A Good LIdl Dupe

 Every Lidl lover knows that the store has some pretty good dupes for the national brands.Thie creme filled sandwich cookies taste better than Oreos. Their honey loops are much more delicious than Honey Nut Cheerios. For those Hamburger Helper fans, it's time to try their take on this classic skillet dish.

I bought two boxes along with ImpossibleMeat to make a really quick week night dinner. I knew it was going to taste good and also love the simplicity of it.

This is what you get . A packet of bowtie pasta and a separate sauce one.

You do need some kind of meat so I knew the Impossible Beef was the best

The whole package went in , first having been microwaved to thaw out for three minutes. It was then sauteed with a combination of butter and olive oil. Two cups of water and the sauce packets were added.

Then the milk and d pasta. This was a quick cook and it only took about fifteen minutes son a medium flame to cook up.

It really was a tasty and rich dupe for Hamburger Helper. I plan on buying their Beef Stroganoff flavor next. 

Lidl' has some excellent dupes of national brands. Their Hamburger Helper one is very good and perfect for a quick week night meal. Try it for a tasty supper.

Your Favorite Superbowl Snack

Sunday  is the biggest party day  since New Year's Eve.Its the Super Bowl (along with the Milan Cortina Winter Olympic Games). There will be all sorts of amazing foods  from crunchies to chili being served on Sunday night.

The question is what is your favorite? Are you excited about the fiery wings? The sliders full of fried onions and cheddar? Or is the sweeter side? The goal post brownies? Cupcakes in team colors? Mine has to be Acme's football cake. This is a vanilla one baked in that classic football oblong and of course decorated with chocolate icing. For some reason this signifies the game to me more than anything.

Let us know what  appetizers and treats you'll be cheering for when the Seahawks play the New England Patriots.

All Day Cafe All Day Joy

Can a cafe extend it's day? Yes. These staples of late breakfasts, brunches and lunches  are now extending to dinners. They can serve the same food or switch to a totally different cuisinesIt means more hours to enjoy a favorite place along with bringing in more money for the owners/

Regular contributor Brett Anderson wrote about this not so unusual practice in yesterday's New York Times Wednesday Food section. Diners have been practicing this for decades , offering a wide range of meals , from early morning breakfast to late night burgers and fries. Now cafes have Ben jumping on the bandwagon. Having long hours or closing in the early afternoon and reopening later not only means appealing to loyal customers but bringing in more revenue.  Breakfasts are great ways of also bringing in loyal dinner customers and vice versa. According to Vivian Ku,owner of Pine and Crate DTLA, an all day Taiwanese cafe in Los Angeles, it;s a good  way to know customers and cater to their needs whatever the meal is. Then there are the bakery-restaurants that take their cue from casual eateries in Western and Northern Europe. There people can nosh whenever they feel like it and enjoy a lunch  followed by a sweet then come back for dinner and a coffee.

Keeping an all day cafe is a great way of expanding a chef's repertoire. There is Kelsey Britio who opened up the Dutchess in Ojai California. The early meals consist of breakfast plates full of eggs and bacon along with granola while the dinner menu is Burmese dishes like beef stay and Boek House Muttin masala. This varies customers ' tastes too. While they may enjoy a traditional lunch or brunch , dinner can be exotic and palate expanding.There is the similar Cafe Mochiko in Cincinnati , run  by Erik and Elaine Uykimpang-Bentz. During the day it's an Asia bakery that closes for the afternoon and reopens as a Japanese restaurant inspired by yoshuku or Japanese fusion food. There are croissants filled with purple yam and Thai tea snickerdoodle to start the day along with Earl Grey chocolate chunk scone. Dinner is Japanese curry rice and a salute to Cincinnati style chili in an unusual ramen dish.Maybe more restaurants and cafes will follow suit for an unusual all day dining experience.

All day cafes will become more popular as the demand for them increases. It's a fun challenge for chefs. It's a plus for loyal customers.

The Winning Super Bowl Get Together

 A Super Bowl party can either  be a winner or loser ,like everyone's favorite teams. A successful one starts with a plan and good foods. These are the backbone of  memorable and tasty get together ( along with a great half time show and successful team).

