Let’s just call this blog post wishful thinking. Wishful thinking that I actually slept yesterday or last night for that matter. Wishful thinking! I was busy in the kitchen making homemade bakes for brekky. These lovely homemade breads or puffy bakes are easy to make and can be spread with butter, jam, or eaten plain. Some people like to make and eat them with a dish of fish that has been fried with tomatoes, onions, garlic and spices. However, I made these bakes as a sweet bread.

They contained flour, baking powder, a dab of butter, couple of shakes of sugar, and whatever other type of flavoring you wish to add. When I was putting these together I used some of the organic coconut I received from Tropical Traditions, along with a couple of pats of their Organic Coconut Oil and about a tsp. of vanilla from Mexico.

Into the pan they went, a few at a time, fried until they were a golden brown and then drained and placed in an airtight container until the family got home or woke up. Did I sleep after that? Wishful thinking!

BAKES

Here is a picture of two bakes… that is all that is left from 12 made this morning!

I, then started to watch tv as I typed away on the computer, well 5 am came and rolled around and still no shut eye! Then I decided well, I was going to start making homemade roti as I slowly trudged back down the stairs. Out came the rolling pin, the flour bin, the cutting board, the olive oil and the tawa. In case, you all did not know this, a tawa, is a cast iron flat griddle type pan that is so thin and lays directly over the open flame in which you place the roti to be cooked.

I, quite swiftly I might add, scooped out the flour, adding baking powder and a tip of salt. Added some hot water, rolled them out into little balls, floured them and set the flame under the tawa. Roll, roll, fold, fold, pan hot, flat raw roti placed in tawa, roll, roll, dab, dab. That was me dabbing the paper towel soaked in olive oil on the top of the high rising bubbles that appear on the flat bread as it was frying (cooking). Swiftly, I grab the hot roti from the pan, no need for utensils as I am quite used to this. Fold in half and placed on tin foil, another roti placed on the pan, rush over to the table to pick up the freshly cooked roti. Clap, clap, goes my hands as I swiftly clap the folded flat bread together, (this is to remove any overdone pieces). There it is back in the foil, over to the stove as I place another freshly rolled roti on the tawa.

ROTI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All in all, it took less than half an hour to prepare, set, roll, fry, clap and finish cooking 16 roti. Turned off stove, did dishes and then relaxed for a little… Did I sleep………….no! Wishful thinking!

As the day wore on I wondered what I would make to eat the roti with. Seeing that not all of us in the house like really spicy food, I decided to make a dish that was full of fiber and other nutrients and not too spicy.

I added a diced tomato and a chopped onion to the Actifry, and quickly opened two very large cans of chick peas or channa as I know them by. Drained them and added to the actifry, tossed in some salt, pepper, cumin seed, a little curry powder, some Venetian garlic, a can of tomato paste and set the timer for 25 min. Oh yes, I also tossed in a rather large piece of pollock that I had in the freezer. As it cooked, I washed three small potatoes, diced them very fine and added them to the actifry.

When it was time to shut it off, I noticed that some of the channa on top, were quite crisp, like fried channa. I tossed these into the trash as they were more like channa snacks. I was a little miffed that the potatoes were not quite done.. So I had to transfer the food out of the actifry and into a large glass topped casserole type pan that is used on the top of the stove.

I had to add a little water to the dinner as it was a little thick. It cooked on low heat for another 15 or so minutes. After it was done, turned it off and then watched a little tv and still did not sleep… Wishful thinking.

DINNER!!!!!!!!!

And as I sat for a minute, I thought to myself, how much easier would meal planning and dinner making be if I only had an appliance that does more than one function… such as a 4 in 1 pressure cooker…. and don’t say a word.. I know…

WISHFUL THINKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!