If you can figure out what is too much and what is too little; if you have a functioning tongue and can figure out what tastes bland or just plain bad, you can cook. If you can pay attention to what you have cooking, baking or simmering while turning your attention to another dish without burning everything; if you can multi-task even just a little, you can create a dish out of whatever you find in your kitchen pantry and fridge.

Every pasta dish I make up off the top of my head with whatever I can place my hands on in the kitchen is Pasta Daniella. Here’s what you do:-

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Boil pasta – any pasta you can put your hands on.

I found spicy Genoa salami, mushrooms, green onion, garlic onion, lemon, capers, green olives, Kosher salt, black pepper, oregano, thyme, olive oil and garlic butter. I chopped the veggies and squeezed in some lemon juice added the seasonings and a splash of white wine. I sauteed the seasoned veggies and spices in the olive oil. Next, I added the salami and then the pasta and shredded some Parmesan onto the pasta and tossed it all again.

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And here it is – prep and cook time maybe 1/2 an hour. Tasty and satisfying. Bon appetit!

 

One view that has solidified for me since the world has been dealing with this virus is that we have to be happy. We have to home in on who we are, what we have and find happiness. We spend too much time planning to be successful, figuring out how to earn more, do more with our time and we pass that stress on to our children and grandchildren and it is a failing life plan that puts way too much emphasis on everything but happiness. If you know how to tap into the simple things that make you happy you wont spend precious days, months and years putting in time to a lot of useless and unfulfilling things that are supposed to lead to happiness, but never do. During this pandemic isolation, cooking has made us all very happy. Today I thought I would look at some of the quick and easy to prepare treats that made us feel good.

Throw Down Chicken and Cauliflower Tikka Masala

When my children were small, like all kids,they went through the occasional reject of the good food that you wanted in them and not on the floor, or on the table or in their hair. Like any mother, I too hid vegetables in pancakes and put stuff in wraps but as they got older and I revealed what they were gobbling up made for young men who have their favorites but pretty much eat any food of any colour and texture of any flavor and colour. So here is a dish that takes no time at all. I am going to tell you right away, if you want to do this from scratch, you can totally look up how to make the sauce but if you have a tight schedule or just a hungry family who can’t wait long for food, USE THE JAR SAUCE! IT’S OKAY. I recommend having Tikka Masala, Butter Chicken, Coconut Curry sauce and Pad Thai Sauce in your pantry. Today I decided on Tikka Masala sauce as I had thawed seasoned chicken and cauliflower which in my past recipe for fritters you found out that I have an over abundance of frozen cauliflower.

I diced the seasoned chicken and set aside.Then I poured the bottle of sauce into a skillet. I added chopped onions and a clove of garlic and stirred it in and let the sauce simmer for about 5 minutes. Next add the cauliflower and the chicken and fold in with the sauce. When the sauce has covered the chicken and the cauliflower, cover and simmer on low heat for about 20 minutes.

The smell of this sauce is amazing. It’s inviting and there is spiciness and fruitiness and it is just a happy dish. Serve over Naan bread or rice for a satisfying meal. To quote my son Logan when I asked him how his meal was, “Loved it. Tasty and lots of good flavours and the cauliflower was a nice surprise. I thought it all looked like chicken!” It was a nice touch that is exactly how I got them to eat cauliflower in the first place. And there you have it, a hearty meal in just over 20 minutes, and why not take the shortcuts? You can add to it if you wish to make it more spicy or you can leave the sauce as is. In spite of the pandemic, we have a busy next couple of days with baking and planting and Logan has on-line presentations, we have webinars and Adam has schoolwork to catch up on.  I made this and stored it in the fridge knowing that I wanted to serve it to Logan for dinner the evening after and to Adam for dinner the following evening when he comes to pick it up. Tom and I will have it for lunch tomorrow. Nothing like a heat and eat dish that makes you smile. While this dish was simmering, I started my …

Cinco de Mayo inspired Buffalo Chicken Dip cups.

Last Monday was Cinco de Mayo and we had chili cups for dinner. It is more like a snack made with tortilla wraps and chili and that recipe will follow this one but I decided on this variation on Wednesday as this chicken dip is my husband’s favourite and I wanted to make it for him and we needed dinner anyway so while the Tikka Masala was cooking, I started on this tasty snack and turned it into a meal.

