Pancakes

It's Pancake Day! So I'm reposting this recipe :)

So... my friend Keris (of Fitter London) got into making Bread with Ground Almond instead of flour (to cut the long story short, this is part of Paleo eating... I won't go into it but for more info, check out the Fitter London Blog).

One day, I was REALLY hungry and couldn't wait the 20 minutes for paleo bread to bake so I thought...
"If I add less ground almonds and some honey, surely I could make pancakes instead."
It worked and I loved them... they were a little dry though. I thought back to when I was a teenager and my Mummy taught me how to make pancakes... one of the ingredients was MILK... so next time I made the pancakes, I added coconut milk and.... my recipe was born!

Ingredients
2 eggs
5 heaped tablespoons of ground almonds
4-5 tablespoons of coconut milk
1 teaspoon of honey

Pancakes
1. Break eggs into a bowl. Add the ground almonds and whisk till smooth (consistency should be very thick, like cake mix).
2. Add the coconut milk and mix (should be of a creamy consistency, a little thinner than cake mix)
3. Add the honey and mix
4. Add a teaspoon of oil (I used extra virgin olive oil) to a frying pan and allow to heat up (1 minute should do)
5. Add a serving spoon amount to the pan and move around in pan till it forms a circular shape. Allow to cook for about 2 minutes... keep checking with a spatula till it gets dark brown and is firm.
6. Flip the pancake and allow the other side to cook - takes roughly the same time.
7. Flip onto a plate and repeat steps 5-6 till mix is used up

Serving suggestions: 

•   I used blueberries (I love them) and a little more honey (instead of maple syrup).
• @divafactor on twitter tried out my recipe and served it with raspberries, strawberries and blueberries

• CucinCeri has a recipe HERE. She served hers with: bananas, nuts and blueberries
• Whatever you like... just make sure it's something healthy ;)

Alternatives:

• CucinaCeri used ground flaxseed instead of ground almonds
• If you're in Nigeria, I've been told about wheat meal.. I'm not 100% sure what it is yet but hope to try it it out soon.
• Another option is coconut flour.

If you try out this recipe, please email me a picture and I'll post here :)

Currently Loving...

Salmon!

It's high in omega-3 fatty acids, it's high in protein and it's yummy (if cooked well of course). I made pan fried salmon on Sunday (after a long day at Fitter London's Running Workshop) and a pot of 'Efo' on Monday.

Efo: Spinach, Tomato Sauce, Egusi and Salmon

Pan-fried salmon and peppers

Yum!

I'll be honest - an important reason I love salmon is it cooks in no time ;)

Pan-Fried Ginger Fish

As promised, here's another quick and easy healthy fish recipe :)

This is best done with fish cut along it's length not across, with 1/4 inch widths. The fish will be cooked through quicker.

This is one of the easiest things to cook - honestly!

• Season the fish with ginger and salt. I also added about a tablespoon of herbs.
• Chop up half an onion.
• Add 2 tablespoons of oil (coconut or sunflower) to a pan and bring to heat (4 out of 5)
• Add the fish to the pan and fry one side for 2-3 minutes
• Turn and repeat on the other side
• Reduce heat to medium (2-3 out of 5) and fry each side again for another 2-3 minutes each.
• Done

I love fish, it's so easy to cook :)

Mackerel Stew

I love fish! Apart from it's nutritional benefits including protein and omega-3, I love that fish cooks in less than half the time of meat or chicken.

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you'll know I like quick recipes so I was so happy when I discovered Passata (thanks to my friend Busola). I always have a couple of bottles in my fridge! I use this when I don't have the patience to blend tomatoes, onions and peppers, which is very often now.
Ingredients: Organic Tomatoes & Salt

My friend told me he looked through my recipes and wondered why I didn't have any fish recipes - that's going to change :)

This is a recipe from last year, the picture below was taken with my camera phone.

Ingredients
2 Whole Mackerel
1/2 a bottle of Passata (350g)
Half an onion
2 tablespoons of coconut oil
1 tablespoon of ground chilli
Seasoning: Herbs, spices and just a pinch of salt.

