Life Update
Apologies to all that I have been missing in action. Life has delivered yet another resounding slap round the chops.
If we've known each other for a while, you'll know that I lost my daughter to cancer on 21st December 2023. On January 29th, we lost her husband, and their traumatised 17 year old daughter, and her 2 cats, came to live with us. This involved decanting the contents of a bedroom to other places, and fetching her stuff up to ours. We're also emptying the house of anything usable to sell to help pay off the mortgage - our house is like a storage unit and I've become a Vinted expert!
On Friday 25th, Mike and I were due to meet a group of friends for lunch. It's one of the u3a groups we go to, called Historical Inns.
We take turns organising it, selecting which pub to go to, and researching the pub itself and the surrounding area for anything interesting. Between the main course and any puddings, the organiser then reads out what they've found out. It's great fun and we all love it - about 20 of us meet up each time.
That day we were meeting at The Highlands, in Uckfield. Just before we were due to go, I had to make a quick business call, and was imagining Mike pacing up and down in the sitting room as he hates being anything but super early to anything.
It was literally a couple of minutes, and when I came back in the room, he was sprawled sideways on the sofa. I thought he was taking the Mickey about how long I'd been and said 'well, that's a funny position' and he replied in a slurry voice that his leg didn't work, I could see that his mouth was drooping on one side and when I asked him to raise his arms, he could only lift one of them.
Oh my goodness! He was obviously having a stroke and I dialed 999 and the ambulance arrived after the longest 20 minutes of my life.
They whizzed us off to Eastbourne hospital where he was given the very important clot buster drugs and anything else they deemed necessary.
He's been there ever since and isn't ready to come home yet, even though he's desperate to do just that - most people are when in hospital aren't they.
It's likely he had another stroke overnight although it's not showing on the scans. His speech remains slurred and his right arm and leg are far from right, quite common from a brain that's been injured apparently. But he is making progress now and improving, even being able to walk, with a frame, up the ward, and up and down a flight of stairs. Painfully slowly, but he's able to do it. I've been so worried about him and visit every day.
My nursing daughter assures me that he will almost certainly make a full recovery as everything was so quick, but it's so difficult to believe when I see this big and strong man struggle to lift a cup of soup.
It's a flipping good job I'm a strong and resilient person - I'm not sure how much more of this I can take!
I'll put this as a post on the blog as well for those that don't get the newsletter.
I'm hoping to have a bit more time very soon, and we can get back to what we love and talk recipes. So here's some for now that I have made in previous Mays
Chocolate Muffins
Mike was ‘needing some chocolate’ one day, so I decided to make some chocolate muffins. Hadn’t made any kind of muffins for yonks. They are super easy in that it is just a bit of stirring, and not too much of that either or the cake will be tough.
A weekend baguette !
Baguette – crispy on the outside, light and fluffy on the inside, and with a lovely texture that’s chewy and delicious. What's not to like!
This recipe takes a little while, that's why I've suggested the weekend, but it's all rising and baking time, not time doing anything.
Six meals from 1 tin of Sardines!
This experiment yielded 6 portions of fishy loveliness.
- Two toasty breakfasts or lunches
- Two paste sandwiches for lunch
- Two pasta dinners
Super easy to make too!
Chicken with butternut squash and pesto tart
These chicken and roasted pumpkin tarts are quick to assemble once you have roasted the pumpkin or butternut squash. A tasty dinner with a little salad of whatever you have handy, and you can have any extra ones in your lunchbox the next day.
The chicken and pesto tarts are part of a series, starting with a poached chicken, to stretch the chicken to last a family of four all week. Twenty eight portions!
I published an ebook for meal plan 1 in August 2021 and am delighted that many people have thought it was worth getting. I repriced it again in June 2022 and it was still holding on, even in these scary times. Now we are in September and prices have shifted again and I've managed to get my head around WooCommerce so I can feature it on the blog and you can find it here.
I was busy recooking, photographing and updating the recipes for Meal Plan 2 and putting them into an ebook as well. The meal plan was first written in 2013 and still prices up, which is fabulous and that is finally complete. The book is done now too, prices seem to be stable enough to do it.
I've finally completed the e-book from the Stretch A Chicken To Last A Week series. Took me absolutely ages to finish it off!
Do come and say hello on the Fantastically Frugal Food Facebook group, or the Sensational Slimming Sustenance group. I'd love to see you. Lots of useful tips, recipes and ideas. The over 17,000 membership are brilliant, brimming with talent.
And don't forget Thrifty Lesley, where there are 800+ recipes of fantastically frugal food and many weekly meal plans. And Cheap Family Recipes where you can find all kinds of delicious things that don't cost much, with two family monthly meal plans.
I've also got a few YouTube videos up, not many yet, but I'm planning to do more. I've done a couple more, need to edit them now. So much to do, so little time!
With all best wishes, until next time
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