Taking packed lunch to work every day can save you!!!

The New Year will have many of us making resolutions to save money here and there.
And new research reveals office workers can save more than £1,300 over the year just by taking in lunch from home each day.
This has really help my family,when i was growing up, i knew my dad eat out while his at work and i will hear him complaining how expensive it was every month, and also when i started working also i will eat out during lunch, but guess what guys? i end up spending more money, though, sometimes i took my food from home, but the urge of eating out did not help.
But now that i have my own family i realized i need to save money for my family, i made a budget on how much food we consume and i realize we spend more eating out, so i decided to always make a park of lunch for my husband to work and also mine to school which is cool,
You can still eat whatever you like (although i advice you eat  healthy) if you know the recipe of what you eat out, if you are in a country where you have coffee breaks, you can get a flask and make your warm beverage, all this will reduce your cost of eating monthly, you will realize you are saving money for yourself,
Its easy, if you are not the time that wake up early, prepare the food and put it in the fridge, in the morning you are good to go, but i prepare my food every morning, because am use to it!

Try this today, or it might even be your new year resolution,
HAPPY NEW YEAR IN ADVANCE !!!!!

Nigerian Coconut Rice with a Twist!!!

This Nigerian rice is called the Jollof Rice with a twist! It feels good to see the looks on your guests' or friends' faces when they think you are serving them the good old Jollof Rice but bam, the moment the first spoon enters the mouth, you are sure to get the looks of pleasure! It makes you feel good, doesn't it? although some people prepare it and make it a bit of white but this is kinda different!
Yes, it looks the same as the Jollof Rice you know but the aroma and taste is different. Why don't you surprise your guests tonight or this New year by preparing this easy dinner recipe?

Ingredients
Rice - 3 cigar cups | 750g
Tomato Stew 500 mls
Coconut Milk 600 mls
Chicken (whole chicken or drumsticks)
Pepper - to taste
Salt (to taste)
Onions - 2 medium sized bulbs
Seasoning – 3 Maggi/Knorr cubes & Thyme (1 teaspoon)

Before you cook Coconut Rice
Prepare the tomato stew if you don't have some in the freezer. It is advisable to prepare tomato stew before hand and keep in the freezer. This is so that whenever you want to cook any jollof rice related dish, it is just a matter of adding it to your cooking.
If you will use whole chicken, wash and cut the whole chicken into pieces. Place the pieces in a pot; add water till it just covers the pieces of chicken, add the chopped onions, stock cubes and thyme and start cooking. The cooking time depends on the type of chicken. The rooster or cockerel cooks much faster than the hen but the hen is tastier.

Cooking till done and add salt to taste. Put the pieces of chicken in a sieve to drain, then fry with vegetable oil. You can also grill it in an oven. This is to give it a golden look which is more presentable especially if you have guests for dinner.
Now is the time to extract the coconut milk.
Parboil the rice using the method of parboiling rice. Wash the parboiled rice and put in a sieve to drain.

Cooking Directions

Now we need a pot big enough to accommodate the rice till it is done. Bear in mind that the rice will normally rise by at least one quarter of its quantity from the parboiled state to the done state.
Pour the chicken stock, coconut milk and the tomato stew into the selected pot. Set on the stove to boil. Add the drained parboiled rice, salt and pepper to taste. If necessary, top up with water to bring the water level to the same level as the rice. This is to ensure that all the water dries up by the time the rice is cooked.
Cover the pot and leave to cook on medium heat. This way the rice does not burn before the water dries up.
If you parboiled the rice as described, the rice should be done by the time the water is dry. Confirm that the rice is done by tasting it. That’s the way coconut rice is cooked.

Serve with fried plantain, Moi Moi, Nigerian salad or coleslaw.

Importance of Onion

Tears and bad breath-these are the two things usually associated with onion . But there is much more to these popular vegetables, which is known not only for it's unique flavours but also for their therapeutic benefits. Onion and garlic are guaranteed to transform any meal into a profoundly aromatic culinary experience.

Onion is a vegetable cultivated in almost all the countries of the world and consumed across the globe in a country like Nigeria, you hardly cook any type of soup without using onions. Except for a few communities, onion is used for cooking purposes by almost all the people. Not only does the vegetable lend an excellent taste to dishes, but is also associated with imparting a number of health benefits to its users. In fact, onions are said to have therapeutic, antibacterial, antifungal and loads of other beneficial properties.

Onions contain more than one hundred sulfur-containing compounds. These sulfur compounds are what cause the eyes to tear up when cutting onions. One particular sulfur compound has been found to prevent the biochemical chain of events that lead to asthma and respiratory ailments.

Higher intakes of fruits and vegetables have been associated with a variety of health benefits. Research shows that onions may help guard against many chronic diseases. That's probably because onions contain generous amounts of a flavonoid called quercetin. Other sources are tea and apples, but research shows that absorption of quercetin from onions is twice that from tea and more than three times that from apples. Studies have shown that quercetin protects against cataracts, cardiovascular disease, and cancer.


