Favorite Shelter-in-Place Recipes
March 17, 2021
This month I’m excited to highlight a few favorite shelter-in-place recipes from our Sunflower Hill at Irby Ranch residents! It’s been a year since we’ve been sheltering at home, and while it’s certainly been a challenging year, not all of it has been bad. For me, one of the benefits of sheltering-in-place for the last year has been time to experiment with cooking and baking, just like many of our Irby Ranch residents!
When the shelter-at-home first began, it was tough to wrap my mind around not meeting anyone in person and the seemingly endless time spent sitting at home all day. It literally drove me insane! I knew I needed to find something to do to break up the long days. One of things that I started to do was to experiment with different baking recipes. I’m not the greatest cook or baker. I don’t have the patience needed to become an accomplished baker, or a special talent for cooking. However, I quickly realized that tinkering with existing recipes, by adding some of my favorite ingredients, was a lot of fun. It also had the added bonus of making the house smell like dessert heaven!
Irby Ranch Resident’s Favorite Recipes
A few of our Irby Ranch residents also began testing and practicing their cooking and baking skills while sheltering-in-place. Here are some of their favorite recipes from the last year.
SHANNON
Shannon’s favorite shelter-in-place recipe is Skinny Enchiladas! She says that trying the recipe was a new and fun learning process. Shannon likes Italian and American cuisines. Her all-time favorite type of dish is casseroles because there are a lot of leftovers!
BRUCE
Bruce’s favorite shelter-in-place recipe is Homemade Biscuits because they are easy to make and delicious! Bruce likes Indian, Italian and Mexican cuisines. His all-time favorite dish is apple pie!
JENNIFER
Jennifer’s favorite shelter-in-place recipe is Enchiladas! She loves the taco layers in the recipe! Jennifer likes Italian and Mexican cuisines. Her all-time favorite dish is chicken and dumplings!
Pratima’s Eggless Banana Bread
One of my favorite shelter-in-place recipes that I enjoyed experimenting with most is banana bread. I’m vegetarian, and also don’t eat eggs. Many baking recipes call for eggs. When baking, I generally look for vegan or eggless recipes. I also try to customize the recipe to meet my needs. For this recipe, I experimented a little and ended up with a banana bread variation that is not too sweet or too bland. I also added some green food coloring in honor of St. Patrick’s Day! Delish!
I like to enjoy this banana bread with tea or vanilla ice cream. Warm banana bread plus cold vanilla ice cream is absolute heaven! I hope you give it a try!
Whether you’re following a recipe or experimenting with your own favorite ingredients, we hope these shared recipes will inspire you to find some of your own favorites!
Story by: Pratimajit Kaur, Sunflower Hill at Irby Ranch Residential Programs Manager
Contributing Writer: Rachel Clark, Sunflower Hill Communications Manager