Cooking with love

I don't want to risk overstepping blog territories (see The cat that got the cream), but food has definitely been an important factor lately and I have a feeling being pregnant is doing it.

My friend told me when she was pregnant how she loved cooking good meals for her hubby and now I'm doing the same. That feeling of wanting the nurture and care for your loved ones.
The evening meal is especially a big focus, as well as getting some decent breakfasts and lunches sorted for me and my toddler girl. I'm also getting quite a lot of satisfaction out of the perpetual challenge of feeding my family with good food, within budget (less wherever possible). Nutritious, delicious and economical is they way forward. It is isn't that I didn't enjoy it before, I'm just getting even more satisfaction out of cooking for my family than ever at the moment.

Preparation
Planning meals for the week definitely works. Looking at what needs using up in the fridge, what recipes will do it and what needs to be bought at the shops. I always use a shopping list and it keeps my weekly shop to about £35 for the family. It also was a life-saver last week when I accidentally got charged £60 for a cucumber, making my bill £93! Because I'd roughly added up the expected cost of the shopping, I knew to challenge the total. I do look out for freezeable meat/fish bargains to use the following week and reduced fruit and vegetables that can be adapted to the recipes too. I stick to the fresh veg and meat aisles, staying away from the jarred and packet foods which can work out more costly, and nutritionally limited compared to doing it from scratch (just looking at the salt is enough of a give away; see also an old blog on the children's food market, which I don't really invest in either).

Cooking time
I love listening to the conversations on radio four (a time to yourself when you can really absorb it) or a favourite cd while I cook. First, preparing a nice, big lot of ingredients and gradually working through the recipe. I'm usually adding my own adjustments as I go - usually extra veg to any meat-based dishes to make them go further, and I think, taste better (good to get the veg into Abigail too). I tend to double up recipes so that I make a good batch, enough for 6 or 8 meals at a time, plus some Abbie-sized portions set aside for freezing. A few hours cooking these gives me at least a few nights off afterwards too, without the absence of good home-cooked food.

• Last night I cooked roast gammon, coated in ground cloves, redcurrant jelly (no marmalade so I traded), mustard and honey, with roast potatoes, swede and carrot mash, brocolli and parsley sauce (with some roast juices poured in). We'll have the same tonight. Reminds me of my Grandma.

• Tomorrow, I'm cooking a River Cottage Every Day recipe, Lamb and Butternut Squah Curry. I'm going to add a pepper and some chickpeas to it too. It's delicious and quite light, healthy-tasting, not like a takeaway curry. I can't find the online receipe, but this baked chicken curry's great too. I got a cauliflower reduced at Morrison's today too, so hoping to make some kind of side dish to go with it.

• Probably about Thursday, I'll make a big slab of lasagne, with minced beef and added chopped celery, carrots, onions etc and a nice grate of nutmeg on the bechamel topping.

With these meals, we'll be sorted for a long while (already got a spare Shepherd's pie and Chilli portions in the freezer and about 5 meals for Abbie from various previous cooks).

The midwife said my iron levels were good when I saw her last week too... everyone wins!

More meals:
Breakfast: With the cold mornings creeping in it has got to be porridge, made from porridge oats and milk (none of that pre-packaged weird stuff that costs 10 times as much). Abbie takes hers plain, I add golden syrup.

Lunch: I'm cooking, well preparing, alot of simple lunches - bagels and cream cheese or houmous with tomatoes, cucumber, celery, carrot sticks. That kind of thing. Will hopefully move to soup soon. Abbie's really enjoying standing on a chair and watching me cook, so think we'll enjoy trying something new this Autumn.

I don't expect the cooking will change much as my family grows, I expect the love will just grow too (no comments about the waistline!).