Tag: food blog

Chicken Gizzards with Quinoa

“Each of you has received a gift in order to serve others. You should use it faithfully.”
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1 Peter‬ ‭4:10‬ ‭

If there’s something I say a lot and sometimes in a form of a joke is that “I AM HERE TO SERVE”💁🏽‍♀️. I was at a wedding last weekend, after the reception ended and people started leaving I found myself getting up to clear the tables by removing all the decoration so that its owner will just arrive, count her things and pack – when the other ladies saw me doing it they got encouraged and started helping me. The wedding planner was amazed and couldn’t stop thanking me but to me it was not a big deal at all. I don’t want to miss an opportunity to live out my purpose and now that I know it is to SERVE I will do it faithfully🙌🏽

Tonight’s chicken delicacies come in a form of chicken gizzards. I like them but I don’t like the fact that they take a long time to cook and for someone who is in to quick meals this can be a bore🙄.

Anyways, I started cooking the gizzards first in salt and pepper then did my vegetables actually I didn’t “do” them, I sautéed them 😅🙈 in butter; I had baby corn, mushrooms and sugar snap peas all together seasoned with a Veggie spice from Robertsons.

Gizzards were all cooked by now so I added them to my veggies.

Some of you know by now that we use this stock from InaPaarman’s a lot so tonight I used the chicken flavored one.

Look how amazing this already looks and the aroma is out of this world.

I made quinoa on the side.

Mixed everything together. Dished Up, Served and We Enjoyed😋😋

“Do not worry about what to eat”

Matthew 6:25

Chicken Necks Soup

“There should be a consistency that runs through us all. For Jesus doesn’t change—yesterday, today, tomorrow, he’s always totally himself.”

Hebrews‬ ‭13:7-8‬ ‭

Well people who know me can attest to the fact that to me CONSISTENCY is number 1, well maybe the idea because I haven’t mastered this character trait yet but God being faithful to all our desires is really working through me🙌🏽, let me just pat myself at the back for consistently blogging last week for the whole week👏🏽 – we try again this week💃🏽. Let’s have Jesus as our standard for he is always himself, no circumstance makes him change who he is or what he is about, one day I want to be known as that blogger who always sticks to her schedule, who always publishes on time and I know with “one day at a time” it is possible.

It is a good thing I just confessed now that my consistency game is not up to par I mean I didn’t take pictures of the ingredients used in this meal BUT I won’t let lack of pictures put me off like they used to in the past💆🏽‍♀️

Be that as it may, our chicken delicacies for the night are chicken necks, the weather was literally begging for a soup so I thought why not make “chicken necks soup”

I firstly cooked the necks on the side, made sure they were nice and brown.

Prepared the vegetables on the side in a vegetable stock, I had cabbage, carrots strips, spring onion and sweet corn.

I let it cook and simmer in low heat until the necks were “fall off the bone” vibes😊

Dished Up, Served and We Enjoyed😋😋

“Do not worry about what to eat”

Matthew 6:25

Mashed Potatoes Oh-So-Hearty

“He said, ‘Take it up for yourself.’ So he put out his hand and took it.”

2 Kings 6:7

So yesterday we read of a man who lost a valuable ax head that he had borrowed, we interpreted that as a reminder that our talents, skills, servanthood and blogging etc are actually borrowed to us by God. It is important for us to be able to go back where we got off track, you know one minute you are flowing, blogging every morning and the next moment you have stopped. Nothing is happening🙅🏽‍♀️. Let me just tell you that your ax head is not gone – it is where you left it. Allow God to help you back on track. Before we move to our meal, notice how Elisha – with all his might answered him by saying “TAKE IT UP FOR YOURSELF”. Unfortunately no one is going to take it up for you.

Our “Chicken Delicacies” of the day are chicken hearts. I last had them when I was a baby meaning that I have never cooked them myself. I told you these themes are taking me out of my comfort zone. I bought mine at Talylor’s (https://www.taylorsmeat.co.za) their meat is always fresh so I frequent them a lot. Please don’t mind the chicken on the side, the husband is not a fan of hearts.

Roughly chopped green peppers and had them sautéed (let me know when to stop using this word🙈)

In went the chicken hearts accompanied by baby tomatoes because color is important💁🏽‍♀️. I stirred until the hearts changed color – they are actually quick to cook, in no time they were brown.

Added the mother-in-law spice mix from Woolworths Food, this mix has all the flavors and a variety of spices all in one.

I made mashed potatoes on the side seasoned with garlic powder.

The added chives and my old time fav ”Cream O’Naise”. If you are into a creamy mashed potato I definitely suggest you try this one and come and thank me at a later stage😊

This is how the husband’s meal turned out like😋

This is how mine turned out like😋

Either way… Dished Up, Served and We Enjoyed😋😋

“Do not worry about what to eat”

Matthew 6:25

Chicken Livers and Garlic Bread

“Where did it fall?” Elisha asked.

