Curing the Quarantine Food Blues

a post from Sydney

On March 9 this year, my young adult children came home for spring break.  As usual, in anticipation of their arrival, I stocked up on foods they like when they are home: frozen waffles, spaghetti and meatballs, macaroni and cheese boxes, cereal.  Now that our kids are (mostly) grown, we try not to fight about food when they are home.  I save my tofu and brussels sprouts recipes to torture my husband with after everyone goes back to school.  

You know what happened next. Their days-long visit lasted weeks, then months. We had four people in the house, day in and day out, week in and week out, for three meals a day. We ordered the occasional take-out to support a local restaurant, but every other meal came out of my kitchen.

As happy as we were to have everyone safe, food got BORING. I wore out all my usual recipes. We needed to branch out. Sure, I could find recipes on the web, but sometimes you really want to page through a cookbook to find some inspiration. Fortunately, we have a great selection of cookbooks at Conshohocken Free Library--plenty to give all of us the chance to try something new!

There was a lot of talk about how everyone was baking bread over quarantine.  Did that include you?  Maybe you could use some baking books:

• The Bread Bible, by Rose Levy Beranbaum

• The Perfect Cake, from America’s Test Kitchen

• Baking All Year Round, by Rosanna Pansino

We gave in and jumped on the air fryer bandwagon over quarantine. Did you splurge on a fun new kitchen appliance?  We’ve got some books to help you use them: 

• Every Day Easy Air Fryer: 100 Recipes Bursting with Flavor, by Urvashi Pitre

• The Instant Pot Bible, by Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarborough

• Fix and Forget It New Cookbook: 250 New Delicious Slow Cooker Recipes, by Phyllis Good

• Green Smoothie Revolution, by Victoria Boutenko

Want to try cuisine from another culture?  We can help with that!  How about….

• Indian for Everyone: the Home Cook’s Guide to Traditional Favorites, by Anupy Singla

• Italian Moms: Something Old Something New: 150 Family Recipes, by Elisa Costantini

• New French Table, by Emily and Giselle Roux

• The Complete Mediterranean Cookbook: 500 Vibrant, Kitchen-tested Recipes from Living and Eating Well Every Day, from America’s Test Kitchen

Do you have young folks in your house who are interested in cooking?  Try:

• The Complete Baking Book for Young Chefs, from America’s Test Kitchen

• Cooking Class: Global Feast: 44 Recipes that Celebrate the World's Cultures, by Deanna F. Cook

• United Tastes of America: an Atlas of Food Facts and Recipes from Every State!, by Gabrielle Langholtz

Maybe you’re inspired to try to change your eating and cooking habits in a fundamental way, whether it’s to eat more humanely, use more vegetables, avoid gluten, or just do more cooking from scratch.

• Modern Flexitarian, Plant-inspired Recipes You Can Flex to Add Fish, Meat, or Dairy, from DK Publishers

• Saladish: a Crunchier, Grainier, Herbier, Heartier, Tastier Way with Vegetables, by Ilene Rosen

• Whole Food Cooking Every Day: Transform the Way You Eat with 250 Recipes Free of Gluten, Dairy, and Refined Sugar, by Amy Chaplin

• Ultimate Paleo Cookbook: 900 Grain- and Gluten-Free Recipes to Meet Your Every Need, by Arsy Vartanian

• The Blue Apron Cookbook: 165 Essential Recipes for a Lifetime of Home Cooking, from the Blue Apron Culinary Team

And don’t forget dessert!

• Hello, My Name is Ice Cream: The Art and Science of the Scoop, by Dana Cree

• Candy is Magic: Real Ingredients, Modern Recipes, by Jami Curl

You can request any of these books and pick up in person or on the porch. We also welcome visitors to come in and browse the shelves during our open library hours.

Bon Appetit!