Spice it up – A Click A Day.

September 11, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha6 Comments

I went to buy a bit of ground cinnamon and found myself buying a few curious blend of spices that I’ve never tried before.

I also bought some Chickpeas that I’ll use to prepare Hummus and I’ll share the recipe with you later 🙂

My Yummy Chicken Mango Salad – A Click A Day.

September 9, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha35 Comments

picsart_09-09-06-56-011

This is mango season and the delicious fruit abounds in the fruit stalls right now.

Taking advantage of its sweetness asides from juicing them and making smoothies, they can be used in fresh salads as well.

I made this platter yesterday evening and you have to take my word for it that it’s yummy and of course, you are welcome to give it a try 🙂

Quick Recipe

2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil

1 lemon, juiced

1/4 flat leaf parsley leaves, chopped

1 long red chilli, deseeded and chopped (optional)

1/2 of a tomato, deseeded and chopped (optional)

1 stick of cucumber (optional)

2 – 3 cups of chopped roasted chicken – remove the skin

2 mangoes, peeled cubed or sliced into small bits

150g of mixed salad greens

Preparation Steps:

Combine the Olive oil with the lemon juice and add the parsley and chilli if you are using chilli.
Combine the chicken, mango, salad greens, tomato (optional), and cucumber (optional) in a large bowl. Drizzle your dressing, toss lightly to mix and serve.
Enjoy 😉

food · Lifestyle

Cooking for my family – Jollof Rice with beef, fried plantain and salad.

June 26, 2016February 11, 2017 jacquelineobyikocha33 Comments

Jollof rice is a staple dish eaten in most West African homes and though I am not living in my home country, Nigeria, a lot of our native dishes feature big time on my menu each week.

As a busy mum, I try to cook a large pot that will serve my family at least twice. This is time saving and grants me some respite on some evenings when I can just kick back a little and not sweat over the cooking pot.

So, from my cooking pot, I bring you my own modified version of jollof rice. Modified in the sense that I added some vegetables. I always seek ways of sneaking in extra veggies for my children in as much as my younger son finds time to pick the peas, he still gets to eat a good portion.

Recipe:

1.5 kg Uncle Bens long grain parboiled rice
1 kg of fresh, red tomatoes blended with red bell peppers, chilli pepper, ginger and garlic.
Beef or Chicken (depending on your families taste. I use both)
Salt to taste
1 large onion or 2 medium onions
3 cooking spoons of vegetable oil. I use Canola oil.
4 Knorr cubes
2 tsp thyme
3 tsp curry powder – if I find Nigerian curry powder all the better ‘cos it’s more aromatic.
450 gms of diced vegetables.
1 tin of pureed tomato paste to add more colour – optional.

Preparation:

I prepared the tomato stew by boiling the tomatoes first to lose to lose excess water, then fry the dried blend in the vegetable oil and spice.

Most times I make the stew before hand and keep in the freezer so that whenever I want to cook jollof rice it’s a question of using the prepared stew and it can also be used to eat other meals like boiled yam, beans…

Cook your meat with curry, garlic, thyme, salt, ground pepper, Knorr cubes and chopped onions. The cooking time depends on the type of meat and how soft you want it. You can also fry or grill the meat depending on your taste.

Parboil the rice by boiling it. Rinse the parboiled rice and leave it in a colander to drain.

Cooking Steps:

Pour your meat stock and the tomato stew into a sizeable pot and leave it to boil.
When it boils, add the parboiled rice, curry powder, salt and pepper to taste. The quantity of water should be at the same level with the rice to ensure that the rice doesn’t get too soggy by the time it’s cooked.
Cover the pot and cook on low to medium heat. Jollof rice has the tendency to burn so keeping it on reduced heat helps to prevent it from burning so much before the water dries up.
Normally, the rice will be done by the time the water is dry but if not, add more water in small quantities and keep cooking on reduced heat till done.

When it’s cooked, you can serve with fried plantains and salad.

