WHAT TO TITLE THIS POST?

Olla peeps,

So finally the elections are round the corner and one can almost touch the fear and panic in the air. Ah well if you're one of those who's been talking it's time to put your print where your vote is. 

On to food matters tee hee hee and no I haven't become a political activist overnight. . . 

I have missed my beetroot and that's through no fault of the beet itself just that I read somewhere that one should have a green smoothie everyday and I wanted to try that out and I did now that I'm out of spinach I shall do other stuff till I stock up.

I have of late tried to start off my day with a healthy breakfast and smoothies are the perfect go to for me cause you can plop everything in a blender and in a couple minutes it's ready as long as you've done your prep ahead of time.

I don't particularly like freezing food or fruits . 

I'm not of that school that says it's as fresh as it goes in when it comes out, it's never the same to me so id rather prepare from scratch or freeze in little batches. Also with our beautiful power supply freezing is not really an option now is it?

I'm working on transitioning from plastics to glass and maybe that would work out better for freezing? I'll keep you guys posted.

Today I had in my smoothie;

Greek yogurt 

About 2 slices of pineapple

Roughly 1medium sized mango

A small beetroot 

Half a medium avocado 

An inch of fresh ginger

A teaspoon of ground turmeric from Olla Natural @bodylabnatural

2 tablespoons raw honey from @bodylabnatural

2 tablespoons coconut oil from Clove limited

A couple dashes of cinnamon 

A generous pinch of dry yellow pepper

A whiz in the blender and all done. 

I'm going to include the picture of one of the green smoothies I had. All the ingredients and in the photo.

This is to the healthier you.

Write you soon

HMMMMMMMMMM

So when I'm quiet it usually means I haven't been too good with my healthy lifestyle eating habits and yes I have deviated a few times but honestly not enough to do any major damage 😃😃😃😃. 

Olla people, trust you're all fantastic and taking better care of your insides especially as well as outsides?

Didn't know how much I loved mangos until I started making smoothies yummyness and to completely make my day hubby actually had a smoothie and finished it to woo hooooooo💃💃💃💃

So that winning recipe is what I'm going to share today. 

I had a guest over that day so I made enough for 3😃

4 bananas 

4 mangoes

Juice of 2 oranges 

1" of ginger

A dash of cinnamon 

A dash of turmeric 

A dash of dry yellow pepper

Grated nutmeg

A couple tablespoons of coconut oil

A couple tablespoons of raw honey 

A whiz in the blender and voila! Yummilicious to the Nth degree. 

As a bonus I'll also share a Chocolate Peanut butter pudding I got of @incrediblesmoothies instagram page. She has some amazing smoothies. 

1 banana 

1 tablespoon homemade peanut butter

1 teaspoon Oluji raw cacao powder

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Of course I added my twist 😃😃😃

A dash of dry yellow pepper

A dash of cinnamon 

Grated nutmeg

A dash of turmeric 

Blend all ingredients until smooth and creamy 

I had posted the picture on Instagram before I tasted it, it was absolutely amazing and it's all healthy too. 

Let me know what you think 😃😃😃😃

Write you later. 

ME AND MY SMOOTHIES

Olla peeps,

Trust you've all been fantastic and living healthier. . .  Please tell me you've been trying tee hee hee.

For a lot of people once you mention healthier they are like it must be really bland and I'm like where do we get all these perceptions from really?

I have grown to love smoothies more and more because I can through the whole kitchen sink in a blender and still come out with the most amazing tasting food you can imagine!

Also it's a way to get in all those veggies or fruits you don't like to eat and you'll be wondering why you hadn't done this before!

So I have another smoothie today and I have gotten a lot of inspiration from healthy eaters on Instagram. Most of tif not all of the fruits and veggies they use we have available locally.

Today I made a MangoAvocadoBeet smoothie;

Roughly about 3 small mangoes

Half a medium sized beetroot

Quarter of an avocado

About an inch of fresh ginger 

A tablespoon of raw honey

About 2 tablespoons of coconut oil 

A dash of dry yellow pepper

A few gratings of nutmeg

A dash of cinnamon 

A huge heaping tablespoon of ground flaxseed 

About a quarter cup of Greek yogurt.

As most of the ingredients are cold or frozen I pour in the coconut oil as its blending. I got that tip of someone's Instagram page(can't remember whose now🙈) cause my coconut oil had been clumping.

Blend on high speed till all smooth and yummy.

Enjoy immediately 💃💃💃💃💃

The colours I get from smoothies is just amazing.

