Easy English Trifle

 

Easy English Trifle

This dessert brings back memories of school dinners on special occasions like our Annual Socials with St. Paul's and North Point in Darjeeling. It's impossible to recall what was served for the main meal, but English Trifle for dessert was a staple and was memorable.

My JELL-O cookbook came in handy to get a general idea of the process. Modifications, catered to dietary restrictions, made this 'cracked-up' recipe completely unrecognizable from the original. This is a simple version of the classic English dessert.

Spaghetti Salad

Spaghetti Salad

Pictured above is one serving of the salad. Leftovers store well in the fridge for 2-3 days. This is a good item to serve at brunch, for lunch or at a potluck.

Mini Chicken Pot Pies

 

Chicken Pot Pies

Grandboy #2 spent the evening with us and for dinner I made chicken pot pies. Very quick and easy, it took barely half an hour to put this together. It uses just 5 ingredients, all of which are available at our local supermarket.

Faux Bubble and Squeak

Faux Bubble and Squeak

The traditional Bubble and Squeak is a British dish that is composed of cabbage and potatoes. The name is derived from the sounds that emanate while cooking this dish. The components are placed over medium-high heat until it bubbles vigorously, and then when the liquid evaporates, the vegetables squeak as if to say, 'I'm done! Take me off the heat!'

I came across this recipe with green beans on a Tik Tok video and because it's so easy, requiring minimal intervention, use it on occasions when a side dish is required to complement a meal. The first time I made it, the squeaky sound at the end caught my attention, so I call it Faux Bubble and Squeak because even though it's nothing like the original, the cooking sounds are the same. It takes only 3 ingredients, canned green beans, and a tablespoon each of oil and sugar.

Sandwich Bread

 

Sandwich Bread

Bread Slices

Half a Loaf of Bread

Everyone seems to be making bread these days and there are countless You Tube videos demonstrating breadmaking techniques. GrandBoy#2 was spending the day with us and both he and Hubby love bread, so I spent the afternoon watching a video (link at the end of this page) and baking bread. For dinner we had Mexican pizza and also demolished half a loaf, straight out of the oven and slathered with butter. It was delicious and the house smelled heavenly! The slices shown above were cut from this half of the loaf.

When we were growing up in Burma, bread was breakfast food that we ate on the way to school. We would beg Mum to go easy on the butter and go crazy with the sugar or jam. Buttered toast with a sprinkling of sugar was comforting and diverted my attention from the stress of having to go to school. On the weekends or if we were recovering from a cold, we would dip our toast into sweetened milk. My memories of Mum's remedy for combating the 'flu was a triangle of toast that we dipped into chicken soup. It leaves me with a warm and fuzzy feeling towards Mum that is stamped into my memory. 

The nostalgia associated with these memories kept me company while I made bread today. These days, plain buttered toast is my favorite part of any breakfast.

I halved the recipe in the video to make one loaf of bread.

2020 Turkey Dinner

2020 Turkey Dinner

Even though turkey is the least favorite protein in our home, I was craving it since we didn't have it for Thanksgiving last year (we went to Kyoto Japanese Steak House instead). So we decided yesterday should be Turkey Day. It was a hurried decision, but I'm lucky to be blessed with an extremely cooperative Hubby who did all the shopping and cleaning up afterwards.

This being the year of Covid-19 restrictions, we couldn't have anyone over for dinner so I prepared everything, Hubby and I had one serving each of it all and I packed the rest for Son#3 who lives half an hour's drive away. My cravings were satisfied and we didn't have to suffer through a week of leftovers. Thank goodness for that!

The green beans casserole got an update with the addition of grated cheddar cheese and bacon and one new item, Corny Bread, was added. Whole baby potatoes and carrots were cooked along with the turkey in the last 45 minutes of baking. 

Our dinner also included dinner rolls, was washed down with hot apple cider and for dessert we had Apple Cobbler.

Creamy Yogurt Cake

 

Yogurt Cheese Cake

A creamy, practically guilt-free cheese cake that substitutes cream cheese with yogurt. I followed a Burmese video to make the cake. I was impressed with how delicious the cake turned out considering the minimal number of ingredients used.

Bread Pudding

Bread Pudding

In the Bowl

Inspired by a Banglar Rannaghar video, (my favourite videos to watch), this bread pudding reminds me of my caramel custard or flan recipe with bread added to it. I used coconut sugar in place of granulated sugar and evaporated milk instead of cream.