New contributor Ben Mims,a James Beard nominated cookbook author gave some excellent tips in today's New York Times Wednesday Foods section. His recommendation, as with any party buffet is pread it out throughout the evening. After all its going to be a long night. Guests will go through waves of hunger. One good idea is cook fully ahead of time.Every hot dish should be cooked ahead of time and reheated when need be. Take chicken wings for example. Cook them earlier in the day  and then blast them in a hot oven ten minutes before guests start to arrive. As they reheat take the time to prepare or heat up sauces. then transfer them to a large bowls. It's here when the wings are tossed in and them coated with the sauces ,ready to eat. (although the wings can be served "naked"and allow guests to do their own saucing and dipping). Making that Super Bowl classic chili is always done ahead of time.It only gets better as it sits, especially the crockpot kind. Ribs can be cooked long before the big do, even on Saturday. As with the wings add the glazes the day of and reheat.

What about burgers? Ubdercok them slightly at first. That way when they're popped back into the oven, they're  perfectly ready to go to sheet pan to bun. Reheat with a slice of cheddar on top. Make all your own dips. Homemade is always better. Cold dips do require a day to more or less marinate and get more flavor. Store them in their serving vessels  and., cover with Saran wrap. This way they'll be good to go when the party gets rolling. A very good tip from  Mr Mims is stagger the roll out. Don;t overwhelm guests with a plethora of food. Have the cold snacks like popcorn, chips and pretzels along with the cold dips. this will keep guests fed d out for the kitchen asking when the wings will be ready. During the second quarter, serve the hot stuff.Bring out the appetizer like foods. They could be potato skins or brick layer nachos or just nachos with hot cheese sauce.  Just before half time heat up those heavy hitters. These are the ribs wings, chili  and burgers to be eaten during the third quarter. The fourth quarter is dessert (if they're still hungry). Get out the brownies and cookies . (All grocery stores are featuring football cakes and cupcakes for the big game).

Don't fumble this Sunday's party. Its an easy spread with easy food. ENjoy it and root for  your favorite team.

Hot Sauces For A Cold Sundae

 It seems strange to want ice cream when there's a foot of snow on the ground, yet when you have a craving you have a craving. Ironically ice cream and gelati can be warmed up. It just takes a good hot sauce that elevates the treat's flavor and takes away that icy edge/

Hot fudge sauce is the most popular and easiest to create. It can be made in five minutes prior to creating a sundae.To get the best flavor use grade A chocolate like Ghiradelli chopped semi sweet baking bar. Baker 's chocolate tends to work better than a regular bar or a bag of chocolate chips.Granualted wote sugar is used to make the chocolate flavor shine through. To prevent this from crystallizing a light corn syrup is added to give the sauce a glossy texture and sheen. Butter and heavy cream are added for that fudge- flavor and vanilla is also added t enhance all the flavors. The chocolate chips or shards are melted first in a saucepan, then the mix of  butter cream  and vanilla are whisked in.Should you add salt? Only if the butter used is sweet butter instead of salted.You could add a pinch of hot pepper for a Mexican type one or a tiny drop of min extract for a minty twist. Keep in mind that his is also good on waffles and French toast.Just store in the fridge when you;re done with it.

Caramel sauce is another sundae classic. How is caramel made? With butter, cream and sugar. Granulated white sugar produces the best consistency however brown  sugar makes the sauce darker and richer.Use unsalted butter in the recipe. (you can add a teeny pinch of salt at the end of the cooking. what gives caramel it's creaminess is either heavy cream or heavy whipping cream.It's high fat content help balance the sugar's sweetness and also the butter for a glossier, silkier sauce.  There are two methods to making caramel, wet and dry. The wet method involves using water to dissolve the sugar faster. There is a drawback however, It can create sugar crystals on the side=Des of pan which make for a laborious cleaning up afterwards. It;'s just melting everything and stirring until a glossy sauce arises.Another yummy sauce for ice cream is cherries jublilee. You can use frozen cherries for this right now.Conrstarch and white sugar give it body. You'll also need orange zest and a quarter of a cup orange juice. You can add brandy to make it adult friendly or just omit it.It's first combining the sugar and cornstarch and adding in the water  and orange juice. Then the cherries and the zest go in, Tis is good over both chocolate and vanilla ice cream.

