benrilife

[benrilife]

Creamy Gnocchi

I have seen this recipe somewhere online and I am obssessed! It's simple and fast.

Chop 1 onion, 2 garlic cloves and a handful of sun dried tomatoes into tiny pieces

Sauteé all of it in a pan with olive oil

Then, add fried tomato paste (about 200ml)

Add 1 tablespoon of spicy paprika

Add dried italian herbs or dried basil to taste

Add pre-cooked gnocchi (about 500gr)

Add sour cream (about 150ml) and 1 cup of water

Add salt

Mix everything to combine it all

Let it simmer with a lid on for 10 minutes (might be more or less depending on the heat intensity)

Serve with grated cheese and dried basil

There you go! I guarantee 100% of deliciousness!

[benrilife]

Cooking 101 - Croissant for brunch

Easiest thing ever is to make your own your croissant adding as many or as little ingredients you wish, like:

cheese (whichever you prefer - mozzarella, fresh cheese, buffalo cheese, etc.),

jam (also to your liking - strawberry, pumpkin, blueberry, fig, etc),

sliced cucumber or arugula (grated carrots work with this too)

scrambled eggs or ham

fruits (blueberry, fig, pomegranate)

Make combos that sound good to you and make sure to match ingredients from the same season.

[benrilife]

Cooking 101 - Cinnamon Pancakes

Whisk 1 egg, 40g of melted butter, and 180ml of milk.

Add 125g (1 cup) of flour, 2 spoons of baking powder (if the flour doesn’t have it), 3 soup spoons of sugar, 2 soup spoons of cinnamon and a pinch of salt.

Mix the batter until it becomes homogeneous.

Heat the pan in medium fire with oil or butter.

Pour batter into the pan until the circle of the pancake has the size you want.

Wait until the batter starts to make some air bubbles and then flip it.

Add toppings to your liking (ice cream, whipped cream, fruit, caramel, etc.)

Voilá  ❤

[benrilife]

Cooking 101 - Pressure Cooked Pork

Pork is this weird meat that is very popular but it’s not as cool as it sounds. I mean, it doesn’t even sound cool. So, at this house, we pressure cook it. We like to live under pressure (ahah get it?). Also, I’m not putting amounts and measurements here (except for one thing or another) because it really depends on the amount of meat you have.

First you get your pork and hopefully you have them in thin slices.

Wash and rinse the meat.

Squeeze lemon juice into the meat.

Cut the half onion and garlic cloves into tiny cubes.

Salt the meat and add the onions and the garlic.

Get the stovetop pressure cooker and pour some olive oil (enough to cover the bottom of the pot).

Turn the stove on in high heat and put the seasoned meat inside the pot.

Add enough water to cover all the meat and some white wine to give it taste.

Close the pressure cooker and let it cook. When the cooker starts to hiss -you know that weird noise-, from that moment count 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, cut some potatoes into big cubes and some fresh parsley in smaller pieces.

After 15 minutes have passed, turn the heat to very low (don’t turn it off, you’ll need it again) and take the cooker to the sink and run cold water on top of the cooker (run it until a little piece goes back down - it takes about 3 minutes). Then, open the pot and check if meat is well cooked.

Add the potatoes and the parsley, half-glass of water and some  Worcestershire sauce. Also, add more salt because with the amount of water and potatoes, you’ll need to adjust the salt.

Close the lid again and put the cooker in the stove in high heat. Again, from the moment the cooker starts to hiss, count 5 minutes.

After those 5 minutes, repeat step 11 and check if the potatoes are soft.

Then, put the cooker back into the stove (without the lid) and let it cook in high heat until the rest of the water is almost all gone. You can give two big swirls with a wooden spoon in the middle of the cooking.

Once it’s all done, turn off the heat and pour the meat and the potatoes in a serving dish.

Voilá <3

[benrilife]

Cooking 101 - Spaghetti Aglio e Olio with Tuna

So, I did this as a super huge experiment and it turned out fine and it was quite easy.

Cut 4 garlic cloves into thin slices (you can add more garlic depending on how much pasta you make).

Cut some fresh parsley and thyme.

Boil the water with a pinch of salt in a pot and insert the pasta in the hot water and let it cook for 5 minutes (until it’s al dente - try the pasta every now and then, it’s the best way to make sure it’s not under/over cooked).

Grab a big pan and turn on the stove to low heat.

Add a good amount of olive oil, the slices of garlic, the thyme and some black pepper - let it sit in low heat for a while.