Blog you soon

Pa: the groundnuts were added #justbecauseican

SO WHAT EXACTLY IS THIS?

Olla peeps,

Trust you're over the valentine weekend and all its attendant brouhaha😃😃. 

It's amazing the frenzy that proceeds this "love" day. Phew! Personally it goes beyond flowers, chocolates and dinner. If you don't show love up to that point one day is not going to make a ripple in the ocean shikena!

Anywho #movingon 😃 I have done a bit in the last few weeks but haven't updated the blog so today I give you my beautiful meal of steMwd yams and a cheese omelette with an anti inflammatory ginger pineapple smoothie from preventdisease.com which I found on Pinterest posted by simple pure beauty.

I don't boil my starches in water anymore and by starches I mean potatoes sweet and Irish, yams including cocoyams and plantains. I simply was them properly and slice them almost thinly and place in a bamboo steamer over simmering water for about 15-20minutes and voila! My stach is ready and absolutely yummy. Sometimes I sprinkle with salt sometimes not.

My eggs had red ata rodo(scotch bonnet), 

onions, 

garlic, 

tomatoes, 

parsley, 

spring onions, 

cheddar cheese, 

salt and 

a bit of dry yellow pepper. 

I sautéed the onions, garlic and pepper in a combination of unsalted butter and coconut oil, added the salt and pepper after about 3minutes, stirred then poured in the whisked eggs and the cheese..

I normally stir all the ingredients in the pan once and then leave to cook. Most times I try to flip the egg over and it's not much of a pretty sight so I end up folding.

The smoothie had

2 cups Pineapple 

1 cup mango

1 piece of Ginger

1/2 a cup of celery stalk and leaves

Just under 1 cup of water 

1tsp of vanilla extract

All poured in a blender and blended till smooth.

It was truly refreshing. 

Bonus Smoothie

11/2 bananas 

Half a beetroot 

About half a mango

1/4 of an avocado

1" of ginger 

Enough freshly squeezed orange juice to blend. 

Enjoy a fruitful flourishing week. 😘😘

WHAT TO DO ABOUT BREAD!

So y'all know how I loooooooove bread abi? So I've come to the conclusion that until I can do without it I will find healthier ways to eat it when I get the cravings hence my salad sandwich😃😃😃

You also know by now that my salads consist of everything and the kitchen sink 😂😂😂.

So this is a partnership my tummy was bound to enjoy.

Pictures will do most of my writing today (albeit only 2 but hey) but let me list the ingredients😃

I bought bromate free bread from a supermarket on the island.

4 slices of pan toasted bread

Grated cheddar cheese

Lettuce

Cabbage

Tomatoes 

Dill

Parsley 

Carrots

Homemade peanut butter 

Kerrygold butter(it's from grass fed cows)

Hard boiled egg or eggs

Spring onions

Feel free to build your salad anyway you would prefer and let me know how it turns out. 

Enjoy eating healthier 😃😃😃

GREENPASTA😃😃😃

Olla peeps,

Trust y'all are fantastic. So January has gone into the history books and we all get a fresh start with February abi? Let's all make it count as life as we know it can be gone in an instant. 

Ok on to food💃💃💃💃💃. Hunger as usual propels me to cook and the quicker it's ready the faster I can eat it all up yum yum yum.

So I had spinach tagliatelle pasta and boneless chicken breast perhaps one pot cooking coming up abi? Tee hee hee.

With pasta one can't really do one pot as the pasta will definitely turn to mush. So I cut up chicken in to cubes, seasoned with turmeric, sweet basil, mint, dry yellow paper and pink Himalayan salt. I let that sit for a bit while I roughly chop up peppers(tatashe), tomatoes, onions, garlic, ginger and scotch bonnets( ata rodo) in a small food processor. 

I put on water to boil for the pasta and salt it just as it comes up to a boil, place the pasta in the boiling water for 3minutes(use a timer o no guessing here o ehen). Drain immediately and set aside.

I used a bit of coconut oil and butter( butter is good for you that's my story and I'm sticking with it!) to kind of brown the chicken cubes for about 3-5 minutes as I wanted them juicy not dry.

Took out the chicken cubes and set aside and poured my pepper mix into the butter and coconut oil mix and cooked for 15-20minutes.

Taste for readiness and then toss your pasta in the sauce for just over a minute. Turn of your burner and serve. 

