Bake A Cake! No Egg, No milk!

Originally posted this recipe on Mabi's World.

This is probably the cheapest and simplest cake I ever baked. It is a chocolate cake. It is moist, dark and delicious!
Here's the recipe;

1 1/2 cups of Flour

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup or 3 tablespoons cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 tablespoon vinegar

1/3 cup or 5 tablespoons vegetable oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup cold water

1 teaspoon vanilla NB: No eggs, No milk

*Combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a mixing bowl
*Mix well
*Add the remaining ingredients in the following order ; vinegar, oil and water
*Mix well , add vanilla flavour and pour into cake pan
*Bake for 20- 25 minutes in an oven at 175°C or 350°F.

Enjoy it.

Horlicks!

By Akwe Mabs

I have been so busy all day and I can't wait to go to bed anytime from now. But I am thinking I should get something to help me "unwind for a good night's sleep". Guess what that is........!

HORLICKS!

I love this instant low fat malted drink .

All I need to do is put 5-6 teaspoons of horlicks into a mug, add hot water, stir well and drink.

Leeks! How do I get them to stay green?

Posted by Akwe Mabs

I bought some fresh leeks from the market . It was pretty much and I was obviously not going to use all of it at once.

In my attempt to maintain the "greenness" and "freshness" I decided to separate the leaves from the stem. Then I washed , chopped, packaged and preserved the leaves in the freezer.

I then took a vase, poured in some water and placed the roots and the stems inside. I have placed the vase near my kitchen window so the plant could enjoy some sunlight. I figure this will help the leeks stay green and of course produce new leaves.

(ready for planting)

(chopped leeks )

I guess I found a way of keeping them green even without a garden.

Fruit Cocktail: How about this ?

Posted by Akwe Mabs

I wanted a Sunday morning with a variety of fruits for breakfast. That's how I figured it would be better to do a fruit cocktail with the different fruits I had at home knowing that some of my favourite fruits like paw-paw, grapes and watermelon are kind of rare to find in my area at this time. So I used the following:

• 3 small apples(green)
  
• 1/2 pineapple


• 2 oranges


• 6 large straw berries


• 1 large mango


• 2 pears


• 1 lime


• 2 drops of strawberry flavour

I washed, peeled and diced the pineapple, mango, 1 apple, 1 pear & 1 orange.

Similarly, I diced the remaining 2 apples plus 1 pear & the strawberries (unpeeled).

I squeezed the lime and 1 orange, poured the juice into the bowl of fruit, added 2 drops of strawberry flavour & stirred.

I chilled it in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes while I cleaned up the kitchen.

Once on the table the fruit cocktail tasted sooooooo good!
What a Sunday morning treat I gave myself!

Pineapple! In a canoe!

Posted by Akwe Mabs

I love to have pineapples for desserts, especially when the they are sweet and juicy!

Sometimes I do like my pineapples displayed in a canoe-like manner.

Akwe's pineapple in a canoe
It's quite simple to do.

I wash the pineapple and cut out a portion. Then I carefully remove the pineapple from the peeling before placing both on a plate. Then I slice and arrange in opposite directions ( some to the right and others to the left)

May be next time I should try out this simple pineapple cake recipe from Right Cuisine!

Cookies! My First Attempt !

Posted by Akwe Mabs

I always wanted to bake cookies but never really did, perhaps because I often felt it was easier to grab a packet of cookies from the nearby grocery store than bake.


I finally decided to give it a try one Saturday morning. Thanks to the Internet I googled in and out 'how to bake cookies'! I was amazed at the world of information, recipes and videos I came across. From the lots I was able to pick up something !

Here's what I put in my home made cookies

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 table spoon orange juice
• 1 table spoon vanilla / plus nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

I combined the butter, sugar and egg in a large bowl and beat till creamy.Then I added the flour , baking powder, the orange juice, vanilla/ nutmeg and mixed well. I divided my dough into 3 portions, wrapped each in a plastic food wrap and kept in the refrigerator for 2 hours. After two hours I took out the dough (one portion at a time) rolled out on a floured surface to 1/4 inch thickness.Then I cut ( oh my! I didn't have a cookie cutter so I used a plastic cup to cut out and shape the cookies), then I placed them on the cookies sheet and baked for 10 minutes in a pre-heated oven(400°F about 200° C) . I loved the cookies, my family too! But we had better watch out not to eat so much of it given that cookies could add on our weight!