2 Kings 6:6

A little background of today’s scripture. Picture a group of prophets cutting down trees with axes, one of the prophets loses his ax head into the water and he becomes really upset and worried because well well the ax was borrowed. Wait a minute and quickly imagine the ax as anything you have lost that actually God borrowed you – yep that skill that only you have, that passion, that talent, that heart of serving, your purpose🙆🏽‍♀️, your love for blogging😉. Our introduction can’t be this long🙈 we will carry on with this story tomorrow.

It’s a new week and we have a new theme. We shall call it 🥁🥁🥁 “Chicken Delicacies”. Yep, all things inside a chicken😋 and we start off with the ever so yummy chicken livers.

Started by sautéing (let me use this word for a lil longer🙈) mushrooms and bell peppers in a garlic and ginger paste.

Then I added my chicken livers in this mix, kept stirring because we don’t want burnt livers here but don’t overdo the stirring lest they lose their original shape (you know what I mean right)

In went this curry and smoked paprika from https://www.woolworths.co.za and my favorite sea salt from https://www.paarmans.co.za

Favorite part has to be sauces, I love sauces you guys. I used prego, tomato and sweet chili

Forgot to take a picture of the garlic bread I used but I am certain any can be used💁🏽‍♀️ be sure to follow the instructions on its packaging.

Dished Up, Served and We Enjoyed😋😋

“Do not worry about what to eat”

Matthew 6:25

Butternut Rounds meet Sweet Chicken and Creamy Spinach

“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Psalm 118:24

I don’t know if it is because I declared that I will not only be excited about serving but I will wake up everyday looking forward to it. Indeed there is so much power in declarations, I woke up this morning so glad thinking that this is the day that the Lord has made, this is a brand new day and blogging like serving just takes a day at a time.

We are wrapping up our “Rice, Chicken and Veggies” theme, I got WhatsApp messages from my contacts saying they have tried some of the recipes and enjoyed them. Glory be unto to God🙌🏽

We close off our theme with a “Sunday Meal”. First things first – chicken seasoning, this is what I used. Then into the oven it went.

For the spinach, I started with frying mushrooms then added my washed spinach, seasoned with my favorite sea salt.

I made a sauce for my chicken in the meantime, which consisted of sweet chili, monkey gland and lime juice. No measurements there – your chef intuition must just come through 😅. Poured it on my almost cooked chicken and put it back to the oven.

Took out salted butter and sautéed (I’ve always wanted to use this word🙈) the butternut rounds, no seasoning required here because our butter is salted💁🏽‍♀️

Added cream to my spinach and mushrooms mix – please do forgive me because I honestly don’t remember which one I used, forgot to take a picture but you can see it looks delish already.

Paired my rice with sweet corn this time around. This is how my chicken came out like.

Dished Up, Served and We Enjoyed😋😋

“Do not worry about what to eat”

Matthew 6:25

Fried Rice with Wings

Don’t be lazy in showing your devotion. Use your energy to serve the Lord.

Romans 12:11

I legit take this blog as a form of serving, I say it over and over again to myself when I don’t “feel” like blogging – that actually this is not at all about me, it is about serving The One who has given me this passion and this gift (it is a gift😊). I couldn’t be more convinced that my energy, my time, my commitment to this blog is a form of serving God and I won’t be lazy, I want to wake up everyday looking forward to and being excited about serving Him.

You know there are meals we hear about or see on Pinterest and think I don’t think I can make that, maybe because we think it’s out of our league or we just won’t enjoy it. I have plenty of those but for this theme it had to be fried rice, it looked so complicated for me but I can’t be cooking rice the old same way on a daily so why not try make fried rice💁🏽‍♀️

Plus the husband bought me proper non-stick frying pans. I’ve been deceived for so long💆🏽‍♀️. I believe my meal is definitely going to make a proper turnout. The pans are Baccarat from https://www.home.co.za

Who else is here for the word “Chef”🙋🏽‍♀️

I started off with my vegetables which consisted of bell peppers, green beans and tiny cut carrots, added diced bacon and this Garlic Man (Crushed Garlic and Ginger).

I told you how the husband isn’t a fan of onions right? I used my green onion seasoning from https://www.paarman.co.za instead of real onions.

While that is frying, I quickly marinated my chicken wings to get them ready for the oven. I used these sauces… and put them on the oven.

I started cooking my rice on the side – have you noticed how I don’t take pictures of my rice? I assume we all know how to cook basmati for about 10minutes😅. I mixed it well with the vegetables and started the fun part.

The wings were also ready and oh so yummy.

