Saw a Tweet about how Penzey’s spices are closing stores but paying employees at least through two pay cycles, and went on line and bought some soup/stew flavorings/spices to keep the beans/rice/soup/etc routine from getting boring. While supporting a store that supports my values.
@abasket: I have always used the King Arthur recipe:
https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/sourdough-starter-recipe
All starters take a while to get going, but once you have a ripe starter, you’re in business for some delicious breads. I use the discard for waffles and pizza dough. Check the website for process and recipes. You can have a lot of fun with starter.
ETA: You can use regular flour for the starter. You don’t have to use wheat or pumpernickel, though the flavors will differ. Also, depending on the spores in the air where you live, it may take more or less time for the starter to “catch.” Just be patient.
Baking without eggs–there are some really good vegan recipes for brownie and cakes made without eggs.
D1 has a recipe for brownies that use almond butter, cocoa, honey and I cannot remember what else, but they are really good. I’ll have to ask where she got her recipe.
A sub you can use for eggs are chia seeds soaked in water.
I'm cooking farro in my pressure cooker and mixing it with canned garbanzo beans, then dressing the mix with a lemon vinaigrette. If you have some canned tuna or green beans (frozen will do)--even better.
I'm feeling rather lucky right now because I have onions and carrots that I wintered over in the garden so if I start to run short on veggies, I still have those.
I planted more onions and snap peas this week.
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One of my kids accuses me of being a hoarder, but I have 4 different kinds of dried beans--navy, canellini, pinto and garbanzo. Plus farro and barley.If you were in Trader Joe’s, you saw me!
WITH ALL THIS TALK OF BEANS, I took the new slow cooker for a spin - I made a bean & veggie chili. Now I have enough to get me through a zombie apocalypse!
My husband enjoys cooking and he’s spent the last two days working on two dishes. He made a short-rib borsch, which turned out to be an amazing.
https://www.thekitchn.com/short-rib-borsch-266075
He also made tomato and white bean soup. The recipe says you can use canned beans, but H used dried beans and soaked them overnight. He gets his beans from:
https://www.ranchogordo.com/collections/heirloom-beans
The tomato and bean soup is for tomorrow, so I haven’t tasted it. It smells great.
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020733-tomato-and-white-bean-soup-with-lots-of-garlic
We’ve got enough food for at least a week or more.
If you have a lot of canned refried beans - we used to make burrito lasagna and the kids loved it. You just take a baking pan, coat with oil, and layer the beans, tortillas torn into small pieces or strips, cheese, sliced olives, onion, peppers, salsa, whatever else you might like. Like those 9 layer dips but with things that can be baked.
For dry beans - there is so much variety! Some need to be soaked overnight (kidney beans, etc.), some don’t (black beans, cannelini, lentils, etc.) Read the package! And don’t let them get too old, or past the freshness date, or they won’t cook properly. Canellini beans surprised me by how quickly they cooked, considering their size.
I cook them with water, “better than bouillon” or stock, and saute onions, a little garlic, and celery, at a minimum. You can add all sorts of things and all sorts of spices. Near the end, if you want a creamier consistency, scoop some beans into a small strainer and smash them through the strainer back into the pot. Do this a few times.
Another canned food thing that is easy - artichoke dip.
I’m not too fond of the super cheesy and mayonnaise rich artichoke dip they have in restaurants. This one you make in your Cuisinart, no baking necessary.
I use one can of artichoke hearts, drained, the juice and zest of half a lemon, 3 cloves of crushed garlic, some seasoned bread crumbs, grated parmesan, and olive oil (I didn’t measure). I also added pepper, herbamare (a seasoned salt), and Fox Point (my favorite Penzey’s blend). We ate it with carrot sticks.
^^That sounds delicious!
@ChoatieMom thanks for the link! I happen to have a bag of King Arthur’s flour because that is all the store had in stock the other day!
All of these recipes sound great!
Unfortunately I’m missing one or two ingredients. But since I have plenty of food in the house, I’m making a list and if I run out of things I really need, I’m going to try some new recipes!
Went to the meat market on Friday, so I have some ribs to put in the crockpot for tonight.
Also I’m really trying to use up dishes I’ve already cooked to reduce waste.
I am already amazed at how much more I am aware of being wasteful, in general. I had to throw some slaw out that was no longer good, and it really bothered me!
We have a favorite artichoke dip, too! I can drained artichokes, chopped, 1 cup light (too oily if regular) mayo, 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, and garlic powder to taste (we like lots). Sprinkle with paprika for a bit of color. Bake at 350° until hot and bubbly. If you want to make it “fancy,” you can add a can of drained crabmeat or some lump crab.
Wow this cooking is impressive.
While we isolate, I am challenged in the area of cooking, but had challenges before too. 1) I downsized a few years ago and don’t have much cooking equipment (I bought a lot of soup). 2) I have multiple food allergies 3) I seem to be allergic to cooking fumes/odors (when you say the house smells good, I would be coughing).
My 27 year old daughter moved in with me, in a very small apartment, recently and needs to eat a lot more than I do. She is cooking. In fact, she cooks a few times a day it seems. I am having trouble with it.
She also has a long list of items to buy, which increases the danger of shopping (she spends a long time in the story, and this also means more items to sanitize at the door).