Tomatoes In My Fruit Basket!

Posted by Akwe Mabs

Each time I return from the food market I wash , dry, package and store some food items in the refrigerator.

Recently I decided to include fresh tomatoes in my fruit basket rather than preserve all of it in the refrigerator. My idea is to encourage my family to eat fresh & raw tomatoes as is the case with other fruits often placed in the basket. Somehow it's beginning to work!

Some described tomato as a fruit others say it is a vegetable. Whatever the case tomatoes are used in many different ways. Often I use tomatoes to make sandwiches, for salads, for garnishing, to prepare sauce, vegetable and on many other occasions.

Here's a simple sandwich I make in less the 3 minutes using fresh tomatoes:

• 1 loaf of bread (french loaf)


• 1 1/2 tablespoon mayonnaise


• 1 large tomato


• 1 onion


• 3 large lettuce leaves


• 1 teaspoon vinegar

*Wash thoroughly and slice- the tomatoes, lettuce, onions. I prefer to do ring-shaped slices for the onions and the tomatoes. Sprinkle some vinegar over the onions and lettuce. Slice open the bread and apply mayonnaise on both sides, then neatly place the lettuce, onions and tomatoes. You may want to add some other items like sausage, hard-boiled eggs or cheese Otherwise just go ahead and enjoy the sandwich.

It's delicious!

Custard-Easy and Nice!

Posted by Akwe Mabs

Waking up from sleep every morning to prepare breakfast for the family could sometimes be very demanding especially for some working class parents even though many agree that breakfast is " the most important meal of the day".

In most cases the kids have to get ready for school while their parents get ready for work and so breakfast in many households becomes an eat- it when-the-time-permits affair.
In order to prepare nutritious breakfasts and better manage the already overly loaded mornings I sometimes:
*Set breakfast items on the table the night before.
*Place the fruit basket and get the orange squeezer set (when am not serving juice bought from the grocery shop)
*Draw up the breakfast menu for the week/month( to include items like Quaker oats, custard, bread, tea, eggs, fruit juice, milk, cheese ,whole grain cereals, yogurt e.t.c. )
*Prepare 2minutes breakfast options like oats /custard or serve ready to eat breakfast cereals on very busy mornings.

My family enjoys custard served with milk, sugar or honey.Often I serve a glass of orange juice alongside the bowl of custard. Yummy! Vitamin C , D as well as calcium are therefore derived from this quick home-made breakfast option.

• 1/2 cup of water (bring to boil)



• 1/2 cup of normal temperature water(to mix custard powder)



• 3 table spoon full of custard powder(corn starch)



• 3 cubes of sugar or 2 tablespoon honey



• 1/2 cup milk

Mix the cornstarch with the water till its smooth. Pour into the boiled water while stirring for 2minutes .Remove serve, add milk, sugar or honey.

Easter Eggs!

Posted by Akwe Mabs

I had been thinking of what special treat I was going to give my daughter for Easter when we got an invitation to attend an Easter Egg hunt.

I had never seen as many eggs like that before! I could hardly count the number of trays that were on display. Some were hard-boiled eggs(ready for colouring) and others were toy eggs(to be used during the egg race).

The kids came with little baskets all ready & excited to hunt as well as decorate as many Easter Eggs as possible.

I had a great time watching the kids enjoy the Easter event. I equally learnt how to decorate Easter eggs. I tried it at home and it worked!

*Here's what you need
-hard boiled eggs(5-10)

-food colouring (10-15 drops)

-boiled water (1/3 per cup)

-vinegar (1 teaspoon)

-vegetable oil(1/4-optional)

*Mix and pour the mixture into 2 different cups. Lower eggs carefully into each cup ,turn around then remove using a soup/table spoon.When eggs are soaked for a longer time the colour becomes darker. Live to dry. You can also add other decorations or paint the eggs .