I opened up a well in the middle and poured my scrambled eggs. Make sure the eggs are medium to well then start mixing everything together and that’s your fried rice😉

Dished Up, Served and We Enjoyed 😋😋

“Do not worry about what to eat”

Matthew 6:25

Drumsticks Stew and Rice

“The righteous person faces many troubles, but the Lord comes to the rescue each time”

Psalm 34:19

You know sometimes we are troubled by even things we thought would never be a problem in our journeys, let’s take this blog for an instance – I decided I will open with a scripture every time I write a new blog post. I did not think it will be an issue because how many verses does the bible have right? Wrong, as much as we have verses to last us a lifetime finding the relevant one for a specific opening is not an easy thing. Now you can imagine how ecstatic I was when I came across the assurance in His Word that as much as I will be facing troubles in this journey, God will come to the rescue each time.

With that being said, we are still on our rice, vegetables and chicken theme. To avoid making trips to the shops, I bought one mixed pack of chicken with 4thighs, 4drumsticks and 4wings, separated them accordingly in my ziplocks. So tonight we are going to have drumsticks.

I fried carrots, baby marrows, and the drumsticks in garlic and herbs, then added a chicken stock from https://www.paarman.co.za I love, love their products as most of you have noticed. They are flavorful for my liking.

On the side I prepared my jasmine rice with turmeric.

Less than 30 minutes type of meal, I dished up, served and we enjoyed😋😋

“Do not worry about what to eat”

Matthew 6:25

Rice, Veggies and a Thigh

Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment.

1 Timothy 6:17b

I initially thought that this week we will have vegetables and chicken, but I realized when I was preparing my meal that we actually haven’t had rice in a very long time so being a believer of all things given to us for pure enjoyment, why not enjoy rice this week, carbs and all.

First things first – let’s get our chicken thighs marinaded in a quick sauce. I don’t always use store bought marinades because I know I can be creative like that😁, I used a Steers Monkey Gland Sauce, Wellington’s Sweet Chilli Sauce and the ever so tasty Spur Chicken Spice, combinations like these always produce the yummiest results.

Since this is supposed to be a quick dinner, I put my marinaded chicken in the microwave for about 6 minutes because we need all the flavors right. Then straight to the oven.

Then on to the vegetables – you can never go wrong with frozen mixed vegetables hey, they are God’s gift to us🙌🏽. I mixed mine with sweetcorn because #color💁🏽‍♀️. Cooked them with a vegetables stock, garlic, herbs and green onion.

Cooked my basmati rice on the side.

Dished Up, Served and Enjoyed😋😋

“Don’t worry about what to eat”

Matthew 6:25

NoodleSalmon

“Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do.” Philippians‬ ‭4:5‬ ‭

Tonight we finish off our #PastaTheme, to say I thoroughly enjoyed experimenting and playing with different pasta would be an understatement, it was so fun and makes me look forward to the next theme😁

When I think of a #WeeklyTheme I let my husband know, it’s a good thing he is also a foodie so he sometimes helps with ideas but tonight he didn’t come up with an idea, tonight he called me from one of my favorite spots in our area: Fairmont Zimbali http://m.fairmont.com/zimbali-resort/ (check it out), not only is it the most beautiful place ever, they serve the most delicious food😭.

So when he called me and said I should not cook, he will bring me a takeaway after a meeting with his friends – I prayed that it is along our theme😅 otherwise I was not going to post🙈.

Few minutes later he arrives, I quickly run to check what’s inside and the ever so considerate and thoughtful husband of mine ordered my favorite of all times SALMON, guys my love for salmon knows no bounds, I love it so much so that if it was possible, I’d have it on a daily basis, well maybe not daily but you know what I mean, right?

Salmon with noodles😋, noodles do fall under the pasta category🤔, correct me if I’m wrong. Next time I go there – I am definitely having this meal again.

“Don’t worry about what to eat” Matthew‬ ‭6:25‬ ‭

Chorizo and Prawn Pasta

“A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight.” Proverbs‬ ‭11:1‬ ‭

We are all busy doing this and that but we have to make sure that we find a balance – making sure that I keep up with the vision I have for this blog requires nothing but balance and to think how much God hates a flawed balance makes me want to be more focused because at the end of the day, this isn’t only about me.

I’ve never cooked nor bought chorizo before, I think I saw a post about it from a fellow foodie on Instagram and having a theme like this for an entire week demands one to be on a lookout for a “new” recipe because there’s no way we are having one thing over and over again.

Tonight’s pasta is Macaroni, experimental as we are – we will never forget where we started from.

I literally threw everything in my pan, pepper strips, prawns, chorizo, spices while cooking my macaroni on the side.

Believe it or not, it came out beautifully cooked, added my al dente macaroni; dished up, served and enjoyed 😋😋

“Don’t worry about what to eat” Matthew‬ ‭6:25‬ ‭