Dinner demands….

I married a chef. A great chef. He spends most of his time in a kitchen, so I am the one who cooks for the family.

I enjoy cooking but I want it to be easy!! I’m a massive fan of one pot meals or slow cooker dishes. I don’t want to spend my whole evening cooking a meal once the kids have gone to sleep. I have a few recipes that I will always go to if I’m short for time or can’t think of anything to cook.

We are a family of four and we all have different dietary requirements.

Frankie has an allergy to dairy, egg and all nuts (plus I limit his intake of soya as he’s just grown out of that allergy). He is also a fussy toddler.

Vinnie is allergic to dairy and egg but wants to eat EVERYTHING! He’s a very good eater and enjoys his food!!

I want to lose weight and Mike wants his own thing as well. Trying to cook meals that please all four of us is tricky.

I also over panic about what should be in our diets. Finding a balance isn’t always that easy!!! Especially when I have to think about allergies. I worry about so many other aspects too! Too much salt?! Too much sugar?! Too many carbs?! Not enough protein?! Not enough veg?! Not enough variation?! Not enough calcium?! Not enough iron?! Not cooked from scratch. To beige?! Too big?! Too small?! It goes on and on! Sometimes I do have to tell myself. They are happy and healthy and have a full belly and that is most important!

I choose to not eat with the children. I want to put them to bed, sit down and enjoy my meal. Plus if I eat when they do I know I will pick through the evening. I also feed them their dinner relatively early and then let them have a small snack before bed. If I let them fill up with snacks late afternoon, they won’t eat their dinner. Unfortunately another thing is that I need to be out of my kitchen. It is the walkthrough for the staff in the restaurant. They do not need children at meal time whilst carrying stock.

To lose my baby weight, I followed Slimming World (as well as exercising). I know there are a few people that will disagree with SW and it’s principles, but for me it works. I lost 2 1/2 stone in 9 months!! A year later I have more or less kept it off!As soon as I reached my target weight I started to introduce some of the things I felt my diet was missing. Essentially the ‘good fats’.

Most of the time I try to cook dinners for Mike and myself that I could potentially give to the boys. Even though I know that Frankie would be reluctant to try anything, Vinnie would!

I have had quite a few people ask me what I can cook that is allergy friendly. What do I use instead of egg, for example. The recipes I will add to this blog, (my instagram page and my Facebook page) will often come from varying sources but may be adapted slightly to suit our dietary needs.

I want this part of my blog to be a resource. For the stressful days, for the tired days, for the try something new days. It will be a work in progress and I will add and amend as I go along.

I will of course give credit to where I got my original inspiration from so you can follow it directly and make up your own mind.

I hope you find this tool useful!