Food thief

 Husband has got a big appetite, even though he's getting older his appetite doesn't seem to be waning, whereas mine definitely is.  He wants 3 meals a day, plus snacks if possible - he's always snacking on bananas or apples, cake or biscuits, handful of peanuts or piece of cheese in between meals.  It's not as if I'm starving him - he has large portions on his plate.  If I cook something like a cottage pie, bolognaise or fish pie, I generally make double portions so that half can be frozen for another meal for us both.  However, if I ask husband to dish up the meal (if I'm busy doing something else, e.g.) he will almost always serve up at least 2/3 of the dish, despite me asking him to leave half.  Twice in the past week he's snaffled some of the food I've deliberately left in the kitchen to go cold before freezing it - a couple of tablespoonfuls of mashed potato left over from the fish pie I made yesterday, some southern fried chicken strips the other day.  The leftover mash I was planning on using with tinned tuna to make fishcakes for me, the chicken strips he's now left himself only a tiny portion of for another meal (it's only him who eats them).  Honestly, he's like a child stealing food from behind his mother's back in the kitchen 😒 (he does own up to it when I confront him).  I've had words with him and asked him to stop doing it - if I leave food in the kitchen to cool off, there's a reason for that....i.e. I want to use it for something else or freeze it for another meal.  

I think it comes from him being from a big family - he's one of 10 children, his parents weren't well off so, although they weren't starved by any means, they sometimes had to have small portions.  He used to say that none of them would ever dare to leave the table (to go to the loo, e.g.) during a meal, else it was likely one or more of their siblings would nick something off their plate whilst they were gone!

I've told him if he's still hungry (although I'm quite sure it's not hunger, more opportunistic temptation) then he's to have a piece of fruit or cake or a biscuit.  I kid you not, it's like living with a naughty, forgetful, sneaky, careless child at times, and I feel not like his wife or carer, but his mother!!  And a very long-suffering one at that 😂😖

The fish pie done in the AF yesterday was lovely, beautifully cooked fish and yummy crispy browned potato top.  I did some tenderstem broccoli in the 2nd basket - no info in the (next to useless) user manual on how to do that, so I drizzled it with a tiny bit of oil and put it in a tinfoil dish, which is what I'd do if I was putting it in the oven.  The florets were crispy and caramelised - nice - but the stems weren't cooked nearly enough, so I'm guessing microwaving or steaming on the hob would be a better option.

Today I'm going to try making a lemon drizzle cake in the AF - I'll split the mixture between 2 smaller tins as I'm assuming it will cook better that way rather than in one big tin.

I'm already thinking about getting a smaller air fryer, a single basket one, for the caravan....I know a couple of our van neighbours have them.  There's a corner shelf where it can be stored when not in use.  Just 15 days to go now before we can go back there.....😁