An unsuccessful AF experiment, and changing tastes

 Well, I didn't get started on the upstairs sort out yesterday.  Husband needs some new trousers, he's put on weight and says most of his jeans/cargo pants are now too tight on the waist.  I had noticed he's been wearing only tracksuit bottoms lately, even when we go out somewhere, which is not something I'm a big fan of as it looks like he makes no effort with what he wears.  Which is pretty much accurate actually, as he has no interest in clothes.  So we went to the big outlet village in Street (which, confusingly, is the name of the town!) - Clarks Village, the name of the outlet.  He got 2 pairs of cargo trousers there, with part elasticated waists - I made him try them on to make sure they fit, he hates trying anything on but it's too far away (a 45 min drive) to take them back easily if they didn't fit.  Luckily, they did.  Hopefully, as the weather gets warmer (although it's forecast to be colder for the next week or so), we will both feel like going for walks again - I'm definitely a fair weather walker, I hate walking in the rain or windy or very cold weather.  Husband will only go out for walks if I suggest it, other than dog walking locally.  Betty's also put on a couple of kilos, due to only having short walks, so she's also in need of more exercise.

Today I'm making the big pot of mince, using the multichef.  I got the 2 packs (500g each) of turkey mince out of the freezer, I'll cook it up with onions, tinned tomatoes, mushrooms, pearl barley, herbs and spices and stock, then portion it up and freeze when cool.  I can add kidney beans and chilli powder, or top a portion with mashed potato or serve with spaghetti or rice, or make into a lasagne.  It's very useful to have several pots of base mince cooked and ready to use for whatever in the freezer.

Yesterday afternoon I tried cooking a banana and walnut cake in the AF - a full size one, rather than splitting the mixture into 2 smaller tins like I did last week.  Well, it wasn't a success - after the specified time on the cake programme, the cake was cooked on the top but nowhere near done underneath, I had to take the tin out and wrap it around the top and sides with foil and bake it for the same length of time again, but even then it wasn't totally cooked in the middle.  So will stick to smaller cakes in future, and even they need another 5 or 10 mins longer than the pre-set cake programme.  Actually, with husband's expanding waistline it'd be better if I didn't make cakes at all!  😂  It's all a learning curve, but overall I am really pleased with the AF.  And I'm definitely going to get a smaller one for the caravan.

We had the remaining chicken pieces left from Sunday yesterday (the AF cooks chicken pieces really well) with a packet of savoury rice done in the microwave, into which I added some frozen chopped mixed veg, and stirred through grated cheese when it was cooked, so that the cheese melted into the rice and veg.  The rice was delicious, I'd happily eat a bowlful of that cheesy veggie rice by itself, and probably will in future, leaving the chicken for husband.  I'm rapidly going off chicken as well, although I will still eat chicken or turkey mince, for the time being anyway.  I'm fairly sure that very soon I will only eat fish, no meat at all.  I'm just going with how my body feels and being aware of how my tastes are changing, I'm really not liking the texture of meat anymore.  We'll have a portion of the turkey mince with a jacket potato and some green veg today, and that may well be the last time I eat meat.