Covid Cooking
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springlering62
Posts: 7,428 Member
Anyone else trying a lot of new foods during lockdown?
We picked a whole bunch of mulberries this morning and I am going to try my hand at a mulberry pie this afternoon.
We picked a whole bunch of mulberries this morning and I am going to try my hand at a mulberry pie this afternoon.
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Not so much trying new foods, but trying recipes that I never would have had time for when I'm working. I recently made a Moroccan lamb stew and a Dijon cognac beef stew. Each took well over 3 hours to prepare and cook.3
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Not really, we cooked most of the time at home before any of this and rarely ate out. We are doing more recipes during the week that we would generally reserve for a weekend due to having more time on our hands, but that's about it.
We're getting take out now about as much as we ate out before. We still have our regular pizza nights on Friday evenings and have been getting some other take out a couple times per month which fairly mimics our eating out before this.0 -
I've been doing a lot of baking. Since yeast is scarce right now, I've been growing my own with the sourdough method. Instead of throwing away starter discards, I've been making sourdough pancakes and waffles.
The tang from the sourdough is barely discernable but they sure are fluffy. I froze a lot of the pancakes and waffles. They're great for reheating.
Hokkaido milk bread
Sourdough pain de mie (sandwich bread) with prosciutto, goat cheese, and basil.
I'm having a lot of fun but it not so great for my waistline. I'm still losing, albeit very slowly. Moderation is the key. My freezer is getting full of frozen breads, even after giving some away to neighbors.
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Good heavens! Can I move in with you guys? I’ll stay distances if you just promise to feed me!
I bought a beginning bread baking book and want to work my way through each chapter. But I’m counting calories and hubs is diabetic so a loaf lasts a few days. Our freezer is pretty small, and full of chicken and blueberries, lol.
First attempt at an artisanal bread:
I was pretty ok with the result. 😄10 -
I am trying new things based somewhat on what the local farm down the road has - a few weeks ago, it was Creasy Greens, last week was watercress, today I bought some pak choy... also got more creative in an effort to use up stuff before it went bad because my shopping habits are different than they were 3 months ago - buying more of things like broccoli that will keep longer in the fridge compared to lettuce so we have fresh veggies through the end of each 2ish week shopping trip. Made a tasty broccoli quiche that was a big hit with the whole family!1
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moonangel12 wrote: »I am trying new things based somewhat on what the local farm down the road has - a few weeks ago, it was Creasy Greens, last week was watercress, today I bought some pak choy... also got more creative in an effort to use up stuff before it went bad because my shopping habits are different than they were 3 months ago - buying more of things like broccoli that will keep longer in the fridge compared to lettuce so we have fresh veggies through the end of each 2ish week shopping trip. Made a tasty broccoli quiche that was a big hit with the whole family!
To the bolded...we're definitely doing this, too. I've replaced a lot of the more perishable veggies I used to buy with ones that last longer, like carrots, squash, and green beans. They are not "new" to us, but just not typically in our regular rotation. I am trying to limit trips to the store.1 -
The mulberries look really nice.
Hope your pie works out well.
Do you have enough to try making mulberry jam? - that would be a bit time consuming but is really yummy.
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It’s been insanely windy here the last 48 hours. We took a sheet to shake the berries into, but realized the wind had already knocked most down. But we lucked into a sheltered tree that we were able to get enough berries from for a pie.
I doubled up on the berries but only used 1/3 of the sugar, since I (obviously) count calories and husband is diabetic. We’ve never had mulberries before. It’s very good!
If you have a mulberry tree nearby give it a whirl. Allrecipes has a good basic recipe that I riffed on. We will def do this again when the next round of berries ripen. I wouldn’t mind throwing some in a smoothie or try making a (very) small batch of fridge jam.
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We have a bread machine and those bags of bread mix have been unavailable for a while. When we started making the bread from scratch we were struggling to buy yeast at first, so used yeast I bought years ago from when I houseguest wanted to make dutch doughnuts. The yeast was about 3 years past it's "best before" date. We needed to increase the amount of yeast by 50% to even get a fairly dense loaf. Have managed to score yeast since then so the hubby chucked the old yeast. Hopefully we won't run out and regret chucking it.0
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Last nights dinner - I get a box of misfit veggies every other week so it’s fun experimenting - this one had kale and butternut squash in it2 -
I've been more making sure to eat all of the foods I DO buy, you know?
Like, cantaloupe and honeydew melon have edible seeds. So I've been blending the fruit AND the seeds up in a blender until the seeds are in tiny pieces, add a little lemon juice, and then freeze it in cubes and thaw a tiny bit and blend up again for a smoothie - so I get fruit and protein.
Saving the seeds and pith from my bell peppers and adding them to stir fries or soups.
Adding cilantro and parsley stems to soups and stir fry's.
Saving avocado seeds, drying them, taking off the outer papery coat and then grinding them up (good ingredient for Mexican mole, if used in moderation).
