Hello guys, welcome to another recipe post, by now you can tell I love to cook, yes I love a good meal and more so I love been able to prepare it at home for my family, there is this joy that you get when you cook up something and everyone enjoys it and even ask for more.

Nigeria is blessed with so many yummy and delicious dishes that you sometimes find it hard to pick what to eat and when it comes to soups oh we have it in abundance.

So for today am going to be showing you how to prepare delicious OKro soup, OKro is a vegetable that has numerous health benefits, it helps with health skin, clear eyes, aids digestion and much more. Did you know that Queen Cleopatra was known to eat OKro every day? And that it was the secret to her flawless skin and beauty? Now you know, so you have no reason to not eat okro, also it’s a perfect soup to start weaning your kids with, its slimy nature makes it slide down their tiny throats easily and it’s also very easy to prepare.

For this recipe you will be needing the following for a family of four.

Ingredients
Half kilo of OKro
Beef (assorted meat parts)
Ground crayfish
Fresh pepper
Stock fish
Smoked fish
Pumpkin leaves (sliced)
Cow skin
Salt and seasoning
Palm oil

So let’s cook.

Boil your beef parts with you stock fish in a large pot with water, salt and seasoning cubes for 15minutes. Wash your OKro and grate finely or place them in a blender after removing their stalk and just pulse the blender for a few minutes to grate your OKro until it looks finely chopped then set aside. Check on your meat and add in your ground crayfish about 2tablespoon,also add your smoked fish then allow it to boil, blend your pepper and add to the meat, boil for another 5minutes and in your palm oil 2cooking spoon full, leave it to cook for 3minutes and add in your pumpkin leaves, stir to cook very well and allow that to cook for two minutes uncovered, then add in your OKro, stir so the OKro and pumpkin leaves are completely mixed together, leave your pot uncovered and allow your soup to boil on low heat for just 2minutes,cos you want to still keep the colour and crunch of the OKro and vegetarian. There you have your delicious OKro soup ready, serve with your choice of swallow, i had mine with semolina.

Tell me how easy you found this recipe and what challenges you faced while preparing it and if this was helpful. See you guys in my next post

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so says the doctors, and I say they couldn’t have said it better, the best way to start off your day is by giving your body all that it requires to function effectively and leave your mind in optimum performance all day long, but often times our lifestyle demands makes it impossible for us to sit down and have a well planned and cooked meal, so instead we result to junk food or just repeating the same food all the time because it’s fast and saves time.

When we keep repeating food it makes eating boring and there is no expectations from your family members once you get in the kitchen, they can almost predict accurately what you will come out with, and yes sometimes it’s daunting and tiring to start looking for new recipes for the household, this is part of the things I want to change with this blog will turn regular every day food around and bring out a different result with the same ingredients that will make it less boring and more inviting to you and your family.

So when you have plantain and eggs, the quickest and most common recipe is to make fried plantain and egg Sauce, this could easily become a regular in your house, but this recipe is sharing today will change that. Do you have an oven in your house? How often do you use it? Well you will start using it if you follow this blog. Roasted plantains are a popular street food in Nigeria often eaten with peanut as a wonderful snack, but you can take it a notch higher by making it in your kitchen and serving it with a delicious sauce, this recipe is simple, easy and it takes very little time, so let’s get to it.

Ingredients
3meduim ripe plantain (you don’t want it too ripe)
2eggs
1tomatoe
1big carrot
Quarter of a medium cabbage
1onion
1teaspoon ground pepper
Salt
1seasoning cube
1tablespoon vegetable oil

Directions

Oil your grill rack so the plantain doesn’t stick and peel your plantain and make a cut in them to look like a boat,cos that’s where the sauce will rest ,place them on the grill and turn on your oven to 250 degrees, grill for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Dice all your veggies and set aside, place a sauce pan over medium heat and pour in your oil, allow to heat up and add in your veggies in no particular order, allow to sauté for three minutes, add your pepper, salt and seasoning cube and eggs, allow to cook till the cabbage softens and the eggs are cooked through.

Serve the sauce on your plantain while still hot and enjoy. Isn’t this a perfect spin on your regular dodo and eggs? Yes it is and it’s yummy too, the kids and hubby will love this and request for more know cos that’s what happens in my house when I make them. Enjoy and let me hear how your family reacted to this new recipe in the comments section.

