New Year new post: Powered entirely by my phone because my laptop is being a diva. Including pics and recipes

Top of the New Year humans!!!! Forehead kisses and good will to all mankind! I hope you all enjoyed Christmas, mine was nothing short of Merry! I also hope you all are looking forward to a prosperous and productive year! Tis the season to make resolutions and my twitter timeline and Facebook feed have never been more full of hope and strong will with an equal dose of scepticism and nay saying. 

I'm truly in awe of the power of the human will and the depth of perspective which we all posess at the beginning of each calendar year. Almost osmosically, social media has been the megaphone for many resolutions and good intentions which quite frankly has been beautiful to watch. Everyone has either gone down the "new year new me" route,which is receiving the most amount of ridicule from the half empty glass tweeters and facebookers, or "I'm unstoppable and a change is gonna come." I admire the infectious positivity but also have a degree of scepticism which is however wrapped up in bows, balloons and all things pretty as opposed to my down right doom and gloom counterparts. 

I understand the thrill of making resolutions but we also forget to put into account the hard work requires to keep it up. It seem as if we have all the good will but missing the discipline to carry on at the best of times. My message has never been "don't dream or expect the best" but it's always been for everyone to practically and informatively make the right steps to a better future. This is irrespective of time, circumstance or popular opinion.

I decided to change my life and started gradually eating healthier in November of of 2012 and by March 2013 I was exercising with as much vigour as an Olympian in training. By April I was dropping dress sizes and by July I had achieved the silent goal I had made three years earlier at my heaviest, to lose weight by my 21st birthday. I say all this to stress the point that you don't have to wait for the new year to change your life for good. Change comes when you put action to words and stick to it! 

Before and after 

I say this to encourage all the people who want a change in their lives for the right reasons and have weighed all the aspects to practically go about it. I also urge everyone who has been caught up in the wind of the "new year new me" phenomenon to put thought into what they are saying saying. I congratulate you on being discerning and capable of brining change into your life, it's not an easy thing to do! But I urge you to have the courage, discipline and grace to carry on what you have boldly declared at the beginning of the year when it's in vogue. Remember those words and that same will power when it's raining and the trip to the gym is daunting, when you're emotional and all you want to do is drown your sorrows with cake but pick up a piece of fruit instead. It's then when it matters and counts and deserves a thousand retweets!

Speaking of food here's a run down of how I fed my family and myself over Christmas. Some of the recipes work all year round! Enjoy!  

Christmas face stuffing (pics and recipes)

2013 was very tough for myself and my family and most of our hanging out was done around me in a hospital bed and they were always worried and helping me in every way. As a result I wanted to treat them to a good Christmas dinner even if it killed me! I mustered up every ounce of energy I had and made them a feast. Let's not however mention how I fell terribly ill for a week later and was unable to get out bed for day. They were worth every effort and they enjoyed it so that's all that matters! 

Starter: Smoked Salmon salad with sour creme ramoulade

There wasn't any cooking involved in this dish which is why I chose it. I didn't want to add a complex starter when I was doing four courses on borrowed energy amidst a recovery and ongoing symptoms from the list of ailments I'm daily kicking butt. The only recipe here is for the spicy sauce and it was:

1 cup sour cream

1/4 cup mayo

1 tbsp dill

1 tbsp parsley

1 tbsp chives

2 tbsp spring onions 

1 tsp paprika 

1 tbsp habanero hot sauce (more to taste)

Salt and pepper to taste 

Mix everything and get right balance of herbs-sour cream-salt-spicy 

Adjust accordingly. Put in bowl to serve with the salad and garnish with a splash of hot sauce and chopped chives. 

Main: Turkey/ Salmon Encroute with red wine and cinnamon red cabbage, crushed and herbed new potatoes, creamed leeks and cranberry sauce

We had two mains, a side of salmon encroute mainly for my pescetarian self and a crown of turkey for the meat eaters. Whereas there's no one standard recipe for turkey I have tips to keep it moist and give it more flavour!

Turkey tip1- for extra flavour add herbs to the butter before you put it under the skin for the turkey baste itself when cooking. I used thyme, rosemary, chives, garlic and a bit of paprika alongside salt and pepper

Turkey tip2- since it was just a crown I cooked our turkey for the recommended 1hr 45min with an extra ten minutes just to be safe even when the juices were running clear (to check if poultry is cooked when roasting- pierce with a knife, press it against flesh and let the juices run, if cloudy it's not cooked yet and if clear it's cooked)

Turkey tip3- cover with foil for half the cooking time and then took it off to brown and crisp up. a) it makes sure it's cooked on the inside by keeping the heat from escaping 

b) it stops any garnish (bacon, herbs etc) from burning prematurely and being wasted 

Turkey tip4: Make a vegetable trivet ( veg between turkey and oven dish) from root veg. I used quartered onions, potatoes, carrots, celery and parsnip. The tip to this tip is to keep the veg cut very big so it's doesn't disintegrate when cooking. Try and and achieve a uniform cut so they cook evenly. These veg not only get all the flavour from the turkey and taste good but also if left in the oven for 10 minutes to crisp up, they can make a good garnish for your bird!   

