My favorite things to eat are sweet treats. Chocolate any-sort-of-way is my snack of choice. I love it! During this quarantined time at home, I’ve found myself baking and eating all kinds of delicious foods and sweet treats. The end result (besides having a belly full of tasty cookies and cakes) has been enjoying these treats together with my family like a little “ritual.” Every night, there is a delicious baked-good in the house that my husband and I look forward to enjoying together. I’ve found comfort in this time together, and it’s something I want to hang onto even after quarantine. My husband and I sit back, unwind with conversation or some TV, and enjoy a yummy treat together on the couch. One might even call it our quarantine tradition!

Baking over these past few weeks has brought another level of joy for me apart from devouring the finished product. Baking in the kitchen brings me joy during this time: I decide what delicious treat to make, assemble all the supplies, read each step closely and carefully, get each ingredient measured just right, and wait patiently for it all to bake. I’m not a very meticulous person when it comes to cooking and baking, but baking with recipes has been a newfound joy that fills my heart. The patron saint of bakers and pastry chefs is St. Honore, whose feast day was just on May 16th. He was a 6th century bishop in France who is normally depicted with a baker’s paddle and wheat; he is celebrated in Paris with a three-day feast and a festival of bread. There is also a special cake in his honor called the “Gateau St. Honore” made of cream puffs, caramelized sugar, and pastry creams. Maybe I’ll honor his feast day (a little late) with a cream puff masterpiece of my own!
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Baking brings me joy, and perhaps it can bring you joy during this time as well. Baking with kids, although slightly messier, can be a great source of joy that builds lasting memories. Baking with a spouse or significant other can also bring you closer together.
 
Here is a list of 9 ideas related to baking that will not only fill your bellies, but also your hearts—adding a little more sweetness to your life during this pandemic and time spent at home:

1. Start with a classic. Make some chocolate chip cookies from scratch. Warm them up with some ice cream, cozy up with a blanket and a good book, and take a deep breath in. We’ll get through this.
2. Plan a date night! Use a new pastry recipe or an oldie-but-goodie that you and your significant other both love. Bake it together, pair it with a glass of something delicious (some like milk, some like wine - you pick!), and enjoy it together!
3. Bake for others! Make a treat for someone who is working on the front lines of COVID-19 and help them feel appreciated for all that they are doing to help. Your kindness can go a very long way!
4. Bake for a breakfast treat! Cinnamon rolls, muffins, doughnuts, bagels, and biscuits all can be made ahead of time and then enjoyed for breakfast (or snacking) later on.
5. Bake with kids! Kids love working with their hands! By baking together, you’re teaching them life skills and building memories. It’s also a good excuse for bath time after!
6. To brighten a day! Bake for an isolated neighbor and leave it at their doorstep with a little note; it’s amazing how bright their day could get because of a little sweet treat!
7. Try something new! Tired of the same old recipe? Flip through the pages of a cookbook or scroll online and try to make whatever you land on! Fancy pastry? New pie or bread? Bring it on! Get creative and expand your skillset!
8. Share it virtually! Try to follow the directions exactly and go for a picture-perfect version, then make it snazzy, and post it to your social media account! Who knows, you might inspire someone else who wants to get off the couch and bake!
9. Bake for your heart! We are living through stressful times of hardship and suffering. If baking brings you or family and friends joy, just do it. Your heart will thank you.

 
St. Honore, pray for us!
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Krissy Pierno is a teacher for the Archdiocese of Washington.

​“As chefs, we know that good food provides not only nourishment, but also comfort, especially in times of crisis.”
-Chef Jose Andres
When Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in September of 2017, there was a great need for food- not just for the necessary nourishment, but also because “good food provides. . .comfort, especially in times of crisis.” Chef Andres and his team at World Central Kitchen provided 3.7 million fresh, never pre-packaged, locally sourced meals for the people of Puerto Rico as they recovered from Hurricane Maria. While our current situation in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic likely doesn’t call us to produce millions of meals, Chef Andres’ thesis remains true—food brings comfort, especially in times of crisis.
 
