Yummy recap from Session 1 of Buh-bye Stock cubes. Hear what Collins, Wande and Toyin had to say!

We had our very first LIVE cooking session for Buh-bye stock cubes and I was NOT even prepared for how much I learned both on the job, and then from our panelists. Like I said in a previous blog, I am a whole different person just from the first session. Looking forward with JOY to the rest of the days, but in this blog, I want to share with you a few of these AMAZING insights I got from session one.

Shalom Shalom sweet you reading this blog,

Hehe

So let’s jump right in

On day 1, and the menu was goat meat which I cooked with a pressure cooker, chicken which we cooked in a regular pot, and fish which we fried in an air-fryer. I shared why we used different cooking methods for all three.

Chidinma Nwadike was our taster for the day and all the WOWs she said as she tasted the foods were EPIC. I mean, she could NOT believe it, but she did because she watched me cook completely cube-free from the start.

We had THREE panelists join us virtually too.

Collins Nwokolo website was one of the few that I found online when researching stock cubes in Nigeria. I loved the insight he shared especially from a medical perspective.

Live on the webinar, he also shared more wisdom from us especially when it comes to how these cubes affect our health long and short term, and YES, some of these cubes contain not just an insane amount of salt, but also sugar. Imagine. He also shared the story of how his grandma was the biggest influence to cooking cube-free because of her health, and how since she transitioned to saying buh-bye stock cubes, her health has improved remarkably. Then he shared some of her alternatives to cubes.

I asked him one Q at the end, especially since he knew all these health risks, and that was

‘Why are you still minimal, and not completely cube-free?’

And he said it was primarily because of his family and friends who are not cube-free, and so when they come over and he has to cook for them once in a while, he adds some cubes to the ‘equation’ hehe.

I get that! I shared my own story too especially at the beginning for when I would have guests, especially in-laws and I would separate their own meals and add some cubes hehe.

Not any more though. My cube-free cooking ROCKS better than any cube-laden meals ever can!

Yewande Oyebo was my first guest and she was so gracious. As someone living in Germany with international friends and colleagues, she already told us how an office party challenged her to finding alternatives to cubes (her story is here). One new thing I learned from her was how because of the size of homes in Germany (really small), she didn’t have enough kitchen space to store all her alternative spices, so she had to find creative ways to ‘mix and match’ similar spices. Yes, it did resort to some spices that she had to throw out as the combination made it bitter, but as time and research went on, she learned how to mix the right spices and store them together.

I loved her story. It would have been easier to just leave off all these spices and get her stock cubes which are the easier and lazier alternatives, especially when she was making mistakes in mixing and storing, but she stuck to it and now, she can enjoy her meals with natural spices instead of loading her pots and system with dangerous cubes.

More of her story (which included how she really transitioned and her best tips to anyone looking to transition) will be in the course recording which will be available from January 2023 so watch this space.

My third and last guest for the day was Toyin Dosunmu

Tosin is a full time researcher LOL so I knew she was coming with wisdom, but I wasn’t ready for the depth and width of it, haaaaaa.

I mean, one simple tip she shared with us had to do with pressure cooking and you have to find that in the recording hehe

Also, how to make your own tomato paste which I have decided I would try LIVE on one of the Saturdays, yaaaay!

She shared her best tips to get the UMAMI flavor, which is something stock cubes ride on, which I will be teaching on (more of that later)

Umami: a category of taste in food (besides sweet, sour, salt, and bitter), corresponding to the flavour of glutamates, especially monosodium glutamate MSG.

She said that as she saw me cooking live and keeping the spices minimal (which was one thing I had promised with this experience), she was telling herself ‘Oh Coach can also add X and Y now, so why is she not adding it?’ and then it dawned on her that when she was starting it, it was wiser to keep things minimal and as you get better and more confident, in addition to detailed research, you can then start to increase your spices, which is what she does now.

WISDOM!!!!

Cos spices are so unique and you want to really discover each before you decide which works for what.

And she shared many many tips with us, including her custom spice recipe for JOLLOF rice which was the most challenging for her to cook cube and ‘tinned-tomatoes’ free, so both taste and that red color that were missing caused her to research and research until she found what worked which she shared with us, including a healthy tip to make it sweeter and redder too. WOW! Simple things you already have at home, or can easily buy on the streets!

We also shared our common experience with one the replacements we both got called ‘Shukuni’ which till now, we don’t know what to do with it haha. Talk about waste. LOL!

Toyin is definitely coming back to watch me prepare her signature home made tomato paste and also Jollof rice so if you are already registered or wanna register, you can definitely join us now, and get access to all the recording until March 2023, or if you are buying the course as a recording later, you can still get all these wisdom, and fun hehe

Looking forward to our session 2 and one thing I am adding going forward is not just cooking LIVE but also sitting down and educating us on some of the tips that can help.

For session 2 where we are live cooking stew, I am definitely going deeper on the UMAMI flavor, and then OIL, especially as for the most part, we believe that healthy cooking means ‘oil-free’

Will also be sharing a wise hack I used for stew with my kids when they were younger and weren’t feeling vegetables and all in their meals.

Excited for it, and for you to join us too, LIVE where all your Qs can be answered LIVE, or access to recording later.

Details are all here