Reflecting on recipes followed and food eaten

This is the seventh year in a row I've used an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of meals cooked and eaten at home. It's pretty easy. I keep a weekly menu to save time, prevent waste and maintain variety and just transfer my hand-written scribbles into the spreadsheet every few weeks. It's a useful exercise as not only does it provide an interesting glimpse into our evolving lives and diets, the spreadsheet itself reminds me of dishes I'd forgotten and should rediscover!

Andrew's talented sister Fiona made a series

of t-shirts featuring their Dad's aphorisms.

Once in a while I DO try a new recipe that's

just too awful to record. Not very often though ...

So, what have we eaten this year? I traipse off to an office four days per week so week night food tends to be either quick and easy to make, or defrosted from a previous weekend's cooking spree. The dishes we ate most often between April 2015 and April 2016 were (drum roll please):

Potato, leek, bacon and bean soup
Hearty vegetable and barley soup
Pasta with sauce
BLTs (sandwiches or wraps)
Chinese dumplings
Spanish omelette
Potato salad
Nachos
Dal makhani
Pumpkin and pomegranate stew
Rocket, pear, pecan and blue cheese salad
Teriyaki tofu
Shakshuka

Well, I certainly manage to cover a range of cuisines. My goal for the coming year? Cook yet more spicy delights! Cheers.