No-Cook Frozen Srawberry 'Cheesecake'

Frozen Strawberry 'Cheesecake'

This dessert was inspired by a recipe I found on the Taste of Home website. I used sweetened strawberries and omitted the sugar from the original recipe. Also, instead of making a blueberry sauce, I served it with the juices from frozen strawberries. It's one way to satisfy a craving for cheesecake without having to heat up the whole house by baking in the oven for 2 hours. Transfer the frozen dessert from freezer to fridge a couple of hours before serving and slice with a serrated knife.

Peach Jello Blancmange

Peach Jello Blancmange

This recipe was inspired by one on the Taste of Home website. Blancmange (blah-manjh) is a French dessert that is made with milk and gelatin, akin to Italian panna cotta. This is made with Cool Whip instead and orange jello. It's very quick and easy to assemble, tastes divine, transports well and is a cool, velvety dessert for these dog days of summer.

Sour Cream Banana Nut Bread

Sour Cream Banana Nut Bread

There are few foods more comforting and satisfying than banana bread. My earliest recipe was inspired by the one on the Crisco Oil website. That recipe uses Crisco oil, but over the years and many adaptations later, I've managed to come up with one that is diabetic-friendly. 'Is bedder wid budder!' my nephew would say which is true in this case, so that was a major shift. White sugar was replaced with coconut sugar which has a much lower GI (Glycemic Index). 

The Glycemic Index (GI) is a relative ranking of carbohydrate in foods according to how they affect blood glucose levels. GI of white sugar is 68 (medium) compared to 35 for coconut sugar (low) making the latter diabetic-friendly.

Disappearing Fast

Oven-Baked Lamb Stew

Lamb Stew

Cooking meat dishes in the oven in the winter time has the huge benefit that it can be left to cook unattended with practically no interference. Another bonus is that winter can be shut out and left outdoors where it belongs because cooking in the oven doesn't release too many aromas. It took just 15 minutes to prepare the meat and vegetables for the oven. This was so quick and easy that I was a little unsure of how it would turn out and was pleasantly surprised.

After layering all the ingredients in the baking dish it took 3.5 hours to bake this stew in the oven. By the time we sat down to dinner the lamb was fork tender and falling off the bones. And because it baked for so long, there was no need to brown the meat which was a huge relief. The baking dish also served as a serving dish so there were no pots and pans to clean. So I will be filing this under my 'stress-free recipes' category.

Chicken Tater Tot Casserole

Chicken Tater Tot Casserole

A Chicken Pot Pie turned inside out, with the potatoes on the outside instead of inside, this fun casserole will become a favourite with young and old alike. It's quick to assemble and a great meal to serve the family on busy days like the day before Thanksgiving when preparations are underway for a big meal the next day.  

Banana Nut Bread

Banana Nut Bread

Inspired by a recipe in a Crisco pamphlet, this is one of the first dessert breads I learned to make.  Over time and many tweaks later, I've perfected the recipe to my taste. 

Freshly Baked

Some ingredients in this recipe are more important than others. For example, I read somewhere that one teaspoon of baking soda (rather than half a teaspoon) produces a darker bread. Also, the recipe calls for a cup of white sugar, but I prefer using dark brown sugar which I believe helps give it a darker appearance. 

The First Slice for Tasting

The original recipe called for three-quarters of a cup of Crisco oil, which I switched to a cup of melted, unsalted butter which is more to my taste. Another change I make is to grease the pan with Pam butter flavoured spray and white granulated sugar in place of flour.  The sugar caramelizes during baking and produces a sweeter crust.

There can never be too many nuts

A happy mistake I made this time is going to be the norm from now on. I forgot to add the walnut pieces until after the batter had been poured into the pan. So I poured them all over the top and used a fork to push some into the batter. It worked better because when the nuts are folded into the batter, they tend to settle on the bottom and often burn. By inserting them right at the end, they remained towards the top which was a lot better.

After resting overnight

It's important to allow the banana nut bread to rest before slicing, but it's so hard not to taste it right away. Slicing it too soon causes the bread to crumble so it needs to be covered loosely with foil or Saran wrap and left on the counter overnight. Make sure not to tighten the foil/wrap so that the bread can dry out and not steam.

Best of all, this entire recipe can be prepared in one bowl by combining all the wet ingredients first and then sifting the flour and other dry ingredients directly into the mixing bowl and folding everything together with the help of a spatula.

Meatballs Stroganoff

Meatballs Stroganoff

Grandboy's Day on Thursdays today, so I asked whether he prefers meatballs and spaghetti in a red or white sauce and he picked "white". Here is the stroganoff we had for dinner tonight. It was really easy to assemble depending on whether you like to prepare everything from scratch or go the semi-homemade route.