The higher the intake of onion, the lower the level of glucose found during oral or intravenous glucose tolerance tests. Experimental and clinical evidence suggests that allyl propyl disulfide is responsible for this effect and lowers blood sugar levels by increasing the amount of free insulin available. Allyl propyl disulfide does this by competing with insulin, which is also a disulphide, to occupy the sites in the liver where insulin is inactivated. This results is an increase in the amount of insulin available to usher glucose into cells causing a lowering of blood sugar.


Culled from Here

How often do we clean our sponge ?

As for me, those days i don't really care about how my sponge is, although its usually clean but its not something i take note of, a sponge is excellent for wiping up messes and absorbing liquid quickly, it can also absorb harmful food-borne along the way.Though you can’t eliminate 100 percent of germs lurking in a sponge, there are several ways to dramatically reduce the risk of cross-contamination—which can lead to food poisoning
Clean Sponges Daily. To lower the risk of cross-contamination, you should sanitize your sponge. While testing common household methods used to disinfect sponges,
Replace Frequently. Even after two or three uses, your sponge may be teeming with bacteria. And while cleaning your sponge daily help reduce the risk of food poisoning, you should consider replacing your kitchen sponge regularly. If your sponge starts to smell at any point—toss it out immediately.
Store in a Dry Location. It’s important to not only wring out your sponge completely after each use and wash off any loose food or debris,i don't usually take note of this, because i remembered my mum use to have a sponge case which is usually wet, but you should also store it in a dry location. Letting your sponge lay wet on a counter-top takes longer for it to dry and allows harmful bacteria to multiply quickly as well as increases the opportunity for bacteria growth. Also, avoid leaving any damp sponges in an enclosed area such as a bucket or under the sink.
Wipe Up Meat Juices. Cleaning up spills from ground beef with a sponge can increase your chances of spreading harmful food-borne pathogens. Instead, use a paper towel or disinfectant wipes to clean up spills and other bacteria-loaded messes.

Use on Countertops. Many sponges contain millions of bacteria—and it only takes a few to get you sick. Avoid spreading those germs and bacteria to countertops by using a paper towel or disinfectant wipe to reduce the chances of cross-contamination with your sponge.

Eating healthy within a budget

A question I’ve gotten a lot lately is how to eat a real food diet on a tight budget. I can be certain, since this was one of my biggest struggles when i started eating this way.Along the way, I’ve discovered a few resources and tricks for stretching a budget while eating healthy foods, so I’ve compiled them in hopes that they can help you too!

Tips 1 Meal Planning

    Write down 14-28 recipes that your family likes that are healthy. If your budget is tight, pick   recipes that are also inexpensive to make.
    On the front of a 3×5 index card, write the meal and the recipe.
    On the back of the index card, write how much of each ingredient is needed for this recipe for your family size. (I usually plan for leftovers)
    To meal plan: once a week or once a month, pick out the number of meals you need and put them in order for the week. Turn them over, add up the total of the ingredients, and you have a shopping list (just cross off any ingredients you have already)!
    Stick the cards on the fridge or bulletin board and put them away in your recipe box as you use them.
     (This system can help you stick to a list, and helps ensure that you always have foods prepared or ready to prepare, which limits impulsive purchasing and eating! )

Tips 2 Find Inexpensive vegetable

Veggies can vary tremendously in price, depending on the time of year and the source. Focusing on veggies that are in season will help cut costs some.
In the winter, we use a lot of frozen vegetables since they are cheaper, and in my opinion, fresher than the “fresh” produce that has been shipped halfway around the world.

Vegetables like cabbage and potatoes are inexpensive year round and can be great fillers and substitutes in recipes. I stock up on things like these when they are in season, usually buying several cases of  potatoes from farmers markets.

Cabbage costs just peanut from farmers when in season,

Tips 3 Grown your own food

Its also inexpensive to grow your own food, i remembered my dad doing this, we have some fruits and vegetable in our own company, also it helps us to breath a fresh air, though where i live presently i don't have space to grow, but i will advice you to grow some vegetables if you have space, like berries, fruit tree etc .

Tips 4 Get some Chicken

The area you live differ , if you are living in Africa or USA, its possible to do this, growing your own birds saves money and also you get to eat healthy chicken and eggs, like i said earlier, we had a farm and we have birds like chicken , turkey etc, it save cost and its healthy.

Tips 5 Don't buy drinks

If you are trying to eat healthy, hopefully you’ve already cut out things like soda, canned drinks, and processed juices from your food budget. If not, do it now! This alone is a big step in improving overall health.

If you have consumed much of these beverages in the past, go back and look at the percentage of your food bill that they take up. In general, buying beverages in any prepared form is an expensive and unhealthy option.

Even fruit juices cause a big insulin spike in the body, and are expensive without offering much nutrition.
N.B Cutting those items from the food budget will often free up a lot of cash for healthier options. If you aren’t a fan of only drinking water, ever… there are still some healthier and cheaper options for nutritious drinks.you can make an home made juice .