It usually serves us twice even with generous helpings 🙂

Enjoy your day today.

Below is my first just published Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

‘A Richly Layered and Passionate Read.’ Jan Cliff

Out of the silent breath

Family · food

9 Great benefits when our young children cook for the family.

June 11, 2016January 28, 2017 jacquelineobyikocha28 Comments

For quite a while now, most weekends I involve all my children in cooking a meal or two.

This was how I learnt in my mothers’ kitchen and it’s invaluable to start them young (as soon as they are old enough to help with bringing the tomatoes) for so many reasons.

It builds their self-esteem, confidence and they feel like valued contributors.
It helps to grow their sense of independence so that even when you are not around, they can easily cope on their own.
It helps you a great deal on days that you are just too worn out to think straight. They can easily whip up an omelette for you.
It’s fun and offers a great bonding time as well. We swap stories or just generally chit-chat.
It offers them the opportunity to learn a basic life skill and you never know what direction life can take them.
Real life science and opportunity to experiment.
Calculation skills are introduced here as well as better comprehension; I ask them to write down what they learnt or to read a recipe and explain it to me.
You increase their imagination – to the point that my children now hunt for new recipes that we can try 🙂
A nice way of sneaking in the vegetables, since ordinarily, two of my children avoid veggies, but taking part in making it does a wonderful thing to the mind.

…and yes, the food tastes extra special 🙂

Yesterday, we made our own version of baked potatoes and vegetable casserole with meatballs.

My daughter selected and washed the items according to my directions – I was the Operations Director 😉

They all participated in the paring, grating, cubing of the vegetables and potatoes, whilst mommy’s responsibility was to add the spices, assemble the processed items and set it to bake.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of the finished product before we dug into it, luckily, I took a couple of photos when we started.

Recipe:

1 big sweet potatoes – peeled, washed and grated

3 medium sized Irish potatoes – peeled, washed and cubed

Half a head of Broccoli

3 large tomatoes

1 large onions

4 medium carrots – peeled, washed and grated

4 big white mushrooms

I large yellow bell pepper.

2 beaten eggs for binding.

Fresh garlic – out of a clove, I use like 4 pieces.

Spinach – a handful

A sprinkle of parsley

Oregano – half teaspoon

A dash of curry spice

Salt – 3 teaspoons

2 cubes of Maggi stock

25-50 gms of grated cheddar cheese – layered through and sprinkled on top.

1 pack of minced meat – spiced and rolled into balls with breadcrumbs.

Served a family of 5 with generous helpings and leftovers 🙂

Have a great weekend and do share your tips with us.

Below is my first just published Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

From the very first poem, “Dreams,” this book captivates with passionate and perceptive words. Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha captures a broad expanse of the human experience in this book of richly layered poems.

The Great Book Of Lists · This Is My Life

Elements of my day and so far so good…The great book of lists.

May 29, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha17 Comments

La Duchesse has given us a double prompting and I’ll just race through me as quick as breeze:

Veggie sauce bubbling on the gas :-) — Veggie sauce bubbling on the gas 🙂

Her idea for this prompt ‘elements of my day and so far so good,’ comes from Brandon Burchard’s day planner.

So, the instructions are to build your list :

quickly jot your to-do list
what are the 3 things you are excited about today
what are the 3 things you are truly thankful for today

My quick to do list

Revise for the end of year exams with the children. I have to quiz them and go through their subjects before shooing them confidently out of the door to go and get those grades.
Conclude my monthly bulk cooking of stews, soups, and stuff: I always prepare at least two batches of our native soup amongst other stews to ease life a bit. These could serve as quick dinner or lunch on busy days. It earns me some hours of putting up my feet 😉
Continue partying on my blog and mixing with fab folks. Come on in 🙂
Place some calls to family in Nigeria.
Writing quick drafts of some of my blog posts for the coming week so that I can face my other writing works.
Tweak my second self-hosted site a little bit. Not yet ready to run.
Do some research work for work on Mastermind Learning and Development strategy.
Native vegetable ‘Edikan-ikong’ soup.

