French Onion Soup

I got a good hankering for a bowl of warm French Onion Soup, complete with the crusty french baguette and cheese. I wanted a soup that would take me back to that cafe in the Latin Quarter. That kind of food just can't be found around these parts, so I decided to make my own.

Now, my finished result is a far cry from that warm steaming bowl of heaven that I had on that chilly day in Paris, but I do have to say, despite all of the complications, it did hit the spot.

The oven is difficult to regulate, beef broth is unheard of here, and Gruyere is impossible to find, unless it is specially flown in, so all of that in account, this is what I got.

Oh, by the way, I am currently in love with  Peter Reinhardt and his bread recipes.  He has breadmaking down to a science and it is wonderful!

On top of a fabulous dinner, I was so excited to remember this afternoon that today is Mardi Gras! It was night to end the day with a French twist.

Blessings,

Liz

pounded ground nuts

I once had a shirt that said, "make your own everything" and I feel like that is just what I have been doing.

Some of the ingredients that I cook with at home can't be found here; however, sometimes I can find what I'm looking for, but its just really expensive.

Last week I wanted to make a recipe that called for cottage cheese, so I attempted my own at home. The consistency was more like ricotta cheese, without the big chunks, but I feel that with time, I can perfect it some. Maybe if I used milk with a higher fat content, I would get bigger curds.

Last year I made my own hummus(which by the way is SO much better than anything found on the shelves of a grocery store).

And yesterday I made my own peanut butter. It would have been much easier if our blender was working, but it broke down, so I made it the old fashioned way, with a mortar and pestle. By the way, just a little side note, Nigerians call peanuts, "ground nuts" because of the way that they grow on a ground. So I guess if you wanted to go all Nigerian, you would say that peanut butter "pounded ground nuts."

Growing up, I never really liked peanut butter very much. Unlike several of my brothers, I wasn't a fan of PB&J sandwiches, and I never really snacked on peanuts. Although I do like peanuts more now, I still think get a little queasy with peanut breath(Thanks to dad, who snacks on the nuts, then loves to blow it in my face when he gets home from work). I began to like peanut butter after I discovered the "all natural" stuff in the stores. Instead of a long list of ingredients, there were 2, peanuts and salt.

You can buy jarred peanut butter here, but I've only seen the Skippy brand. For a small jar of peanut butter, it is around 690 naira, when a large jar of peanuts is only 250, so I thought I'd try my own.

I did have to add a little bit of oil, since the peanuts were roasted. 

The final test, does it taste good on bananas? Yep!

Hummus

Yesterday in my fifth grade art class I said something to one of my Lebanese students, but he wasn't paying much attention.

"Huh...miss?" he responded. 

Trying to be funny, I replied, "What? Why are you calling me hummus?? Do I look like a type of food to you? Or maybe you're just so hungry, you have hummus on your mind." 

He did laugh and also apologized, " I'm sorry miss, I meant to say hummus!" 

At least he knows what hummus is, some of the kids had blank stares. Little known fact...(or maybe it's well known and I just just happened to find out for the first time)...but did you know that hummus is believed to have originated from the country of Lebanon? Oh boy can they make some hummus!

A fact about Liz... I love hummus! 

The first day I went food shopping here, I was more than a bit overwhelmed. I walked around, our local food shop, completely overwhelmed. I couldn't even remember what I liked to eat, or what things I would need to buy for the week. 

The only food I really thought of was, 'man, I sure hope they have hummus here in Nigeria.'

That first day, all I could find was a can of "hummus" in the can goods isle right next to the beans. Eww. I didn't get it, but Sam, the other girl who is new with me, obviously loves hummus as well and bought it. It looked just as unappetizing outside of the can as I thought it would.  

I was a bit sad, until I discovered a Lebanese restaurant within walking distance from our house that makes homemade hummus!! My joy is complete. Creamy delicious fresh made hummus!

I kept buying it every week until last week, when I realized it is actually kind of expensive for the little bit that they give you... 700 naira(around $5). 

If course as a lover of hummus, this was a sacrifice that I was willing to pay, until I thought, 'why don't I try making my own?'

Last week I bought a bag of chick peas and cooked maybe 1/3-1/2 of the bag, which gave me a huge pot of cooked beans. I made some hummus and froze the rest of the beans.  I also realized why the recipe said to keep it in the fridge for 3 days (day 5 it did not taste so great). It makes you wonder what Sabra and all of those other store bought brands put in their hummus to keep it fresh. 

Here's a little glimpse of my hummus making process.  Fresh ingredients are key! Tahini, fresh lemons, garlic and of course some great olive oil! 

Oh garlic, lovely garlic. I could go off in a tangent about how amazing garlic is. I use it in just about everything.  Ok maybe not everything, but I do use it in a lot. 

Today I took all of the beans out of the freezer and made hummus at one time (It's too much work to do it every time I want some hummus), but decided to freeze most of it.

I made enough to fill this casserole dish!

Look at that massive amount of hummus!! My mouth's just watering looking at it! 

Let's just look at the cost for a minute. The entire bag of chick peas was 700 naira, the tahini was 800 naira, and lemons and garlic are next to nothing at the  market. I still have about 2/3 of a bag left of chick peas and I made about a months worth of hummus today! 

I'll have to let you know how freezing it turns out, but it sounded like it should work!

Doesn't that look amazing? The best way to eat it is warm. All it needs now is some pita (or as they call it here, Lebanese bread). 

And this was my lunch...

I don't really follow recipes exactly, but this is the basic recipe I looked at:

http://www.inspiredtaste.net/15938/easy-and-smooth-hummus-recipe/

Weekend snapshots

This past weekend did not end up being as restful as I would have liked. In fact it was just about as hectic as my week have been, but it was a nice change from the monotony of school.

It started Friday evening with a group of 15 girls from the discipleship group I'm helping lead, coming for a sleepover. 

We started with some baking...

....then later had a time of worship and prayer. 

I'm really excited for this upcoming year and getting to know them!

On Saturday, after grading papers all day, we once again went to the Nampack (SA) compound. 

The Nigerians seem to love Obama

Hennie's wife and daughters came in to town, so we had a great reason to celebrate with all of the internationals.

After an amazing dinner, we turned on the disco and had a dance!

Unfortunately my phone couldn't really take great pictures in the dark...

.. But there were some awesome lights and fun music!