It is winter here in MN so that means all the grills have been tucked away and we will be hibernating until May of 2019. Goodbye sunshine and warmth. Bring on cold the faces, ears and icicles for feet!

For some people winter means skiing,building snowmen and ice fishing. Not me. No way are you getting this sweet summer child to go out on the ice to fish! The fish I get at whole foods is just as good for me!

But I do love going to the movies in the winter. I mean it is still a fortune to buy a bag of popcorn and a water but at least its inside where it is warm.

Speaking of movies, I took my monster and her gang to go see The Hate U Give. We both read the book and wanted to see that movie. I strongly believe in reading the book first before seeing the movie. My thoughts on the movie…

Interesting? It told the view point of a police officer, a black police officer no less. But it also showed the point of the witness. I don’t want to give it away and ruin it for those of you who have yet to see it. What I took away from it…my monster wants to protest, and I admire her for that, but at the same time as a parent I know that protesting can get violent and she could get hurt. That is my issue. Have a voice but it must be peaceful.

The movie did not bash the police or the victim so don’t go see the movie with that in your mind. Be open minded. Try to look at both sides.

And while you are doing that, eat some of these sweet, spicy sticky drumsticks! These were so easy to make and I literally popped it in the oven and that is lunch all week for me. Now if you guys missed me…I will be raking leaves.

Click here for Sticky Baked Drumsticks recipe.

And don’t forget to pop on by my Youtube Channel for more recipe videos!

Who is happy to not be seeing all those political ads on TV anymore? I check it one night, there was at least 5 political ads in between each commercial. I am so tired of people on my facebook feed ranting about politics. We all want 2020 to come quickly, but I really don’t like seeing that stuff first thing in the morning.

Whats even worst, is when you go out and people dominate the conversation with talks of politics! It drives me insane. So to wrap this up…I am happy that elections are over!

Okay now that my rant is over, lets dive into this amazing recipe! I am always looking for a healthy option that will fill me up. And this Lasagna hit the ball out of the park! Its filling, its delicious and it has meat!

You will not miss the pasta in this dish trust me. This dish a like a main meal, just pair it with a salad and you have dinner and lunch.

The trick to this dish is to make sure you have very ripe plantains. the blacker the skin on the plantains, the sweeter it will be. Another tip, boil the plantains with with the skin on, it is way easier to peel and it won’t be watery.

Make the meat sauce however you like it, meaning use your preferred meat, like I used half Italian sausage. Use your favorite cheese as well. I even used the meat sauce like a sloppy Joe and ate some of it that way. I love sloppy joes! Another useful tip, allow the lasagna to cool a little before cutting it to get nice square pieces.

The original recipe for this is curtesy 196 flavors.

Check out the video for it below and be sure to hop on over to my Youtube Channel and subscribe for more great videos like this.

Click here for Pastelon recipe.

This Stew Chicken is not to be confused with the American Chicken Stew. Two completely different dishes.

I was looking through my videos on YouTube…yes occasionally even myself look at my videos. I realized I have not posted one on Stew Chicken. How could that be? Stew Chicken is one of the most popular dishes in Trinidad. Without it we won’t make it through Carnival and many Sunday dishes!

Its the beginning of any Trini Pelau, another important dish in Trini culture. I have no remedied that. This Stew Chicken gets its color from browning sugar in oil. It does not use the browning in a bottle or soy sauce.

It is not sweet either because of the sugar, the sugar is actually melted and cooked beyond caramel flavor, but not burnt. If the chicken tastes burnt, then you browned the sugar too much. Once you have mastered the browning of the sugar part you will be amazed at the delicious chicken you have just cooked!

Make sure to look at the video prior to trying to make it. It shows you all the steps and what color to look for when you are browning your sugar.

Click here for Trini Stew Chicken recipe.

If anyone has been to Trinidad especially around carnival time, then you would have eaten this Pelau, in addition to doubles, callaloo and crab or crab and dumplings.

Callaloo and crab is considered the national dish of Trinidad, but a Trini Pelau is considered the national dish of a Trini lime! I have made this dish before on the blog and it was actually the first video I did for my Youtube Channel. Of course back then I was a rookie and had no idea how to get the steam off my camera and we won’t mention the bad angle of the camera.

I wanted to redo this recipe as it is a staple in my recipes. I make this whenever I need a quick one pot meal. You can use pigeon peas or you can use black eye peas. Anyone of the two will work just as well.

When we would go to the river or to the beach to make a cook, this or fish broff (broth) was a must cook.  Fresh coconut milk will make this dish over the top!

Now remember of you like this video which is better than the last one make sure you subscribe and give it a thumbs up!

Click here for Chicken Pelau recipe.

Hi all,

Hope you are having an amazing Halloween week! I know all the young people are out partying it up for Halloween and getting up dressed up . Not me…I seriously ask myself how is it that I did that in my younger days? I mean we would get dressed up and go stand outside in the freezing cold of MN just to get into a club, where everyone pushed you around, because no one ever sees the short people.

I was barley wearing any clothes too! Now I see these young gals in their small outfits and peep toes shoes with nothing covering their legs from the cold and I literally cringe! Now by the time I get to the club, I am already planning on when I can leave!

And to prove my point, I recently got back from a trip to Vegas with my gal pals…a 3 day weekend thing. There was this one night where we took our time and got all dressed up, all excited to get to the club, check out the guys, have them buys us drinks, maybe shake a leg.

OMG…we got to the club around 11 pm. We had to stand in the VIP line no less, for an hour just to get inside. We get inside and there is all these stairs you got to climb to get to the first floor. Me climbing stairs in my 4 inch heels with flashing lights! I am not kidding you when I say I lasted no more than 10 minutes in there. I got my $25 very small bottle of water, yes there was only bottled water, because these places are all about making money so they had no cups of water.

I told my gal pals, meet me in the casino after you guys are finished being young! But this old gal is going to find somewhere to sit down and take her shoes off! One of them met up with me about 30 minutes later, she was like nope, not for me. The next one lasted a whole hour…and the last one and the youngest…dang that girl lasted till 7am!

When my little monster who is not so little anymore proclaimed that she no longer has any interest in going trick or treating in 20 degree weather…I believe I was the happiest person alive! Its the small things in life!

What is not so small is this amazing Butter Chicken recipe. I actually made this a few years ago for the blog, but now I am updating it with a video attached. Same recipe, same great taste, but with animation added!

So if you like this video be sure to check out my YouTube Channel for more crazy videos like this!

Click here for Butter Chicken recipe.