I am excited

That school Summer break will commence over here in a couple of weeks. Don’t have a holiday plan yet but looking forward to working out something.
I have been nominated for The Annual Blogger’s Service to Bloggers Award. Have you voted yet? Please do cast your votes. Who would have thought that lil‘ me will be nominated for such 🙂
Some new ideas are cooking in my head and it makes me feel all warm at the thought.
Getting my teeth into my second book. It’s been a bit slow.
A 3-day self-improvement workshop that I’ll be attending. Okay, I’ve overshot the 3 things.

I am thankful:

For my husband and children. They are kind and supportive.
The blog World and the great supportive people I meet here. I’ve learnt so much in this space.
For life in general. Each day is a splendid opportunity.

So far so good and so not good. I had to slip that in there 😉

I feel naughty and guilty for not having stuck to the ‘treat your body better rule’ that I set for myself. My weight loss has been sitting put like the Sitting Bull, but it’s my fault 😉 Okay, I’ve got that off my chest. Now to the good part.
My published poetry book makes me very happy.
The decent growth of my blog in just a year of blogging always amazes me. It’s just wonderful.
The endless burst of inspiration keeps me bubbling. I wish my fingers could work half as fast as the ideas that are streaming through my head.

Thank you, Duchesse. I enjoy your promptings.

P.S. You can join our Summer blog party by clicking the link. It’s taking place right now and really bubbling. It’s fun and you get to meet fantastic folks. Looking forward to seeing you

Below is my first just published Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

Out of the silent breath

Life · Stream of Consciousness Saturday.

Express on WordPress…Streams of consciousness Saturday.

May 28, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha20 Comments

Pressure cooker on the gas. I’m cooking up a storm this weekend. Both in my house and on my blog.

I’m doing my month end large pots of sauces and our traditional soups. It saves my life by several inches to do so.

There are days that get hectic that those earlier prepared and saved bowls of stew and soup saves this lady from expiring.

I’m also stirring some broth in my cooking pot of a blog right now. A lovely Summery blog mingle is bubbling as I write and you are hereby invited to join the mix.

What a lovely thing and way to express ourselves on WordPress. I’ve met lovely people from different locations, Malaysia, London, NY, South US, Nigeria….and the list keeps growing.

Isn’t that impressive that we have this opportunity? I don’t know what your opinions are but for me, it’s fabulous. Let’s keep the wonderful expressions flowing. You rock WordPress 🙂

P.S. You can join our Summer blog party taking place right now. It’s fun and you get to meet fantastic folks. Looking forward to seeing you.

Below is my first just published Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

Out of the silent breath

Personal · The Great Book Of Lists · This Is My Life

I am currently….personal TGBOL

May 6, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha19 Comments

For this week’s great book list, Duchess gave us something a little different. It’s a snap portraiture of who I am, what I do and what my current plans are.

She found the list idea on MAMBI website as a freebie for their Create 365 brand.

How does it work ? We should list items starting with I currently…. love, eat, drink, etc, so here goes…

a. Loving… Life and the state of my mind that keeps expanding with possibilities each day

b. Eating… Less even though I had one greasy Hardee’s burger after gamboling around the beach.

c. Drinking… Lots of water and blended fruits otherwise called smoothie these days.

d. Watching… Jumanji with the children and last night was Casino, with dear Himself.

e. Going…To start different things, a new blogging platform focusing on blogging, writing and speaking, searching more ardently for income opportunities and marketing my book.

f. Reading… A Prisoner of Birth, my bible, a host of blog posts and O’s Little Guide to Finding Your True Purpose (O’s Little Books/Guides)

g. Texting… Family and friends. Just finished having a chit-chat with one of my sisters and my roomie back in University.

