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Quarantine meals- foods we ate before we went shopping (we were too stocked)

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Over the shut down, we managed to not go shopping for 5 months.

Yes. Five months. No deliveries, no curbside, no groceries at all. For humans at least, we did get the pup more food and we did pick up out medicine at the pharmacy.

Now, we had just hit bulk with the idea that we would not be shopping anytime soon, so we had bags of frozen veg in the standing freezer, and eggs, bacon, butter, etc. I had also just come home with two bags full of half price of meat from Aldi’s. And we had beans. Because I love our pulses. And we accidentally purchased a case of lentils when we already had half a case of lentils…

We ate a lot of lentils.

We also planted seeds from the peppers and tomatoes we had, and used clover from the yard and leeks from the garden for fresh food. And we planted a red potato that had sprouted, so we had fresh potatoes soon. And we had been gifted venison.

We make our own bread, and were stocked up on flour and yeast, so all good there.

And this was normal for us. We’ve had a standing fridge our whole relationship, and trips to restaurant supply stores and the farmers market have helped us keep it nicely stocked. Also, we had leftovers from the holidays and from our BBQ, and most people would not have those.

Anyway, here’s a list of basically what we ate over the shutdown. It required a bit of balancing and creativity, but over all we ate well and healthy. There were starches and veg with most meals. I just didn’t always record them…
Let me know if you want a recipe for any of this.

We made gnocci and pierogi and pasties over the shut down, which figure into meals below. And I had bought boxed stuffing as a treat. And bagged stuffing. We had a lot of instant stuffing.

These are NOT in order. I do have a list where I kept what we ate when, but it made no sense for me to type ‘ragu and pasta’ 6 individual times, when I could just type that.

And now you see why I try to do ‘pantry clean outs’ a few times a year. Want to join me in my next one? Oh, who am I kidding- no one is reading this!

Leftover ‘ragu/sauce/gravy/Sunday sauce/ I will not argue about what to call it’

Over pasta 12 times, over gnocci twice, as pizza sauce, made into baked ziti (2 dinners, one lunch), served as subs

Leftover BBQ  

            Pot pie, with fried corn and couscous, with yellow rice and veg, with bean salad, with potato croquettes, with frozen hash browns, with masa, with plain rice

Pizza

margarita, leftover meat, Sicilian 2x

Battered fried fish and chicken and fries (this was my birthday meal in early April)

Brats in beer, kraut and (instant) potatoes. This was Hex’s birthday dinner. We had it 2x

The kid’s birthday! We had fish cake soup (frozen from Hana Mart) frozen crab cakes and sushi from Aldi, homemade samosas (we made a TON, so lunches et al) and a raspberry (our bushes were bearing) orange-chocolate roll

Fried Rice

Veal cutlet sandwiches (twice) (once with tomatoes and lettuce, once with sauce and cheese) I had just bought a box to try at Aldi. We also had a third meal from the single box, as parmesan.

‘sushi’- made with nori, rice, fake crab sticks, cream cheese

French toast and sausage

Turkey with stuffing (leftover)

Hot Brown (twice)

BLT (with the last of the tomatoes and lettuce)

Bean flautas

Burittos

Kielbasa and pierogi

Brown sugar bacon chicken (planned before the shut down)

Mulligan stew with gnocci and on noodles (two meals)

Ham sliders (with spam and frozen ground turkey meat)

‘haystack’ sandwiches, made with venison

Arancini (multiple lunches from this)

Salmon and quinoa

Fejoda and cabbage

Sheppard’s pie with venison- made twice

Halloumi ‘burgers’

Chicken and stuffing

Cornish hen soup 2x, as we had 2 hens. This was a ‘kit’ from Hana Mart, that has everything in it except a Cornish hen and water.

Fish head soup. We had this several times, as I had just picked up and frozen fish heads for the kid’s oral surgery, and we had several soup worth frozen…

‘candy beans’ and brown bread

Venison liver and oinions.

Crepes with goat cheese and sun dried tomatoes

Chili nachos

Alio olio (had to teach the kid how my people didn’t starve)

Puttenesca twice

Pork sausage risotto – this sounds good. I do not remember it. I think we decided it ‘wasn’t a keeper’.

Sausage with peppers and onions 2x (freezing peppers is great)

Crab cakes with red papper slaw (that used the last of our fresh peppers. I remember that distinctly)

Lamb croquettes (using leftover frozen lamb) twice

Pasta with ham, peas and cream

Lentil burgers several times. We love lentil burgers.

