0 In food

what we’re eating at home during quarantine

We’ve been in quarantine for nearly two months, and this time feels so strange that I’m not even gonna touch on that because I don’t have the words yet. But I was raised in a family where food is love, and one thing I do know is that feeding my boys brings normalcy and routine to these surreal days, even when I can’t remember the last time I went to a store. (I’m asthmatic, so David makes our limited store trips.)

We’ve been getting grocery deliveries too, grateful that community supported agriculture is continuing to help feed our family despite how much I miss shopping at our weekly farmers market. And I’ve been posting our daily kitchen antics on instastories but wanted to put them all in one place for easier reference.

I’ve been baking lots of cornbread lately- we all three love it. I use this cornbread recipe, and usually throw in 2 chopped jalepenos, a cup of blueberries or both. I like it best when it’s cooked in a preheated buttered iron skillet- crunchy edges! I add a splash of oil when making as muffins to help them hold together- and I’m a big fan of these silicone muffin cups, and just working through the last of my paper ones.

I’ve also been making focaccia, but don’t have a ride or die recipe yet. Will update when I do, but we love it with garlic confit, herbs and grapes, or just lashings of olive oil and zatar- it’s seriously good.

I’ve been making tons of curry- this recipe, mostly, sometimes with potatoes. We serve with roti or rice. Rice bowls in general are popular- I usually make jasmine rice with a splash of coconut milk in the rice cooker. I make a version of this recipe– we use ground turkey, double everything but the sugar, add fish sauce and sambal.

Speaking of turkey, I talk up our favorite quinoa enchilada casserole in our most recent video- but wound up not making it exactly, just using a version to stuff peppers. This is the recipe I use- normally adding ground turkey, and I always always make my own enchilada sauce.

Beans of all kinds are astoundingly popular with Asher, so those have been frequent in the rotation. I make double batches from dry beans and freeze mason jars full so they are ready for nachos, quesadillas, inclusion in enchilada casserole or just Asher’s bowl. I made pintos stovetop this week using my friend Barrett’s recipe and loved them, but I normally do dried beans of most varieties in the crockpot, using the recipe for black bean ragout from the Smitten Kitchen cookbook and it has never failed me.

Smitten Kitchen is a go to around here for yummies in general- Deb is super consistent, and her recipes are clear about what modifications you can and can’t make. I’ve been making tons of her dishes, both from cookbooks and her site.

A few years ago, I discovered fresh spinach and herb pasta via Deb, and it is just divine. I make it in the food processor with a whole bag of baby spinach, and big handfuls of herbs (basil and chive in this batch). We have a sturdy little pasta roller, and it makes quick work of it. I serve it with homemade fresh ricotta (which is a revelation compared to the stuff from the store) and this week did an easy roasted tomato sauce with it. We got pretty romas from our produce delivery, so I halved and roasted them with garlic cloves, onion chunks, pats of butter a la Marcella Hazan, and Italian seasonings. The peels slipped right off, and I just dumped the contents of the roasting dishes straight into the blender for a whirl. So yummy.

I had a desperate chocolate craving the other night and went for everyday chocolate cake. The recipe is for a loaf pan, but it splits into 16 cupcakes that I bake for 24 minutes at 350’ in an attempt at self control. A smaller portion, along with the best/easiest/only chocolate frosting worth making is also on her site.

We haven’t had many brown bananas, because Asher and David ravage them when they are fresh, but I’ve turned the few into yummy batches of her marbled banana bread. Again, chocolate is seemingly a priority around here when the oven’s on.