Cook 1 1/2 to 2 chicken breasts in a pot with salt, pepper, a 1/4 cup of water and a teaspoon of garlic butter. Once the chicken is tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed, put the chicken into a separate bowl and pull the meat apart. Add 3 teaspoons of sour cream and 2 table spoons of cream cheese. The sour cream and cream cheese should be enough to cover all the shredded chicken. If not, add a little more of each without making the chicken soggy. Add some fresh ground pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and either red pepper chili flakes or a generous pinch of cayenne pepper. I also recommend adding a 1/4 teaspoon of the buffalo seasoning powder and a 1/2 teaspoon of the Hidden Valley powdered dressing for a really nice flavour.Shred a cup of cheddar cheese and set some aside for topping and fold the rest into the dip.

Add a generous dash of Frank’s Red Hot or equivalent and a decent dash of Buffalo Chicken sauce.This dip is all about intense, satisfying flavour. Cut up a stalk of chives or green onion. Save a bit of it to garnish the dip and fold the rest in. Lightly brush some tortillas with olive oil, Cut in half and then into quarters. Line the muffin pans by taking a quarter of the tortilla and pushing it into the hollow, oil side down. Put in a bit of the chicken dip and a little cheese.

  Then place another tortilla quarter on top the layer of cheese and repeat with a bit of the chicken dip and cheese. Place in an 325 F oven for 20 minutes. Tortillas will get slightly brown and crispy. Top with a dot of sour cream and cooked crispy bacon. Variation – Using Red bean and meat chili.

Logan wanted more than mini tortilla treats so I took some left over chili that Tom made a couple days before and put it in a wrap. I put some chicken dip in the other. Top with cheese,then fold and roll and wrap in foil and place in oven also at 325 F for 25 minutes as they need a little more time than the tortilla cups to cook.Place the rest of the dip in an oven ready container. Top with cheese and bake again for 20 minutes at 325 F or at least until the edges brown and the cheese bubbles. Top with bacon and the rest of the chives.

And here is my Buffalo chicken Dip end result. It made 3 dishes – buffalo chicken tortilla cups, a wrap and a moreish dip for tortilla chips. I wanted to make it for Tom because I know how much he loves it and usually we have left overs to heat up for later but we had nothing left. Not a scrap.

 

 

Tom’s Homemade Bread – We are now into making different kinds of bread. Here is Tom’s recipe for Basic Homemade White Bread. You need 1 tbsp margarine or butter. 1 tbsp shortening. 1 cup boiling water. 1 cup scalded milk. 1 pack yeast and 1/4 cup warm water. 1 tsp sugar. 2 1/2 tbsp sugar and 1tbsp salt. 6 cups flour. Makes 3 smaller loaves or 1 bigger loaf.

 

Here is how to do it – In a large bowl, place boiling water, scalded milk, margarine, shortening, sugar and salt. Cool to lukewarm.Add 1 pk yeast to 1/4 cup warm water and 1 tsp sugar. Allow to foam up then add to lukewarm milk. Mix. Add sifted flour using a wooden spoon or silicone spatula.

Knead bread on a floured surface. Place n greased bowl (with butter) and turn to grease surface. Cover preferably with a damp cloth and allow to rise double in bulk. Punch down to release sour fermented aroma. Divide dough int 3 equal parts. Roll out 1 part then knead and shape into a loaf. Repeat with other 2 parts of dough. Place in greased bread pans. Next cover with a damp cloth or cover with another bread pan and allow to rise double in bulk.

 

There is NOTHING like the smell of fresh baked homemade white bread. Nothing is as tender and soft and satisfying. It reminds me of my childhood and I still cut the first warm slice and smother it with butter. Mmmmmmm

Recipe for the cream cheese frosting I made for some box red velvet cupcakes I made :8 oz cream cheese softened to room temperature. 6 tbsp softened salted butter. 1 cup confectioners (powdered) sugar. 1 tsp vanilla extract. Mix cream cheese and butter in a mixing bowl (use an electronic kitchen mixer low speed until combined). Add vanilla and sugar and continue to mix on low  then mix on medium-high for 2 more minutes. Use a spatula to break up air bubbles. Immediately frost onto a cooled cake or pipe onto cupcakes and ENJOY!

The finished cupcakes. They were light, soft and tasty. I liked that the frosting was not heavy or overly sweet as some cream cheese frostings can be.

