Batch Cooking For Brain Surgery

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This post has been scheduled because right now I should be recovering from neurosurgery. Back in February I went for an eye test; no reason to need one, I just realised I hadn’t been for ages. So long story short, turns out I had a benign tumour in front of my brain; something called a meningioma. It was the last thing I was expecting but they’ve acted to get it out and so I have to be thankful it has been caught.

As soon as I knew I’d be going in to hospital, I started planning to fill the freezer. Not only am I going to be in hospital several days, but I don’t want Andrew worrying about what to cook when I’m recovering. I’ve been advised that I’ll be tired for quite a few weeks, so I wanted to make sure that there’s easy and nutritious food that either Andrew or I can cook easily and just add veggies and carbs to make a meal.

What’s in the freezer?

I’ve made several batches of everything so we can mix and match.

Turmeric chicken. From Rick Stein’s Far Eastern Odessey. I add a couple of lemongrass Spice Drops to the recipe as I think it goes perfectly with turmeric. The raw, marinated chicken thigh meat is cut small so will cook in the time it takes to cook some rice and steam some greens. Turmeric is well known for its anti inflammatory properties so it can’t do any harm in the current circumstances!

Satay chicken. Another Rick Stein recipe (the most used book in our kitchen), I’ve bundled portions of marinated chicken and satay sauce so they’re easy to find.

Chachouka. Getting some veggie meals lined up is important. I’ve added chickpeas to this pepper stew and we’ll have with poached eggs or maybe chorizo.

Cambodian marinated steak. Going in raw, slices of steak will need a quick fry and can be served with noodles or rice. Another delicious Rick Stein recipe.

Slow cooker tagine. This lamb mince dish bubbled away for 9 hours in the Crockpot. It will be perfect with cous cous.

Spiced shepherds pie. I’ve two of my favourite shepherds pies; a Nigella recipe.

Bolagnaise. You can’t go wrong with a good spag bol or lasagne so these are all easy now the bolagnaise is made.

Gingered beef stew. Yum!

Coq au Riesling. Another Nigella recipe which we both love. It’s got loads of sauce so I reckon some crunchy bread to mop it all up!

Fried potato curry. To spring my taste buds back to life!

Shredded ox cheek. It was 98p so I slow cooked in red wine and star anise. I froze in the winey gravy so it’s all still there to enjoy with roast carrots.

I wanted to freeze so much more (sweet treats and soup mainly!), but I ran out of freezer space. So I will make sure there there are tins of beans and some cupboard friendly treats in the house as well.

I find it hard relinquishing cooking duties; it’s the one thing I really enjoy doing. And at the same time I know that Andrew will want to be looking after me, not trying to think what to make for tea. He asked me to show him some simple salads before I went in, and I’ll have given him a list of ideas and a checklist of what’s in the freezer and cupboards. Yes it looks like I’m being a control freak but in reality I just want to make life easy for us both for a month. I may be quiet on social media for a couple of weeks (I’ve no idea how I’ll be feeling post op) but at least I know we will be eating good food and not resorting to takeaways while I am out of the kitchen.

I’ll be back, and in the mean time I’ve some guest posts lined up and a few from me scheduled too. So don’t go away!

Oh, and if you’ve not had your eyes tested for a while, maybe make an appointment this week. For me. You never know, it may just save your life 😉


Posted by Claire

She eats. She drinks. She cooks. She travels. She learns. She tastes. She bakes. A foodie with exceptional taste! Always looking for the best food and drink producers from far and wide. Chocolate brownie queen. Judge: International Cheese Awards. Cheese fiend! Travel lover. What better way to discover new food, than to travel to it. Massive fan of The Archers. Crazy cat lady and proud. NW England / Manchester / UK Twitter & Insta: She_Eats_Blog Facebook: SheEatsBlog

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