Even have a weed that grows wild right now in my yard that turned out to be edible, so I'm eating that, too (Mare's tail or Canada fleabane, I've heard it called, in some places).
gonna be trying to make some watermelon rind pickles if I can get a melon at the store, too. :-)
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I've always been a home cook, but in the past couple weeks I've taught myself to make pasta and rough puff pastry. We've been eating a lot of homemade ravioli (goat cheese and butternut squash, yes please), lasagna, and various things wrapped in pastry (in this case, sausages, and also brie with marinated figs). We also discovered that it's easy to make paneer and a ricotta-esque cheese.
It's been a pretty decadent lockdown.
ETA: this makes it look like I eat zero vegetables.... but we've been getting luscious farmer's market boxes, which was how I tried sunflower sprouts for the first time. They are deliciously spicy.6 -
Your pastas always look so good!1
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springlering62 wrote: »Anyone else trying a lot of new foods during lockdown?
We picked a whole bunch of mulberries this morning and I am going to try my hand at a mulberry pie this afternoon.
These look delicious! I wish they were growing in my backyard.0 -
Growing up we canned all of our own farm grown food. We didn’t buy any canned goods from the store. We made a lot of low sugar jam. They are pretty tart compared to what is bought in the store. Couple things, the lack of sugar affects the consistency and the quantity one eats. We would put a ton of jam on pancakes, waffles, bread or in oats. If you have small batch or a small amount left over, you don’t have to complete the canning process if you are going to eat it soon.1
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We have a bread machine and those bags of bread mix have been unavailable for a while. When we started making the bread from scratch we were struggling to buy yeast at first, so used yeast I bought years ago from when I houseguest wanted to make dutch doughnuts. The yeast was about 3 years past it's "best before" date. We needed to increase the amount of yeast by 50% to even get a fairly dense loaf. Have managed to score yeast since then so the hubby chucked the old yeast. Hopefully we won't run out and regret chucking it.
i don't know how the uk supply situation is, but yeast is in generally short supply here in the usa. i have a good supply, so i haven't attempted this, but you can try "harvesting" the ambient yeast by creating a sourdough mixture. lots of vids online on youtube. yeast is all around us. i had a culture in the 70s, but let it go once my career hit a ramp-up phase and i couldn't keep it going.
flour is also in spotty supply here in the usa. i'm the household "quartermaster" now and online procurement is a daily job of search-and-acquire.1 -
I've bought things I wouldn't normally, but nothing too far outside of ordinary.
My life hasn't changed as much as others. I already WFH, already homeschool. We just have LESS time because no childcare/children's activities (we used to have our kids out of the house at least 2 days a week), and more dishes and laundry (because, home more).
At least we are saving on gas.
The only things I've changed food-wise is that we can't get the same stuff we normally get all the time, although that is already getting better.0 -
I've been posting some things over in the "Recipes // What Was The Last Thing You Cooked?" thread. Here in NJ USA, we've been in strict lockdown (high-risk folks with underlying conditions), so resupply has been a challenge. We've done some throwback to the 50s/60s in that we're using canned things more. We got a fresh meats delivery today, our first in about six weeks, what a treasure! (there's truth in the old saying, "you can't eat money"). Fresh produce we get about every week-and-half/two weeks. Other groceries spotty. We haven't left the property since March. Generally speaking, we're eating "vegan" about half our dinners using classic legume-plus-grain combos.
Here's a couple of ideas from this past week or so (all meals using pantry stores [canned and dry goods items] supplemented by some fresh veg, such as cabbage, carrot, onion, potatoes). We're finding choosing ethnic-style dishes with higher levels of spices makes canned stuff more exciting than plain, fresh food would have been [we eat more "plain and simple" typically]:
1. Canned (plain) beef made into "sloppy joes" with homemade cheddar whole wheat buns. The "cheddar" turned out to be an extravagance: good and rich, but the cheese, in short supply, "disappeared" into the rolls.
2. Homemade tortillas to be used to wrap "taco-style-sauteed" plain canned chicken.
3. Homemade "keema" using canned plain beef.
4. 100% whole wheat bread (all ww flour), with molasses and whey. "All ww flour" is a challenge, as these loaves tend to bake into "bricks." I'm getting fluffier results now. This being MFP, I'm watching family protein consumption, and a couple of scoops of whey added into the bread boosts each slice's protein a bit.
5. "Pasta e ceci," canned chick peas rather than dried/rehydrated.
6. "Faux Moroccan" dinner of canned plain chicken and rehydrated lentils Ras al Hanut stew served with tahini-marinated roast veg (butternut squash and sweet potatoes).
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I’ve been doing so much cooking in the last 2ish months. I’ve never gone so long without eating out. I’ve tried out quite a few new recipes. Tonight was an old favorite I haven’t made in years though: Chipotle Chicken Fajitas.
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Cooking is not my thing and since I am retired I don't do anything different or cook more or less than before, with the exception of eating out (pick up food) just once or twice a week, only.
I don't try new recipes and I don't bake either.
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