Chefs like Jose Andres and Andrew Zimmern were a large inspiration for me to pursue a degree in Culinary Arts. They helped me to see that food is not only tasty, a way to earn a living, and a creative outlet, but that it is a way to build community, to learn about culture, and to cultivate human bonds around our tables. Despite changing the scope of my career, food still plays a big part in my life. When I cook for friends and family, we are able to be together at table, just like Jesus invites us to.
 
I see questions every day on social media from friends asking how best to cook this or bake that, for tips and tricks, so I figured I would provide some of my tips. So here are ten tips for cooking during the pandemic, quarantine, and crisis.

1. Cook what you love. Remember, food isn’t just for nourishment, but for comfort. Eating the things that you love, that bring you comfort, is important for physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health.
   
   
2. With that being said, comfort food can be heavy, rich, and sometimes not very good for you. Cooking healthy doesn’t mean boring and bland. Try a new cooking method for vegetables (don’t just steam or boil), swap butter for oil (olive and canola oils are high in omega-3, 6, and/or 9 fatty acids), utilize complex carbohydrates, etc. Be creative!
   
   
3. Try a new flavor profile. What does that mean? Take that chicken breast, steamed vegetables, and white rice and spice it up- make a chicken stir fry, arroz con pollo, or a chicken curry.
   
   
4. Baking bread? A tip I shared online- if you’re looking for a crunchy crust on your home-baked bread, put a pan (cast iron is preferable) on the bottom rack of the oven and let it heat with the oven. As you put your bread in the oven, toss some water into the pan and close the door, the steam will provide you with the crust you’re looking for.
   
   
5. Eat things that are budget friendly. I asked Chef Michael Symon (Iron Chef America, The Chew, owner of Lola Bistro in Cleveland, OH) who said, “Rice, beans, veg can really stretch the dollar…drop proteins down to 2oz per person…”
   
   
6. I had a chef in culinary school who, every day, told us that a recipe is just a framework, not a step by step plan. Maybe you’re working with a higher lean/fat ratio ground beef than the recipe calls for, maybe there were no carrots but there were parsnips, etc. Don’t let small bumps derail a meal- use the internet, work with substitutes, and again, be creative!
   
   
7. Use this time to work on techniques and skills- if your recipe calls for a cup of diced onion, don’t pull out the slap chop. Watch one of the many good videos on Youtube about knife skills and practice! You’ll learn a new skill and are one step closer to dinner!
   
   
8. Cook for leftovers. If you’re trying to find ways to stretch what you buy, look for more inexpensive cuts of meat (think chicken legs/thighs instead of breasts, beef stew meat instead of steaks) and make “large scale meals” like stews, braises, etc. that you can reheat easily.
   
   
9. Share the responsibilities. If you have a family or roommates, use this time to share in the responsibility of cooking, to spend time together sharing in a common goal, and to learn together. Who knows, someone may find a hidden love for cooking...!
   
   
10. Improve the canned, jarred, and packaged foods that you have in the house. I made chilaquiles for a friend a few weeks ago and used a jar of salsa verde. It wasn’t the best, but once I tasted it, I realized that it could be made a lot better with a bit of fresh lime juice and salt. Those jarred pasta sauces, canned veg or beans, etc. might not be great out of the container, but taste them and improve them with different ingredients for tasty meals and snacks. 

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​Brian Rhude is the Project Coordinator for the Catholic Apostolate Center where he works in developing Center programming, assists in updating and creating new resources on the Center's website, collaborates on the development of social media content, and provides other services and collaborates including participation at and facilitation of various events and conferences.

As parents in our early sixties, living in household with our 25, 23 and 19 year old adult children is proving to be an interesting challenge during this pandemic. We have successfully transitioned from training six little ones to launching three and sharing our household with the remaining three.  Each of us lives what I consider ‘parallel’ lives under one roof.  We all go to our respective jobs, enjoy our own friend groups, and participate in our specific extra-curricular activities, along with sharing family time together.  It is a state of life that has forged a certain routine that is pleasantly habitable. 
 