Mackerel Stew

• Clean and soak the mackerel in a bowl of water. Add herbs, spices and salt to the fish and allow to soak for at least 20 minutes.
• Add 2 tablespoons of oil to a pot and allow to heat up.
• Slice the onions and add to the oil, leave them to brown for a few minutes.
• Add the passata, season lightly and add the chilli. Cook for no more than 5 minutes (if you're using fresh blended tomatoes, increase the time to at least 10-12 minutes)
• Add the fish, cover the pot and cook on high heat for 5 minutes.
• Reduce to low-medium heat and cook for 7-10 minutes.
• Serve.

Alternatives

• Canola or Sunflower Oil instead of Coconut Oil
• Any fish of your choice (but remember if you're pregnant or breastfeeding, you should limit your intake of fish. speak to your doctor about this)
• If you're using blended fresh tomatoes, onions and pepper, you'll have to add a little more salt.

Serving Options

• I ate mine with steamed carrots because I had eaten more than enough that weekend ;)
  To keep it healthy, eat with:
  - sweet potatoes
  - 2 thin slices of yam
  - plantain
  - 1-2 serving spoons of fried (basmati, jasmine or brown) rice 

Photo Credit: MySupermarket

Moin Moin

A fellow tweep (twitter friend) mentioned she was cooking moin moin today so that inspired me to do the same :) The great thing about moin moin is it's quite a healthy Nigerian meal. Beans are high in protein and contain a moderate amount of carbohydrates :) Unlike akara, which is fried, moin moin is steamed and can be eaten on it's own as a snack or with vegetables and meat  or chicken.

Recipe was a modified version of this: Moin Moin Recipe to make it a little healthier:

• I used coconut oil instead of vegetable oil
• I replaced Maggi with Rock Salt and Herbs
• I used crushed chillis

Ingredients

• Brown Beans (~ 500-600g)
• 3 tablespoons of virgin coconut oil
• 4 tablespoons of ground crayfish
• Salt and Mixed Herbs
• 2 Red Onions
• 1 tablespoon crushed chillis
• 2 red bell peppers
• 3 eggs (optional)
• 2 tins of sardines/mackerel in spring water or brine (optional)

Moin Moin

• Soak the beans in water for 20 minutes. Now this is the most annoying part: You have to rub the beans between your hands to get the skin off, I did this while watching X Factor so it didn't feel as bad.
• Leave to soak for another 2 hours to soften the beans:
  
  
• Boil 3 eggs, peel and slice. 
• Peel and chop the onions and chop the bell peppers. Add to the bowl of beans, also add chillis and crayfish.
• Fill your blender halfway with the mix. Add a little water and blend, note that if you don't have a strong blender, this will take forever.
• Pour the mix into a bowl and repeat this process till it's all blended.
• Now add the mix back to the blender (still filling it halfway) and add 2ce blended mix into another bowl. Repeat till you've 're-blended' it all.
• I repeated this process one more time and this was the result:
  
  
  
• Melt the coconut oil and add to the mixture. Also add your salt and herbs.
• I used aluminium foil, check out this easy tutorial to make the aluminium cases: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVdFyxK8Qd4
• Fill each container halfway with the mixture and as much or as little of the sliced eggs (1-2 in my case) and sardines. Seal. Continue till the mixture is used up.
• If you own a steamer, use this instead. My home-made steamer: Add some water to a pot (I added 2 cups) and I used a pot stand (similar to the image below but minus the wheels:
  
  
  I inserted it into the pot of water and boiled the water
• I placed the moin moin (bags) onto the pot stand, covered the pot and cooked on medium heat for 1 hour. I made sure I checked the level of the water every 15 minutes and refilled as required.

Chickpeas (Garbanzo Beans) with Mixed Vegetables and Mackerel

New Camera in a month, I promise!

