I discovered that you can crave chocolate cake for 300 days and nothing can happen because you want the muscles. And then your brothers can show up and you can have a very good reason to bake a cake for breakfast at 7a.m on a Saturday.
Hot coffee is used instead of milk. Together with vanilla, it’s such a great flavor.
I wouldn’t name pizza as my absolute favorite thing to eat in the world. (I am gluten sensitive. I just learned the word). But I really, really like making it. I think homemade pizza produces a superior culinary experience. Most homemade things do- at least for any intermediate cook.
Is homemade pizza rocket science-y? No. I would encourage anyone to attempt making it. A little yeast in a dough and a little rest produces a foolproof base. After that, you roll a medium size ball into a circular shape, slather something like tomato paste or pizza sauce to cover it, add a topping like nyama and some greens and a little queso and then you bake it until it puffs and smells wonderful. The satisfaction after your first one comes out of the oven and happens to taste delicious cannot be described, really. But it feels quite nice.
I made four big ones, enough for leftovers for breakfast the next day. Maybe lunch, if we’re lucky.
I hate making mboga, so I make big batches of fermented Chinese cabbage (Kimchi) or pickles; both simplify life tremendously. I have been surviving on Kimchi for two weeks and change; delicious, but I am tired of the stuff.
How to make pickles:
Simply. Start with 1 cup white vinegar + 1 cup water + salt to taste. Tastes differ, so this could be too tart for your liking (taste it). If that is the case, use less vinegar (0.5 cup vinegar to 1.5 cups water) or the opposite. That’s the basic solution. Bring it to a boil.
You can choose to cook some veggies- like cauliflower or broccoli- by dunking them in the boiling solution for a little while. I shredded the cabbage and transferred the shreds to a sterilized glass container directly.
After the solution has come to a boil, off the heat and transfer contents to the glass container. Add chilies, black peppercorns, garlic, fresh dill, mustard seeds, or whatever you like to the mix. I added garlic, red onion, lemon slices, black peppercorns, red and green bird’s eye chilies.
Ideally, the solution should cover the veggies. This ensures consistent flavor and avoidance of fungi/ bacteria. Double the solution recipe if needed.
Allow everything cool to room temperature, seal the jar and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight.
Done!
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I can’t wait to eat tomorrow. Great with rice, on pizza, also omelettes! Mmmm.
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Saturday mornings have such a vibe. It used to mean waking up to cartoons and everyone being at home. Then it meant pancakes. I’ll never forget Saturday mornings in college curled up in bed with friends, watching movies, while another friend fried up a lot of pancakes. What did we lack?
I make it a mission to eat something close to dessert for breakfast. A lot of times it’s cake. Other times, it’s bread. Obviously, homemade bread is my greatest achievement as a living breathing adult person.
The cinnamon roll dough-making process is very similar to that of bread. In fact, you could roll out bread dough (like a thick chapati), sprinkle cinnamon sugar all over it, roll it back up into a log and cut pieces about 1.5 inches thick.
I used whole wheat flour. That resulted in the shaggiest, roughest dough I have ever formed. Anything for the gut. The picture was taken at the proofing stage, so the rolls grew a little and browned a little, finally.
If you’re not on a diet, a glaze is a good idea. That’s as simple as powdered sugar and milk. Or lemon juice in place of the milk. Mmmm.
You may have heard, the granolas at the supermarket are all shit. And: homemade granola is a breeze to make. It will be custom-made and you will use fresh nuts. Guess what? No more palate-destroying bites of rancid nuts from aforementioned supermarket granola. Winning.
Here, a happy union of rolled oats, wheat germ, dried fruits (lot of raisins), almonds, coconut flakes, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, honey, coconut oil. Baked until toasty. Served with yogurt and a banana. Voila!
Ingredients: Oats, Chia Seeds, Coconut flakes, Wheat germ, Water, Milk, Apple, Honey.
SO GOOD!
Compare with my Chocolate Coconut Oats.
Me and chocolate oats, thing going on. So yummy. Chocolate chips upgrade it. So much that I have a hard time justifying the oats as being healthy. But you only live once. What can I do.
PS. Are any adults still spending their hard earned money on milk chocolate? I wanna know where to send the extended Game of Thrones ‘shame!’ GIF.
Bread-making is so special to me. When you have the finished product- hours and hours and hours later- it’s really satisfying. It is possible that the smell of bread, baking in the oven, releases some feel-good hormones. And I think there’s no debate these days as regards the best food in the world: fresh homemade bread and butter. It’s just hard to beat. It is simplicity itself, yet, the most indulgent thing you could eat.
For the record and in my defense, this is an old picture; I’ve made more interesting bread with a better crumb and texture. I just had to start somewhere. A great tip: never forget the salt. Oh. That would break your heart.
Source: LOVE THY SOUL
Taste of Jo 