Meatless March

My phone has a lot of photos of vegetarian food from the past six or seven weeks. I make the food, I snap the pictures for the blog, and then I think, "meh." I have been unmotivated to actually post much. But today, a great old friend suggested--unprompted!--that maybe someone out there needs my posts, when so many of us are spending extra time in the kitchen, plus the temptation is there to let our concern about the environment slide, given all our other worries. (And some people never had that concern in the first place. Did you see the infuriating, dismaying news  that the Trump Administration has put meat industry workers at risk for COVID-19 by ordering that those plants stay open? Could they not instead have considered how to promote more sustainable, plant-based diets ? That is a lose-lose policy, President Trump, hurting both people and the environment.) Even if no one does really need my attempts at inspiration, "meh" is not what I want to embody, ev...

"What's new?" People ask me this all the time these days, because I frequently call or Zoom them to feel some connection to the Before Times and the larger world, but has there ever been so little that is new for most of us now, on a day-to-day basis? Almost all the days seem the same, and many are colored by rage or apathy or despair. I guess what's new is compromised mental health. I did something last weekend, though, that was new: I scheduled a vacation day. On my vacation day, Sunday, no one could ask or expect anything of me. Oh, it was heavenly! I slept in, I worked on some writing, I read half of a very good book (The Wonder Spot, by Melissa Bank), and I weeded and planted seeds in my garden. I ate cheese and crackers for dinner, which made me so happy. Next it will be my husband's turn for a vacation day. I think I will schedule one for me about once a month. Don't tell me YOU can't do this because "that would last about 5 minutes in my ho...

As we are all now advised by CDC to wear masks in places where we might encounter other people, I have been sewing them for my family. I am super-slow at this endeavor but have finished two of three. It is a little ironic because as of this coming Sunday, it will be a WHOLE MONTH since I have entered any building other than my own home. But we'll be ready if/when the time comes. Meanwhile, we stay home and cook. In making " Sheet-Pan Sausage Parmesan With Garlicky Broccoli " (NYT Cooking) last night, I deviated from the recipe list out of both necessity and choice. That's the quarantine spirit, peeps. Interestingly, by the way, there is apparently no actual shortage of food items (yet?), though we're all stymied by what we can't find in our stores. Read the expert answers to POLITICO Nightly's question, "How can the country redirect food supplies from closed bulk buyers like restaurants, schools and stadiums to individual consumers who sho...

Things are bleak. My backup dancer and I continue baking against this bleakness. Yesterday we baked banana bread. It is freaking awesome, as I wrote in my bible, Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything," after the first time I made this recipe. We had two bananas so we went with 2/3 of all the ingredients, and I also threw in some chocolate mini-chips. For the egg, we used one whole egg and one yolk. I saved that one little egg white for another purpose, because I now live in fear of running out of food, however irrational that is at the moment. I am, as always, compelled to note how lucky I am: to be able to pay for groceries; to have a weekly grocery delivery that hasn't failed so far; to be able to afford and able to pick up prepared food or have it delivered. I don't take those circumstances for granted at all, and we make donations to others who are less fortunate. Since it was 2/3 of a recipe, it wasn't very tall in the pan, but I assure yo...

After seeing a friend's mouthwatering Facebook post about this " Crispy Cheesy Pan Pizza " (King Arthur Flour recipe), I had to try it. Unfortunately, after looking forward to it for a week, I pulled up the recipe yesterday two hours before dinner time, and noticed something I hadn't seen the first time around: Um, what?? Sixteen HOURS? So we did not have it for dinner last night. But I started it yesterday, and we had it tonight! And it was worth the wait. I added mushrooms as the final step before putting it in the oven. After adding the dough to the pan, 2.5 hours before baking As Pat noted, we "housed" that pizza. Yeah, we ate the whole thing, just the three of us. And we had NO VEGETABLES to go with it. And we had cookies afterward! Quarantine, man. It has not had a positive influence on my judgment. But I have no regrets about this meal. The one downside to this recipe is that it did stick mightily to my pan. I later peeled ...

In the current Dark Times, while I have been cooking a lot, I have not been trying a ton of new recipes. I usually stick with comforting favorites, like tagine , and cassoulet , and grain bowls . My most recent grain bowl used up a billion odds and ends from the kitchen, which was always pretty satisfying even in the Before Times. In the current Dark Times, when I spend a lot of time stalking particular food items online, it is very satisfying indeed to use what's on hand and avoid waste. Roasting beets in the toaster oven This grain bowl featured couscous, green lentils, roasted beets, pickled carrots , roasted pumpkin seeds, chopped spinach leaves (leftover from pesto ), and peeled, chopped, roasted stems of broccoli. Each of us chose our own sauce from among the condiments in our fridge: barbecue sauce, coconut/peanut sauce, even ketchup. I also threw some hot sauce onto mine. Why is my backup dancer wearing socks on her hands? I do not know. Everything mixed to...