There's a story behind this recipe:

1. I've been ill all weekend so after the Fitter London classes on Saturday, I came back home and stayed on the sofa till bedtime. Today, Sunday, I was in bed till 6pm. I feel better now but I definitely have another 15-20 hours of sleep left in me.  
2. Also, I've been advised to eat less non-organic (read: pumped full of hormones) meat, which will be explained another time, and find other sources of protein.

With the second point in mind, I bought a 500g bag of chickpeas (100g contains: 164 calories, 2.6 grams of fat (of which 0.27 grams is saturated), 7.6 grams of dietary fibre and 8.9 grams of protein) and had NO idea what to do with them... yes, I was a chickpea virgin! I've had hummus/humus a couple of times but I've never cooked chickpeas in my 30 years! A couple of days ago, I soaked them in water for 8 hours (as advised by many sources online), drained and stored in the fridge for future use - I'm so happy I did that!

Today, when I finally dragged myself out of bed, I realised I had NO food at home. Perfect time to experiment ;)


Serves: 3

Ingredients
200g chickpeas (previously soaked for 8 hours)
100g frozen mixed vegetables
1 smoked mackerel
2 tablespoons of organic tomato puree
1/4 of an onion
Mixed herbs
A pinch of salt

Recipe

1. Add chickpeas to a pot with just enough water to totally submerge them. Add herbs and salt, bring to boil (medium heat).
2. Slice onions and add to the pot. Allow to cook for 10 minutes (increase heat a little).
3. Add the mixed vegetables, and allow to cook for 5 more minutes.
4. Cut up the mackerel and add it with the 2 tablespoons of tomato puree and allow to simmer for 5 minutes.
5. Serve :)

Modifications

1. I'd have definitely cooked the chickpeas in chicken/meat stock if I had any in the freezer as that would have given the meal more flavour.
2. To save yourself a lot of time, use pre-soaked, canned chickpeas.
3. Substitute the mackerel for any fish, meat, prawns, shrimps of your choice :)
4. You can be as adventurous or boring (like me) with your vegetables.

Verdict: It was tasty! And very filling :) Enjoy!

Chicken in Tomato Puree on a bed of Steamed Broccoli

LOL, I'm laughing at "on a bed of", I'm trying to get fancy with the names of my meals ;)

I had just gotten back from bikram yoga and was s-t-a-r-v-i-n-g. I wanted to eat dinner asap, I felt like eating stewed chicken but didn't have the patience to chop and blend tomatoes, then cook them so I opted for tomato puree instead and this was very tasty :)

Quick Recipe

1. Marinade chicken thighs in ginger and mixed herbs.  
2. Pan Fry (maximum of 2 tablespoons of oil) chicken and chopped 1/4 onion. Until chicken is cooked. 
3. Steam the broccoli for 8-10 minutes (I usually add some seasoning, I used some all purpose seasoning). Add to a plate when ready. 
4. Add 2 tablespoons of tomato puree to the chicken in the pan and cook for a few (not more than 5 minutes) 
5. Add the chicken to the plate and serve.

Modifications

If you have more time than I did:

• Boil the chicken instead of pan frying (eliminates the oil)
• Chop, blend and cook tomatoes and onions. And pan-fry for up to 10 minutes to remove as much moisture as possible = paste. Add  chicken thighs to the paste and cook for no more than 5 minutes.
• Use any vegetables of your choice, I used broccoli because that's what I had in the fridge :)

Serving Suggestion: Eat with sweet potatoes, potatoes, brown rice, etc.

Strawberry & Spinach Salad

I know, I know - I seem to use Spinach in every other dish. My excuse is - it's good for you *and* I prefer it over other green leafy vegetables :)

I saw a recipe on-line which I modified slightly. I used:
- lemon instead of vinegar
- olive oil instead of vegetable oil
- and no sugar (No need for extra sweetness)

Ingredients

1 Pack of Baby Spinach
1 Pack of Strawberries
3 tablespoons of sunflower seeds
2 tablespoons of olive oil
Half a Lemon

Strawberry & Spinach Salad

• Wash the spinach, Wash & Chop the strawberries. 
• Add to a mixing/salad bowl and toss.
• Mix the sunflower seeds and olive oil seperately, then add to the the salad bowl. Toss
• Squeeze the lemon and do a final toss.
• Done :)

I was expecting it to taste a little odd but I was wrong, maybe the lemon just brought it all together nicely. Love it. 

