13th of week, 7th of covid

Tuesday included a shopping trip, I think I got everything I wanted!

Tuesday Pinto beans and rice with mixed fruit, and bread
Precooked about 3 pounds of each, then the rice just gets preheated.
The beans stay fridge until 2 onions, 2 belle peppers, and a good handful of celery is sliced and sautéed in the roaster, add seasoning, broth, then heated up beans.

Wednesday will be turkey dinner
Roasted turkey will be reheated, stuffing made and kept in a heatable container, yams mixed up and heated, cranberry sauce, and green beans heated in a roaster.

Thursday will be a white sauce with left over pork sausage, veggies and egg noodles.
Sautéed stuff, make roux, add, add, add; bread and fruit on the side.

Forgot to mention I purchase things from the thrift store more that we are in quarantine, book, spoon rest, couple of shirts, and got to have free stuff for the making lunch part (helps so much when you can easily get a spatula to scoop out cans, getting drying cloths, pillowcases for potatoes and other roots not in the fridge).
Today I tried to pay for a wood stool, but was asked to -take- it! OOOH happy day! Hardly anyone throws out jeans my size, but I can always look!
This week is a co-workers' bday. Same co-worker wants us to come up with a quarantine craft. All I got is blank journals with the covers made of cereal boxes and such we use. We shall see. Our area may have some restrictions lifted in two weeks so that may change the time I have free, where I prep food, her schedule, and the building schedule.

In the 12th week of work 6th of covid

Got the C19 nasal swabs this morning about an hour and a half into my 6 hour day.
The left one was done first, after I blew my nose. It was actually pretty painful and I have had about 15 kidney stones, uti's and kidney infections; passed out while giving blood while in trade school, convulsed and everything, short term memory loss on that one.
Then I coughed before getting the right one done... It hurt immensely, so much so I screeched and was about to get way out of control. I kept backing up in pure pain, and she kept right on shoving in there like she is supposed to. She said sorry, and that I was probably swollen up there (from allergies). I apologized for screeching.
But seriously it hurt so much I would take kidney stones over this, take a GIL of my blood, over this.
I was very runny, coughing, eyes...it was awful, thank goodness I'd already chopped the onions for lunch, that calmed down after about an hour and a half. But I have this headache and my eyes hurt, and I swear my vision has become blurry.
Anyways lunch was beans and rice that were pre cooked and then reheated with fresh sautéed onion and bell pepper, didn't realize I'd used the last of the celery. Hotdog buns that were in the back of the freezer, and peach and raspberry sorbet.
Tomorrow I already promised would be bbq chicken, so I will sautée up more onion, bell pepper to add to that filling; make coleslaw for the side with cabbage, carrot, radish, mayo and seasoning, sorbet on the side,
So Thursday will be pizza spaghetti with pork sausage bits, ham bits, black olive, tomatoes, sauce, onion, bell pepper, spaghetti bits, parm cheese, bread, sorbet.

Just before 12th week of work, 6th of covid kitchen

This is the Monday before the Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I work physically in town (for the food contract freelance job I call work). Found out I get the Covid test on Tuesday after work. Exciting, I feel like a part of history!

Today is when I focus my planning, grocery lists (for work and home), transport, storage, projects- the job pays for the time I am in town, but the auto gas and at-home time and electricity I put into it is basically volunteer work. Our electricity is probably an extra 30$ a month since I have to cook donated beans and rice at home since it is too hard to try and cook and prepare a normal meal, AND precook beans and rice for another time.

Right now my "extra" time at work is being spent turning our frozen fruit donations into sorbet

Sorbet

for every cup, 1 1/2 cups of frozen broken up fruit, add 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and about 1/4 cup juice or water. This is blitzed in a Vitamix that is a piece of refurbished kitchen tool I get to use, along with an instant pot, and electric roasters.

This week, after looking back I am now deciding to do a beans and rice meal every week to spread out variety in lunches as we wind down the rest of the donations. So lets see, with what we have, the next weeks may look like this:

Tuesday-Beans and Rice, bread, sorbet (peach, raspberry, and blueberry).
Wednesday-Spaghetti Pizza with pork sausage bits, ham bits, black olives, mushroom, bell, onion, part, shred ched, bread, fruit
Thursday-turkey, stuffing, yams

Tuesday-Beans and Rice, bread, fruit or green beans
Wednesday-posole made with wolf chili and hominy, bread, fruit
Thursday-bbq chicken sandwiches, coleslaw, ?

