Comfort Food

Ella's PoV

What a BITCH. You are supposed to love and cherish your children, help them grow then free them. Not hold them prisoner and use emotional blackmail to control them. What does she think, this is the 50s?

I can make this better than she can, and my food doesn't come with a price.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Bake a classic dessert! Buttery rich and caramelly pineapple take this yellow cake.

Prep Time 15 min Total Time 1 hr 10 min Servings 9

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter or margarine

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

9 slices pineapple in juice (from 14-oz can), drained

9 maraschino cherries without stems, if desired

1 1/2 cups Gold Medal all-purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup shortening

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup milk

1 egg

1 Heat oven to 350 F. In 9-inch square pan, melt butter in oven. Sprinkle brown sugar evenly over melted butter. Arrange pineapple slices over brown sugar. Place cherry in center of each pineapple slice.
2 In medium bowl, beat remaining ingredients with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high speed 3 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour batter over pineapple and cherries.
3 Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Immediately place heatproof serving plate upside down over pan; turn plate and pan over. Leave pan over cake a few minutes so brown sugar mixture can drizzle over cake; remove pan. Serve warm.

Ranger's POV

"Ranger, Go home. You have been sitting here for 3 days, you need to eat some real food, take a shower and get some sleep. The Doc says they will be keeping her in an induced coma for at least 3 more days." Bobby looks at the folder with Rangeman's copy of the hospital paperwork "She is doing as well as can be expected - you know there are 5 guys out front that will take turns sitting with Steph, she will not be alone. She does not need you collapsing and ending up in a bed somewhere else here."

Grudgingly Ranger gets up "You promise me you will call if *anything* changes, right?"

"You know we will. Promise."

Ranger scrubs his hand down his face and slowly moves out of the room as Bobby sits down and takes one of Steph's delicate hands in his bearspaw of a hand.

Tank pushes up off the wall he has been leaning on and heads down the hall to the garage with Ranger.

Exiting the Escalade that is Tank's regular ride, Ranger fobs the elevator open and hits the button for 7. As he exits the elevator, Ella stops him in the small foyer with a quick hug "Steph is strong, she will be back with us soon, sobrino. You know we are all praying for her."

Ranger returns her hug and mumbles indistinctly, then turns and fobs his way into is apartment. Standing with his eyes closed, he is transported back to his abuela's house by the smell of his favorite comfort food. Ella knows exactly how to comfort her no longer young nephew by making foods he had when he was young. Moving into the kitchen, he finds his crockpot sitting next to a small breadwarmer. Fumbling a bowl out of the cupboard he dishes up a hearty portion of picadillo and gets a small loaf of bread from the warmer and sits on the couch, immersing himself in memories of his abuela's fragrant kitchen. No matter how mean the kids at school were to the small long haired boy, Abuela Rosa never complained about the dirty or torn clothing, she would sit him down with some food and let him talk about his day.

Slowly his head sinks back and the bowl falls from his hand as he falls asleep in his abuela's kitchen once more.

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups onion, diced

2 cups green pepper, seeded and finely chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil for sauteing

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 pounds ground beef

3 large roma tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped

1 teaspoon cumin, ground

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves (The OPTIONAL, highly controversial, ingredient!)

1 teaspoon oregano

1/2 cup green olives, chopped

1/3 cup raisins

1/2 teaspoon salt and black pepper (to taste)

Saute onion and green pepper in olive oil in a large frying pan. Saute about 5 minutes, until the onion is softened, then add the garlic and ground beef.

Mash the onion and green pepper into the sauteing meat and cook until the meat is browned, about 5 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, cumin, cinnamon, cloves (optional) and oregano. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Add olives and raisins and simmer 5 minutes longer. Salt and pepper to taste.

And one of the main differences between cuban bread and other breads is there is butter or lard mixed into the dough instead of a vegetable oil or shortening. It is not like focaccia it is a regular loaf type bread.

Steph's POV

"Hm, not too bad."

"Are you sure this is ok? I mean, it has *chocolate* and everything..."

"Yes, dear. The muesli is off the approved list, the chocolate is a good quality dark and the sweetening agents are stevia and erythritol, also off the approved list."

"But it tastes *good*!"

"Well, I do try. Good nutrition has to be appealing, otherwise it is useless and people keep trying to cheat and that makes a positive change impossible."

Homemade Sweet Dark Chocolate
4 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp coconut oil
1/4 cup erythritol (powdered, preferably) OR other sweetener
20 drops stevia extract
Optional: 1/2 tsp vanilla extract or other flavouring

Line an 8×8 baking pan with parchment paper

In a medium saucepan, combine chocolate, cocoa powder, butter or oil, and erythritol or other sweetener. Stir over low heat until sweetener has dissolved and mixture is smooth.

Off heat, stir in stevia and any other extracts or flavorings.

Spread in pan and chill in refrigerator until firm, about 2 hours. Lift parchment paper out of pan and cut into small chunks with a sharp knife.

Store in fridge or freezer until needed.

To make granola bars or cookies without drowning the muesli with sugar, melt the sweetened dark chocolate and stir in muesli - wwwdotgermandelidotcom/Seitenbacher-Muesli-No8-High-Fiber-Breakfast is my favorite one that is purchased, or you can simply make your own choices out of the bulk dried fruits, nuts and flakes from a health food store. For bars, spread on parchment in a baking tin, for cookies dollop out in 2 tablespoon balls and flatten slightly. Let cool and cut the bars, or bag the cookies in a zip closure bag.