Chicken Thighs with Stir Fried Vegetables

Quick Recipe
1. Marinade chicken thighs in seasoning of your choice
2. Pan Fry (maximum of 2 tablespoons of oil) chicken and chopped 1/4 onion. Until chicken is cooked and onions are caramelized.
3. Remove from pan and stir fry vegetables in the oil and juice/fat from chicken
4. Serve

Chicken & Spinach Curry Soup

I've been ill for most of the week, I wasn't at the Saturday Fitter London classes yesterday and anyone who knows me would be surprised.

Any time I'm ill, soup always makes me feel better. I didn't make pepper soup because the only meat I had was a whole chicken and there was no way I was going to cut it up into small chunks (my preference).

So I decided to make a curry, a little more watery than usual so I could sip on it - curry soup!

Ingredients
1 boiler chicken - skinned and cut into medium pieces
1 Onion
1 Can of Coconut Milk
3 bunches of large leaf spinach
3 tablespoons of Curry Powder
1-2 Maggi Cube(s)
Mixed Herbs
1 tablespoon of Ground Ginger (raw ginger preferable, I was being lazy)
Ground Pepper or Chilli (Forgot to add this but I will next time for that extra kick)

Curry Soup

1. Boil chicken - add to pot with one chopped onion, maggi cube(s), ginger and mixed herbs. Use more water than usual, so the chicken is totally submerged in the water.
2. Allow to cook for 20 minutes (boiler chicken), if you use roaster chicken, cook for a maximum of ten minutes.
3. Add coconut milk and allow to cook for another 7-10 minutes.
4. Add the curry and stir contents.
5. Wash and chop the spinach. Add to pot.
6. Cover and cook for a maximum of 10 minutes.

This definitely made me feel a little better and I had some more for lunch today. Yum :)

Yes coconut milk contains fat (which isn't necessarily bad for you) and as long as you don't have the entire pot of soup in one sitting, you're good ;)

Coconut milk has many health benefits including:

• Contains Iron (reduces risks of aneamia)
• Contains Potassium (reduces risk of high blood pressure)
• Contains Selenium (reduces the risk of joint inflammation eg arthritis)
• Other benefits can be found HERE

Spinach Salad

Happy Monday! :)

I've always shied away from salads. Don't get me wrong - I love my vegetables and I eat a lot of spinach (cooked in efo), carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc BUT I prefer them all cooked or steamed. I rarely made salads and when I did, I didn't really enjoy them. I have had some good salads but they weren't prepared by me.

I finally decided to give salads a REAL try last week. I'd seen a spinach salad recipe in my Everyday Paleo cookbook and decided to modify it slightly.

Note: One thing I've learned is washed & packaged small leaf spinach is definitely more edible uncooked than the larger leaf spinach sold in bunches (as in Nigeria).

Spinach Head (Larger leaves)

Smaller leaves

Ingredients

Spinach (1 pack)
1 pack cherry tomatoes
1 Cucumber
1 bunch of Spring onions (1st time trying this, thanks for the tips Matt)
1 Lemon
Mackerel
Egg (to serve)

Spinach Salad

1. Boil an egg, or two.
2. Wash and Prepare the vegetables -
   Chop the cherry tomatoes and spring onions. Dice the cucumber.
   Cut the mackerel into small chunks
   (Add any other vegetables of your choice)
3. Once the egg's boiled, peel and slice in half.
4. Add the spinach into a large mixing bowl. Add the chopped tomatoes and spring onions (& other veggies of your choice) and toss everything together.
5.  Add the mackerel and 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Toss.
6. Squeeze a whole lemon into the salad and give it one more toss.
7. Add a portion to a plate and serve with the egg (s). If you have only one egg, bulk it up with some meat as seen in pictures below:

Served with turkey breasts.