Kielbasa and beans

Dal makhni

Black bean cakes

Lentil soup. Several times

Ham and bean soup

Scotch broth

Tuna melt

Ham and red cabbage

Lentil and rice patties

Crab casserole and foccacia

Bacon and smoked cheddar sandwiches

Veggie burgers

Gyros with pita

Cajun pasta

Take out style ribs

Pork schnitzel and mashed potatoes

Twice fried wings

Burgers with A1 sauce

‘hogbake’ (a vegetarian onion casserole from the Redwall cookbook)

Pierogi poutine x2

Meatballs and squash

Roman burgers and bean salad  (We had them twice)

Dal and squash curry

Beet pasta

Cheeseburger roll two times- I was tweaking the recipe

Black bean burgers

Fish in pastry

Sausage and pepper meatloaf

Onion burgers

Pasta with marinara

Mapotofu 2x (had bought 2 packs of tofu)

Sicilian mackerel on cous cous

Meatloaf sandwiches

Bratwurst (these had been 99¢ a pack at Aldi)

Dutch beans

Pot pie

Salmon and stuffing (again, boxed stuffing had been on sale)

Lasagna Verdi and leftovers

General Tso’s chicken

Cubano sandwiches

Maple beans

‘carving ham’

Baked bean casserole

Turkey, stuffing, and sautéed grape leaves (from pruning the vines in the yard)

Chili fries

Cheese patties and knots

Pizza burgers

Biscuits and gravy

Butter chick peas

Chicken Fried Vension

Goose rillettes

Venison stroganoff

Tortellini with pesto (this is what our kid requested for his birthday meal, but we ended up having enough food he got a different one)

Chicken applejack

Turkey sausage and stuffing

Roast beef with garlic rolls and onions

Bhan Mi turkey

Bflo chicken dip and bread (716 day!)

Hamburgers in gravy with noodles

Venison in oyster sauce

Lentil and sausage salad

Sourdough bread and hummus and baba ganoush

Ham loaf

Nachos with beans

Lentil salad

Leftover goose with plum sauce

Meat on Naan

Sardine soufflé and corn fritters

Pork spidini

Pesto

Lentil balls with marinara, satay style, BBQ

Steak, potatoes, carrot salad

Pogaca and lathera (cheese stuffed bread and slow stewed veg. I love this meal)

Spring rolls

steak and liver pie

Tuna pockets x2

Penne with sauce

Ramen

Fish, new potatoes (we harvested them!), peas

Spam and hash browns

Pasta con vodka

Turkey wings and ‘staple’ (A pasta veg mix we love)
sausage and stuffing

Refried bean and yellow rice casserole

Brats and sprouts

And then we shopped…

Lunches

Fish soup

Mixed soup

Assorted leftovers

Lentil spread on bread and crackers

Brie on bread

Pizza 3x (leftovers from dinners)

Pastrami sandwiches

Herring on pumpernickel

Fish cakes

Frozen lunches for Hex that he obviously wasn’t gonna take to work

Quinoa salad 2

Wheat berry salad

Avocado tomato mozzarella salad

Waffles x2

BBQ on rolls (little oinkers)

Jalapeño sausage dip x2

Foccacia with Utica greens

Sambar

Semolina pudding

Tuna salad wraps, sandwiches

Stuffed shells (frozen from Aldi)

Pasties: During the shut down I found three THREE separate packs of chopped beef labled ‘beef for pasties’. They all got made. So we had 3 batches, which made about 9 meals.

Potato pancakes

Lentil soup at least 2 times

Lentils cooked with bbq

Dal makni

Smoked cheddar on pumpernickel

Bean dip

Caponata

Shrimp spring roll

Lentil salad with salsa

Lentils in wraps

Tuna edamame bowl

Hamburger and edamame salad

Fish on crackers

Spanakopita (frozen from Aldi)

PB&J

Meatball wraps

Bean salad

Mac and cheese

Tuna salad

Bean and couscous salad

Ramen and fish soup

Lentil burgers

Salmon pasta salad

Fish balls

Snacks

Lentil spreads, Greek and Indian style

Nimki

Sugar nuts

Peanut brittle

Hard candy

Savory nuts

Chex mix

Bought cookies

Persimmon muffins

Indian pickles

General pickles

Fire and ice pickles

Desserts

Cinnamon rolls x3

Coconut cream pie (my birthday)

Steamed pudding

Strawberry cream cake

Brownie cookies

Donuts: frozen and 3 tests

Roman cherry pie

Gulab jamun

Apple turnovers

Nanaimo bars

Baklava

Paska cheese in cream puffs (this sounds really good! I am glad I am writing these up!)

Chocolate chess pie

Sugar pie

Oatmeal pie

Marguerite cake (Hex’s birthday)

Berries and goat’s cheese

Gingerbread, pears and caramel sauce

Mini éclairs

Pear crumble

Apple tart with dulce de leche

Macaroons

Peach crumble

Bread pudding

Tea bread

Black magic cake (several times)

Peach and coffee granitas

Self saucing fudge cake (several times)

Butter tarts

Raspberry tart with canolli filling.

