The Kiwi Mental Kitchen

What a roller coaster life has been over the last few months. My health got progressively worse for a while then and my household went into coping mode. Dinners became simple and sometimes even straight from a "gasp" packet but we did what was needed to get through the day to day. It has been nearly a month since they finally got my medications right again and I'm still working my way though destressing from it all. As such, I still have limited amounts of energy for cooking but I am starting to make the basic things more interesting again. In some ways, I'm turning into my mother when it comes to cooking. I now understand why she served us mixed frozen vegetables so often growing up. They are quick, easy and rather cheap, though I must admit they are nicer boiled than microwaved. Much cheaper than buying fresh veg and not getting around to cooking it, which was a common occurrence in the coping mode we have been in. I never really liked them growing up and to be h...

Tonight was a dinner that had to be able to be reheated and still taste good because hubby had a long day at work. I was impressed with how well it came out. I always trim my chops before I cook them, just makes them less greasy all up. My meds are still making me sleepy at the moment so dishes I can put on and leave alone while they cook is really good for me at the moment. Savoury Mutton Chops Serves 3-4 6 mutton chops 1 onion 2 Tbsp each, brown sugar, flour, tomato sauce, vinegar 1/2 tsp each, curry powder, ginger powder and mustard powder 1 1/2 cup of water (or enough to cover the chops) Preheat oven to 150 deg. C Place the mutton chops in a casserole dish Chop the onion and add to the dish Mix all other ingredients into the first 1/2 cup of water and pour over chops Top up the water to just cover the chops Bake with the lid on for at least 1 1/5 hours I served mine with mashed kumara and steamed carrots.

Sorry, there's been so little content from me lately my mental health hasn't been the best so there have been some med. changes and with med. changes come side effects. This has meant I haven't been spending quite enough time in the kitchen and that for the last we while I've slipped back into old habits but today I'm doing a bit better so today we are eating a bit better! My husband has been a great support through this time but he works 12-14 hour days with a one hour commute each way so he's definitely not up to cooking if I'm struggling. Also as a warning the total cook time on this pie is over 4 hours so make sure to start your prep early enough. Chicken and Pumpkin Pie Serves 3-4 500g pumpkin, peeled and cut into 1cm chunks 1 apple, peeled and sliced oil for frying 1kg boneless pork shoulder 50g butter (or ¼ cup oil) 1 large onion, chopped 6 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped or 6tsp of the precrushed 1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme le...

So it's been a little bit over a month now, and I think it is time to give you a little update of how I have been finding and what difference I have found. Though I will state that I feel it is very early in the game. I start off with a rip and a roar and was really loving the cooking and the newness of it all and in some ways, this hasn't really worn off. In saying that though It has been a really rough couple of weeks. Not too long before all this started I went through a medication change and initially it looked like this were really good and that it was better than previous mixes but I crashed down into a fairly major depressive episode. This really affected my motivation and ability to cope which in turn affected my ability to go the gym and cook well. I muddled through and have been cooking as best I can but I'm back to see my doctor on Thursday to discuss meds. I'm now seeing just how much of a struggle implementing something like this while depressed can be ...