Served with homemade beef burgers and an egg

You can use any leafy vegetables (eg lettuce, kale, etc) you like and play around with the content of the salad. You don't need salad dressing for this, the olive oil and lemon add a nice flavour to it.

Have a nice week :)

Sunday's Snack: Pan-Fried Plantain and Tomatoes

I absolutely love lazy Sundays. I've done nothing productive today except my laundry. I'll deal with cleaning and cooking later ;)

I was in the mood for a snack before a quick nap... I will be twisting my hair (myself) this evening and it takes HOURS.

I planned to grill plantain but decided to try pan frying it just to see how it would turn out. I was going to eat the plantain on its own then remembered I had some tomatoes from last week which were past their sell by date. They still looked edible to me so I decided to eat some today before throwing the rest out. Plus veggies are good for you ;)


This is a much healthier alternative to 'dodo' (plantain shallow or deep fried in much more oil) and the best thing is it tastes the same . Try it and see! :)

Ingredients

1 plantain
2 tomatoes
2 tablespoons of coconut oil

Plantain/Tomatoes

1. Heat the coconut oil in a pan
2. Peel and slice the plantain (each slice should be ~ 1/2 an inch thick)
3. Add the plantain to the pan and fry on medium heat.
4. Turn after 4 minutes and cook for another 3-4 minutes.
5. When the plantain's cooked, serve it on a plate.
6. Chop the tomatoes and add to the pan (heat another tablespoon of oil)
7. Add some mixed herbs and toss tomatoes in pan every 30s.
8. Serve with plantain

Preparation Time: ~10 minutes.

Alternatives:
Any vegetables of your choice and here I used sliced green peppers with mackerel.

Sunday's Brunch: Mackerel Stir Fry

Happy Sunday ;)

I was at Sainsburys (weekly food shopping) this morning and saw a packet of mixed vegetables (reduced to 69p from £1 because they'd be expired after today) and immediately had the idea to make myself a quick and easy stir-fry for brunch.

I hadn't eaten breakfast because I wanted to get my shopping done asap so the only thing I'd eaten was a handful of brazil nuts (I always try to eat something no matter how little for breakfast). I bought some smoked mackerel and some oranges.

Why oranges? Well, I'd seen a few recipes in my Everyday Paleo recipe book using oranges in stir fries and I wanted to try it out.

Ingredients

1 pk Mixed Vegetables (cabbage, broccoli, carrot, onion)
Half a pack of Smoked Mackerel
1 Orange
1 Tbsp of coconut oil

Mackerel Stir-Fry

1. Heat the coconut oil in a pan. 
2. Add vegetables and season with ginger. 
3. Stir fry for a few minutes. 
4. Add mackerel (I tore mine into smaller pieces) and squeeze an orange into mix. 
5. Allow to cook for a few more minutes.
6. Serve

Yum! :) The citrus flavour from the orange was nice, loved it!

Alternatives

• You can use any vegetables of your choice 
• Add to or replace the fish eg other types of fish, chicken, turkey, beef, prawns/shrimps, mussels, etc

Food Posts and Recipes are Back :)

Stir Fry (This picture isn't doing it justice, it's
beyond delicious. Wow!)

I'm still laughing at my friend who told me I eat "sheep food", LOL! My response was, "Whatever!!" ;) I try to eat *very* clean and healthy Monday to Friday and it's so much easier than it was last year. I don't see it as a challenge, it's a lifestyle now - although I've been a little lazy with this, I'm 100% back on it.

Last couple of weekends, I've been forced (yes, FORCED!) to eat Vickii's baking and I won't lie - I don't regret a minute of it ;) <-- Proof that I treat myself at least once a week... life's too short :)

My friend (Mama A) got me a recipe book I really wanted for my birthday - 'Everyday Paleo' and it has so manyy recipes and I can't wait to add my own little twist to them. Eg I made some beef burgers (picture below), the author used grated yam in her recipe and I tried grated butternut squash... yummy is an understatement!

