will drink - but not regularly).

I used to make chips, but never found that they were great - let me know if you discover the secret! We just buy them occasionally now - either I'll make some with whatever potatoes we've got in or we'll have potatoes another way, but mainly we're rice and pasta eaters. I appreciate that this possibly isn't so easy with two small people though. And remember to be kind to yourself - you are looking after two small people (one of whom is very demanding by the sound of it!) - at least the chip bags can be recycled fairly easily now. Although I appreciate that recycling isn't the answer, you're still waaaay ahead of so many people - remember zero waste is about everyone doing it imperfectly, rather than a few who are perfect!

Silicone brush would certainly work with oil - and I'm sure I only use butter because that's what my Nan would have taught me! So that seems sensible! What do you do to mop up oil from roast potatoes or other greasy pans?

I got some Veja vegan trainers. DH liked them so much that he’s thinking of getting some for himself! I would have gone for second hand, but I didn’t know if they would fit and so needed an option to return them!

I saw that at the milkman too, but rerooted are very expensive and they are organic and so can’t add in calcium and vitamins. Without that I’m not convinced I would have enough in my diet. I don’t drink tea or coffee and just have the odd hot chocolate so will give it a go. I have porridge every morning (even in the height of summer) and just have cereal for a snack, so should work for most of my needs. I’m too lazy to make my own custard though!

We definitely need chips here - DS’s favourite meal is fish and chips and if I didn’t serve it anymore there would be a mutiny! However, most the time I use sweet potato chips and those should work well I think. Will let you know how it works out whenever I get round to it! It’s at least worth a try!

uh - generally I don’t think I use much oil and if we have a roast I make DH clear up so I don’t know 😂. If it was me I’d find a container to pour the oil in as we can recycle it in our compost bin pick up.

themadvix

Interesting about the trainers - I'm always cautious of vegan (pleather-type) ones in case they make my feet sweat (and smell!). Will have a look at those (although I'm going to try to keep my Allbirds going until we go to SF in May and then I may buy some new ones - they are very comfy, although not vegan as I have the wool ones).

I have porridge every morning too, even in the height of summer! 😂 It's just so comforting! Rerooted is very expensive, I wasn't suggesting you should get it - I was just quite amused/surprised to see it in the newsletter - M&M are definitely trying to compete with R'ford et al. I wouldn't have thought you'd have any issues with calcium and vitamins though (especially once you've stopped feeding DD) - you eat a very varied and healthy diet and as all the vegans love to tell us, there's loads of calcium in oats, green leafy veg etc. etc.!

Sweet potatoes would probably work well - they're not for me though!

MagicCat

Happy belated birthday QueenJess! I don't get time to comment much, but I love reading your diary, you are a real inspiration for cooking and baking and also your small steps to greener choices. Hope your DH's work quietens down soon and you get some belated time to relax.

QueenJess

MagicCat said:

Happy belated birthday QueenJess! I don't get time to comment much, but I love reading your diary, you are a real inspiration for cooking and baking and also your small steps to greener choices. Hope your DH's work quietens down soon and you get some belated time to relax.

Thanks. It’s great to hear from you, I miss your diary.

QueenJess

Taking a bit of a break at the moment.  Hopefully back soon, just really struggling with a few things and need some time.