May 2022 City Life VLOG: Talk Spring To Me! | Collaborations, Hauls, Fitness, & Gluten Free Home Cooked Meals

                             

                               

                                                           

                             

                             

                            

                            

HAULS & AMBASSADORSSHIPS:

LAWLESS BEAUTY

TALC FREE EYESHADOW PALETTE

ROCKSBOX

C/O ETTIKA

#FOUNDITONAMAZON

This month I am sharing one of the purchases from Amazon that I made that is important to me. I am not sure in how much detail I have gone into it on my blog, but on my dads side of the family they are Gullah Geechee coming from the South Carolina area. I was able to confirm this and find a lot out about my family via Ancestry over the last five years when I first got my DNA test. 

I grew up eating these meals in my family and never really knew where the recipes were from or had any details or even a recipe book for them. My mom didn't teach me how to cook and when I Gott m married and moved out I did not recieve any recipes. I simply made the same meals shea and my dad raised us on and did so from memory. It wouldn't be until 13 years later that I would learn that these were recipes that have been a staple in Black American homes; those that are descendants from the enslaved to be particular.

I learned about this book because I follow one of the Chef's featured in Netflix's series "High on the Hog". I am a huge foodie and I follow a lot of Chef's, but you don't see a lot of Black American Chef's cooking these types of meals that are often regarded as not being "elevated" and they are often gentrified by other Chef's that in turn claim they have "elevated" whats did not need it in the first place.

Do I need the recipes? No, I found that the book in itself is very basic recipe wise which I appreciated. Good cooking doesn't need a lot of ingredients especially when you are getting your ingredients from your back yard or the sea etc. I cook like this every day. Now, there are a few recipes that we don't make here in Florida and when I say we, I mean my family whom have been in Florida since the late 1800's.

So, not only did I purchase the book out of appreciation and respect, but I wanted it to have documentation of our recipes from our Black American culture. It is a book that I proudly display on my kitchen island and invite anyone who comes overt to look through.

I have bookmarked a few recipes that are new to me and want to make and maybe add a a few of my own touches.

And the book who has chronicled the maid who worked for white families in South Carolina tells great stories about her recipes, where they came from, why the ingredients that were used were used and gives a lot of detail on the history of where they live on Edisto Island which I appreciate.

So now, I am introducing the book to you guys paying it forward, you can find it on Amazon here.

FITNESS:

EVENTS: I did cover a lot of events in the entire quarter of Spring, so much that I had to space out all of the extra photos for the City Life posts. Below are unused photos from some of my May events.

DATE NIGHTS: The date night section is a little sparse this month because a lot of the posts are wrapped up in the end of my vacation recaps which will be posted soon.

TRUE FOOD KITCHEN

MIDTOWN

                             

MOTHER'S DAY AT STEELBACH

ARMATURE WORKS

                                  

GLUTEN FREE MEALS COOKED BY MYSELF- RECIPES AVAILABLE BY REQUEST IF NOT POSTED.

OYSTER OMAKASE AT HOME

TIKTOK TUTORIAL ALSO HERE

Organic chicken sausage removed from casings

FINISHED BAKED ZITI

Baked chicken sausage ziti

Cook the chicken (4 and remove casings) sausage w tbs of evoo, salt, pepper, and 5 chopped onions until 80% done. Then add chicken broth and let it cook the rest of the way until no longer pink.

Boil ziti or penne noodles in water and chicken broth according to package instructions.  Drain and let sit to side until the chicken is done. 

Pyrex

Add half a jar of Roa's sauce and add salt, pepper, 4 Bay leaves, oregano, thyme, red pepper flakes and tomato paste. 

layer

half of chicken sausage

half a bag of skim mozzarella cheese

half of the cooked ziti noodles and repeat.

Make sure to pour in the chicken sausage with the broth 

on last layer add ricotta and chopped parsley and cover with foil.

place in oven 350 degrees for 35 to 45 minutes covered.

Add half a cup of water which will boil out leaving the noodles soft.

Makes 6 to 8 servings

I have made this before and shared it on my blog under "No Peking chicken" or slow cooker chicken etc. This is the same meal, but I was practicing aa different plating style. I often do this to practice plating and photography.

You can find the recipe here