h. Playing…. In the sand at the beach and watching the children ride their segway. I passed on their offer to teach their mother. I don’t want to break any bones or lose my dentition.

i. Working… On my second book. I decided to focus on one at a time instead of the different manuscripts I am working on.

j. Stressing… Over marketing methods, over an ill relative and the current state of my country, Nigeria.

k. Celebrating… My blog’s one year today and one of my boys will be celebrating his birthday in four days, so he’s making a long plan for me 😉

l. Listening… To Happy by Pharell Williams and my playlist, that uplifts my spirit.

m. Thanking… God every day for his grace and mercy and friends for their presence in my life.

n. Buying… Not much. Asides from our regular grocery and books to read each month, I have been on a spending hiatus.

o. Pinning… I honestly haven’t pinned much of anything, except darning my son’s shorts, I guess that passes for pinning something 😉

p. Planning… Summer slowly in my head and hoping to be done with my second book by then. Planning not to crowd my mind with so much and focus on the important things.

q. Visiting… Ajman. We went last weekend to the nearby Emirates and it was a lovely quiet time.

r. Wondering… Where to find the energy to do all my weekend cooking, writing and tidying. I am feeling lazy.

s. Feeling… A mix of emotions. More like melancholic.

Below is my first Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

Out of the silent breath

Dance to your heart’s delight my African child, until echoes of your stamping feet, beating heart; bright eyes, smiling lips; and waving hands, resonates over and over like thunder claps, reverberating throughout the Universe.

Just dance.

Family · Lifestyle · Personal · The Great Book Of Lists

Oh My! What A Long List..

April 21, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha23 Comments

Please don’t peek too closely at my long list of groceries but I have a household to nourish you know 😉

For this week’s The great book of lists, our grocery shopping list is the prompting word.

I have a love and hate relationship with shopping, but it’s unavoidable and since I cook virtually every day except on evenings that we eat out thus, my grocery/shopping list is a quite lengthy.

I actually have a typed list on my computer which I print off and take along with me, even though taking the list has never stopped me from buying something that’s not on it, especially if it looks like a good bargain 😉

I have two phases of shopping. Regular shopping marts for everything and a visit to the African store for condiments to make our native soups and delicacies 😉

I always like a full larder and I do bulk shopping twice a month and then pick up fresh goods like vegetables, bread, milk etc as the need arises.

My children accompany me and sometimes Dear Himself can be talked into tagging along when he’s not at work.

My kiddos are learning to sniff out good bargains too which is a mix of joy at their company and exasperation 😉

The list runs from food items in one trolley and other needed household items in another basket.

Meat: We are Carnivores. Sometimes I think I am breeding little Tigers.

Fish: To balance out the meat.

Chicken:

Ham, sausages etc:

Eggs: We ate lots of eggs. Scrambled, poached, boiled, omelette…

Cheese: Yess!!! I love cheese

Beverages. My children like Nesquick or Nestle Milo.

Milk. Everyone takes full cream except me *not that it’s helped much

Yoghurt

Waffle mix

Pasta

Rice

Beans

Fresh vegetables

Fresh fruits: Lots and lots of mix of oranges, grapefruit, pomegranates,

watermelon, bananas, dates, clementines, avocado ….

This list could go on for ages so I will let your imagination do the rest.

Somehow, a bar or several of chocolate have a way of sneaking into my trolley 🙂

Hey! Don’t judge! What’s a girl to do anyway? Chocolate always goes well with a good book 😉

Blog · Guest Posts · Interviews

This Might Interest You…BE MY GUEST.

April 10, 2016April 10, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha51 Comments

When I started my blog eleven months ago, I decided to take it a day at a time and see where the path is leading to.

I didn’t want to jumpstart far too many things and it would become difficult to get a grip on what exactly it is that I am doing here.

As each blogging day goes by, my vision for my blog keeps becoming crystal clear and I want to raise the bar a notch higher. It’s all part of the evolving and change. We have to keep aiming for growth.

