Sunday Reads

Source

• Traveling with baby …. we have a little trip planned later next month so. …
• I LOVED this book, please read it!!
• What Every Grandparent Needs to Tell Their Grandchildren
• I love these breastfeeding tips for new mothers.
• Making time for all the things that you need to as a parent.
• Truly the Victor dictates history

Recipes

• Dessert Recipes Starring Greek Yogurt
• Yum for these potatoes, schlurpppp!

 

What’s making you happy now?

1. A great cup of tea – my sister recently got me some passion and lime tea from Kenya and it is YUM!
2. Long lazy weekends.
3. Discovering a lovely little restaurant and liking it.
4. Church services at 12 O’clock in the Fall/ Winter months.
5. One-on-one heartfelt chats with friends.

What about you?

Gifts for New Moms

As friends of mine are in that phase of having babies, I enjoyed this post and felt inspired to copy a list of things I would take with me when I next go to visit as in that moment you are often at a loss of what is appropriate.

1. Time – to listen, help out with her errands, carry baby, fold laundry or cook. Just time.
2. Easy to warm and eat with one hand food. Also drinks.
3. What food did she miss during pregnancy that she can now eat? Stock up on that!!
4. A cozy gown as the new mom will be nursing or up in the cold of the day or night.
5. Comfy chill at home shoes/ other clothes.
6. Hand cream/ hand sanitiser because new baby = washing hands often.
7. A beautiful mug or water bottle as she might be drinking a whole lot more if she is breastfeeding.

When you had a baby, what would you have loved OR what great gift do you get new moms?

Sunday Reads

I quite enjoyed putting together the food-related Sunday Reads but this week I went back to the more generic content. Enjoy!!

1. My sister recently asked about these food in a box services in Kenya. Any leads anyone?
2. I love this Op-Ed on the Bruce Jenner story. As a Christian, struggling to figure out this whole business so I will stick to his initial name and gender.
3. This makes genius business sense – buy the left over luggage and on-sell it.  Wonder what happens in South Africa and Kenya or Uganda.
4. Bringing beautiful Kiswahili sayings to the modern-day world. Nice!! Check out the artists’ tumblr here.
5. Tried this recipe this week and how YUMMY!
6. Loving these suggested titles to Rachel “I-Identify-As-Black” Dolezal’s possible memoir title.
7. How many of these do you remember the before look?
8. God really made us all so unique. Loving these pictures of these different cultures
9. “Affordable” Weekend Gateaways in Cape Town. JUST!

Monthly menus: September

This month, I intend to cook:

Pasta tuna bake with cauliflower/broccoli with lemon Dessert: Malva pudding

Butternut and lentil curry with plain rice

Grilled lemony fish fillets, potatoes and stir fried vegetables Dessert: Custardy Apple cake

PS: The ice cream making is on pause because I don’t have freezer space!

Monthly menus: August

Following up from this post about how to save on your cooking budget and ensure that you eat healthy at the same time.

A key part of preparing that shopping list is item (4) i.e pre-planning meals for the upcoming month and then determining whether those ingredients are available/ if they must be bought with that months shopping. As you know I love to write lists and so I have a rough list showing all the different categories of foods I like to eat and then I can mix and match as necessary so it lists carbs, vegetables and proteins.

For the month of August, this is what I have in store to cook. With time, I shall start to take pictures and a re-cap of what works and what doesn’t.

Pasta with chicken livers and bacon (and herbs) & cabbage with mustard seeds.

Roasted vegetables with couscous. Dessert: Coconut and Cardamom Pannacotta 

Potato Bake & Roasted butternut.  Dessert: Fresh Spearmint Ice cream and Vanilla frozen Yoghurt

Baked mushroom risotto. Dessert: Orange self-saucing pudding

Happy eating!

 

 

How to: Pre-plan meals

In this day and age of rising food prices, its important to try and save a quick buck on meals without compromising on the nutritive value. Below, this is how I go about thinking of cooking meals, both at the shopping level, actual cooking and there in between.

1. Have a list of quick and favourite meals that can be made quickly and that are a firm favourite with the family.
2. Stock your pantry with certain standard/”go-to” ingredients. These will vary from household to household, mine include: baked beans, pasta, rice, nuggets, cereal, cheese and cream.
3. Use a “master” shopping list to quickly determine what’s missing and what you need to include in your shopping list. This way you can shop in one go and not miss out on key things. This minimises time spent shopping later in the month. However, for items such as milk, bread and certain fruits, it would be necessary to purchase those on a weekly basis.
4. Think through the up-coming meals for the month. There is many ways to do this: (a)  cook for the week, freeze extra portions in case you are tired and can’t cook that week; (b)  alternatively, cook the more difficult meals in advance and do the lighter bits – vegetables and salads – on the main day.
5. Re-use left over meals and adapt them into new meals, for instance, remaking  chicken into a salad. Finish all cooked meals, making nothing new until all the food is complete.
6. Regularly sweep through the pantry and come up with innovative meals using some of those ingredients.
7. Eat out often, try new meals at home in a bid to obtain greater variety and flexibility.
8. Freeze vegetables and herbs as they will still be as good as new whenever you need to use them. Do this for: tomatoes, peas, peppers and other herbs. Prepare ingredients such as ginger and garlic in advance to save on time.
9. Invest in sufficient containers to store food.
10. Share the cooking responsibility to make it fun and less of a drudge.

How do you go around saving time and money in the kitchen?

time and planning

Its one year since Osama’s death. And that’s not the issue for me as much as the length of time that has passed! ONE YEAR! It was this time 12 months ago – what am I doing? what have I done in times past? Where is time going? Jeez! This is how we get old and we don’t even know it. Tick tock, so much time going past. So many plans, not so much time to execute. This quote below reminds me of that:

“You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of shore.” Admiral Rickover