Monday's Dinner: Turkey Breasts with Spinach Salad

Breakfast: Homemade Burgers, an egg & Spinach Salad

From this week, I'm back to posting one recipe every week (on Sundays).

Eating Healthy is Quick & Simple!

Hi... hope you enjoyed your weekend, I did :)

Mini Guest Post
inthemidstofher sent me an email (with pictures, yes!) over the weekend and I had to share. More proof that you can tweak recipes and end up with results that work for... YOU.

"This is breakfast: 3 egg whites with some efo and a piece of fish in between"

"Salad with baked chicken"

"Lunch: Fish with some spinach"

How simple is her recipe for the eggs?? (Love it!):
"I only eat egg whites ( 20 cals is better then 90) and i had efo riro with fish  in the firidge so i made the egg and put some efo in between, like a sandwich and warmed it up like that..."

You can substitute the efo with any vegetables you like, and use chicken, turkey or anything else instead of fish. Don't totally avoid egg yolk, for example - if you want to use 3 eggs for the above recipe, use one yolk and save the other 2 for something else e.g. Try adding it to THIS home-made conditioner for much needed protein :)

Sunday's Dinner
I made the easiest meal out of some leftover stew from the week. I'd eaten all the chicken by saturday night but wtill had a substantial amount of  stew left... Sorry, I didn't take any pictures.

• Stew , Frozen (cooked) mussels (£1 from Tesco), Mixed Vegetables.
• Heated the stew in a pan, added the mussels and mixed vegetables. Allowed to cook on medium heat for 10 minutes.
• Served with plantain - yum!

Please email me with pictures and recipes HERE

Plantain 'Cakes'

I got this recipe idea on Friday while I was in the changing room at the gym :) The TV chef used potatoes and I thought, "This would definitely work with plantain".

And of course... it did :)

I've been ill, and in bed, all day. I finally got out of bed at 5.20 to watch Deal or No Deal and to cook for my usual Sunday Recipe post :)

Ingredients
2 eggs
2 plantains
1 red bell pepper
Quarter of an onion
2 small tins of mackerel (fresh fish is ideal but I had none at home)
I used no seasoning because plantains are naturally sweet.

Plantain 'Cakes'

1. Cut the plantains into three pieces each (leaving the skin on). Add to a pot and add enough to cover the plantain halfway (max). Boil on medium to high heat for 15-20 mins.
2. Chop the 1/4 onion into small pieces, same goes for the bell pepper.
3. Remove plantain from pot and peel. Add the pieces to a big mixing bowl.
4. Break an egg into the bowl, add the chopped onion and pepper. Mix contents with a wooden spoon, the result should be very thick.
5. Take a handful of the mix and roll into a ball, then into a square/cube shape. continue till done with the mix. (I made 3 large 'cakes')
6. Add a teaspoon of olive oil to a pan and fry the onions in the pan. When onions are brown, toss them out.
7. Add the cakes to the pan and pan fry on low to medium heat. the cube shape comes in handy because you are able to turn it on all six sides. It took a total of 10 minutes to cook.
8. Fry the egg and serve with a 'cake' (as seen in the pictures).

Serving suggestions: 

• I served mine with an egg (runny, which I like and which is how the potato cakes were served on TV)
• Serve with Quick Stew (Recipe: HERE)

Alternatives:

• I'm going to try baking it in the oven next time :)
• Use vegetables of your choice, I'm going to try spinach next.
• You can use sweet potato, butternut squash, yam, potatoes, etc.
• I also made a butternut squash version which I rolled into small balls and oven-baked on medium heat for 15 minutes. Again, I boiled the squash before mixing with other ingredients (including chopped onions):

'Quick' Stew

This is another recipe that was borne out of laziness (like my Pancake recipe).

