Quarantine Life Week 31

This week I had a little fun with cooking. Not everything turned out just as I wanted, but there was some good stuff in there

Thursday (10/22) – I started out this week trying to make corndogs again. We had a package of hotdogs that were at the best by date and unfortunately, no hot dog buns. Solution? Batter them! I’m from the south, so the answer is generally to batter and fry things. I tried a new batter recipe, as the last time they weren’t as fluffy as I wanted. Unfortunately, my execution was not perfect, and so the breading was a bit flakier and soaked up more oil than I would prefer. However, I learned a little from it and would try with that batter again. I also made twice fried French fries for the side dish.

Friday (10/23) – I was stressed out in the afternoon, so I made a triple berry cobbler for later. For dinner, I made shells and cheese in the instant pot. I am becoming even more convinced about never going back to Velveeta for this dish. I used a combination of cheddar and mozzarella, and it was delicious. It’s inspiration was also that we had some leftover chorizo in the fridge, and my husband loves putting chorizo, chili, sloppy joe mix…okay, maybe it’s any ground meat mixture? on macaroni and cheese.

Saturday (10/24) – I made my lentil sloppy joes and roasted cauliflower. I had bought hamburger buns in our last grocery order intending to retry my mushroom burger recipe. However, since I’d already used up the mushrooms, I needed another way to use the buns. They were a huge success. The kiddo asked for seconds on the lentils instead of the cauliflower, which is one of her favorite sides.

Sunday (10/25) – My lovely husband made us “compromise eggs” and toast for breakfast. We call them compromise eggs because it’s just scrambled eggs with cheese. It lacks the ham he and I would want, and they are fluffier than the kiddo would prefer. Sometimes compromise eggs have things like sweet bell peppers or shallots.

Monday (10/26) – I wanted to find a way to use the purple barley I had, so I ended up making white bean and barley soup in the instant pot. Turns out great northern beans and barley cook at the same rate. The hubby casually mentioned wanting fresh bread with soup, so I made up a beer bread. I used a pretty bitter dark lager, so the bread had a bit of a tang, which my husband did not love. I thought it was pretty good though.

Tuesday (10/27) – Tuesday’s dinner was brought to us by my favorite spice shop. I had ordered spices on Saturday, and my husband picked them up curbside. As we quarantine, everything that comes into the house that cannot be disinfected is sent to the quarantine room, and the bag had been in there. When I opened it up Tuesday, the wonderful people at Savory Spice Shop had included one of the spice ‘n easy packets as a bonus. After tearing up a bit at how sweet they are, I decided we were going to have garden pesto pasta for dinner. I did not have everything to follow the package ingredients precisely, but what we came out with was very good.

Wednesday (10/28) – Okay, so I forgot to mention that Wednesday was my birthday, and we traded Tuesday and Wednesday nights with the kiddo, so we had vegetarian Monday and Tuesday. For my birthday dinner, we did take out from Honey Butter Fried Chicken. I had wanted to try this place for a while and landed on wanting chicken for my birthday. Also, they are a local small business, and we love supporting local small businesses. It was delicious. I was a little surprised at first because they sell their chicken boneless (they debone by hand), but the flavor on the breading was excellent. And their mashed potatoes are to die for! I may have to figure out how to copy that rosemary gravy.

Overall, it was a pretty fun week with food. And we are managing to eat most of the leftovers for lunch, or I am getting better at portions so that we don’t have as many. I’m not going to count on my ability to keep the portions low yet though. I also need to restart my sourdough starter, as my husband seems to be craving bread again. I may try making mini baguettes this week and some soup.