Guest Post - Mrs Temitope Laguda

 

I am so pleased to have the very first guest post on the blog. While this post has a food recipe in it, its more about a day in the life of a working mother who still tries to make sure her family eats home cooked meals as often as possible. For all the working mothers out there, we can attest to the daily struggle and fighting tiredness to don our superwoman capes at the end of hectic days.

 

 

I would love to hear from any working mothers who would like to share their creative meals that they create for their families.....

 

 

So here's Topsy....

 

 

 

 

 

I have to cook, I have to get my kids’ uniforms ready, I have to do laundry, I have to clean the house, I have to return phone calls, I have to respond to emails, I have to sort letters (actually bills), I have to do all these things but first, I need to get home! I need to get home and then cook. Now, you may think getting home isn’t such a big deal but if you are a mother of 2 and work 80miles away from home and the travel takes the better part of your day, you wonder what plans Mother Earth has for you and openly hate super heroes while actually secretly loving and envying them. Wonder Woman anyone?

I digress, I have a long To Do list and not so much time.  I have then decided to spend my train journey to draw a map of what I need to do and want to do. At the back of my mind, all I have there is sleep but that is infinitely impossible when I have gremlins waiting for me at home. That puts cooking on top of my list. Now, for the question of the year, what do I cook?? I have no clue! I do what I do every single time, wait till you get home and rummage through your pantry and refrigerator to see what you can rustle up. Having made that decision, I settled back in between the 2 selfish white men seating on either side of me and slept off.

Aahh….finally, I get home and head straight into the kitchen past the hungry faces and shouts of Mummmyyy!!! Sometimes, I wonder if their happiness is of love or get in the damn kitchen and make us some food woman! Anyways; Rice-check, Frozen Veggies- check; Chicken Breast – check; Prawns - check



I have decided to go for the usual; Rice but this time with mixed vegetables. Now, I’m notorious for eyeballing quantities and have a strong habit of making more than enough so whenever anyone is hungry, there’s always some leftover to tide them over. Probably a culture thing but it’s working for me.

 Here are the ingredients;

• White Rice (for healthier version, brown rice)
• Frozen Mixed Vegetables (I use Bird’s Eye). If you don’t have that you can use fresh carrots, green beans (both sliced thinly), sweetcorn, broccoli and green peas
• Sliced skinless chicken breasts
• Tiger prawns
• Ground Ginger
• Stock Cube
• Curry
• Mixed Herbs or just Thyme
• Salt (very little)
• Oil (I use sunflower oil, you can use olive oil)

 

 

Method

• Heat 1tbsp of oil in a non-stick frying pan, season your chicken and stir fry till almost cooked through.
• Just before it’s done, toss your prawns in and fry them together till both are well done. 
• Add your veggies (if using frozen, cook from frozen and if using fresh don’t cook them first, stir fry fresh with the exception of the broccoli.
• Stir continuously and add your curry, mixed herbs/thyme, ground ginger.
• Taste and add a little bit of salt if necessary. You can now add your broccoli, the reason for the late addition is because you don’t want your broccoli too soft, you want a bit of crunchiness in your veggie sauce.
• Toss together and make sure the seasoning is well incorporated into the sauce.
• The whole process should take no longer than 10-15mins. You want to keep all your nutrients in and not overcook it.
• Serve with rice/pasta/cous cous.

Another variation is adding some water or chicken stock and a dash of soy sauce to it and then thickening with corn flour before adding your veggies to give it a wetter and moreish look. I have made different types of this veggie sauce to be honest and there’s no limit to what you can do to it. It’s about being adventurous.

 My family absolutely loved it and they asked for more, even I took some to work the following day for lunch.

 If I’m welcome back here again, I’ll tell you what I cooked for my husband that got him to propose to me a second time! Oooh, I’m hot like that! ;)

 Thanks for allowing me to grace your page Uzo. Hope to do this again soon! J