Homebound Day #4: Shelter In Place

So as we enter into day 4 of homebound, we get the notice. The Governor will be ordering to "shelter in place" until further notice. Pretty much you can leave for food, medicine, or doctor visits. Other than that, don't go anywhere if you don't have to. We actually did have to go out, as our dog has Addison's and needs regular injections of a steroid or his kidneys eventually fail and he dies. Other than that, he's the picture of health. He's had Addison's for about 10 years

Look at that face. He's worth it.

We went into town, took care of it, then headed back home. Many places were empty, but the Sam's Club was absolutely jam-packed.

Breakfast was once again a simple affair of toast with butter and Vegemite and a fried egg. The Spud had a toaster strudel. We skipped lunch as we were getting ready to head out for the dog appointment. The daughter had another tray of lunchmeat, fruit and yogurt with a cookie. The Wife had to make a trip to her school for some supplies. While I waited, I got peckish and had a snack:

Sardines in mustard sauce and Ritz crackers. Don't judge me.

The Wife returned home and we had a pretty nice dinner. Corn on the cob, dill bread, pickled dilly beans, and a smoked chicken that one of my student's parents gave me as a gift for rehabilitating his son. This dad does BBQ competitions, so this chicken was crazy good. For dessert, we polished off the rest of the pineapple cake.

Who said teaching is without reward?

There was plenty of chicken left, so I stripped the carcass and stored the meat, and then did what any survivalist would do during the apocalypse: I boiled the carcass to make stock, which I will freeze for later use. 

Celery seed, onion salt, pepper were added.
Bear Grylls can bite me.

So now we head into the weekend and a serious lockdown. I'm looking to download Tabletop Simulator and finding some people willing to do the same, so I can play games with people. I'm also looking at setting up an RPG group to play online.

Stay safe!

Homebound Day #3: The First Cracks Appear

We are into the third full day of being stuck at home and the first cracks are appearing. It's been raining for the last 48 hours and we can't go outside. Today, everybody overslept and we immediately fell behind schedule. I actually had a fair amount of school stuff to do today, so the Spud wasn't supervised like she's been. Everybody was a bit on edge today.

Breakfast for everyone was a simple affair. The Spud had a bowl of Fruit Loops and a bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon because what child doesn't wan't $15/lb. smoked fish on a daily basis. The Wife and I had toast with butter and Vegemite and a fried egg.  Coffee supply is solid.

Lunch/Snack for the Spud was a half bag of chips and some grapes. I had a leftover smoked sausage. The Wife had a bag of chips because she will die/kill everyone if she doesn't get enough sodium.

Dinner was a slow descent into madness. We served the rest of the shepherd's pie and realized it wasn't going to be enough. Then I realized we had corned beef left. That's when it happened. I suggested an atrocity and The Wife cheerfully said it was a great idea.  BEHOLD:

Reuben quesadillas. 
I am become death, destroyer of worlds.

We'll be outside gnawing on tree bark before you know it.

The Wife seemed to think these were absolutely wonderful, she finished hers with great gusto. I was less enthused and finished mine mostly out of spite and to finally be done with the corned beef and cabbage we were working on since the weekend. The Spud wisely avoided this entree and opted for yogurt, fruit, and some sliced turkey lunch meat. Everyone had another slice of the pineapple upside-down cake from yesterday.

Fortunately, the temperature is climbing into the high 60's. Once the Spud is in bed, we're retiring to the patio for Adult Beverages and  I will have a Big-Ass Cigar. 

Stay Safe!

Homebound Update #2

So, I'm on day two of being homebound. (It's day three for The Wife and Spud. I had to go into school Monday for a few hours to grab my resources to take home). So far, we have made it without screaming or throwing each other out windows. Basically, we have enforced a schedule upon ourselves. As The Wife and I are both basically running our classrooms from home, we have to make ourselves available from 9-2. This is also peak Spud Time. Here's the rules so far:

For Adults

1. You must get out of your pajamas and into actual clothes for the day. They don't necessarily have to be school appropriate, but they can't be what you woke up in.
2. You must maintain the same level of hygiene you would maintain during a normal work week.
3. No more than one snack bag of chips per day.
4. No drinking before 2pm. 
5. One room a day will be cleaned thoroughly
6. The last 1-2 hours before bed must be completely devoid of electronics except for music. That is quiet grown up time for games, reading, or "other."

