My 7 Day Healthy Eating Challenge

Well!

As you will soon gather from my blog, I have been eating as heartily as ever with BIG FOOD weekends and lots of sweet treats made by my very own sister. The problem is once I indulge in complete gastronomical heaven, the pounds soon catch up with me. So I have decided it is time to put myself in check to conquer my bad habits.

First things first – reduce

The AC Diet: Tomato Stew Base

Part of my africaontheblog afrocentric diet series….

When it comes to Afro centric cooking, especially in West African kitchens, there is one basic recipe which is absolutely essential in laying the foundation for most dishes. It is a tomato based sauce which I call the tomato stew base. This sauce is essentially what makes the centre of most stews, sauces and even jollof rice. It can make cooking a much quicker task if you have made a large batch; it keeps well in the freezer and can be available on demand.

Tomato stew base

The Afro-Cosmopolitan Diet

Here’s an entry I posted on africaontheblog the other day, entitled “The Afrocentic Diet”.

Tilapia, shito and fried rice at Bojo Beach Resort, Accra, Ghana

For those of you out there who know me and what I am like when I am relaxing at home, you will know very well that one of my favourite pass times is cooking. I have decided to shift gears a little bit and share more about my love of cooking… and eating. It is a very safe topic for me to blog about and will ensure I stay out of trouble… for a little while at least.

Pasta a la “Prawninara”

Well, I am not Italian so if pasta and prawns has got a more original name than the above, accept my sincere apologies. In this happy place, we accept that we are allowed to make up words for things that may already exist.

Pasta topped with prawns in organic tomato based pasta sauce

Red Mackerel Stew

Well, I went completely tomato crazy when I suddenly decided that I just had to get my hands on red, orange and yellow tomatoes as described in my previous post.
Now that I finally had them, almost 3 kilo grams of them, I realised I had to put them to good use. I will share what I made with the tomatoes over a series of posts where you can view all the steps in photos. Some recipes are my own and some are inspired by celebrity chefs.

Red fresh mackerel stew, made with palm oil

How to find Red, Orange and Yellow Tomatoes

And green, and brown or coca cola coloured to be exact.

Well, this is the dilemma I faced after I watched Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten, putting together some burgers and those wonderfully coloured tomatoes. I could not get them off my mind, and as I have got a BIG FOOD weekend coming on soon, I thought it would be great for my family and friends to not only eat with their mouths, but with their eyes.

I went on the hunt.

Celebrate good times… Come on!

When it comes to enjoying life, and just living and loving it, you don’t have to over complicate things or come up with something elaborate to make your free moment memorable. Life is far too precious for you to get stressed out actually trying to think of something fun and relaxing to so.
Let these simple ideas inspire you.