“Do not indulge in dreams of having what you have not, but reckon up the chief of the blessings you do possess, and then thankfully remember how you would crave for them if they were not yours.” -Marcus Aurelius
We are all creatures of habit. And even during times of extreme uncertainty and what can seem like chaos, we all somehow settle into a routine or fall back into habits that make us feel comfortable.
That’s just the way we are wired. Humans resist change and like certainty, and we therefore form our habits and routines in ways that provide us with the most comfort and certainty.
That is kind of where I’m at right now in the current lockdown. I’m starting to more or less fall into a daily routine even as “normal” life as we know it has been completely upended.
Most people are probably in a similar situation in their own lives and have been slowly starting to acclimate to a new normal and routine in a COVID restricted world.
I believe it’s week 6 of the lockdown where I am quarantining in Maryland.
After 6 weeks, my routine has turned into something like this:
Wake up, make coffee, meditate, tai chi/yoga, coffee, work, eat, more coffee, work, eat, work, eat some more, work, run, shower, eat, read, sleep. Repeat.
Yes, this is my life at the moment. And yes, I’m starting to question my own sanity at times with everyday looking the same and wondering how much longer this lockdown is going to last.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m very grateful for my health, having a job, and blessed to live in place where I can actually quarantine. I definitely feel for those who are battling this virus and those working on the front lines to keep our society functioning.
I just hope that as a society there is a light at the end of the tunnel and we can start to make smart decisions to slowly reopen things and start to acclimate to a new COVID cautioned reality.
One of the nice things about being home these last few weeks has been the opportunity to cook and try new recipes.
It seems like everyone and their mother in America has been on social media becoming a professional cook or baking – which is great!
I think people are realizing that bread, and baking in general, takes a lot of time to really get right.
Fortunately for all those aspiring bakers and folks trying to learn how to cook, we sure do have a lot of extra time on our hands to practice.
I find it refreshing to see people fall back to a simplistic way of cooking and using what’s in their kitchens rather than always grabbing the most convenient item in the stores.
There is something to be said about being resourceful and conscious about how much time and effort go into making our food. I think we take for granted how much energy goes into making the food that shows up in our grocery stores.
Farm to table is a nice term we like to throw around at restaurants but very seldom do we put it into practice ourselves.
I’ll admit that in the lockdown I haven’t down as much cooking as I would like. So I guess you could say at the moment I’m not practicing what I preach! Yikes!
The reason for that is because I’m significantly limiting my grocery shopping and therefore the meals I do make are kind of a mixed bag of what’s in the pantry and what’s about to expire in the refrigerator. Basically I’m using whatever I have in front of me and just whipping something up every night.
Three of my favorite foods that have become a sort of my comfort food and staple in my rotation include:
1. Pizza
While any kind of Pizza is good, I’m going to confess that I’ve been eating a lot of frozen ones… don’t judge… desperate times here!
I would certainly prefer to make a pizza from scratch, and went through a big Neapolitan Margherita pizza kick back in the day where I was making pizza twice a week.
Pizza isn’t that hard to make and as any Italian will tell you it’s all about having the freshest ingredients and the right oven. At the moment my grocery list has not included any of the fresh ingredients that I’d want to use like mozzarella, basil, and tomatoes.
Hopefully that will change in a couple months once I have a VICTORY GARDEN!
But for now frozen pizzas will have to do.
I’ve been quite impressed with Amy’s Margherita, Traders Joes BBQ Chicken, and Freschetta Brick Oven Spinach and Roasted Mushroom.
(I know, kind of opposite to my farm to table lifestyle that I preach!)
For the gluten-free folks out there: a great option is the Trader Joe’s Three Cheese Cauliflower crust. Can’t tell one bit that it’s cauliflower! I highly recommend!
2. Cookies
I have a big sweet tooth and during this lockdown I will confess that I’ve indulged in a couple cookies pretty much every night. While some have been from the box or premade, I’ve also made some from scratch.
There really is nothing better than homemade, warm, gooey, chocolate chip cookies. I know DoubleTree has recently released their famous recipe.
While the DoubleTree recipe is great, I’ve tried a lot of different cookies and I can say I’ve found the best.
Simplicity wins it, and like the name suggests THIS really is the best chocolate chip cookie recipe EVER.
A couple things that do make a difference are using enough chocolate chip chunks and making sure the butter is softened before mixing everything together so that the dough is not lumpy and the ingredients combine evenly.
Overall they are so easy to make. And I like that the proportions are simple to remember in your head for an impromptu cookie craving.
If you just follow the recipe your tastebuds will thank you.
3. Soup
Everybody loves a good soup. Soups are a perfect way to use up leftovers and the best rainy day meal to warm you up.
It’s unseasonably chilly here on the East coast over the last couple weeks. On those cold, rainy days there is something really soothing about having a good hearty soup.
My family has been making quite a bit of soup using a combination of leftovers and fresh vegetables. One of the better ones was this rosemary turkey stew pictured below. We’ve also made Blackbean, and a number of different variations of chicken noodle soups.
Throw in some cornbread or some freshly baked bread, and you have yourself the ultimate COVID comfort meal!
What are some your favorite lockdown comfort foods?
Some truly nice stuff on this site, I like it.