Apple Pie, Cherry Pie, Pumpkin Pie, Bread, Cupcakes and Cookies

We are mostly cooks and not bakers.Tom is the more likely of the pair of us to bake as he likes the precision and accuracy of baking…it’s very scientific and that satisfies Tom’s mind incredibly.Once in a while we throw down a batch of cookies and cupcakes and loaves of bread and pies as a treat for the guys mostly as they aren’t training as hard now that we are in a pandemic and it satisfies the occasional sweet tooth craving they may have. Here, in the photo above,we see a half eaten apple pie that our younger son basically claimed as his own. The week before he claimed all of the pumpkin pie I made the week before. Missing from the photo is the cherry pie I made for my sister for Mother’s Day. Hid it so I could actually give it to her as a present bite free – lol. I make pies using frozen fruit which I boil into a chunky sauce and add spices like cinnamon and nutmeg or star anise. I used store bought pastry shells (because why not?) and my glaze is either honey and water, sugar and water or a beaten egg yolk. When I make cookies I use store bought cookie dough because I hate making cookie dough and add to it  – more fruit, chocolate chips of chunks, dark chocolate pieces or white, Skor bar pieces or almonds or some other nut just to give it my flare. I make cupcakes now because the storage is easier, easier to transport to the guy living in his own place and they usually take one or two at a time which is healthier than them cutting a huge hunk of cake with twice as much frosting.

That concludes the Quickies recipes. There are more but this is enough for one posting. I am feeling like we are coming to the end of our pandemic lock down but I think it will be a slow transition back. So I think there is a lot more time left to cook and bake and share. I think once we are back on schedule with life, we are really going to try and carve out the time to do more cooking and baking at home. We have proven to ourselves that we can and Logan is really learning to cook very well, so there is no reason why we can’t look at our schedules and set aside some time for cooking more than we had been before. Fingers crossed we will be able to resume our lifestyles gradually soon. Spend the time with the family well and stay healthy. ~ Daniella and family.

 

 

My husband wasn’t taught to cook, do his laundry or iron his clothes before he left home for University. When I met him, he had figured out washing colours and whites separately and when to wash in hot water and when to wash in cold. When it came to food, he ate like a student — Kraft Dinner, cereal, fast food (subs, hamburgers, hot dogs) and he lived in a condo building above a Taco Bell. Tom ate there so much that he earned himself a hat and t-shirt from the restaurant. The more I got to know him, I learned that instead of trying to diversify his palette, his parents pretty much gave in to him at meal time and proceeded to draw attention to his fussy eating habits at the table in front of their friends and in my presence as well, even though he was an adult. I always felt what they were doing was disrespectful and cruel and I was concerned that he would not be comfortable around my family at mealtime. I am a Trinidadian and my culture revolves around food. We are all about cooking and enjoying a variety of food and flavors and I was not about to dull down my cooking to accommodate his basic palette but try and introduce new flavors to him, slowly and comfortably. In Tom’s defense, he didn’t grow up eating flavorful food. Back when we would eat at his parents’ home, my mother-in-law’s food was not terrible but she certainly is a salt and pepper only cook. To quote my husband, his “DNA was screaming for something different” and so, he chose to be with me. Wow! On so many levels other than cuisine, that was quite the avant garde move for him. He chose a a Heinz 57 wife, fathered two Heinz 57 sons, and not only eats all kinds of food, he makes a repertoire of meals that are as flavourful and spicy (sometimes spicier) as anything I would cook. I made it clear to my family that he was not to be singled out at the table. I did not tolerate any verbal Trini observations about his uncertainty around our food and my family and I never forced him to try different foods and flavours in our early years together. As time went by and a trip to Trinidad at Carnival occurred, Tom tried many different kinds of food. My husband, the son of a salt and pepper cook, eats doubles, roti, pelau, callaloo, curried everything, roast beef, Jamaican patties, samosas, a variety of Italian food, fried rice, Oriental styled chicken and beef and Korean food, thus ending the running “joke” of the little boy who only ate peanut butter sandwiches and hamburgers. And while he is not versed in what are my staple Trini dishes, the food he does make are his signature meals and he keeps adding to his menu every two to three months. Not only does he cook a variety of things, he has now added kitchen gadgets to the other gadgets out there that interest him. Tom is a reader and a researcher and not only can he build his own computers, brew his own beer and dabble in making his own music, the man has purchased some tools to help him cook what he knows well and try new creations as well. It is with great pride that I add Tom’s recipes to my Cooking in a time of COVID-19 Blog Series.

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When the kids were little, Tom made eating fun for them. Not wanting them to be picky like him, he not only made tasty and nutritious food, he made food fun and bestowed zany names upon everything he made for them. I remember picking up Logan from Kung Fu and Adam from somewhere else and asking them what Daddy made them for dinner. I was also giving a co-worker a ride home and she was appreciating their answer as much as I was when they both said, “Crabby Patty Explosions” with salad. They were big Sponge Bob fans at the time and Tom stole the name of the burger on the show, made their burgers with thick patties, melted cheese and a slosh of ketchup that went not only on the burger but smeared onto the plate much like if the burger exploded. He kept the top bun off and made putting the lid on the burger the boys’ job. That was just one of the many kookie meals he made for them when I was not home to cook. Adam ( albeit autistic ) and Logan ate pretty much everything we made for them and still do. Now young men, the Crabby Patty Explosion no longer exists but in honour of the important role this Daddy made burger had in their mealtimes, I give you my husband’s delicious-as-all-get-out, Smash Burgers.