In the left corner we had the salmon encroute which was every bit tasty and tantalising. This can be made all year round for dinner parties, gatherings and such.  I didn't make my own pastry on account of life being too short to make your own pastry for a four course dinner and I refuse to go into Tachycardia on Christmas Day from all the stress. Ready rolled pastry had to suffice and it actually worked well. I also made another short cut by asking for the fishmonger to take the skin off the salmon for me since my knife set containing my filleting knives hadn't been touched since the day I gracefully bowed out from my position as Commis chef at Brasserie Blanc; it made sense and it was free! 

To prepare it I greased a large, square oven dish. 

Placed one sheet of ready rolled pastry. 

Added the raw side of salmon on top

Topped with leeks (sautéed with garlic, dill, parsley and stirred in Philly cheese)

Applied egg wash to the sides 

Added top pastry

Folded in edges tightly, scored the top with a knife to let air out and brushed with egg wash. 

Cooked for 45 mins- 1hr on gas mark 6

Mains went with creamed leeks and red cabbage. I did the traditional creamed leeks. For the red cabbage:

Sautée cabbage with red onion and add cinnamon stalk. Add red wine and then cook in the oven with the rest of the food for 25 mins. I prefer to make a cartouche out of grease proof paper instead of a lid. That's how we did it in chef school and that's how it stuck! 

Instead of roasting potatoes I boiled mine  (baby potatoes) whole with skins on. Crushed and added sour cream, chives, spring onions, salt and pepper

Dessert and cheese courses: Christmas pudding, Ice cream, chocolate mousse and profiteroles cake,cheese and fruit platter plus coffee, port and baileys

This colourful feast fit for Roman gods was easy as 123 to assemble. I bought a variety of cheeses including Cheddar, Red Leicester, Brie, Stilton and Wensledale with cranberries. In lieu of my French culinary training where cheese is usually served with walnuts and dried apricots etc I went for grapes, crackers, breadsticks and persimmons which worked well. Try Stilton with crackers and persimmons, it's amazing! I totally mellows out the sharp notes in the Stilton, rounds the flavour up with a creamy finish!

The filtered coffee ended up making Irish coffee with the baileys with a hint of cinnamon which went well with the cheeses and desserts. 

The Christmas pudding was the best I've ever had thanks to Harrods, the profiterole chocolate mousse cake was also a shop bought delight which only required putting on a platter and dusting with icing sugar!  Usually don't take this many shortcuts but I've been unwell and on bed rest since coming out of hospital. 

Leftover Makeover: Leftover Birdie Pie

The next morning the unexpected happened, I felt hungry again! After the big feast the day before I never thought I'd want for another morsel of food but lo and behold, the whole household woke up ravenous!! Overwhelmed with the amount of leftovers also nursing a slight hangover I came up with what I feel will be a tradition in my house for years to come! I made Left Over Birdie Pie! 

I put the left over parsnips, carrots and stuffing in the good processor. 

Shredded the turkey

Put it in an large oven dish alongside some left over veg for texture, turkey bechamel sauce from the night before, paprika, dill and parsley and mixed 

Made breadcrumbs with the left over French stick, breadsticks a little bit of cheese to bind and some chives and parsley. 

Topped it with breadcrumbs and browned in the oven for 45 minutes. Served with left over red cabbage and a selection of salads (beet, coleslaw and green salads)

It went well with both red and white wine suprisingly! 

Deserted dessert:

Again I still had some leftover dessert and decided to do a frothy baileys custard and topped it with left over Christmas pudding crumbs, served with the profiterole mousse cake and Irish coffees ......And that is you keep on gaining weight, even the day after Christmas! 

The night after two nights before: 

The day after Boxing Day I still hadn't used the left over potatoes and for dinner I made quorn cakes with a Brie cheese center. 

I added flaked quorn chicken, spices and herbs (paprika, chives with salt and pepper) bound with an egg. Placed Brie slice in the middle of the patties. Baked for 25 minutes turning halfway though and served with a (mayo, honey, Dijon mustard and lemon dressing) salad and Shiraz. 

That did away with all the leftovers except the salmon encroute I froze which came to my rescue New Year's Day when the meat eaters where having a leg of lamb which I wanted no part of. 

I hope you indulge with the timeless recipes all year round and put a twist on next Christmas with the rest. If you have any food questions please leave a comment. 

