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.