Food, money saving, pulses, scratch cooking, sourdough, Uncategorized

Sausage and peppers, only vegan…

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completed meal
bread and beans- what life is made of

We have many vegan dishes in our recipe box, because vegan to us is simply another way to eat. These are not ‘sacrifice’ meals, but meals that really would not be made better with meat anyway. I like to bring this one to pot lucks, because it’s vegan and grain-free, which sometimes makes it one of the only things a guest can eat.
And it’s tasty. An omnivore friend has deemed it ‘sausage and peppers’ and we agree.

And, it’s simple. If you don’t have an instant pot, you can do it on the range or in the oven. If you do it in a slow cooker, start with beans that have been boiled first (not completely cooked through), though.

The first thing to do is soak the beans. My current way to do that is to put dry beans in the Instant Pot for a 4-minute cook, with water, a little salt, and a bay leaf. You can do a ‘quick soak’ with the same add-ins on the range (a 2-minute boil and a 1-hour soak) or do an overnight soak first in plain water. I like the way the bay and salt flavor the beans as a base for pretty much anything.

Navy beans soaking. Any white bean will do.

Then you want to cook a lot of onions (I used 3 large ones) in a lot of olive oil until they are translucent. That is the only cooking that will happen outside of your bean pot. You then toss the onions and everything else into your pot, and let it go until it’s cooked all the way.
It’s seriously that simple. Serve it with bread, or over pasta or rice, and it’s a great, tasty, cheap and healthy meal. Leftovers will be done with pasta tomorrow at our house.
Yes, you can cut the oil down, but there is no other fat in the meal, and olive oil is healthy. 😉 (Do NOT use ‘high quality’ olive oil for this. This is your cooking oil.)

Onions cooking… mmmmm

1# white beans soaked (As mentioned, a little salt (1/2 tsp) and a bay leaf if you are doing a quick soak adds nice flavor)


3 onions, sliced or chopped
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
Sautee these three until the onions are translucent.



3 large green bell peppers, sliced or chopped
1 hot pepper- optional. Add more or less, and any pepper you like. I add 1 sliced pepperoncini. This is not to make it hot (although you can) this is to add a little flavor. The pepperoncini is not really hot, but adds a bit of brine to the dish.
1 quart crushed tomatoes (standard can)
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dry oregano
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2c water
add all of these to the pot and cook until done.

all ingredients except onions and water in IP
Cooked beans.
Baking, sourdough

The care and feeding of Starter.

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I own a sourdough starter. This starter is older than our son (he’s 11 now) and has moved with us two times. It has come back from the brink of death at least twice, and has exploded into 8 jars at a time other times.

It is so easy to care for and maintain, it’s like the easiest pet in the world. Keep it in the fridge, feed it at least every two weeks, and make things with it.

No problems.

You need a non-reactive container. Mine is a cool little crock that will hold about 2 1/2 cups my dad got me. I have used glass jars and enameled steel bowls as well. Key here is you do not want something that has a tight closing lid, or that has no lid at all. One will explode, one will dry up. My crock is perfect for this by not sealing. A piece of plastic wrap with a rubber band would do the trick as well.

I see so many people so tentative about taking care of a starter. They are nervous about weighing versus measuring, temperatures, so many things. And I am sure that my methods would make some people turn up their nose, but they work, and that is all I really care about. Things that work and don’t add stress to my life. So, here it is.

Once a week (it’s on our list of things to do), I remove the starter from the fridge. I look at it. I’ll have to update with pictures! Because if it’s happily bubbling with some liquid, yay! The only thing to worry about is orange. If it goes orange, it’s not salvageable. Liquid on top, even greenish liquid is fine. Pour it off (I have never attempted to drink it, although people apparently would, in desperation). Spoon half the starter out (or as much as you need for your recipe, but let’s assume you are splitting your starter for a friend (or are asking a friend to split hers/ his)). Add to the starter at least a quarter and no more than a half of the total starter volume in flour (all purpose, whole wheat, high gluten, whatever floats your boat) and an equal amount of water. I use filtered water, I don’t know about using ‘normal’ tap water. Please don’t fret over the amounts, this is all eyed. Then stir them up, and put them in the fridge.

A big fear of early users was that if it froze in Alaska, it would die, so ‘sourdoughs’ used to sleep with their starter. But if it freezes, it ought to be fine. Heat will actually kill it. I like keeping it in the fridge so that it grows slowly. If I need a lot suddenly, like for the new donuts I want to try, I will leave it out on the counter, where it will bubble happily.

And this ought to be done every 1-3 weeks, so every week or two is a good excuse to make some tasty sourdough goodies!

And that is seriously it. All you need to do to care for and feed your starter.