Get some canned tuna and add as much as you want into the pan, cook it until it turns kind of brown.

Once the pasta is ready, let all the water out and rinse it with cold water.

Add the pasta into the pan and mix it well with the olive oil and the tuna.

Add the parsley and some basil (BASIL IS GOOD IN PASTA). 

Adjust the seasoning - salt and black pepper.

Turn off the fire and when you serve it into the plates, make sure to add grated cheese! 

Voilá  ❤

[benrilife]

Cooking 101 - Ground Beef and Potatoes

Basically I ran out of ideas of what to make.

Get your ground beef and rinse it with water. 

Season the meat with salt, black pepper, fresh parsley.

Cut onion and garlic into tiny cubes.

Peel the potatoes and cut them in cubes.

Get a pot, pour some oil into it and add the cut onions and garlic.

Add the meat and cook it well.

After the meat is well cooked, add the potatoes and 2 cups of water.

Close the pot with a lid and let the potatoes cook in the water.

Ocasionally stir it up a bit so the meat doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot.

Once the water is gone and the potatoes are cooked, adjust the seasoning (because when you add water the seasoning kind of becomes lighter).

Voilá ❤  

[benrilife]

Chemo 101 - What to take with you

Chemo is probably going to be pretty boring, you have to stay there for the longest time and there’s not much you can do. And sometimes people around you are not really into having a conversation with a stranger, so it’s very quiet too.

I was able to go with my mom and make her company once, but then she was moved to another treatment room and that one did not have enough space for family and friends, so I wasn’t allowed to stay (I was only allowed to enter for a few minutes and leave).

So what was possible to do?

Make sure there’s wifi connection, and if there’s not, take a portable wifi or make sure you have enough data. I would talk with my mom over text in case she needed anything or she just wanted to talk.

Take food. Sometimes they have a service that delivers food, but that might not always be the case, so my mom would always have yogurt or cookies with her.

Take a book, so time can go by a little bit faster. In case you are not much of a reader, download games into your tablet or phone. Or download a movie if you have that possibility.

Take extra clothes. In one of the chemos, there was something wrong with the chemo bag and it ripped and spilled in some parts of my mom’s clothes, so she had to take the shirt off and went back home with a very not nice looking hospital shirt (green and light). So even if it’s not necessary, pack extra clothes.

I hope this somehow helps. ❤

[benrilife]

Cooking 101 - Chicken Stroganoff (for 3 people)

Today’s lunch was chicken stroganoff, literally the first time I made this! Turned out a little bit dry (I was afraid of putting way too much sauce /dumb/) so I’m writting this recipe down already fixing up a few mistakes I made, so we can all learn together with my mistakes. 

Get the chicken breast (3) and rinse it with water (as you can see, I rinse all the meats with some water). 

Cut the chicken into pieces (horizontally) and put it in a bowl. Make sure you go against the natural line of the meat, it makes it much easier to cut, otherwise you’re just trying to pull away meat from the fat and so on!

Squeeze some lemon juice into the chicken.

Cut 2 cloves of garlic into VERY tiny pieces.

Add salt and pepper, and then the tiny pieces of garlic.

Mix it all with your hand.

Get a pot and add some butter (or oil).

Pour the chicken in and cook it (sometimes it starts bubbling a bit because of the water, but after some time in medium heat it all evaporates away).

Once the chicken is almost well cooked, add some mushrooms (I used 1 can /150g/ of laminated mushrooms because it saves time) and mix it around for a little bit.

Add one pack of sour cream (200ml).

Add worcestershire sauce and white wine to taste!!! (SMELLS GREAT BTW) And adjust seasoning (black pepper and salt) if you feel like you need to.

Wait until sauce has a homogeneous texture and it’s done!

Voilá ❤

[benrilife]

Cooking 101 - Simple Salmon Steak (for two)

So, today I made salmon for dinner, with plain white rice and watermelon salad. Salmon is a very yummy fish by itself and it’s very soft, so, perfect for when you have wounds on your tongue or a sore throat. 

Cut 1/4 of an onion and one clove of garlic into tiny pieces.

Wash the salmon steak with weak running water (I do this as a precaution and also it takes a bit of the smell of fish away).

Put the salmon steak in a cutting board and squeeze some lemon juice on top of it.

Add salt, black pepper and thyme as much as you wish on the salmon.

Get a frying pan and set to medium heat.

Put olive oil on the pan and add the onion and the garlic, letting it sit for a minute.

