Wrapping Up 2021

I don't know what it was about this year, but I had a terrible time remembering the year itself.  Weird, I know, but there were multiple times where I would have to take a second to remember if we were in 2020, 2021, or 2022.  Or looking at a date and seeing 2021, taking a moment to realize it's the year we were in.

I am a goal setter.  One goal was to make 2021 the year of the nut.  As long as I can remember, I have never had a taste for nuts.  I don't like them plain, salted, roasted, and get annoyed upset when food that is already quite good is tainted with nuts, like brownies.  I decided I was going to embark on a nutty adventure this year and really give nuts a try.  I learned I don't like peanuts (but love peanut butter and always have), pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts, or brazil nuts.  I like pistachios but don't like shelling them and I like macadamias but goodness, they are expensive!  My favorite is the cashew.  Those are delicious!  In a sad twist of fate, I also learned this year that my body has an intolerance to cashews... go figure!

Another 2021 goal was a bit more involved.  I could happily eat the same thing for dinner every night.  My dear husband likes a bit more variety and after the umpteenth serving of my favorite pasta salad, he kindly suggested I not make it again for a while.  I decided it was time to add some new dishes to my recipe book, tackle some I'd had for years but never made, and purge ones with hard to find ingredients or that honestly weren't that good.  Up for a challenge, I set a goal to not make the same meal for dinner twice this year.  (Gil making dinner and warming up left overs didn't count.)

I made a spreadsheet to track what we had for dinner and to make sure I didn't duplicate.  I also stuck to my habit of not using my oven during the summer months, which will be even more important now that we're in Arizona.  In a few days, I will finish the year without having made the same thing twice.  It has been fun and challenging and we've eaten some good food and some not so good food.  There are quite a few meals that were so good that January seemed a long way away (when I could make them again).  Below is a screen shot of my spreadsheet.

Goals for 2022?  At the moment, only one.  Get through my third trimester, have a safe delivery and a healthy baby.