Tomorrow I will go to the senior hours (6am) at the grocery store and try to buy things that will help her sate her hunger while also helping me cope. I"ll wear gloves and a mask I guess. Sanitize items at the door and keep my hands clean.
I am 68 with some preexisting conditions. Can you tell I’m scared? I can’t imagine putting all this energy into cooking. You all amaze me.
My husband made chicken soup last night (had to use a pre-cooked Costco chicken - would have preferred to make my own roaster, but there weren’t any!), so my contribution was French baguettes. Four ingredients (flour, salt, yeast and water) and two hours from start to finish. It makes three, so dropped one off with my neighbor who was making beef stew for dinner.
I’m going to take advantage of Stop & Shop’s “elderly shopping hours” tomorrow (at “only” 61 I feel a little guilty, but I’m hoping the shelves will be stocked!) so I can buy eggs. There’s a lemon pound cake recipe I’ve been eyeing but it takes six eggs and I’d hate to use up all I have on one cake.
The weather here (Connecticut) looks beautiful today!
I’d love to see your baguette recipe @MaryBarbara58 !
The real challenge for me being home is not cooking…it’s not over EATING! Too convenient to snack more often.
I agree with overeating. I feel like I’m on a really strange cruise with nothing much to do but hang around and eat. But you have to cook too! And we’re running the dishwasher more often.
@compmom - don’t feel bad about all us cooking. We have to so we’ll make the best of it! I’d rather be thinking about going out with friends for lunch somewhere than worrying about running out of celery and never having it again.
I’m sorry about your food allergies. My D3 is like that too. Onion fumes will send her to the opposite end of the house. And when D1 was living with us, she just cooked so intensely. I felt like a good analogy would be someone who uses the blender without a lid! I’m glad it’s relatively peaceful with just H and I. If we don’t feel like cooking, we microwave pouches of lentils or something. Easy and low stress! Take care.
Some of our favorite make at home recipes are bread, soup, and pizza.
A family favorite soup recipe is sausage and kale (I make it using chicken stock, large link-type fresh sausage cooked and sliced into bite size pieces, potatoes (I use red, cut into bite size pieces),–mushrooms, onions, celery, and garlic all fried together until tender and seasoned with Montreal Steak Seasoning–add fresh kale or kale mix the last few minutes before serving.
Our favorite pizza sauce recipe is a tweaked version of https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/17319/exquisite-pizza-sauce/
My favorite basic dough recipe (I use it to make rolls or loaves)
2 1/4 tsp yeast
2c warm water
4 1/2 c flour
2 1/4 tsp salt
2 1/4 tsp sugar
3 Tbsp olive oil
Mix yeast, water, 1/2 flour for around 1 min. Let rest for about 20 mins until bubbly
Pour olive oil over bubbly mixture and mix for just a few seconds.
Mix remaining flour, salt and sugar together and mix in
Knead for around 6 mins
Place in an oiled bowl and cover with oiled plastic wrap, place in a warm place and let rise for about 2 hrs
Shape into loaves or rolls on a floured surface, dip into a wash of a mixture of milk and olive oil)
Place into oiled pans, allow to rise covered for about 2 hrs
Bake at 375 until golden brown (a pan of rolls with sides touching after rising will take about 35 mins
(I line my pans with parchment paper for easy removal)
last night: corned beef; cabbage and Dublin coddle with bread pudding. I think we’ll have Rueben sandwiches today. I’m going to try the insta pot for the first time soon.
** can I use some of those bean recipes above in the instapot ? (the seasonings etc?)
We broke out the old bread machine from storage and my daughter is making bread. She may branch out into making dough for pizza and/or cinnamon rolls. The house smells yummy, so that’s a big plus…also, no need to go out to the store to get more bread! 
Look into delivery or pick-up options as ways to minimize your exposure. It might require planning ahead by days to get a slot.
I’m making corned beef and cabbage a day late since I had some other items to use up yesterday. It’s not even a meal that I love, but the house does smell good. I’m enjoying the process of cooking these days.
So many different ethnic recipes online for all sorts of foods. Plus many in cookbooks that you can use as a base while making substitutions. Since retirement my noncook H has learned how to concoct dishes with canned beans for himself using spices we own. I also have made Indian dals (beans) and frozen portions so he can have variety without me needing to cook that often (I like to cook and can do it so much more easily than he can follow my written directions).
He has used chick peas and great northern beans after draining and rinsing them. He then adds tomato or spaghetti sauce (can/jar- this I have also portioned using ice cube trays) plus veggies such as peas (which I can’t stand), red peppers, carrots, onions. He uses the microwave to precook longer taking carrots, etc. He adds spices to his taste as you can. Eats with pasta. Canned beans need no extra soaking- consider them precooked but you likely want to wash off salts used.
By this stage in life most of us have cooked often enough to know what flavors we/families like and how much of spices to add to quantities. Microwave ovens help shorten carrot cooking times. you don’t need fancy cookware but can use what you have.
I fortunately keep stocked up- especially during hurricane season. I’m not as worried about getting goods from stores in Tampa either (physician). I certainly do not want to get up so early to shop with others over 60! Waiting for the next round of store deliveries- the goods are still being made and shipped (unlike lack of shipping with an imminent hurricane- the joys of Florida).
The key is to think outside the standard “rules” as in recipes. No law says you need to stick to any one ethnic group in any meal, either.