CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

Eat, drink, and enjoy the good of all our labor - is the gift of God, is it not? According to Eccl. 3:13, at least. What makes a good thing better? Sharing! (...or was it keeping it all to yourself...) anyways! These times could always use a few more good things, and few things do good quite like food. What do you take out of your fridge to make your day better? No concoction too exotic, and no recipe too simple! (Recipe is optional, if you feel like it.)
For example:

Coffee Jelly
A not-too-sweet treat I was first exposed to in Japan, then discovered a recipe in a volume of the manga Sweetness & Lightning. I lost the recipe, but Knox brand gelatin basically has a workable recipe on every packet. Best yet, it is mind-numbingly easy to make and then alter. Here is what I do:

Ingredients
2 packets Knox Gelatin (Note: has become a rare commodity in Alaska for unknown reasons. I am unsure of availability in your region.)
1 cup Hot Coffee (your preferred brand, I make a pour-over from locally roasted coffee. Hot=~195F.)
1 cup Cold Coffee (make your own Toddy if you are adventurous and properly equipped, or buy a jug of any cold-brew. I use Stok unsweetened.)
Cream, to taste (I use heavy whipping cream)

Equipment
9"x9" baking dish (glass preferred, though I haven't tried anything else besides silicon ice-cube trays. *Not recommended!*)
Plastic wrap (to prevent accidents)
Fridge (preferably one that doesn't accidentally freeze things. That was really weird.)
Stirring utensil (I guess you could use your hand... not recommended if you intend to share.)
Timepiece (An egg-timer will give your process a rustic feel)
*Optional: Immersion Blender (a bit of a specialized piece of equipment, but makes the best whipped cream I've had. Takes some trial and error to prevent over-whipping.)

Getting to Work
Pour your cold coffee into the pan, then dust evenly with your gelatin packets, one at a time. Let sit for one minute.
Add your hot coffee and stir thoroughly, slowly, and constantly for 5 minutes. (I theorize this must remove air bubbles and unify the consistency. I haven't tested skipping this step cause hey, if it ain't broke, right?)
Cover with plastic wrap and place in fridge, waiting roughly three hours for gelatin to set. (The egg-timer is not recommended for keeping track of time during this step.)
Once set, convention holds you cut the coffee jelly into squares. Feel free to use cookie cutters or whatever shape you prefer.
Place in small bowls, drizzle cream to taste, and serve with a small spoon. If you normally sweeten your coffee, top with a dusting of powdered sugar.

Double-batching makes for a more substantial block of jelly, and is what I do standard.

Alternate Whipped Cream
Feeling adventurous and equipped? Pour roughly 1 cup of whipping cream into the immersion blender's mixing bowl or appropriately sized jar. (16 oz Better Than Bouillon jars work especially well.) Add a dash (or a glug, if it's been a bad day) of maple syrup. (Or your preferred, or no, sweetener.)
Here is the tricky part: Blend the cream until the glossy finish begins turning matte. Stop blending and watch for the cream to go firm. If it stays liquidy, blend a bit more. Over-blending doesn't effect the taste, but the texture gets clumpy and will leave your mouth feeling buttery.
Plop whipped cream on top of jelly and serve.

Non-Coffee Alternatives
Matcha Latte, Earl Grey Tea, Chai... basically anything liquid that survives getting near-boiling hot. Make your favorite beverage into your favorite dessert!

Coffee Jelly is fast to make, and keeps well. (It will survive freezing, though the gelatin concentrates, and you have to pluck the ice out of it.) Give it a try, and let me know what you think!
Post about your own comfort foods, or just how you feel about food in general.

Often times, I resort to making homemade tacos. I don't find them difficult or time consuming, and they're really good.

I add flour, and half that amount of flour in water (by weight) add some salt and oil (not much) and mix that, roll them thin, and fry them quickly.

For the tacos, brown the meat, with any cooked vegetables, add some water to get some of the fond off the pan, and add everything to the tortilla I made. Super nice and comforting.

So, after finding out I am dairy intolerant, I missed hot chocolate, because all of those instant hot chocolate powders contain dairy. It took me a while to figure out how to make my own from scratch and actually make it taste good, but in the end I realized it was way simpler than I thought!

