Time warp

I feel like I'm living in a time-warp.  We went from a (very brief) empty nest with minimal food on hand and meals out on the fly to having a couple large men and me in the house all the time, eating three meals and multiple snacks every day. Meal planning is back in my life, and these dudes are SO thankful for the food that's served.

We are - you, me, all of us - adjusting to this bizarre new reality, and I am trying not to let the scary state of the world get too deeply in my head.  And there is something comforting in knowing we are ALL going through this.  I feel so badly that Dylan is begin robbed of his freshman year in college and then I think, every college freshman in America is going through the same thing!  And Noah is temporarily laid off, and I feel so badly, and then I realize, so were 10 million other Americans. I don't know why that's comforting, but it is.  So I try to stay thankful for my work and my house and focus on the next meal and the next cocktail to get me through the day.  That's about all I can muster, honestly;  food and cocktails.  Projects, even books elude me right now, but the cooking and the drinking are in full force around here.

April in Chicago break my heart every single year - it's still bare and cold out there.  I don't know why I ever expect it to be any different.  So you lucky/sane ones might be turning your attention to spring vegetables and the grill but I"m still making straight up hygge food over here.  Like, for example, the noble meatball.

In difficult times, one can always make some meatballs.  You cannot go wrong.   These are my current faves.

Turkey Pesto Meatballs

2 lb ground turkey breast

1-1/2 cups  plain bread crumbs

1/2 cup basil pesto

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

2 eggs whites

 Mix it alllllll up

Form the meatballs.  It made about 2 dozen meatballs.

Bake them at 375 for about 25 minutes

 I made a quick spaghetti sauce but you could easily buy a jar of sauce.

minced an onion and sauteed it and some garlic

 added about 1tsp oregano and basil

 threw in a large can of whole tomatoes (smoosh them up)

added a 14 ounce can of tomato paste and refilled the can with water

Simmer for a while - at least a half hour but longer is always better with tomato sauce

Dump the meatballs in the sauce

 I like to serve them up on slider buns but you could make grinders, on top of spaghetti, whatevs.

We also roasted up a head of cauliflower - cut into florets, toss with S&P and a couple tablespoons of olive oil.  Roast at 400 for about 20 minutes, tossing every five minutes or so.

Yay!

And because eating out is not allowed these days, which is sad (although we do take-out at least twice a week to support our local restaurants.  Yes, it's all because we're so supportive and not because I don't want to cook more than four times a week.  It's true!), I am obsessed with  my favorite Bluestone salad so attempted to made a Kale Quinoa Salad of my own

Wash and trim some kale.  Fold it along the spine, cut the spine out (sounds so aggressive) then cut the kale crosswise, into strips. I used one large bunch of kale

 cook up a cup of quinoa per instructions

 toast some pecans or almonds or walnuts which you hopefully/jubilantly find in your pantry

toast them a pan for a couple minutes at medium heat -turning often.  DON'T WALK AWAY

grab some craisins

 dice a couple avocados

 grate some parmesan with the adorable but highly impractical cheese grater you have.
or use pre-shredded if you don't want to grate the shit out of your fingers.

 Assemble it all.  Make a lemon vinaigrette.  

1 part fresh lemon juice, 2 parts olive oil, good dash of salt and pepper.

Toss.  Enjoy.  It is sublime.  

Stay safe, y'all.