Day three - Tuesday 3rd Feb

A much better start to today. Porridge was back on the menu for all members of the household, two with jam and one with what started as Nutella but which ended up as well, take a look for yourselves.

I would like to think that it isn't just The Child who takes such macabre delight in making her food look like poo, but I suspect that we may be in a worrying minority. Still, so long as it doesn't escalate past the porridge bowl then we'll just pretend it's all normal. It is normal, right?

Lunch was a couple of cheese sandwiches with salad, crisps and and apple/banana that was so well received by Mrs P that I had to remind myself that it was just a reflection of the lack of salad rather than my mad cheese sandwich making skills, ayyy! Still, I'm not complaining because as a wise man once told me: 'Happy wife, happy life.'

I feel like I've started to get a bit more into my stride with dinner tonight, we swapped up the chicken and pasta from tomorrow for tonight, then roasted all six chicken thighs. I also cooked all the pasta because then we have a double round tomorrow for lunch. 

So, here is Robs recipe for Pomodoro pasta with roasted chicken thighs guaranteed to satisfy your tummy, mind and soul:

Stick your chicken thighs in a tray skin side up and rub with a bit of oil, season with a good pinch of salt and a crack of pepper if you've got it (I didn't but I damn well will next time). Into the oven it goes on 180ish until the skin is nice and crispy.

Then chop up the holy trinity of onions, celery and carrot - this combination is the basis of any tomato sauce I ever cook, you can add anything from here but this combo will never see you wrong - and sweat them down on a medium heat. For two and a half of us over two meals, I used one medium onion, two sticks of celery and a large carrot.

Get your pasta water on the boil and when it's bubbling away like a shisha pipe (kids ask your mum and dad) add salt to the water. Some people believe there is a debate as to whether you should add salt to pasta water, not in this house.

Chop up a clove of garlic and a couple of fresh tomatoes, ideally ripe plum ones however in my case it was hard salad tomatoes but beggars can't be choosers and it'll still taste good. Stick them in the pot along with the veg for a minute or two before you add a tin of chopped tomatoes. Half fill the empty tin with cold water, give it a swish around to collect all the tomato juice and add that as well.

Crumble in a stock cube and add a pinch of salt to taste, chop and add some fresh basil then leave it with the lid off to bubble and reduce a bit. Add the pasta 10 mins before you want to eat and away you go.

 Adult portion

For The Child (it's a smaller plate, I promise - next time I'll add something for perspective!)

I've never really taken pictures mid-cook, is it something that adds to the experience of a blog like this? I'm not sure.

Six chicken thighs I hear you cry? I see only three and surely some fiery pants. Let me reassure you all, three were served up tonight, one more was put aside for lunches tomorrow and the last two were shredded for the chicken soup due at the end of the week. The bones were also kept to make the stock for the aforementioned soup. Yes, three meals people, three! I also managed to persuade The Child that she should have a banana for pudding again tonight although I fear she is getting suspicious, I may be on borrowed time with that one... Also, Mrs P wanted me to report that it's all well and good having a bar of chocolate, but a ration of three squares per day is not going to help my cause in the long run.

One last thing before I go; a quick note on pasta. At first I was going to buy the cheap, £0.20p Supermarket own brand pasta. But then I got into a discussion with a couple Italian colleagues of mine who implored me not to - it is such an integral part of a meal that to go cheap is to cut your nose off to spite your face, besides just how much cheaper do you want it? My top brand spaghetti cost £1 for 500g, seriously, for an extra £0.80p you get, in my opinion, a infinitely superior product.

P.S. you can now also follow this experiment with MKNews, they've asked me to keep them informed of all the groundbreaking, blow by blow, dirty details of me... cooking. People tell me that they've also put me out on Twitter but as I have enough difficulty keeping track of my life in the real world, I've thankfully never fallen into that particular digital elephant trap. Anyway, if it's your thing give it a go.