For The Spud

1. Adult rules 1-3 apply to you.
2. You will follow a weekday schedule:
   9am-11am: Educational time (worksheets, reading, practicing numbers and letters, etc.)
   11am-12pm: Snack and free time
   12pm-1pm: nap or quiet activity time
   1pm-2pm: Educational time (flash cards, educational electronic toys, educational video like NatGeo or PBS)
   2pm-4pm: free time and helping with clean-up. Baths when appropriate.
   5pm-6pm: Utilize the free streaming from zoos and aquariums
   6pm-7pm: Garbage TV time (My Little Pony, Glitter Force, Voltron, She-Ra)
   7pm or so: Wrapping up and bed time.
3. The schedule is flexible when weather will allow us to go outside.

It seems to be working for everybody so far. As far as food, we have been working through the corned beef and cabbage I made on Sunday. It has been utilized for three meals as well as snacks:

Colcannon from Sunday became the mashed potato topping for a shepherd's pie yesterday!

The cabbage and potatoes became the side dish for smoked sausages tonight!

The corned beef became Reuben snack bites!

We are also trying to keep spirits up with snacks and desserts. I found a box of pineapple upside-down cake mix (with a can of real pineapple enclosed!) lurking in the back of a cabinet. The Spud helped me assemble it and it turned into a serviceable dessert!

Doesn't look like much but it works.

So that's where we are right now. Things look grim as far as returning to school. Looking more and more like the remainder of the year will be online learning. Stay safe and we will stay in touch!

Not Exactly Shakshuka

So here we sit, stuck at home for at least another 14 days due to global pandemic. What better time than to go through my notes and put up all the recipes I never got around to posting! This here is a spin on the classic shakshuka. However, I've left out the eggs, added chicken, spinach, paneer, and a bunch of Indian spices. So it's Not Exactly Shakshuka any more. However, it is warm and filling and pretty easy to make. It's also versatile. It is easily modified for vegetarian or vegan diets. As always, notes are in blue. There is a link to the YouTube video of this recipe at the bottom.

Shakshuka with Chicken and Paneer

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon brown mustard seed
• 1 teaspoon grated ginger
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 quarts canned tomatoes (with liquid)
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 dried cayenne peppers
• 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 1 tablespoon dried cilantro
• 10 ounces frozen spinach (no need to unthaw)
• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken (we used breast tenders, thighs would work well. Or leave it out if you want to go vegetarian)
• 1 pound paneer cheese (or other firm, white, cheese if you can't find paneer. Or leave out the cheese and chicken and now this is vegan!)

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium high heat (we used our trusty 6 quart dutch oven)
2. Add mustard seed, heat until seeds begin to pop
3. Add ginger, garlic, and onion. Reduce heat to medium and sautee for 5-7 minutes or until onions start to brown.
4. Add tomatoes with liquid, chili powder, cumin, cayenne, garam masala, and cilantro. Stir a simmer for a couple minutes.
5. Add the spinach. (if you threw it in frozen, give it a few minutes to unfreeze and everything to come back up to a simmer. If the spinach is already thawed, go on to the next step.)
6. Add chicken. Simmer for about 15-20 minutes.
7. Add cheese. Simmer another 5-7 minutes. 

Good times!

First full day of staying home

As most of you are acutely aware, the Coronavirus has drastically changed how many of us have to live. My wife and I are both teachers, and both our schools are closed until March 30th. The prevailing notion is the closings will last far longer. It is possible that the schools could remain closed for the remainder of the year and students will work online from home.

That being said, we are stuck home for at least 15 days. We will do everything in our power to not go out, though this means being trapped at home with a feisty four year old. What I've got going for me is that I was raised in a house where you always bought way more than you'd need "just in case."  The Wife continually questioned why I insisted on keeping six jars of peanut butter and jellies, bags and bags of frozen potatoes and vegetables, cases of ramen noodles, matzoh, and assorted pastas. Why did I buy 48 packs of toilet paper every week or so?

Well, "just in case" has arrived. We have plenty of food in the fridge, freezer, and pantry. We have a rack full of food we've canned in the last couple of years. We have toilet paper and paper towels. We get our prescriptions in 90 day supplies, so we're good there. There is no fear of running out of booze.