As we entered our period of isolation because of the COVID-19 virus pandemic, we realized we had more than enough food for our meals. Happy that this would cut down the time we spent in public, we started cooking food pledging to use everything we had and substituting ingredients wherever we could. This also allowed us to keeping an on going list of grocery items until we ran out of until it was a long enough list to warrant a shopping trip. Just before the isolation period came into effect, Tom had ordered another gadget he had his eye on that is now an integral part of our cooking adventures.

To make smash burgers, you need regular sized hamburger buns because you don’t excess bread that will fill you up too quickly and prevent you from thoroughly enjoying every crumb of this burger. You will need 8 strips of lean bacon and about a pound and a quarter of medium ground beef (Tom uses a scale as he is a more precise cook than I am).

We get our meat from a local butcher and they taught us over the years that you need a little bit of fat in the meat in order to make a good burger. For those of you are afraid of what I just said, all I can tell you is exercise before you eat your food. get your quota of movement to balance your quota of food intake, okay? Okay, next…get your toppings ready. Sometimes we use tomatoes and mushrooms or peppers, but in keeping with our isolation rule of using all that we have before going out to shop, we just had onions and American cheddar slices. Next, form the ground beef into mid sized balls. Tom puts 2 patties on a bun so he makes a total of 8 to feed us. Tom has also made his own burger sauce which really gives the burger that Mom and Pop burger joint taste.

Mix a bit of ketchup, mustard, relish and mayonnaise and set aside to spread onto the burger buns later. Tom makes a jar of sauce. He stores in it the fridge in a small, sanitized former Smuckers jam jar for future burger use. As with anything in cooking keep adding the ingredients gradually, mixing them and tasting to ensure good flavor. Oh, another thing to remember, if you are serving fries with your meal, you have to decide how to time that out so that they are ready to be served with your burgers. We use a Tefal Air “Fryer” that takes about 25 minutes to make the fries. We also don’t use the recommended table spoon of oil when cooking with it as you really don’t need to. The surface of the pan is non stick, easy to clean and it can cook anything from fries to chicken and anything you would ordinarily fry in oil. It can even cook vegetables if you want it to. By not needing oil you get healthier prepared fries that are just as tasty and crispy as those fried in oil.

 

We now use a Blackstone propane griddle and really enjoy cooking everything on it at the same time. When you have a hungry 17 and 20 year old to feed, you want things done quickly and efficiently so that you can keep the hunger beasts that live within them at bay. The griddle is one stop tasty cooking because it allows us to adjust the heat on parts of the grill to accommodate what we are cooking. If you want to try this and you don’t have a griddle (or crazy husband who will wear a coat and set this thing up in the garage because smash burgers can’t wait until spring) you can certainly use a frying pan on a stove top and toast your buns in the oven or a toaster. You can also cook your bacon in the microwave to utilize your time well.

First, Tom toasts the buns and fries the bacon and sets them aside before the real fun begins.

 

The heat is equalized across the grill and the meat balls are equally spread across the surface. After they sear for about 20 seconds, the balls are ready to be smashed (he he he).

Add salt and pepper and let continue to cook for another 30 secsonds. Look at the juiciness of the burger and the crust that forms on the surface that traps the flavor in the meat. Flip the burger and cook the other side for about a minute. The grill is hot and the meat is pressed thin so it will cook fast so be careful not to over cook or burn. Top with cheese and allow to melt.

Meanwhile in the kitchen, I spread the burger sauce on the buns.

Tom placed the burgers on the tray and brought them into the kitchen where we topped with bacon, onion rings and the buns with the burger sauce. We added the fries to the plate and served another quick and tasty lunch on another isolation day. Our time together at the table was not very long but we did manage to exchange a few words between moans of sheer delicious delight. I’m not sure I will ever eat a burger from a restaurant again. This burger was just too damn good. It was the right flavor, the perfect size and it was made in a clean environment and made out of love. With lunch devoured, digested and done, we looked towards dinner. My turn again hmmm…I’m thinking Trinidad stewed chicken and pigeon peas with macaroni pie. That should make them smile.

Feel free to try this and share your recipes as well. I like to think the more we share ideas and use the time to cook and create, the easier this time of home isolation might be. Stay healthy, stay home and try and enjoy your time at home.