I'd had too many Thursday or Fridays evening where I got home and I'd run out of food. On one such evening, I got home and decided to throw whatever I had available into a pot - a can of chopped tomatoes, some chicken stock in the freezer and some chicken.
Again, it worked and this is now my go-to easy, quick stew :)

Ingredients
Turkey (I used one turkey thigh and chopped it up)
1 can of chopped tomatoes
1 red onion
2 tablespoons of Oil
Seasonings - Mixed Spice, Mixed Herbs and one Jumbo seasoning cube
Optional: 1 teaspoon of Ground, dried pepper

'Quick' Stew
1. Boil the turkey (or chicken) with half the onion (chopped), season with mixed spice, mixed herbs and jumbo cube (or whatever seasonings you like)
2. While the turkey's cooking, add oil to another pot, slice the other half of the onion and fry for a few minutes.
3. Right before the onions start to brown, add the chopped tomatoes to the pot on medium heat.
4. Allow to cook for 10 minutes. Add some of your turkey stock to the chopped tomatoes (I'd say roughly, 300ml)
5. Add the ground pepper and cook for another 5 minutes.
6. Add the turkey to the pot. Allow to cook on medium-low heat for another 5-10 minutes... and you're done! :)

Serving Suggestions:

• I peeled and chopped one butternut squash and cooked in my turkey stock for ~ 10-15minutes. Served my stew with it.
• You can have this with brown rice, boiled plantain, sweet potato... and a side of vegetables :) 

Alternatives:

• Chicken, meat etc can be used instead of Turkey. And honestly, the breast is leaner than the thigh ;)

Sunday's Dinner: Sweet Potatoes & Chicken

Boiled and pan fried sweet potatoes, chicken and vegetables (haha, a friend of mine saw pictures of my meals over the weekend and said I eat like a rabbit. Do rabbits eat chicken and fish?)

I just read Natural Nigerian's comment on my 'Maggi is Salt' post and that reminded me of my dinner yesterday. As much as I love maggi, I know it's full of "extras". I'm working on eating as clean and natural as possible.

I will post the recipe for this later but the main reason for this post is: My seasoning consisted only of: Mixed Spice (curry, ginger, etc) and mixed herbs (thyme, etc) and it still tasted really good.

I'm going to buy some rock salt which is natural in comparison to table salt (that's another post in itself). I'll used that instead of Maggi every other week to start off and I'll see where that takes me.

Sunday's Breakfast: Omelette

Ingredients
- 2 Eggs
- Frozen mixed vegetables
- 5 tablespoons coconut milk
- Half can of John West Wild Pink Salmon (Tuna or Sardines are other options)
- 1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
- Mixed spice
- Mixed Herbs
- Salt to taste
- 1 tomato  

Omelette
- Steam the mixed vegetables for 5 minutes
- Whisk the eggs, coconut milk and the Jumbo seasoning (make sure you use very little because a whole cube is too much salt and won't taste nice for only 2 eggs)
- Heat the EVOO in a pan and add the mixed veg and salmon. Add a tiny sprinkling of mixed herbs and mixed spices. Pan fry for a couple of minutes
- Add the eggs, reduce the heat to 3 out of 5.
- Allow to cook for 1 minute, tilt the pan to 45 degrees, pull in the side and allow the uncooked middle to run to the outside of the egg. Continue all over until the top of the omelette doesn't contain any uncooked egg
- cook for another minute and fold the omelette.

To serve
- Scoop onto a plate
- Wash and slice the tomato (I'd usually grill or pan fry the tomato but was too lazy) and add to plate
- ENJOY :)

Saturday's Dinner: Boiled Plantain and Cooked Spinach (Efo)

Ingredients
- 1 plantain
- 1 red bell pepper
- 4 tomatoes
- Half an onion
- 1 small bundle of spinach
- smoked mackerel (fresh fish would be better)

Plantain
- cut into three small pieces (with the skin still on) and boil for 20 minutes.

Spinach
- chop the tomatoes and onions and cook in a pot for 10 minutes. Season as desired (I used one maggi cube)
- dice the pepper into smal pieces and add to the pot for a 5 minutes
- chop the spinach and add to the pot
- add the mackerel
- allow to simmer for an additional 5-10 minutes.