What this means is that we don't have to run out and grab stuff from the store; stuff that somebody might need more than we do. Our goal is to live on what we've got in the house for 15 days. At worst, we will have to go out for milk. That's it. I'll try to give regular updates of what we're eating and how it's going. I'll post videos when I can (there's one at the bottom!)

Today's Meals:
Breakfast: Egg and cheese on English muffins for me and The Wife. Fruit Loops for the Spud
whoops, we have already run out of English muffins!


Dinner: Shepherd's Pie (using up the leftover mashed potatoes from the weekend)

-Stay Safe!

Slow Cooker Cheesy Ham and Potato Soup by The Wife

(Note: The Wife sent me this write-up in the first week of January. A combination of busyness, laziness, and mortifying illness caused me to totally forget about posting this. I do apologize, but most of your know by now that regular posting is not something that occurs around here. Unless you sponsor me or something. Without further ado, we return you to my Wife's wonderful recipe!)

The Husband was under the weather all Christmas Break.  When he took his second trip to prompt care in as many weeks, I decided to throw together a slow cooker soup.  We had a Honeybaked Ham and a number of bags of frozen potatoes, so a cheesy ham and potato soup seemed the best option.  Unfortunately, we only had half a block of cheddar cheese and most recipes called for at least 8 ounces.  Some also called for Velveeta.  We didn’t have any of that.  We did, however, have 5 cans of condensed cheddar cheese soup, so I decided to improvise.

Slow Cooker Cheesy Ham & Potato Soup
(from The Wife)

Ingredients:

• 2 lb. bag of diced potatoes
• 2 cups of diced ham
• 1 cup of frozen broccoli
• 1 cup of frozen cauliflower
• 2 cans (10.5 oz) of condensed cheddar cheese soup
• 1 can of water
• 1 Tbsp minced onion

Directions:
1.  Combine all ingredients in a 5-6 quart slow cooker and stir.
2.  Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours.
3.  Stir soup.  Mine was good and thick, but if you’d like it thicker, stir in 4 ounces of cream cheese.
4.  We just wanted a hearty soup, so we weren’t too concerned with presentation.  If you are, throw some sliced green onion and grated cheddar over the top.

Good Times!

The Wife's Eggplant Parmigiana and Meatball Casserole

Note: the following post is from The Wife

This past summer, our garden yielded more eggplant than we could reasonably expect to eat.  Apparently, my coworker was having the same problem, and she started bringing in eggplant for me.  I have a hard time turning down free produce – even when I already have an overabundance of it.  Week after week, I made my recipe for Eggplant Parmigiana (omitting step 9) and then bagged and froze it.  The deep freeze was jam-packed.  The same coworker’s husband had a stroke early in the school year, and the staff put together a meal train to assist them.  I figured it was only fitting to return some of the eggplant from whence it came, so I threw this recipe together as my contribution to the meal train.    

The Wife's Eggplant Parmigiana Casserole

Ingredients

• 3 freezer bags (quart size) of pre-made eggplant parmigiana (Vague, I know.  One layer of the casserole uses approximately 12 average-size eggplant slices.  If you were making the eggplant parmigiana on the same day, I would guess you would need 3 medium eggplants.)

• 48 oz. pasta sauce (The first time, I used The Husband’s pasta sauce because we had it on hand.  When I made this recipe for a staff lunch, I purchased Prego’s Italian Sausage and Garlic sauce.)

• 1 bag (18 count) frozen meatballs (whatever style you prefer)

• Grated Parmesan cheese

• 8 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

1.  Add frozen meatballs to pasta sauce and heat through.  Once meatballs are cooked, halve them.  (I suppose you could also halve them while they are still frozen – whatever works.)

2.  Preheat oven to 375F (190C, Gasmark 5)

.

3.  In a standard 9 x 13 casserole dish, lay your first layer of pre-made eggplant parmigiana.

4.  Place a dozen meatball halves at regular intervals across the first layer.

5.  Spoon pasta sauce over the first layer; spread so all eggplant slices are completely covered.

6.  Lightly sprinkle with grated Parmesan.

7.  Cover with 1/3 of shredded mozzarella.

8.  Repeat steps 3-7 twice more.

It should look something like this before going into the oven

9. Bake for 25 minutes until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbling.

10. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Good times!