Easy Red wine Beef Stew

We all like stew, we eat it with rice, yam, potatoes, gari, kenkey, the list goes on and on. So this is how it all started.... I was running out of food and there's no way I can study with little food (was preparing for an exam), I was on a clean bulking diet trying to get buff meaning I needed my calories but it had to healthy too and I just didn't want an ordinary tasting stew it had to be very tasty because I was gonna eat it as long as it could last, so for about a week (#studentlife)

Egg-in-a-hole

Hey there my lovely audience been a while. Loooong story the important thing is we back and not just with our bare ten fingers but messy ten fingers as a result of whipping up some delicious food in the kitchen.

Houston there's a problem! You know how frustrating it is when you crave something so much you decide to go to a fast food joint to get it and then after eating you realize you just wasted money you could have used to do something much better (in my case 'much better' means making it myself, am a Do-It-Yourself kinda guy). Yes, I had that very bad experience with a sandwich. I don't eat a lot of sandwiches but when I do it has to be good.

Peanut butter n Choc Cookies

I have always wanted to know how to bake wonderful cookies, and for a while now all my attempts had been futile. We happened to have some peanut butter sitting in the fridge (yes, i always look in the fridge for inspiration, lol), and i thought 'hmm, can't i make peanut butter cookies?' so i did the next thing i always do...went online to look for recipes i could try, and then i came across this one. Decided to give it a go, and they turned out to be the bestest cookies i've ever made!!!

Carrot muffins

Sometime last week, i was in the mood to bake something different. So i looked around the house for some inspiration, and happened to find a bunch of carrots in our vegetable bin. And i thought to myself, 'hmmm...what can i do with these???' Then i logged on to the internet to look for recipes and found one for carrot muffins that looked easy and still promised to be yummy. What they forgot to mention was how awesomazingly yummy it would be!!!

Croque Monsieur

What is it? a grilled ham and cheese sandwich, and yes, you guessed right, it tastes absolutely scrumptious!!! let's get right to it, shall we?

You will need:

- 8 slices fresh sliced bread, crusts removed

- Thinly sliced ham, i'm guessing you are free to use as much as you like *wink*...the recipe i used does say 8 ounces though, which comes to about 226g.

Pumpkin Soup

Happy Halloween

  

Guys its me again, the EXOTIC guest blogger! Guess what? When I went to work today we cooked with our handicapped children some Pumpkin Soup. And I thought this will be a very good recipe for here... It was so delicious that I had to buy the things I need and cook it when I came home! Besides I had to post it today because Halloween is pumpkin time. By the way, the pumpkin on top is what was left after we removed the inside for the soup. So lets start......

Delicious Turkey Vegetable Stew

Hey, hey!!!  I´m new on this page and one of your Food Junkies asked me to introduce myself before i start to introduce my Stew to you! Well, he even made a suggestion. So just call me EXOTIC guest blogger :D
First I want to apologize for my English... cause its not easy to translate a recipes from German into English. And my cooking style is more on a gut level then to measure everything! But I´ll try my best!!! So lets start and see what happens...

Meat pie

Hey guys!!! missed me huh? missed blogging too...been so busy, it's crazy! so, back to business...i've been wanting to make some meat pies for a while now, made some some years back, but i still have been on the hunt for the perfect recipe for the perfect crust + filling...and i just found it some days ago! imagine my excitement!!!

Coffee Junkie: Coffee Pancakes

Who doesn't love coffee? Well I know I do. I just try not to over indulge but it is hard when you see a recipe that has the one ingredient you love. I was pretty excited to see this almighty pancake recipe which called for coffee. Without thinking twice I found myself planning breakfast. I love Sundays because it's on these days that I can really chillax and be busy doing NOTHING :D! So what better time to have these delicious pancakes than on a day as great as Sunday. It was on this same day that I also decided to go sniff some flowers (with the camera) early in the am.

The Best I ever made!

Hello lovely people it been a while. We've been a little busy with work, studying, moving and settling, you get my drift. Now we back in business with full force. A few things conspired while we were away and the most significant is what has brought us back here, cooking and we got ourselves a DSLR camera specifically the Canon EOS Rebel T3 meaning our  photos have gotten a makeover how cool is that!!! About the cooking there wa  a lot of it and this time I had a very very very good and awesome friend to be a part of it. She sends her greetings from Germany.

The basics...cupcake time!!!

First of all, just want to apologize for being away for so long...in between my vacation, graduation, and starting work, haven't really gotten up to putting up a post. Forgive! So how's everyone doing??? Just thought i should share this basic cupcake recipe i got off the internet sometime last year. A lot of people tend to run in the other direction whenever baking is mentioned, but I for one think baking is loads of fun! Like I always say, BE BOLD! Never be too scared it wouldn't come out right and therefore won't even attempt it in the first place. If a batch doesn't turn out right, fret not...just try again some other time. No biggie!

Fried noodles with Chinese Chilli Stir Fry Veggies & Chicken

You befriend a girl and you find out she also likes food just like you do. So you give yourself an excuse to cook for her, well....just to impress! Fortunately it worked, cause the moment you are told (not once but twice by two different people) your food is better than that of the most popular and good restaurants in town then you know you did a good job.

Xtra-crunchy cornflake cookies

cookies made with cornflakes??? yup! i kid u not! this is an easy recipe i found online for cookies...with a lil twist of course...if you are looking for a crunchy snack to nibble on this summer, look no further! lol

The finger test

If you've ever been a med student like I have, you can imagine how excited I was when I came across this tip. This was one of the ways we were taught to determine the consistency of masses...if they were soft, firm or hard. Guess it's also a useful trick in the culinary world. Cool!