Tuesday-Beans and Rice, bread, fruit or green beans
Wednesday-Vegetable Pie Stew with roast beef bits and rice, bread, fruit
Thursday-Wolf Chili chili, bread, fruit

Tuesday-Beans and Rice, bread, fruit or green beans
Wednesday-Soy Curls as Chicken on Noodles with béchamel and vegetables
Thursday-Turkey Divan, bread, fruit or veg side

11th week of work, 5th week in covid kitchen quarantine

Tuesday

Pork and beans,

see there was an ice cream tub (possibly 1 1/2 #10 cans) in the deep freeze- it wasn't ice cream, so it and 2 #10 cans of pork and beans were added to the roaster after 2 onions were sautéed with garlic, salt and pepper, and after 12 sliced up hot dogs were added.

This was served with fruit cocktail, piece of cornbread, and some nutriplenty rice to soak up the juice underneath. Numbers dropped down to closer to 30, so left overs were also served the next day.

Wednesday

Shoney's Breakfast Rice - A - Like

1 onion, diced, sautéed with

2 red bell pepper, diced and 

4-6 stalks celery, diced with

garlic, d'arbo chili flakes, salt

then add 40 pre-cooked, diced pork sausage patties, 

30 wide slices of ham, diced, 

1 dozen scrambled eggs, cooked

3 lbs pre-cooked rice, white, brown, or mixed (ours was cooked in chicken water from instant pot and  chicken also precooked to freeze for later use

Then to get everything really hot and not dry anything out, 4 cans of chicken broth were used.

Served with left over corn bread and fruit sorbet made in a Vitamix from donated frozen peaches and raspberries. Will continue to make fruit sorbets (strawberry, blueberry also) until the fruit is used up! Left overs, about 4-6 servings for the next day

Thursday

Rice- a- Roni

we had vermicelli (3)  donated, going to toast that after sautéing 2 diced onions,  garlic, peppers, 4 stalks of celery in oil and then adding 3 bags peas and carrots (frozen), 13-15 cooked chicken diced breasts, 2-3 pounds cooked rice, 1 carton broth, water-probably same amount.

Will serve sliced bread and sorbet with.

Next week is looking like bbq chicken sandwiches; pizza spaghetti; turkey/stuffing/yams. 

Week after that maybe turkey Spanish Rice; turkey noodle stew; pantry posole.

If there is still turkey left, still have ham, do a turkey cordon bleu soup; an everything soup with a roast still in there and a bunch of miscellaneous vegetables; and a loaded Mac and cheese could be quite nice.

Then, last we have unless more donations are made are beans and rice.

I'll edit post if anything changed for the day, otherwise...

So you know Kaylee from Firefly...

Well she is a girl character in a tv show called Firefly, and then a movie called Serenity. The character knew engines, knew and loved her (space)ship (the name of the ship is Serenity). People could babble on and such but if you said something about the ship or were talking about ships, she would always pipe up, stick up for her ship, and such ("You hear what that purple-belly called Serenity, Captain?")

More and more I find myself that way with food/kitchen. Today I got fussed at for not paying attention to the arrows on the ground (because of covid19) that were not there last time I went in to that store. I'm standing there with my mask on, gloves on, and am looking for a spice I hadn't found in three weeks; on the way to work; picking up work food and 3 items for home since I have to be in a store with others.
My eyes got big when this hooman started speaking to me, it went in my brain, gears had to restart on a new project, speaking to this person. I think I just apologized and said I was just trying to find something I hadn't been able to in 3 weeks, found it, dropped it, and left- out the wrong way probably.

So yeah, I have a problem, I can deal with food, recognize food, understand it. I do not understand people, deal with them or recognize them. I think the person fussing at me was either trying to make small talk because we met each other a few times, or genuinely fussing at me, and for that I am sorry. I didn't know about the arrows, I am not used to waiting to follow these lines before going in to work when all I need is 1-5 items. It's weird and we all make mistakes. But please tell me it counts somewhat that I was wearing a mask and gloves. I apologize for not taking that third step in protection.

