My Healthy Quick Fix Lunch

Saturday, I am trying to tidy up the house and catch up with some work, little time to cook. I was hungry though, I boiled some spaghetti, diced some tomatoes and cucumber; and pan fried a french beans-snap peas-cauliflower--carrot mix with some garlic and salt. Healthy and tasty too. Try it out.

Sugar in Everything, When Did it Happen?

I don't know why they put sugar in everything. I didn't realize that until recently when I started looking for sugar free food. I have developed a dislike for sugar. Every time I consume something with sugar in it, I feel queasy, so I have decided to go sugar free (except in my dear coffee) and see if it feels better. 

Well, avoiding sugar is not hard for me since I don't like cakes and sweets. Except in the occasional small parties we hold at the work place I may never consume cakes, sweets and biscuits at all. 

I happen to love my yoghurt, (I shall be looking at health benefits of yoghurt) and I realized how much most yoghurt flavors contain so much sugar. Before, I could enjoy my vanilla yoghurt comfortable, but now it feels like I am having sugar syrup everytime I take a sip.

I went hunting for natural yoghurt, you will be surprised that most retails don't stock this. Oh, even in supermarkets, only selected brands stock natural yoghurt. 

I was literally pacing the freezer section of the supermarket this morning and bumped into this, sugar-free, fat free, bio yoghurt. (I should have taken a photo). I don't need my yoghurt to be free of all those stuff apart from sugar, but I sure did feel healthy.

Have a healthy week ahead.

Easy and Quick Chicken Marinade

Easy and Quick Chicken Marinade

Hello again,
It is long since I made my experimentals. I don't like chicken much, mostly because I don't like the natural taste of chicken. I always want to marinate but there is hardly time for that. So I figured out a short time marinade that would work as I prepare the ingredients for other dishes. I used what I had in the house to marinate; you can experiment with what you have,
Here is what I used;
Ginger (crushed)
Garlic (crushed)
Vinegar
Chilli ( I don't like chilli so I use a little chilli sauce)
Honey
Yoghurt
What I did
I mixed all the above in a bowl, (the mix amount depends on the amount of chicken you have).
I then added my shortly oiled chicken into the mix. (I always boil all my meat before cooking, when boiling, add some crushed ginger and salt into the mix)
Toss the chicken well into the mix and cover.
You can cook your rice, prepare Kachumbari and other ingredients as the chicken marinates. I gave mine about an hour.
Cooking the chicken
Fry garlic and onions in a pan. Don't use a lot of oil, remember chicken is fatty.
Add the chicken pieces into the pan, better to hand pick them so that you carry as little marinade mix as possible.
Add any other ingredients like tomatoes if you prefer.
Add the stock into the fry if you prefer your chicken as stew. Alternatively, add dhania into the fry and serve.
I'd advice against adding the marinating mix into the food, I did, and mine had too much ginger, if you can stand the ginger, no harm then.

As always, get as experimental as you can, you may bring out a better dish.
Enjoy.

Easy Quick Breakfast

My breakfast this morning

I always wake up hungry, I can hardly get anything done before I eat something. So I have a banana first before I prepare breakfast. With no time to cook this morning, this was my attempt of a healthy uncooked breakfast.

It is balanced and contains enough for your morning strength.

On the bread is jam and peanut butter.

I prefer green apples to read apples.

My favourite youghurt  flavour is vanilla.

Of, coffee is not healthy, I am addicted. Can't function without a cup.

Let's Talk Soup!

 

I like having soups in the house, they are a lifesaver. When you get home hungry, you can heat soup in a microwave and have it with bread or buns. This is one of my favourite soups. I got this recipe from a former chef at the former Holiday Inns.  Making this soup also gives a good reason not to discard chicken stock after boiling chicken.

What you need

•  A packet of baby corn
• Chicken stock
• 5 cloves of garlic
• Black pepper
• Butter /margarine

What to do

• Mash the garlic cloves
• Fry the garlic in very little butter (You can add finely chopped onions when frying)
• Add the baby corn and fry till they start turning brown (don’t let it burn)
• Add chicken stock and let it boil at low heat till the baby corn is soft.
• You can add a thickener, salt to taste and spices at this stage. (Make sure the soup does not stick since it is thick)
• Remove and let it cool for a while
• Blend the mix in a blender to get a creamy even soup (Remember not to blend very hot stuff)
• Serve with buns or bread.

Easy and Quick Recipe- Pork in Honey!

This pork recipe has turned me into a pork believer! :)

I made this for a friend and he could not tell it was pork. It is now one of the great recipes I can brag about. It is easy to make and very flexible.

Here is how I made it:

What you need;

• ·         4 spoonful’s of honey
• ·         8 cloves of garlic, mashed
• ·         2 Onions
• ·         2 large Tomatoes
• ·         Skinned pork cut into pieces
• ·         2 bunches of Dhania

What to do;

• Boil the pork pieces,(add some salt)  as you prepare the ingredients
• Mash the garlic as and mix with honey in a bowl. Add any other spices like black pepper if you prefer
• Heat some vegetable oil in a pan, just a little, remember pork is fatty
• Fry the boiled pork in the oil, it spatters therefore it’s advisable to use low heat
• Cook the pork pieces until they brown
• Add the honey-garlic mix and cook for a while until the sauce is well mixed with the pork, constantly mix using a cooking spoon so that the sauce does not stick or burn
• Remove the pork from the pan into a bowl; use a spoon so that you leave some oil in the pan
• Using the oil, fry onions and tomatoes for about 2 minutes
• Add back the pork and cook in the mix. At this stage, you may add tomato paste if you prefer ( I add some chili sauce, having not added any other spices before: cooked chili sauce is not that hot)
• Add some cooking wine or little water into the cooking pork and stir for a good mix
• If you used dhania make sure you add them last, they should not cook
• Serve with rice and kachumbari

As always, you can vary the recipe to your liking. After all, I develop these great recipes from experiments. Some don’t turn out that great, like I will try this on lamb, wait for feedback. 

Enjoy!

Liver Recipe that will make you a liver lover!

We all know the health benefits of liver. Not only is it a great source of iron but low in calories too. In these days where we are advised to avoid red meat and fatty food for health purposes, why not try liver. 

However, liver is not known to be a ‘tasty’ food. Like I only cook liver for its health purposes. This was until I discovered how to make the unpleasant taste in liver disappear. Soaking the liver in milk before cooking makes the liver flavor mild. Yes, soaking the liver in milk gets rid of the taste. You can now gain the health benefits in liver and enjoy its taste. 

Once you have soaked for about 20 minutes, you can drain and cook the liver to your liking. 

Here is how I cook my soaked liver:

What you need

1 cup of milk

Rinse the liver slices with cold water to wash away the bloody fluid.

Place in a bowl and add a cupful of milk. This should be enough to cover all the pieces.

As the liver soaks, prepare the ingredients.

Cut the onions into rings

Dice the tomatoes into small pieces

What to do

Add some vegetable oil in a pan

Add the onions and cook in until they turn golden brown

Add the liver pieces and some salt

Cook the liver in the onions

Add ingredients such as pepper

Add the tomatoes last and cook until it is ready

Serve with a carbohydrate and vegetables

I like my liver with fried rice and spinach or kachumbari.