The Finger Test to Check the Doneness of Meat

Baked Jollof Rice

One day i was talking with a friend of mine, and she briefly mentioned something about baking jollof rice. And i'm like 'huh?!!!!' 'you did what?' And i'm thinking to myself, who does that??? Baking jollof rice? These my Ghanaian brethren and sisthren have come again ooo!

So a couple of days ago, I stumbled upon an actual recipe for this culinary wonder...and i'm like, "Oh my! This is really real! lol....and of course the adventurous chef in me was just itching to try it out.

And i did.

VERDICT? IT'S AWESOMAZING!!!! You just have to try it to understand what i mean...

De-Stressing feast part 3: Banana Lassi

Lassi, a milkshake or smoothie like drink which originated from the Punjab regions of India and Pakistan, are traditional yoghurt based shakes in either sweet or salted. It is made by blending yoghurt with water and Indian spices but you can have all sorts of variations, so I decided to make a Banana Lassi with a little twist. Feel free to experiment and have a little fun with your Lassi. This great drink ended our feast on a very good note, it did a great job pushing down the Red velvet Cupcake.

A few tips...

Found this pretty insightful...a few things to know about herbs and spices...

Herbs and Spices

Storage Tips:

Store spices in a cool, dark place. Humidity, light and heat will cause herbs and spices to lose their flavor more quickly. Although the most convenient place for your spice rack may be above your stove, moving your spices to a different location may keep them fresh longer. 

Gizzard Kebabs...

These are great for little get-togethers and parties, and everyone will love em! Very easy to make as well, and would save you the cost of buying already made ones...plus they are fun to make! Can't remember how i even got the recipe, but, who cares huh??? lol

De-stressing feast part 2: Ground Beef Veggie Sauce served with Cheesy Mashed Potatoes & Sweet Corn

We are back for the continuation of our De-stressing feast. I started off with irresistible Red Velvet Cupcakes now I am on to the main meal. This was my best part of the feast. You can serve the beef sauce with anything you wish, you can even use it for a Shepherd's Pie. Actually this happens to be a slightly modified Shepherd's Pie recipe. So let's get cooking.

De-stressing feast part 1: Red Velvet Cupcake

Sometimes I love to cook to de-stress but it gets boring when you have to eat it all by yourself. When you've been in Uni almost quarter of your life just studying like you don't have a life, sometimes just sometimes you need a time-out.

I call it a feast for the fact that we (I and 12 of my pals, yes TWELVE) didn't just have Baked Red Velvet Cupcakes, there was a main meal with some of my favourite ingredients which I had stated in one of my previous posts.

Pasta with Roasted Garlic, White Cheddar & Wine Sauce

This recipe was quite an adventure. When I saw the recipe in my stream on Google+ shared by +Lee Allison  I was like: "Oh boy, Pasta, Garlic, Cheese and Grilled Chicken all in one plate. AWESOME!!! Am definitely going to cook this. Thanks for sharing." If potatoes and bacon had found their way on that plate I would have drooled all over my keyboard. When you see a dish with a ton of your favourite ingredients you definitely have to cook it, no two ways about that.

Bomboloni

Little Italian doughnuts. This delicious desert that I got from 'Mario Batali Cooks' iPhone application, with it's funny name, is very easy fun to make just like it's name. The good thing too is it goes down well with anything like coffee, juice, ice cream you name it. Sometimes these are made with a stuffing of jam or custard. These, however, are just plain and really good with some coffee. Lets' not waist time and get to it.

Beef stew with vegetables, served with spaghetti

So this is another yummy recipe I got from a friend of mine…yeah I have gotten a lot of recipes from friends, lol. It’s very easy, and is simply great with spaghetti!

Chicken Curry Sauce

So I got this recipe from my bff, Gaby Ok, who got it from her aunt, who got it from…I dunno. All I know is that it sure tastes good! I kinda tweaked it a lil bit though...never be afraid of experimenting with flavours and colours! Had been looking for a chicken curry recipe for so long, this was like the answer to a prayer. You’ll see why! Or rather, taste why! Hehehe

Coconut Cloud Cake

I woke up one morning about two weeks ago feeling very slow, one would say I was 'under the weather'.So I decide to call a very good friend of mine and she was also kinda slow, now how does that help. I stay calm and we tried to talk but still no change….awkward silence then the bulb lights up. We both agree it’s a great plan and schedule a date.

Yummy Brownies

I have never really been a fan of brownies until I stumbled upon this recipe from a blog by Amanda Peterson. it's quick, easy, and most importantly absolutely yummy! i can't stop making...and eating em! so because i'm an extremely nice person, i've decided to share. happy baking!

The Grub Ninjas!

Well well so we, I (Cecil Tim-Pappoe) and Oby, managed to start a food blog and I am sooooo excited it's difficult to contain it. You may be wondering, it's just a food blog why is he so excited (craaazyyy). If only you knew. When it comes to food I like to think of our relationship as a LIFETIME LOVE AFFAIR. Nowadays that's hard to find, the love affair (and someone you share the same passion/obsession with) I mean not the food , as for food you can find that anywhere. But you see this blog is not just about food .....it's about, as Oby would say, AWESOMAZING FOOD, that you don't just find anywhere. Yeah i know, i know I am bragging, well.... So yes am excited cause I LOVE FOOD WITH THE PASSION OF A THOUSAND SUNS! Welcome to 'Life & Cooking It', you shall be entertained!

Welcome

We are two great minds with one thing in common...we love food! buying it, cooking it, taking pictures of it, and most of all, eating it! So we thought we'd share this love with the rest of the world...and thus the blog was born!(theme music). Kinda new to the whole blogging experience, so fingers crossed! Welcome to 'life & cooking it!'