Tomato Herb Loaf

I don't need to tell you, Dear Reader, that Meatless March has collided with contagion, but I'm recording it here for posterity. Someday, when we have conquered coronavirus and put a stop to climate change, we can look back on this unique point in history and marvel at this turning point - the moment when we learned that we could and must take action to save ourselves.

Or the robots from Planet Blarg will mine this blog for info on how one woman tried and failed to prevent the collapse of civilization, before we all perished.

School has been closed for my backup dancer for at least the next 2 weeks. I've cancelled playdates. I don't anticipate going anywhere for at least a week, except for walks (thank goodness the pandemic hit in spring). Today I planned an entire week's worth of (meatless!) meals - believe it or not, I am pretty sure I have never in my whole life planned a whole week of meals at once! - and I placed an order for grocery delivery. The delivery person will leave the bags on my steps and run away. At least there was food available from FreshDirect; during my trips to the grocery stores on Wednesday and Thursday, pasta and canned goods aisles were empty. There was also, weirdly, no tofu to be found.

And this is now a sight that fills me with dread, because everyone else has bought all the toilet paper, for reasons that are entirely unclear.

While some of us fear getting sick, the rest of us are just trying to avoid being vectors for people who could die if they get it because of other medical conditions or age. Either way, people are FREAKING OUT, even many of those of us whose exteriors are calm.

Still I cook, and maybe the panic is an extra reason to cook - to assert an ongoing grip on reality. 

Yesterday I made "Farro Cassoulet with Beyond Sausage." I used dried beans, soaked in water overnight, instead of canned, and used baby kale rather that chopped regular kale - both substitutions were fine.

We ate the cassoulet while watching season 2 of The Great British Baking Show. And speaking of baking, we need to use up all our unintentionally stockpiled butter, so we baked cookies. 

Isn't that apron cute? I sewed it for her for her birthday! Sadly, the cookies turned out all wrong, so I will not provide the recipe.

Classic "Pinterest fail"

And speaking of STOCKPILING, I made veggie stock (Bittman) yesterday for the freezer, and then get this: I piled the stock. Ha! Ha ha ha!!!

Today the pandemic caused me to cook meat. I had everything I needed for tacos, including avocados and leftover sour cream that would go bad if not eaten, but there was no Beyond Meat left at the dystopian grocery store. And, as mentioned before, NO TOFU. There was, however, a pound of ground beef in my freezer, so I shrugged and we had beef tacos today. These are tough times, people. We do not need to sweat it if meat is the logical answer every now and then.

For dinner, I baked a loaf of "Tomato-Herb Loaf" from Betty Crocker's New Choices cookbook. Such a great recipe; an old favorite of mine. 

It came out lopsided, but tasted perfect. It was a great basis for avocado toast.

Stay healthy, friends! And equally importantly, don't be the reason that others get sick.