Put the salmon in the frying pan and close the pan with a lid.

Check after (around) 10 minutes if the salmon is cooked - here you can try to lift a little bit of the steak to see if it’s getting golden parts underneath.

If it’s starting to get golden you can flip the salmon steaks (my mom’s tip: don’t flip it too much, once is enough).

Leave it for 5 minutes with the lid closed, until it’s also getting a little golden on the other side!

Voilá ❤

[benrilife]

Cooking 101 - Upgraded Instant Ramen

Honestly, why not make that instant ramen like a decent looking meal? It's a hack! Also my mom had a sore mouth and tongue for days, so soft food like ramen was perfect because it was easy to chew and swallow. :)

Get a type of meat you prefer: it can be chicken breast or beef.

Season the meat with salt and pepper.

Cut the meat into small pieces (stripes or cubes).

Cut half an onion (cut half of it into small cubes and the other half just in bit slices) and cut 2 cloves of garlic into tiny pieces too.

Cut celery and carrots.

Make an omelette with eggs, a little bit of milk, salt, pepper and parsley.

Get a frying pan and set it to high heat.

Add sesame oil, the tiny pieces of garlic and onion into the pan and let it fry for a minute.

Add the chicken, let it cook well and add soy sauce and the rest of the onion.

Once fully cooked, set the chicken aside and add a little bit more of sesame oil.

Add the veggies and some seaweed flakes.

Wait until they are a bit golden. Then, join them with the chicken.

Grab a pot, boil some water, add the instant noodles and its seasoning. Wait 3 min to cook the noodles!

Voilá ❤

[benrilife]

Cooking 101 - Noodles for Four

This is a recipe I learnt from my mom and I don’t know if it will ever be as good as hers... maybe someday.

Here’s what you need:

4 beef steaks

Half onion

2 cloves of garlic

8 leaves of chinese cabbage

soy beans, peas, green beans, carrots, etc.

Chinese egg noodles (200g)

Soy sauce

Sesame oil

Salt

Corn Starch

Honey

Water

Here’s what to do!

Take the fat out off the steaks.

Cut the steaks, the cabbage and the carrots in stripes.

Cut the onion and the garlic in tiny cubes.

Get a large frying pan and put sesame oil in it

Set stove in medium heat

Add the garlic and the onions and wait until they become transparent.

Add the meat and cook it with a pinch of salt.

Take the meat out of the pan and add the cabbage with more sesame oil and fry it until it starts to become golden.

Add the other veggies and stir fry them for a few minutes.

Take all the veggies out and set them aside with the meat.

Boil some water and cook the noodles.

Meanwhile, make the sauce!!!: soy sauce with sesame oil, a soup spoon of corn starch and honey - heat it up in the oven in a small pot until it becomes darker and a little bit thicker. Done!

After the noodles are cooked, throw them in the big frying pan along with half of the amount of sauce you made.

When the noodles become slightly darker, take it out of the stove!

Add the veggies, the meat and the other half of sauce to the noodles!

Voilá  ❤

[benrilife]

Laundry 101 - Separating Clothes

We put all the dirty laundry inside the same basket, which doesn’t really help with the organizing and separating but, oh well, gotta work with what we have, am I right? To be honest, I still don’t have this down, but here’s what has worked so far!

Note: See if there’s anything inside the pockets before putting the clothes inside the washing machine!

Note2: My washing machine has an option for rinsing and draining which helps to dry clothes faster.

I have been separating by color and I haven’t cared if it’s underwear or not, which seems to be okay so far, but I would like to mention I still haven’t washed new clothes!

Whites all together: Pretty obvious I think - White clothes detergent - 40ºC or 60ºC (depending on how many bacteria you want to kill)

Dark clothes all together - Color clothes detergent - 40ºC

Bright colored clothes all together - Color clothes detergent - 20ºC (if it’s not too dirty) or 40ºC (if it’s dirtier - you can tell by smell and looks)

Kitchen related fabrics and cloths all together: they have a weird smell and it’s not a good idea to mix with your clothes or with the towels you use for your body, face and hair - color clothes detergent - 20ºC

Chemo tip: Skin becomes quite sensitive so all my mom’s clothes are washed with baby clothes detergent, and don’t add fabric softener if it has a strong smell!

[benrilife]

Laundry 101 - Things you don’t have to iron!

I ruined my share of underwear for dumb decisions ahah Because here’s a list of things you don’t have to actually iron:

Underwear (if they are cotton, I just fold them and press for a second with the iron)

Socks (why would you even tho?)

