Overnight oats seem to be my latest foodie fascination. Easy to construct – no mess and no fuss – it is apparently a win-win on all levels.
After, quite frankly very little research I have found a great recipe from @feelgoodfoodie that seems to work for me.
½ cup old fashioned rolled oats
½ cup milk of choice
¼ cup non-fat Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon chia seeds
1 tablespoon sweetener honey or maple syrup
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
So, I have now made the third salad from Afro Vegan. Avocado Plantain Salad. It’s different! I am not sure that I got it right…
However like all of these salads they have been a real pleasure to make and I have learnt some new cooking techniques. I’ve never sauted plantain before, let alone with red peppers. So I might try that again (I have a bowl full of plantains to use up now).
We don’t really eat cauliflower but at least now I know at least one interesting way to prepare it, if I ever find myself buying it again. However it seems unlikely, Ignacio (my husband) does not like them. In fact, so strong is his dislike, he removed them from his plate – which surprised me! I should have know though.
I ate the leftovers for my lunch this Thursday. Eaten the next day it was still nice and filled a very hungry post-clinic stomach! If I am being totally honest, for me this salad wasn’t as tasty as the other two (Plantain Imoyo Salad and Mango Salad). Maybe it was the way I constructed it, I am not sure but for me it did not have the ‘wow!’ factor. You live and you certainly learn…
1 red onion, finely sliced
1 lime, juiced
pinch of fine salt
200g/7oz cauliflower, cut into small florets
2 1/2 tsp vegetable oil
2 yellow plantains
1 medium red pepper, cut into 2cm/ 3/4 in dice
2 medium avocados, peeled, de-stoned and cut into chunks
large handful of fresh coriander, leaves picked and roughly chopped
Reference: Afro Vegan, Family recipes from a British-Nigerian Kitchen, Zoe Alakija, page 73
Imagine…
I speak to my friend on Tuesday evening and she mentions she is making macaroni cheese for her children that evening.
On Wednesday evening while popping into Tesco for salad ingredients I find myself taking a bag of macaroni off the pasta shelf.
On Thursday lunchtime scrolling through my Twitter feed I find myself looking at a recipe for ausage, macaroni and cheese
By Thursday evening – mu macaroni, chorizo, peas and green pepper dish is born
Hmm…
It feels like today has been incredibly long. I’m writing this a nine o’clock on Wednesday evening and I’m exhausted. I woke up this morning from a fitful sleep at five thirty. I could not get back to sleep so I got up and started dictating some letters. After that I took a trip to the recycling unit to dispose of some large cardboard packaging (our long awaited hallway console arrived yesterday) and then came home and decided to back a banana bread. My friend had shared a Jamaican recipe with me that I thought I might try.
The bread came out a golden brown colour, very pleasant to look at, crusty on the outside and soft on the inside. Not as moist as I would have liked but certainly acceptable.
I went back to my work, took part in a child in need meeting and then headed out to the garden to complete my appraisal documentation.
It has taken me some time to find the mental space to finalise the details of my appraisal. However I allowed myself no distractions and spent a few hours in the sunshine thinking about what where the challenges from the last year. What were the successes. What do I want to achieve in the next year.
Ninety minutes later I had put together something I was happy to send to my appraiser. I think as the weather allows, I will allow myself the odd hour away from my desk to sit outside – top up my vitamin D levels and just let nature take away some of my work-related stress.
113 g butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg beaten
3 large ripe bananas
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 nutmeg
pinch of salt
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup raisins
Reference: Enid Donaldson, The Real Taste of Jamaica.