I like to use Italian meatballs from the freezer section of our supermarket unless I'm making an Indian dish. Italian meatballs served my purpose today. The other semi-homemade ingredient in this dish is Cream of Mushroom soup. If you prefer to make your own, a recipe is provided below.

Coconut Macaroons

Coconut Macaroons

The simplest and easiest macaroons you could make, they took just 2 ingredients and 15 minutes to bake. The recipe was posted on the internet and seemed like the macaroons would be unbearably sweet, but they were perfect! An ice-cream scoop makes them uniform but I didn't have one. I must put it on my shopping list for the next time.

A friend suggested that a couple drops of almond extract pumps up the action, but that was after I'd made them, so I'm adding it as an optional ingredient. If you're making this for an Indian get together, you can flavor these with cardamom powder and call them narkoler naru in Bengali. It's important to line the cookie sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat baking mat to avoid a sticky mess. 

Remember that evaporated milk and condensed milk are not interchangeable.  Evaporated milk is unsweetened and not as thick as condensed milk; look for condensed milk when shopping for this recipe.

Store leftover macaroons in Ziploc bags in the refrigerator or freezer. They travel well and are suitable for picnics, potlucks or as a special treat in lunch bags. They're moist, chewy and totally satisfying!

Thursdate Meatball Stroganoff

Meatball Stroganoff

Thursdays are Grand-boy's day, nicknamed Thursdate in our home. One of our three grandsons is picked up at 4 pm., has dinner and spends the evening with us and gets dropped home at 8 pm. It's our favourite day of the week and the grand-boys enjoy it even more. The dilemma for me is to come up with a kid-friendly dinner such as spaghetti & meatballs, fajitas, taco salad, et al.

This meatball stroganoff was popular when our own boys were growing up and it was delegated to hubby to make the meatballs from scratch. The aroma of garlicky mushrooms and browning meatballs simmering in mushroom soup and sour cream would cause neighbours to drop by for a taste test. But that was many moons ago and became a distant memory until today. 

I hope Grand-Boy #2 likes it as much as I do.

Oyster Crackers Snack

Years ago, while I was still a working woman, a co-worker brought in this snack for a potluck. It's so crunchy, delicious, and easy to assemble that I wonder why I don't make it more often.

It needs just 5 ingredients and 20 minutes to bake.

Mixed Berries Jam

Mixed Berries Jam

This was a great way to use up those frozen berries stashed in the deep interior of the freezer. They're supposed to be used in smoothies, so I have no idea how they got in the freezer because we're not 'smoothie types'. 

Frozen Berries (48 Oz./3 Lb.)

Blueberries, raspberries and blackberries are what were listed on the package and all of them are rich in pectin so I decided to make jam. It turned out to be the easiest ever to make with the simple addition of some sugar to the package of berries.

No Additional Pectin Needed

Amazing how good just 2 ingredients can taste! It took about an hour to cook this jam and the test is simple to make sure it's reached jam consistency - a dollop of the berries on a little plate placed in the refrigerator to cool stays in place without running when it's tilted. It needs minimal baby/jam sitting, but must be stirred frequently to prevent scorching.

15 Oz. of Jam

Since it will be consumed in a short time, it was transferred to a clean salsa jar and refrigerated after it came to room temperature. Perfect on toast or English muffins, I've also had it on waffles, pancakes and as a condiment for Honeybaked ham.

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

The grand-boys were delighted with these ice cream cone cupcakes which were  inspired by an idea on the Betty Crocker website. A chocolate cake mix was used to fill each cone halfway. Most children like to show off their creativity, and allowing them to frost and decorate their own ice cream cupcake makes it fun for everyone. 

Baked Cones in a Muffin Pan

It's important to find flat-bottomed medium sized ice cream cones. A muffin pan makes a great baking pan and foil was used to fill the gaps in the muffin cups to keep the cones straight while baking. The fear of the cones burning was completely misplaced. It was so amazing that they didn't even deepen in colour.

The Cones Filled in Nicely

The cake reached all the way to the bottom. It's fool-proof and almost impossible to make a mistake with this dessert.

Topped with
Ice Cream & Sprinkles

One option is to top the cone with ice cream. Serving ice cream in this way is mess-free and holes poked in the cake allowed the ice cream to seep all the way through to the bottom, so it's good to the last crumb. Another option is to pipe icing on each cupcake. In that case I would pour more batter into the cones because icing would stay more firmly in place.