Jackets (LOL DON’T EVEN - just hang them and they will flatten)

Those weird poliester, looking like satin, way too thin of a fabric

Towels, table cloths, dish cloths, etc. (NO NEED)

Anything nylon

Pijamas (unless you really want to, then I guess it’s fine)

Anything with prints (t-shirts, sweaters), make sure to not iron over those prints! Iron those inside out!!!

So far, that’s what I know! ahah If there’s other things to the list, let me know! Help a gal out ahah

[benrilife]

Cooking 101 - Leftover Rice

This is a simple thing you can do when there’s a little bit too much of leftover rice. We usually have a bag of frozen diced veggies (like carrots, peas, etc.) and these are very handy for this situation.

First, you put all the leftover rice in a pan (preferably a pan with a good depth so it all fits inside). 

Set the stove on medium heat.

Add some water (depending on the amount of rice it can be one glass or half of a glass).

Stir it for a little bit.

Add 3 handfuls (my hands are small, so it’s probably 2 handfuls for you) of frozen veggies.

Stir it for a good time until you start hearing the sizzling of the frying pan.

When the rice starts to stick a little in the frying pan, you can turn the stove off.

Voilá!  ❤

[benrilife]

Cooking 101 - Lemon Meringue Pie

Attention: it’s verrryyy sweet! Also funny story, this recipe is from a supermarket website, and I underestimated it, but it was actually great ahah.

Crush almost 1 pack of bolacha maria (portuguese biscuit) - like, leave around 8 biscuits out of the crushing.

Melt 80g (most of the times the packages have a measuring indicator) of unsalted butter - microwave or stove set in low heat, inside a small pan.

Mix the crushed biscuit and the melted butter (use your hands! Much faster and efficient). Then put that on a spring-form cake tin (or just a pie tin with a removable bottom) and make a nice base - use your fingers for the sides and a glass cup for the bottom!

Put the tin in the fridge while you do the following steps.

Crack 5 eggs and separate the egg whites from the yolks.

Scrape lemon zest of 1 lemon and squeeze the juice out of two lemons.

Pre-heat the oven on 180ºC.

Pour 1 can of condensed milk, the lemon juice and the lemon zest into the egg yolks and mix them all with a whisk until they become a smooth yellow cream.

Take the pie tin out of the fridge and pour the cream on the crushed biscuit base.

Put the pie tin on the oven, set to 170ºC for 15 minutes.

Mix the egg whites with an automatic mixer and add one teacup of white sugar little by little (optional: add juice of half lemon). When you lift the mixer and the egg whites stay in the shape of a peak, you can stop - this might take a while.

Take the pie tin out of the oven after the 15 minutes are done and let it cool for 5 minutes.

Then pour the egg whites into the pie tin over the yellow cream and spread it gently.

Put it back in the oven for 5 minutes. The egg whites must become a little golden in the tips.

Voilá  ❤

[benrilife]

Cooking 101 - Beef Steak

A simple steak, that is great with plain white rice. Also, after you serve the steaks on the plates, there’s this leftover sauce in the pan that tastes greaaat with some bread (just letting you know)! 

Put the slices of meat in a container

Squeeze lemon juice on the slices of meat (both sides)

Cut half onion and 3 cloves of garlic into tiny cubes.

Spread half of the cubes in the meat.

Put salt, pepper and parsley in the meat.

Get a frying pan.

Set stove in medium heat.

Pour olive oil (or just oil) into pan.

Put the rest of the onion and garlic cubes in the pan.

Wait and move the onions and garlic around the pan with a wooden spoon until onions start to get a little transparent.

Put the slices of meat on the pan.

Wait until one side cooks and flip slices.

Wait until fully cooked.

Voilá ❤

[benrilife]

Cooking 101 - White Rice

This is my basic asian *ss way of doing rice as side dish to everything. 

Note: we actually have a rice cooker, which times it all automatically and also doesn’t leak, so the 15 minutes and the lid are things I don’t usually do (which means maybe it can be different when you actually do it)

Pour the amount of rice you want in the pot.

Wash and rinse rice until water becomes clearer and more transparent.

Measure amount of water by flattening your hand on the rice. The water has to cover your fingers fully but NOT reach your wrist.

Close the pot with its lid and set stove to medium heat.

Wait around 15 minutes (if it starts to leak water, open the lid a little bit).

Voilá ❤ It’s done!