I garnished with hard boiled eggs. Aside from the Very spicy peppery nature of this particular dish( I love pepper but I didn't quite mean it like that😃😃🙈) it was quite yummy. I had the left overs the following day with cheddar cheese and leeks(no photo as I didn't like how it looked warmed up, it tastes awesome sha. 😃😃😃

Write you soon😘

WHO SAYS VEGGIES ARE'NT FILLING?

Olla peeps,

Trust you and yours are fantastic and you have settled into the now all to familiar grind of the new year😃

So today dinner was inspired by the need to preserve my freshly bought produce as our power generating supply has been rather erratic these last few months.

I have always boasted of the best power supply in Lagos alas! They are now making me almost eat my words but we still have it a lot better than most and for that I am grateful.

Went shopping today and bought some lamb and boneless chicken breast and of course vegetable and bread( I know I know I still can't resist it).

Vegetables included leeks, beetroot, ginger, parsley which I have missed terribly, spinach. Hmmmm thinking if there was anything else. . . 

I already had carrots, garlic, spring onions, lemons and red onions at home . 

You can see the beginnings of a scrumptious meal abi 😃😃😃.

The lamb ended up as Palm oil stew with ground Ede that's a post for another day. On to the chicken dish. 

1 boneless chicken breast 

6 garlic cloves

Half an inch of fresh ginger

Half a red onion

Sea salt

Dry yellow pepper 

Coriander seeds

1Tbsp of coconut oil 

11/2 Tbsps of local raw honey

1 medium sized leek

A small bunch of spring onions 

8 small carrots

A small handful of parsley 

A small bunch of spinach

Half a red onion

Juice of just under half a lemon

In a small food processor I had a bit of left over chopped parsley to which I added a little water, ginger, garlic, red onions, coriander seeds, salt, pepper, honey and coconut oil and blitzed happily away.😃😃😃💃💃💃

I placed the chicken breast in a bowl and cut some slits into it so the marinade would infuse the flesh and poured the marinade over it sealed with cling film and put in the fridge. 

I prepped the vegetables by washing and slicing. This I did just as I put the chicken on to cook.

After a couple hours of marinating in the fridge, I put a frying pan on to hear with some butter( yes I love butter) and placed the chicken in the hot pan with all the marinade and covers with my bamboo steamer cover. After about 10minutes I turned the chicken around for just under 3-4minutes and turned off the burner.

I placed the chicken on a plate to rest and covered it with the bamboo steamer cover.

In the same pan I put in the spinach and cooked till just about wilted added the leeks and onions, stirred for about 2 minutes and added the spring onions, carrots stirred for about 30seconds, added juice of half a lemon turned off the burner added parsley, stirred and viola dinner was ready. 💃💃💃💃

I know I say this all the time( don't understand people who can't eat their own food after cooking it! It truly baffles me) but honestly it was more amazing than I could have imagined. 

Let me know how yours turns out, till I write again and you read again be good no be great to yourself.

HMMMMM, WHAT TO CALL THIS?

Olla peeps,

Have I wished you the best of 2015? If I have good if not the best of 2015 to you and yours full of Gods abundant blessing.

So y'all know by now that I totally loooooove food and I don't necessarily like spending hours in the kitchen when I'm hungry( which is almost always😃😃😃🙈)

Anywho we started a 21 day fast in my church today and for some reason I can't seem to make it till 6pm anymore so here I am breaking at 3 and just thanking God for His unending grace towards me.

As I was starving I thought what to break with? It was a toss up between quinoa and couscous and quinoa won.

Quinoa is a gluten free grain that's quite bland but can be oomphend up in so many ways it's almost unbelievable, cooked under 20 minutes after being properly washed.

It can be eaten on its own if cooked in a Flavoured stock, paired with or without proteins as in chicken, beef etc, made in jollof style(cooked in a pepper sauce), salad with steamed or raw veggies. The list goes on and on.

Today I made a jollof quinoa with the left over smoked fish sauce from my lunch on Saturday, steamed plantains In my trusty bamboo steamer, boiled an egg and garnished with spring onions.

I couldn't wait to dive in and it was yummilicious💃💃💃💃💃💃.

This love for food and sleep are blessings I always thank God for. There is absolutely nothing like being able to eat and eat properly what you want when you want it or being able to adapt what you have at home to meet your cravings. 

To all the lovers of food out there and home chefs I Salute you.

Enjoy a fruitful flourishing week.😘😘

Ps second picture was lunch on Saturday, steamed yams with smoked fish pepper sauce cooked with palm oil and scrambled eggs with onions, garlic and tomatoes garnished with spring onions and half a steamed red onion.