My blog is a primarily a lifestyle blog and not just self-centric focused blog. I am a very community minded person and in as much as my blog is my voice in this space, it’s a space for all of us.

I am introducing a weekly GUEST POST (4 times a month) and Interview opportunities to other bloggers.

I am also available to write guest posts if you require that.

The guest posts that I seek are posts that will enhance and improve the lives of others. It would be on topics such as (but not limited):

Parenting, Family, Relationships, Finance, Exercise, Health, Wellness, Inspirational, Motivational, Security, Cooking, Lifes Lessons, Self-Help etc.

On the interview aspect, I am introducing bi-monthly interviews of fellow bloggers, which will involve short snippets about you and a feature of your blog.

Lastly, after due consideration and due to the success of parties that I hosted in the past, my theme blog party will take place once every month. I am contemplating the 3 or last weekend of the month.

So, tell me what you think. Please, and thank you.

If you are interested in the guest post or interview, you can send me an email JacquelineObyIkocha@gmail.com or check my ‘getting in touch page’

I might also knock on your door, so don’t be surprised if you see me outside 🙂

Family · The Great Book Of Lists

Celebration and Acts of Love….The Great Book Of Lists.

April 3, 2016January 31, 2017 jacquelineobyikocha10 Comments

La Duchesse Derat gave us two themes for this week’s Great Book Of Lists and as usual, they are topics that bring out the joy in us.

I am a very expressive person and I believe in appreciating those around me whether in little or big ways. What matters is that over time, those little things compound into something that they hold on to as a good memory.

The little Acts of love that I indulge in often are:

I am a hugger: Embracing my children, my husband and those whose are close to me always give me a warm buzz and it costs nothing.

Buying little tokens or giving a gift card: A lot of times I might stumble on a little item that makes me smile and think of someone, from a painted little vase, a book, or a card. I buy it and give to the person.

Occasionally, I indulge in gift cards that don’t cost the World – a 10, 20 or 50 dollar gift card depending on how buoyant my pocket is at that point in time and give them out in appreciation. There are times when I have a little bit extra to spare, I could buy up to 5 gift cards and just keep in my purse and give them out as my spirit moves me.

Cooking: Celebration calls for arrays of food. It always gives me pleasure to watch everyone eat, drink, laugh and generally enjoy the offerings that I made with a lot of love and sweat 🙂 There is this bond and camaraderie that eating together builds.

Calling and texting: I always endeavour to call or text family and my close friends to find out how they are doing. Now BBM, Whatsapp etc have made it cheaper to do so. It gives me an uplift in the spirit after a nice, warm chat.

I listen, I counsel and I pray: I always offer a listening ear and as much as possible, try to offer an objective advice that’s not biassed. If it requires praying, I would partner in prayers and counselling. If issues need to be straightened out, then as much as possible I will tell you my mind as gently as I can. I don’t believe in enabling someone to behave badly and unfortunately, this has once or twice not gone down well with one or two friends who sought my advice and expected me to side them in their bad behaviour…telling my friend that she’s wrong to wish her husband harm and going out of her way to his office to make a scene did not earn me any badges, but it’s not a friendship that I particularly miss. I will only proffer an advice that which I would probably resort to myself.

When it comes to celebrating:

I dance. I love to dance and possibly sing along to the music. Sometimes, when I feel very glad, it’s not uncommon to just play my loud jams and dance. Occasionally, my husband takes me out to go dancing and dining afterwards.

Going out with my family for a good time.

Take my body wholeheartedly to a spa and get a little pampered. There’s nothing like a deep tissue massage to work out the kinks and a relaxing pedicure to make you feel as if loads has been lifted off you. I love to paint bright red colour on my toes at such times. It makes me feel like revving my engine 😉

Indulge in some cheap home treat of reading, eating dark chocolate, running a nice hot tub and just feeling good.

I share my good news. I believe so much in the power of positive aura and when I have positive vibes to share, I do so.