self isolating in the kitchen during COVID-19
Matt still doesn’t feel great so I picked up some sick food for him at the store. I had some smoked salmon we had from Costco for dinner and popcorn. For lunch I had some noodles and the half of burger that was leftover from yesterday.
Did some weaving.
Seriously, we bought two rotisserie chickens at Costco and we’ve been having sandwiches, quesadillas and chicken salad since Sunday.
More weaving, watching City on the Hill and Evil. Hammock time. Read the new Laura Lippman and what a disappointment!
Went to Aldi today for some staples.
For lunch I sautéd some tofu with hot sesame oil and ponzu sauce and tossed with with soba noodles and sugar snap peas from our CSA. Matt prepped the peas last night so that was easy. The tofu was from Aldi and we liked it so that’s good, tofu was one of those things that was always a pain to get but now it seems like a regular item at Aldi. Who knew such a simple sauté would be so tasty? I wanted a more substantial lunch because we didn’t have a ton of leftovers for dinner.
Matt heated up the chicken and salsa rice and added some egg fried rice style for dinner.
I finished my first project on my new loom! It’s drying on the porch after the wet setting.
We finished In the Heights. Lin-Manuel is such a cornball and all the songs sound just like the ones in Hamilton. If I was him, I’d want people to forget that.
I’m trying to clear out some of our freezer and “pantry” so today was chili in the slow cooker made with frozen cooked chicken breast from a Costco rotisserie chicken we hadn’t finished, salsa from the contest, fresh pepper and beans. It was a bit of an experiment but it was really tasty!
For lunch we had tuna sandwiches.
I’m working on my new loom! I went to a yarn store way outside of the city and picked up some supplies for weaving. They were really nice and had what I wanted.
I haven’t posted a recipe here in ages! This one was really good but relied on pantry ingredients so much I thought it would be a good fit on here vs my main recipe blog. Luckily things are returning to normal in the US (for now at any rate, don’t want to jinx myself) so I can go grocery shopping a little more normally. However, I had been so careful to restock my “pantry” (we don’t have one, everything is in Rubbermaid totes or on a cart) and freezer that I am really a little overloaded. I decided to skip doing a big grocery shop last week and this week in favor of eating what we had on hand. I get a CSA share each week and last week I got this Swiss Chard which thankfully was still good nearly a week later. The rest of it was using up odds and ends I had in the fridge or shelves to create a highly satisfying dish. We had this as our dinner the first night and then as a side the next. Very flavorful and very easy.
Ingredients:
I bunch rainbow chard, stems and greens chopped (keep the stems and greens seperated!)
12 oz small pasta (I used cavatappi)
6-7 oz jarred or fresh “red” pesto (I used Aldi Priano Rosso Pesto)
8 oz jarred hearts of palm, sliced into rings
8 oz (drained) pearl mozzarella, halved or quartered if large
1 (jarred or homemade) whole fire roasted bell pepper, diced
1/4-1/3 red onion thinly sliced into half moons
1/4 cup coarsely shopped green olives with pimentos
garlic herb or Italian seasoning to taste
Directions:
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil with the chard stems. Add the pasta and cook according to package instructions. Add the chopped chard leaves during the last 2 minutes of cooking. Drain and cool to room temperature. Pour into a large bowl, stir in pesto then remaining ingredients. Serve at room temperature. Refrigerate leftovers.
Today was the first day I really didn’t have to be anywhere or do anything at a specific time in a long time! It was pretty gloomy out but not too too hot.
For lunch I heated up some leftover baked potato (I had made extras because they were in a bag with a potato with a lot of eyes and there is nothing worse than cutting open a bad baked potato) with an egg, the tiny bit of lox that was left from a couple weeks ago (still good) and onion.
Matt had a dermatology appointment which went fine so I had the house to myself briefly!
For dinner I made salmon cakes with the leftover grilled salmon (so good!) and made a salad with the whole cauliflower we grilled, tahini, capers, radishes and cucumbers.
We watched a new to us show on Acorn–Candice Renoir. It was cute and apparently season two is coming later this month. I looked on IMDB and there are like 8 seasons of it so it would be great if they got them. I like to practice my French and the dialogue is easy to follow.
Thursday is my new CSA pick up day and I’m not loving it The location normally wouldn’t be bad but the most direct way is blocked off from my neighborhood due to a multi year bridge rebuild. Traffic gets rerouted through the park where the pick up is and it’s really hard to get in and out safely because there is no light to turn on to a busy four + lane cross city street. In non-bridge construction time the park road was very low volume so I guess there wasn’t a need for a light before but things have changed.
Another annoyance is that the pick up is 2-5 pm (but some emails say 6) and they leave the food outside on tables so I feel like I’m rushed to go get it before it wilts in the heat. Twice it’s been super hot and today it’s supposed to rain.
I like the idea of getting city grown produce but unless it is amazing when more things are in season, I’m not sure if I’m going to renew. I also don’t like that there is no parking lot at the pick up location but it’s also in the middle of a large park so I wouldn’t think anyone is picking up the produce on foot.
There are worse problems but I’m not loving it. The same place is at the local outdoor market on Tuesday evenings and I wish we had the option of picking it up there instead. It has a parking lot and is on a bus route.
For lunch I made us both tuna salad sandwiches. For dinner we had leftover chili over baked potatoes.
I had a doctors appointment so I put up some chili in the slow cooker with the leftover smoked chuck roast.
I ran in Michaels and they had a ton of yarn on clearance.
For lunch I had my leftover Filipino food a with an extra egg added.
The chili was great. I can’t wait for the leftovers!
We finally had crabs! The weather was awful all weekend. We tried a new place and it was great.
For dinner I sautéd some of the leftover beef, mushrooms and broccoli slaw mix and served it over ravioli.
We did a lot around the house and organizing for my mom’s memorial next week. I’m exhausted.
For lunch I had some frozen shrimp and Matt had noodles and cottage cheese.
I found some repainted Herman Miller shell chairs on Facebook Marketplace yesterday and they were being sold in PA about an hour away. Lucky me when I contacted the woman she said they’d be near Baltimore today and could drop them off! They look amazing. Matt says they are too short but they are the same height as our old chairs.
For dinner I was going to make quiche but I sautéd kale from the CSA for it and it was so bitter! I’m glad I tasted it. We ended up making instant noodles with cabbage and the chicken I was going to put in the quiche instead.
Matt’s birthday is this weekend so I want to go shopping tomorrow and buy any groceries we need. He’s taking off Friday so if I can’t get anything tomorrow then I can still get it on Thursday. We actually still have a fair amount of food and I want to clear out the freezer some but he wants to smoke some brisket and I know we don’t have that.
Our fridge keeps getting water in the deli drawer and no where else. It must be a blocked line but I can’t see where it is coming from, the rest of the fridge is bone dry.
Cooking in Isolation 