The Basil Plant and The Cactus, and Simple Basil Pesto

Basic Basil Pesto Recipe - cookin5m2-PIN.jpgbasic-basil-pesto-recipe-cookin5m2-4

I had a basil plant. I bought it for a friend who wished for one. The plant sat at the kitchen window waiting for me to give it to her or for her to come and claim it. In the meantime, it was being well taken care of. Sitting in the shade, enjoying it’s share of water and light and happily photosynthesising and keeping itself green and alive. Up until early December.

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Peanut Butter and Why You Should Make Your Own

Homemade Peanut Butter recipe - cookin5m2-1
Still skeptical about homemade nut butters?
Here’s another one to try.
The first time I tried peanut butter, I bought a common brand jar. The content was firm like soft cheese and can be scooped, actually cut leaving the spoon clean. I tried it and was not impressed at all. A thick fatty and salty mixture with a very unpleasant taste.
Tasting other brands in giving it another chance got me hooked. But looking at the ingredients, I got concerned. Yes, I read the label. And you should too.
I snapped a few photos of the ingredients of peanut butter jars available at a supermarket. See for yourself.
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Mushroom Farfalle and Quick Spinach Salad by Jamie Oliver

How many times have you drooled over what is being cooked in a TV show but you were too lazy to cook it, memorize it, or even write it down? It feels like the sight, the virtual drooling and the imagined smell are just enough. Clearly it’s not. But shamelessly I often stick to the pretty visuals. 

creamy mushroom farfalle and spinach salad_cookin5m2-4

One night I watched Jamie Oliver cooking something in his show ‘Jamie’s 15 Minute Meals’. Have I missed the time when he declared war on Rachel Rey? Will she strike back with 5-minute meals cooking show? I hope not. I can imagine her opening a can of food, heating it on the stove, because it takes more time than a microwave, and serving it. I bet she’d call them gourmet dishes as well. Who knows! Continue reading “Mushroom Farfalle and Quick Spinach Salad by Jamie Oliver” →

Breakfast Sandwiches Part I

How many times have you heard breakfast is the most important meal?

Don’t start counting. We all have. Countless times.

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Breakfast sandwiches part 1_cookin5m2-1

You will not appreciate a good breakfast until you’ve had one. I’m not talking about those breakfast buffet where I go and fill my tummy until I can barely move and be able to skip lunch. I’m talking about a breakfast you make and eat at home before going to work that will keep you full, or at least managing, until lunch time. I’m starting to discover some.
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Vegan Creamy Cauliflower Soup

Once you start cooking yourself, your perspective towards certain ingredients change a lot.

My relationship with onions for example has been like those relationships on my favourite TV show Glee; one of love, hate and then love again. Mom tells me I used to crawl to the produce basket in the kitchen, steal an onion and chomp on it until mom finds me in tears with that onion in my little hands. I grew up to find myself removing onions from food. Large pieces of onions in dishes like tabbouleh and mjadara used to annoy me and I used to move them to one side. Up until I started working at Burger King in 2006, onions have been my enemy. It didn’t take much until that changed. Rounds of onions sneaked their way into my burgers, then into my cooking and now their smell is on my fingers. Ever since I started cooking, I have loved using onions; raw or cooked. I get a little hesitant when I have onions from mom’s cooking but never when it’s mine.

Creamy Cauliflower soup-cookin5m2-2

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