2013 has now gone and 2014 has finally arrived. Nutritious Memories wishes all readers a wonderful year 2014 with great things waiting ahead for us. I’m still in the progress of making resolutions. Happy new Year!!!!!!!!
Kay’s question: Do you have any goals or New Year’s resolutions?
As I woke up this morning and went outside, suddenly, I felt a change in the atmosphere in the air. ahhh “Spring has arrived”.
Spring to me is the season of new life and bright colours. The days grow warmer and warmer and the branches start budding new blossoms and leaves. No one knows when each blossom will fall, but when they do, these delicate blossoms will graciously pirouette to the Spring gentle breeze reminding us all that the beauty of Spring can bring happiness into our day to day lives.
While reading your favourite book in the cold grassy patch, you never know when flower petals will fall into the pages of your book or if your having a picnic laughing with family and friends and playing Monopoly. Falling petals are unpredictable and have a mind of their own. Surprisingly, the chances of a petals falling on your head too are quite high (if your standing underneath a blossom tree of course).
Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning -Psalm 30:5
Like the flowers and leaves in all of its glory and splendor, we too can change and shine if we choose to think ahead and press on seeking that change so that we can accomplish our dreams and purpose in life when the storms come. Don’t let this or any season pass by knowing that you have the power to make decisions that can determine where you want to be in life
Spring
Kay’s question: What do you like about spring”
It was pitch black. It felt like darkness consumed me all around and this precious blog. No writing, no movement, not a sound to be found. That’s how this blog has been like for the past two months. DESOLATE
I always like to ask myself, “what motivates me to continue blogging?” I think this is something that all bloggers (and myself) need to remind ourselves one in a while especially when it involves re-igniting our passion. ( I can’t stand remaining stagnant when I know that I can move forward).
Blogging does takes some time to write posts especially the ones with photos and recipes. Sometimes I even felt like I could be using my time more on other things and if it was even worth continuing blogging. However, I was reminded of how my passion for writing about life, photography, food and nutrition made a HUGE difference in people. For some, it had changed their life entirely.
People have said to me” Kunle, when I see your photos and read your posts it is like as if I was there in the story and it feels so real and tangible to me”
I was shocked and at the same time happy to hear this. Because I am mostly writing about just the simple things in life that I appreciate or sometimes fail to see. Even if I help change or inspire even ONE person’s life for the better, this will still continue to bring me joy and happiness that even MONEY cannot buy.
Tomorrow Right now, I will continue to inspire others and myself though my Nutritious Memories that I always cherish in this blog.
If you are looking for a dish that looks good, taste good and that can be prepared in 30 minutes, then CONTINUE TO READ THIS POST.
In all honesty, Monday was one of those days where I just didn’t feel like cooking (GASP). I just wanted to quickly make something rather than ordering Dominos (which I knew I was going to regret eventually If I ate the whole pizza to myself) .Nevertheless, I remembered that I bought tempeh specifically for this recipe and thought to myself. “Well, why not give it a try” and thank goodness I did.
Personally, I think the way how food is presented can be an important indicator in regards to how food is perceived and accepted, especially in children. However, there are some foods no matter how you present mashed lentils it would look hideous, but would still taste great nonetheless.
This recipe was adapted from the website Eating Well. In this recipe, I tried adding zucchini and red capsicum which turned out great as it appealing colours to the dish.
The texture of tempeh is similar to meat, so this dish could be a great alternative if you are looking for a vegetarian meal. While my brother does not like tofu or soybeans at ALL!! he thought the tempeh was pork before eating and finished the salad with no complaints!!!! (even though he knew it was tempeh).
One of the best parts of making this salad was plating it up.
First the quinoa
Then the carrots and zucchini
The honey sesame tempeh
Spring Onions (scallion)
Last but not least, red Capsicum and Chilli. It looked too good to be mixed. However, another great part of this salad was mixing all of the flavours together. 🙂 Something tells me that this will be definitely be made again this week :).
For the recipe, please check out my second blog: Honey Sesame Tempeh and Spicy quinoa Salad
I have been on a roll on posting food blog recipes. That may be due to the 6 six drafts that I still have to go and I still need to post about my day trip and holiday in Canberra so stay tuned to next weeks post. But for now, let us talk about FOOD!! 🙂
Sometimes looks can be very deceiving. This was especially the case when I saw this as a side dish for lunch with the kids. Despite this weird looking salad, it is always recommended by Lena to try every food that is presented during lunch so that the children will also be encouraged to try meals with vegetables. So I really encouraged the kids “Just try ONE bite and you’ll never see it the same again” I told them. I know I did 🙂
You should have seen their expressions on their faces “WE WANT MORE!!!!!! All of their plates were completely empty. The salad of imagination was a complete success once again 🙂 and made washing a whole lot easier 🙂
For many years, I never used to eat pears. However, I fell in love with this dish as soon as I took my first bite. Now I use pears in various types of foods from oat bran topping for brekkie to even on pizzas (thanks to the free book I received from Woolworths). The good news is that pears are still in season in Melbourne. So I like to buy my pears at my local fruit store since they are cheap and fresh from the farms in Melbourne.
This recipe is slightly modified from the original recipe. I have added walnuts and used wholegrain mustard combined with honey to make honey mustard dressing. Overall this salad has a sweet and savoury taste to it and this paring goes incredibly well with my home country dish Jollof rice (which I should post the recipe soon) or I like to eat a LARGE bowl of this salad.
For the recipe, please check out my second blog: Pear, grape rocket salad with wholegrain honey mustard vinaigrette
One thing that I have learnt which I supervise the children in the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden is that salads come in different shapes, colours, sizes (and nutrients too). More importantly, salad is not only limited to the so-called basic salad (lettuce, tomato). After a few classes of ‘salad of imagination’, the possibility of inventing your own salad becomes endless and making salads as a side dish to eat never becomes boring, in fact, it’s my favourite part of the meal most of the times.
For this recipe, I love the hint of sweetness that comes from the dried cranberries that are buried within the salad.
Another great aspect of this salad is the minty aromatic smell from the fresh mint along with the light dressing which does not overpower the overall flavour of the dish.Sunflowers seeds are rich in Vitamin E, and I love sprinkling them into salads when I don’t have any other nuts or chicken available in the kitchen since I keep a bulk supply of sunflower seeds.
The highlight of this dish is allowing the flavours to combine and the kale leaves also softens after its being massaged with the other ingredients.
This recipe was derived from Kemi’s raw kitchen: Kale and Mint Salad with Cranberries and Sunflower seeds. My next attempt in making this, I would like to try dried apricots :).
For the recipe, please check out my second blog Nutritious Living:
One way how I love to reward myself (after organizing 1,000 papers of data for my research study), is to make a homemade delicious dessert. Last week, I went to the Ashcombe Lavender garden maze with the Deakin Toastmaster members. While being surrounded by fresh scent of lavender, I remembered Fiona’s recipe in the second season of Master Chef and I knew I had to make her dessert as my reward.
Before I even took a bite out of this lovely treat, I just loved the lovely fragrance of the lavender when it is combined with the cream and dark chocolate Ganache. While I was eating the tart, I envisioned myself having high tea with delectable treats in a fancy and elegant café chatting with friends. (~ah, how I love to daydream :)). During these special moments, I always like to remind myself that a healthy diet with (exercise of course) can also include an occasional treat which makes eating healthy not so rigid and more enjoyable.
Stressed is just desserts spelled backwards – Unknown quote.
For the recipe, please check out my second blog: Dark chocolate Ganache