Yes, you can eat ice cream on a cold day in February. Just put a hot gooey sauce over it. It'll make for a blissfully warm yet frosty treat.

A Tasty Addition Homemade Croutons

 What's a good addition to a hot steamy soup or cool and creamy salad? Croutons! Yes you can buy them but homemade are so much better. They're buttery, zingy and flavorful and have that fun familiar crunch.

I thought they would be a good addition to Lidl's pea soup. The soup is 

a tough  can be a tough one to make hence the canned version.Yet it did need something homemade to elevate it. Homemade air fryer croutons would do the trick. It starts with three slices of sourdough bread.

This was Lidl's brand and I cut it into cubes. Slicing three slices at once does  the trick.However once sliced  it's then cubed.

Its then melting two heaping tablespoons of I Cna;t Believe It's Not Butter in the microwave for a minute(you can use any plant or dairy based butter,Just have enough to soak the bred cubes)

You can leave this plain but I like flavor so I added freshly ground pepper and garlic powder. You can add oregano flakes or onion powder too.

Let the bread soak two or three minutes, stick the cubes around in the bowl to absorb all the melted butter.

As for the cooking.air fry for seven minutes for extra crunch at 400 degrees Farenheit.

These are the crisped version

Then there's them and the soup.

They are so much better than the sore bought ones and easy to make. I plan on making them for my next salad too. It may be a vegan Caesar which scream for croutons. The garlic flavor added a nice extra oomph to them too.

Don't buy already made croutons. Homemade ones are tastiers and crisper. They're a snap to make and fun to add to soups and salads

Changing Up The Recipe

 The same old recipes can be boring. Luckily you can ease some for the mid winter blues by changing up your recipes. Add new ingredients. Switch up the spicing. Create something that s equally delicious and different.

One of the most intriguing switch ups is a fusion of Indian and Italian  - curried pasta. This is taking curry powder and cream instead of the usual tomatoes and tomato paste and coming up with a totally disparate take on traditional spaghetti or penne. There is still onion, garlic and olive oil for the sauce's body but curry powder and heavy cream give it a bright yellow color and creaminess. You could also add turmeric for more color brightness along for a boost of flavor.Curried meatballs is another switch up made with either ground turkey or chicken. This is served ina rich curry sauce as well,  redolent with tomatoes , onions garlic and ginger.Instead of pasta serve it with fragrant steaming basmati rice. Another idea for a different kind of pasta sauce is combining mushrooms and spinach in a hot oil sauce Add garlic and hot pepper flakes for some zing,Keep in mind this also would be great over chicken breasts or steak too. Berbere spice is usually reserved for Ethiopian dishes . Imagine using it in the most English of dishes  - shepherd's pie. You can easily spice up a beef or lamb filling with it and also do a light dusting of it over the mashed potato topping.

Stuffed veggies are always a good winter's dish whether on a week night or a week end. Most go for peppers stuffed with everything from ground beef and turkey to more veggies. Have you considered stuffing onions instead? This Piedmontese specialty varies from household to household in the frigid Alps northwest of Torino. Some add raisins to the mix of chopped meat and breadcrumbs. I usually made my own vegan version, using Impossible ground meat and a mix of oregano , salt pepper and just teeny pinches of both onion and garlic powders.Keep in mind that the onions should be parboiled first for a few minutes. This is just boiling the onions for a few minutes, letting them cool and then stuffing them. They're topped with breadcrumbs for a crispy finish and then placed into an air fryer for thirty minutes at four hundred degrees Farehneit.Can you do this with turnips? Yes! This winter root veggie is perfect for filling with the same tasty stuffing.It's the same method as with the onions with the eparboiling before stuffing. They do have to be peeled and hollowed out though. YOu can fill with with lamb too along with pomengranate molasses for a Middle Eastern flair.

Think outside the recipe with you cook. This provides a fun spin on classic dishes.It makes for a yummy new take and an exciting meal.