I will be doing the Daniel Fast (Google it!) from the 5th for 21 days. I call it the meat free, Christian sister to the Paleo diet! With that I will be posting Daniel Fast, vegan and vegetarian recipes and a few treats along the way, in the month of January. 

That's all I had on my heart to share with you this time! Thanks for reading and don't forget to share and spread the good will and good food! Finish as you started, let's go ahead and keep at these goals till we see results! 

Happy new year!

With every blessing

Kymmiisha 

Xoxo

Procrastination smack down part deux- Christmas edition

Joyeux Noël, Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad to you and yours! Now, I must express that the original setup was to post on the blog on a fortnightly basis [which still is the plan] but because of my start date last week the next post fell on the 23rd of December. I not only had to hit the iron whilst it's hot for the sake of keeping momentum; I also didn't want to release a Christmas tip laden blog two days before the big day. Not only would that exclude the more organised people who planned in advance and by then would be marvelling at the gifts they'd wrapped in advance and the turkey defrosting in the shed, over a cup of tea looking at their perfectly and proportionately designed tree (envious snarl;) I also didn't want to add to the list for those who will be frantically elbowing others in hot pursuit of brusselsprouts that no one [but grandma] will eat and putting on the last of their decorations to their lopsided tree...my people!!! 

I'm currently stuffing my face with this wonderful and healthy selection of snacks including yoghurt, apples, satsumas and a flap jack as I write to you all. Happy to report that all my gifts are wrapped (in the most askew and barely aesthetically pleasuring way possible with a lot of exposed tape might I add) I'm listening to music and winding down from a busy day of Christmas planning. There is still so much to be done but I had to take some time out and put something out into the blogosphere before Christmas so I hope you enjoy this post!! 

Speaking of food, I have dug deep into my recipe files and got two of my easiest and funnest recipes for you to wow your party guests with and enjoy healthily and organically leading up to Christmas. 

I happen to have bad Gastro-oesophageal reflux and frequent Gastritis attacks and have been on daily dose of Omeprazole for years. This makes stuff like commercial, shop bought mulled wine an enemy to my stomach. As it's very sugary (borderline saccharine) and concentrated it's not even enjoyable enough for me to deal with the consequences afterwards! 

I've been looking in my little book of recipes and I've found a mulled wine recipe which can be made organic, fuss free and you can whatever you want to it. It's been a good substitute for me and friends have loved it over the years.  Last year I got the chance to hold a mini workshop at a ladies' luncheon at my church at taught the ladies how to make the mulled wine and a canapé. [pictured below] this year I thought of share it on the big old interweb for a mild and organic alternative to the usual mulled wine! 

 2 studded [with cloves] oranges halved
 2 cinnamon sticks

 3 star anise
 A glug of honey (more to taste later)
 2 apples star cut and wedges kept on the side
 2 litres of water 
Squeeze of lemon and extra honey to taste afterwards
 
Put all ingredients together and boil for 15 minutes, simmer for 5 and strain. Put all fruits and spices in separate bowl for decorating later. Add fresh lemon juice and honey to your taste and ladle mixture into glasses. Add garnishes upon serving i.e. Cinammon sticks (fresh) or fruit wedges from earlier. 
Or
 Cool down for a few minutes Pour everything into a punch bowl for more theatrical presentation where u can see all the ingredients.

For a bigger crowd add a whole carton of grape or pomegranate juice to serve for the colour and sweetness. Suitable for everyone; kids, pregnant women, drivers and people wanting an organic alternative! 

Canapés: 

Above pictured is an example of how you can wow your party guests with a range of canapés. Instead of a plate I opted for a slate which can now be widely sourced. In the picture we have mushroom galettes (puff party topped with a duxelle of mushrooms. Satay chicken, avocado and prawn sushi and a red pepper and goat's cheese crostini. 

Not to overwhelm  you with a list  of recipes for things in a language foreign to us both I've included a a fun and simple recipe which requires minimal prep and can be served hot or cold.  This recipe has served me well and works well to get the kids involved in the cooking and hosting process and it's something they will enjoy eating. 

Mini posh pizzas! On a toasted baguette  with a simple Italian tomato sauce and can be served with a mild cheddar cheese for kids or goat's cheese for the adults.  Here goes the process! 

Baguette cut on a bias into little disks- drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle salt n coarse black pepper and put in a preheated oven (gas mark 6- 200C) for 10 minutes

Tomato sauce
1 medium onion
I can of chopped tomatoes 
Bunch of fresh basil + more to garnish
3 cloves of garlic 
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt+ pepper


Fine dice+ sweat onions in olive oil with the garlic crushed until translucent. Add tomatoes and half the basil and simmer on a low heat till it reduces to half and season with salt n pepper. And stir in the rest of the basil.