Slam dunk us all into the middle of an unprecedented disease that turns our world upside down overnight – and our happy coexistence becomes challenged.  We are forced to adapt to new schedules and new restrictions that we all must willingly cooperate with.  Moving from government recommendations to ‘imposed sanctions’ is met with varying reactions from the five in our household.  Those of us who are easily contented engaging in solitary activities are not so affected.  We find new books to read, projects in the house or the yard, a nature series to watch, extra time to participate in the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, the Rosary and the Mass on tv.  Those of us who are energized by hanging out with our peer group, attending public events, or going out to restaurants and pubs find these restrictions close to being imprisoned. 
 
Our foremost responsibility as parents during this uncertain time is to be very intentional in communicating with our young adults about the ‘rules’ and the ‘whys’ and the ‘wherefores’ of cooperating in a Godly manner to all of this.  We speak daily of the importance of adhering to social distancing and the extra measures of hygiene and disinfecting while allowing our children to express their frustrations, share new information, and ultimately come to agreement to remain steadfast in cooperation when it is difficult.  I can’t stress enough the necessity of speaking daily in a positive manner so that we all help keep each other accountable. 
 
Getting independent, self-sufficient young adults to operate from the same page is most definitely a tight rope act.  I’m accompanying them in a way I never have before. It requires lots of talking and more listening.  It necessitates creative ways of encouraging. Each family dynamic is different, but in my male-dominated household, what I have found brings us together is food.  My plan these days has been to cook, cook, and cook some more! Preparing meals that satisfy and draw us together opens us to sharing our thoughts and feelings and encouraging one another with what we find most difficult.  In our discussions, our adult children share their creative ways they have found to connect with friends and to cope with the temporary suspension of activities they regularly participated in. Our pace of life has slowed considerably.  My job is on temporary shutdown, but everyone else still goes to their jobs on altered shifts with no work meetings.  When they arrive home, I make sure a meal is ready and we talk and pray and relax together.
They are quicker about getting their laundry done, and helping keep common areas of the house disinfected every day. 
 
This altered state of living builds character in each of us.  We are being called to willingly forego engaging in activities we love for the greater good of our fellow man.  Practicing restraint, perseverance, respectfulness, and kindness allows us to grow in holiness that builds up the kingdom of God.  This witness promotes community and joy amidst the pain and devastation that is all around us. 
 
One activity we have purposely not engaged in during this pandemic is watching or reading the news regularly.  We do not watch any major news telecasts and keep apprised of current affairs through government messages and the several medical people in our family.  We choose not to obsess on what is happening hour by hour.  Instead, we focus on praying, eating well, getting extra sleep, playing games, watching movies, reading books, and pursuing our hobbies in our home space.  We essentially have created our own little bubble to weather this storm together while continuing to participate in our normal duties to the extent that complies with social distancing.
 
We are fortunate to live in a digital age where we can access a degree of connectivity through our various devices and remain a safe distance apart.  We were created to be relational. We do not want to live this way solely, but we have the privilege of being connected to others like no other time in history.  So far, in our semi lockdown mode – no one has blown up at another, no one has a crazed look about them, no one has run away!  We are all present and accounted for under one roof amidst significant life changes.  Our home remains a sanctuary of harmony and peace. This altered state of living together is a fruit of ‘grace’ that I believe God is showering on us.  He is equipping us as we pray with the virtues of prudence and perseverance. He is covering us with His balm of peace to behave respectfully and kindly to one another.  I am mindful of my continued dependence on the Holy Spirit’s grace to guide me as a mother. My prayer is for parents everywhere to walk in faith with your children in the will of God and grow in peace and joy together, whatever the circumstances! 
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​Susan A. Fowler was born and raised in Maryland and has been a lifelong Catholic actively involved in parish ministries for over 43 years. She has been married for 40 years, raised 6 children with her husband, and currently resides in Georgia.