Don't Eat out much
We don’t eat out… :-) I admit, I love eating out. Not because the food is good (it usually isn’t) but because I don’t have to cook or clean for one whole meal. This is a big deal when you cook three hot meals a day and then have to do the dishes (and mop the floor as they case may be with a two year old!). That being said, eating out even once a month can use up a lot of the food budget at once. Saving the money from eating out lets me provide healthier options for me family at home, and none of us miss eating out much.  (apart from  a *Date*)

How to improve in your cooking

Everyone wants to become better in any skill they have. Cooking is no exception. Even if you think you are hopeless in the kitchen; like everything else, practice and increasing your knowledge makes perfect. Just relax and pretend that you are playing with the ingredients and you will realize that cooking is not such a task.

Increasing your knowledge
Constantly increasing your knowledge of cooking is important because you already know the basics of cooking and you are interested in improving your skills. Search for recipes on the web and in cookery books, read them through even if it is a recipe for a meal you think you have perfected. With Nigerian food recipes, and any other world recipe, there are often many ways to cook a meal and achieve the same results. So there's always something new to learn. When you eat a familiar meal and you notice an improvement in the taste, it is good to ask the cook what he/she did to achieve that

Timing
This is one of the top tips of how to become a better cook because you may know all the ingredients you need, spend a lot of money on premium ingredients but get the timing wrong and all the money and time spent goes to nothing. Knowing the right time to add certain ingredients goes a long way to making your food taste better.

Organisation
Some things need to be done before you even light up the stove for example; you can take your time and cut up every vegetable that needs to be chopped, place them in separate bowls and set aside. This is so that once it is time to add these, it will be a matter of putting them into the pot rather than hurriedly washing and cutting them up just before you add them

Attention to detail
Watch out for how your cooking can benefit from low, medium or high heat. Sometimes, you need high heat to get that white rice to dry quicker as medium heat will cause it to become soggy.

Have the basic tools you need
Something as basic as a chopping board is essential in the kitchen. It will help you cut the carrots or green bell pepper better as opposed to doing these without. It may be worth investing in that expensive blender because it gives you the best tomato puree

Plan Ahead
It is a good idea to plan what you want to cook well ahead of time. This is so that you can be sure to buy all the necessary ingredients for preparing the recipe.

Choose your time carefully
It is best to cook when you are sure you will have minimal distraction. Do not plan to cook when your favorite TV programme is on air or on a day you brought some work home. The less you are distracted from your cooking, the better attention you will pay to the preparation of the meal. This way, there will be no burnt/overcooked meals later!

Give yourself plenty of time
Always give yourself plenty of time to cook your chosen recipe. With practice, you can estimate the time it will take to cook, for instance Ofada rice before it is meal time. This way, you will not need to rush through your cooking. Also, if you invited friends over for a meal, you do not want to be dashing to and from the kitchen when you should be talking with your visitors

Be adventurous in the kitchen
Feel free to throw a few vegetables in the frying pan to make your very own gravy. You can start by using your favorite vegetables, then eliminate and substitute later if you feel that some of them do not fit in the mix due to their taste or texture. Soon, you will be wowing your friends and family with a recipe that started as a concoction! Remember, it is your kitchen so play with the ingredients as much as you want.

Often does it
Practice, they say, makes perfect. The more often you cook, the more you learn new and better ways of the art of cooking. The frequency of cooking also boosts your confidence in the kitchen. Let's say you cook Isi Ewu every weekend, you will be perfecting on the different stages of the cooking, if you cook it only once every 2 months.
We hope that at least one of the above tips will help you in your quest to become a better cook. Happy Cooking!

How to eat during workout

Food consumed before exercise is only useful once it has been digested and absorbed.  This means you need to time your food intake so that the fuel becomes available during the exercise period.  The time required for digestion depends on the type and quantity of food consumed.  Generally, foods higher in fat, protein and fibre tend to take longer to digest than other foods, and may increase the risk of stomach discomfort during exercise.  Large quantities of foods take longer to digest than smaller quantities. Generally, food is better tolerated during lower intensity activities, or sports where the body is supported (e.g. cycling) than sports such as running where the gut is jostled about during exercise.  A general guide is to have a meal about 3-4 hours before exercise or a lighter snack about 1-2 hours before exercise. You need to experiment to find the timing, amount and make up that best suits your individual needs.

What if I exercise early in the morning?

It is not always practical to eat a meal 3-4 hours before exercise.  If you train early in the morning you should opt for a light snack about an hour before exercise.  For example, some fruit or on the way to training along with some fluid such as a glass of milk or juice.  Make up for your smaller carbohydrate intake prior to exercise by consuming carbohydrate during the event or training session.

Should I avoid eating before exercise if I am trying to lose weight?

Exercising in a fasted state (8 hours since the last meal) results in a greater proportion of fat being used as the exercise fuel compared to doing the same workload after a carbohydrate-containing meal or snack.  However, it is possible that you may be able to exercise harder and for a longer period if you consume carbohydrate before exercise.  Overall, this will result in greater energy use and a better contribution to the negative energy balance that is needed to cause fat loss.  To make a decision about eating before your workout, it is useful to consider the goals of the session. If your primary goal is to improve performance, have something to eat before exercise.  If your primary goal is weight loss, and you will do the same amount of exercise regardless of whether you eat or not, save your meal until after the session.