Assembling - spoon a teaspoon on to bread disks and spinkle grated cheese (cheddar cheese for kids and richer goats cheese for adults) place under grill for a minute to melt cheese and serve! 

So to the newly empowered hosting novice or the enlightened hostess with the mostess looking to cut corners enjoy Christmas! I hope these recipes will be of use to your modern day Gatsby-esque festivities!!! 

So I went ahead and did my hair for Christmas!! Well I needed to do it anyway! It's been a rough year on my body and I've been on every drug from painkillers to anaesthetic and have been under a lot of stress with my health playing up and so many changes. This left my hair in distress! I would run my fingers through my hair and leave with a chunk of hair my braids were falling out from the root and my scalp was tender and painful. I felt, for lack of a better word, UNPRETTY and lost a lot of hair especially in the middle and edges of my hair. However and amazing cousin who is cosmetology school and already an extraordinary hair dresser came to the rescue and fixed my hair!! It was a very long process but the feeling I had after was priceless and I'm so grateful for my confidence being restored evey day through the internal work I'm doing on a daily basis and the external makeover we did! 

I already had some good hair lying about the house, any weave wearing sister knows the difference between good and not so good hair!! 

Before my cousin came on board to sew the weave in for me I went about treating the hair (Remy virgin hair) which has been used before. 

I mixed 1tbsp conditioner, 1tbsp castor oil, 1tsp coconut oil with some warm

Water and put in the microwave (in a disposable Tupperware tub) for 1min 30secs. 

Dried it in the airing cupboard overnight, reversed the bundles and dried for another couple of hours. 

I then straightened it per track and rebundled it (left straight). The process wasn't over! 

We (she did all the work really) then bleached it using Clairol naturally blond hair lightener. I wanted a new and different look. I thought I'd never gone blonde or red before so either way the hair processes it'll be a welcomed change to the status quo of my hair! 

 After a full sew in with a middle part this was the result!!! 

It would have been nice to go all the way blonde because blondes do have more fun but at the hour mark, this is as much processing as my minuscule peroxide level box lightener could offer. Not to worry my edges are grateful!!! I feel like a new woman and along with all the love and prayers, this has been my strongest week and the amount of medication I'm taking is dwindling by the day! It's a great feeling feeling your miracle slowly but surely come into fruition. This trace is proving no to be for the swift and every day I get to appreciate the progress I'm making in my mind, body, soul and spirit. It's all the more rewarding!! I want to encourage anyone else going through health issues and feeling frustrated that you aren't recovering as quickly as you would want to recover. There will be a day when you will be completely healthy, healed and whole but that day you will wish you had all this time on your hands again. Bittersweet but true, I say this to encourage you to use these times to do something your future self will thank you for. Be it keeping your spirits up and not letting yourself hit yaw pits of depression. Or writing down goals and dreams, doing any possible planning so that you stay ready and when your time comes to do what you are longing to do now, you will be ready this is what this blog is to me, a way to have some control of my life and to be able to express myself with my words when my body had and has been failing me. I hope and pray you also find an outlet to make you feel useful, purposeful and alive which will allow you to dream again. As you should feel anyway because you may hold the answer to someone's issue one day with the very thing that lies within you as inspiration. Don't count yourself out because of a temporary set back. I don't know who I'm encouraging but I just felt this strongly on my heart as I encouraged myself and a friend going through something similar, we will be just fine and so will you!!  

Christmas can drive you to drinking at the best of times with the over commercialisation of the whole holiday. All the colours screaming for your attention, the nostgic music from original iconic centuries old versions to pop music misinterpretations hauntingly blasting out of every speaker. Not to mention the weather which is enough to make an Eskimo feel at home with the added bonus of unpredictable bursts of rain, an enemy to every woman's hair, it can be tough. This is not at all including the vast array of errands and to do lists long enough to clothe Santa Clause himself! I know I've had the least active Christmas prep buying all my gifts online and being a shadowing member of the cooking crew as I physically cannot take over the kitchen and make a feast as I've done in years past. 

It's been all about the music this year. Away from the Christmas carols I'm made to listen to by mother blasting out old Bing Crosby and Sinatra CDs I've been up to some music listening myself. 

Here's my top 5 tracks I've listened to most this Christmas period: 

Jhene Aiko- Bed Peace

Anita Wilson- More of you

Pharell Williams- Happy 

Tye Tribett- He turned it 

Thank you- Busta Rhymes ft Qtip

I haven't heard much from the readers, please feel free to leave a comment with your top 5 music this Christmas I would love to hear from you!!!

Right! That's all I had on my heart to share with you before Christmas. I will be going back to the original format of posting every other week and posting any random and riveting tidbits in between blogs if anything happens or I do anything interesting that's worth noting! 

Have yourself a Merry little Christmas :)

Lots of love

Kymmiisha

Xo