Hot Chocolate for 1, from Scratch

Ingredients:
・1 mug full of dairy-free milk of your choice (or dairy milk if that's your thing, or water)
・1 Tbsp pure cacao powder
・2 Tbsp natural sweetener of your choice (I use raw honey)

Optional:
・Any of the following: cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla bean powder or vanilla extract, peppermint candies/extract/essential oil, marshmallows, whipped cream, etc.

Instructions:
・Measure your milk or milk substitute by filling your mug, then pour that into a saucepan and heat it up until it starts to simmer.
・While that is heating up, put the other ingredients in your mug.
・Pour the heated milk (/substitute) back into the mug, stir, and enjoy.

Furen wrote:I add flour, and half that amount of flour in water (by weight) add some salt and oil (not much) and mix that, roll them thin, and fry them quickly.

Oh, nice! I hadn't considered making tortillas from scratch, but I do really enjoy homemade tacos! I tend to over-stuff mine...

Kaori wrote:It took me a while to figure out how to make my own from scratch and actually make it taste good, but in the end I realized it was way simpler than I thought!
Optional:
・Any of the following: cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla bean powder or vanilla extract, peppermint candies/extract/essential oil, marshmallows, whipped cream, etc.

Funny how something seemingly so simple can have such nuances! And how dependent upon pre-made mixes we seem to get... I like that list of optional ingredients! I always end up with too much or too little vanilla extract, but that's what I get for not wanting to wash a measuring spoon, lol.
There is a youtube video by... Binging with Babbage, I think is what it's called, where he tries to make the hot chocolate from the Santa Claus movie. Great production value, esp. if you like the movie, and he explores variations from a few different countries.

Right now, since I'm not going to restaurants really at all, I've started making some things I'd normally order at home. More steaks, for instance. Also, I found mizithra cheese at one of the grocery stores, so I've been making a clone of Old Spaghetti Factory's pasta with mizithra cheese and browned butter. Easy to do, delicious.

This recipe is one of our favorites - there's a lot of ingredients, but the process of actually making it is pretty easy. Big tips: do the chicken-cooking step first in a big or deep-sided skillet, then when the chicken is done, take the meat out and use the same pan to start your sauce. Measure out the spices together in a little bowl, and make the cream mixture before you start.

If you're not a fan of extremely spicy food, cut way down on the cayenne pepper - 1/8th teaspoon is plenty to taste the spice. Swapping out the chicken for paneer (a hard Indian cheese, resistant to melting - it's used similarly to tofu) is a great change of pace too. No matter what you do, it goes well with naan (store bought or homemade) and plain rice, and is great as leftovers too!

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/228293/curry-stand-chicken-tikka-masala-sauce/

All right, I figure I should share with you all my latest addiction. All you need for this is a microwaveable mug, a microwave, some milk and 4 oreo cookies. Take the 4 oreo cookies and place them in the mug. I usually crush them up so they fit in the bottom easier and to help with a later process of this whole thing. Pour milk in until it comes up to about half way on the cookies (or just level with the top of them if you crushed them up). Stir and crush the cookies until the entire thing gets an almost uncooked batter type of consistency (add more milk or cookies until the entire thing gets this type of consistency. Trust me when I say you don't want to stick this in the microwave with it being too runny). Microwave for 2 minutes or until the mixture has taken a cake like appearance. Let it cool and enjoy your totally-not-a-mug-cake mug cake.

Rusty Claymore wrote:Oh, nice! I hadn't considered making tortillas from scratch, but I do really enjoy homemade tacos! I tend to over-stuff mine...

Well, if you make your own, you can make it after you make the filling, and then you shouldn't have to worry

Peanut wrote:sadness

You all right, dude?

Brownies. Though I don't make them as comfort food so much as for events or presents (at least I did, back in the day when touching people and breathing the same air was acceptable).

I found a stupidly simple but delicious brownie recipe online, "five ingredient brownies".

Ingredients:
1/2 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1\2 cup butter
2 eggs
1\3 cup cocoa powder

Directions:
Mix flour, sugar, and cocoa in one bowl, eggs and softened butter in another, dump it all together, put in a greased baking pan, bake at 350 F for 25-35 minutes, and done.

They're drier and more cakelike than your typical brownies, but I love them. I cut them into bite sized pieces so I don't feel as guilty popping them one after the other and inevitably eating as much as I would no matter the size.