The power house of any home is the kitchen, but often times it’s neglected until there is an urgent need for it. It is always so easy to go into the kitchen and open up the pantry, then whip up something to eat and not until the next meal do you realize that a few important things are lacking in your pantry and then you start to make a run to the market or grocery store late at night just to make sure the kids have something for breakfast tomorrow morning, or you end up eating a sandwich when what you really wanted was a delicious soup for dinner.

All of these can be avoided if you take your pantry essentials seriously and always make sure that they don’t get exhausted before being replaced. So today am going to be sharing with you a few major pantry must haves that will make your home cooking easy without a fuss. As a mum and wife, am constantly thinking of breakfast, lunch and dinner, and with these thoughts come which ingredients do I need and which do I have at home, often times just seeing what you have at home reduces the stress of going to the market on days when am super busy or not in the mood to go to the market and start to bargain prices.

Having a well stocked pantry is a must have for every home, whether you be a working mum ,full house wife or even a single lady, it makes cooking easier and also helps to check excess spending, because you will feel motivated to cook and try out recipes if the main ingredients are in your kitchen.

So let’s get to it already, what you must have in a Nigerian kitchen to make cooking easy.

1) Rice- this is a major food in Nigerian homes, from jollof rice to coconut and whit rice, there are so many recipes with rice that a Nigerian home can’t do without, it’s a staple and also a help in time of need, you know those days when you are tired and can’t really figure out what to prepare? Yes we all have those days and rice always come to the rescue, with tomatoes, fish and seasoning the Nigerian concoction rice saves the day, and let’s not forget that it’s always a hit with the kids.

2) Vegetable oil- Before you make that egg Sauce for breakfast, or that stew for potatoes you will need vegetable oil, it’s a must have for every Nigerian home, once you see that you can just almost make a sauce, this oil makes the base for most of our sauces and food and so it makes it to the list of kitchen must have.

3) Palm oil- no Nigerian soup is complete without it, as much as new recipes are coming out every day that are oil less for the fitfam guys, the use of palm oil in our local soups, stews and food cannot be erased, just imagine your eforiro (Yoruba vegetable soup) without palm oil ah it won’t taste the same, or is it the local palm oil stew chai that stew been saving lives since forever. So I guess you get the point and this is why it’s a must have

4) Beans- when you wake up on a Saturday morning and you crave pap and warm akara (bean cakes) or even moi moi (bean pudding) and then you step into your kitchen and just pull out that container of beans, sock it and blend with your choice of peppers and tomatoes, make your akara, then relax in front of your TV and enjoy yourself, without stepping out of your house, now that is comfort and a day started out right. Beans can be prepared in so many ways and can serve as breakfast, lunch and dinner, it’s the main base for most meals and having it means you already have 70% of your planned meal ready.

5) Condiments- crayfish, seasoning, thyme, curry, ground pepper, garlic, ginger, these are very important condiments that every kitchen should have, there are so many spices and herbs that you can have in your kitchen but with the above listed ones cooking is made easy, you can just grill your chicken or fish with most of the list spices and dinner is ready.

6) Garri (cassava flakes) yes this made it to the list too, apart from being made into swallow for soups, this food stuff can save you during hard times when you have nothing to eat or no clue what to prepare, just take some garri in a bowl, add milk, sugar, groundnut or coconut with some ice cold water and girl your belly is full with some delicious yumminess so yes it’s a must have in a Nigerian home.

7) Yams and potatoes- having these two or at least one of them in your kitchen means that food is ready, you could make pottage, yams and egg Sauce, yam or potatoes chips (kids love it) the list goes on, you can be at peace knowing that your kids lunch box won’t be empty for the week with these in your kitchen.

8) Tomatoes and pepper purée- blend your tomatoe, pepper and onions together and keep frozen for easy stews, pottages, soups, sauces and more. It will always come in handy for you every time you need to make yummy home cooked meals for your family.

There are so much more that your kitchen require to function at optimum, but these are the most important that would help you out in time of need, you will appreciate the gift of having these at home on days when you are too busy to stop at the market and you come home and still be able to prepare a decent meal for your family. As homemakers, things that lessen the stress of everyday homemaking are always a plus. Let me hear your feedback on this topic and if it has helped you plan your kitchen better in the comments section.