I had blinders on. Food. Make food. Get to kitchen. Get food, get to kitchen, to make food, serve food, clean, go home, do again. I love my current job, I love how less people are around and less businesses are open. Point A to Point B. Then for the first time in my life I got fussed at while not at work. It was surprising and it was not food. So it just made me shocked and mad, then sad, now unsure if I should be doing jack shit since I am so incapable of following the arrows.

10th week of work, 4th week of covid alternate kitchen

Alternate kitchen for the record means I am not preparing food in a commercial kitchen. I control a section of our pre-covid dining room, sanitizing it before I begin, following all the covid handling rules- explaining and re-explaining how to be sanitary while dealing with the food/social distancing/hand washing and gloves/temperature checks/masks. Guy helping me today asked if it was required to wear the gloves and face mask. I said yes. It is a daily battle to keep us safe because some people feel this is just a normal flu and think the rest of us following directions are over-reacting. Very frustrating but I never give up explaining and giving facts. Our Organization boss is fantastic- she got a portable sink for our guests to use before and after eating, pretty sure no one else in town is doing that. I love my boss, and my co-workers, and my diners. They may not be making too many requests, but I still consider myself their personal chef. I am lucky to be able to learn this job so thoroughly, every day is a new learning experience and lesson learned. I love my job, my town, and I do not mind being an essential worker right now. I have love, our diners deserve the love and respect.

Tuesday

Chick (pea) A la King 40 servings, served with bread and tangerines or crushed pineapple

Sidenote-Don't cook egg noodles in the sauce like spaghetti bakes. I knew this in the back of my head, but did it anyways, by the time they cooked, they then broke down and melted into the sauce.

Otherwise, start by sautéing in about 1/2 cup oil:
2 large diced onions, 2 ribs of celery, 2 sweet bell peppers(not green), 4 large diced carrots, seasoning (1 tbsp salt, 2 tsp pepper, 3 tbsp other seasonings you have and like (1 tbsp 2 tsp garlic, 1 1/2  tbsp paprika, 1tsp sage)
once transparent, toasted and cooked, add flour for the sauce, about 1/2 cup, stir and let cook about 3-5 minutes, then add:
4 diced and precooked potatoes
6-7 cans chick peas with juice-add juice if needed
2 cans peas- add rice if needed
2 cans yellow corn- add juice if needed
Taste test and add more seasoning, or broth if needed, and even more veggies, then serve on cooked noodles, with bread and sorbet on the side!

About two loaves of normal sandwich bread.


Wednesday

White Turkey Chili, served with sorbet and slice of bread or 5-8 crackers

Also donated was our meat, so since this thing has started, all I bought was a tiny bit of bread, and fresh vegetables to sautéed. The rest of the canned veggies and mea all donated, I just try to find fun ways to stretch it and not repeat meals too much. Still putting nutriplenty rice packets to use, cook 2-3 bags and use that at the bottom of the chili bowl as well

the turkey chili

the meat off a roasted turkey (8-11 lbs give or take)
sautée
2 diced onions, 2 yellow bell peppers, 4 celery ribs, diced, add seasoning, then roux the flour a minute, I didn't have cumin but I had a seasoning blend with cumin and paprika, added 2 large cans of tomatillos, 1 large can of green chiles, 2 lbs cooked white beans, 2-5 potatoes precooked and diced, and the turkey meat. make to your consistency by adding or not adding broth, stretch it by adding hominy or corn or garbanzos, and another can of green chile!

The Sorbet

Frozen fruit and prune juice donated, the sugar and lemon juice were bought items/
it was about 1 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp lemon juice, 3 tbsp prune juice - per cup of fruit. Mixed in a Vitamix blender that we just so happened to be in our storage pantry (much of our other equipment, seasonings, are still locked up in the professional kitchen that is on lockdown).
SO we had blueberry sorbet, raspberry, and peach versions. Did three batches, about 5 cups of each fruit- smallish servings, about 30.
Have a lot more fruit left, looking forward to doing these at least twice more, still have strawberry to try as well!

Thursday

Biscuit Pot Pie 40 servings, about 30 given out, with one being large portion, no fruit, extra biscuit

More roasted turkey

another base like the a la king and white chili, add mixed veggies like lots of carrot, pea, cauliflower, onion, bell pepper, celery, potatoes, green beans. add the turkey and make sure it is seasoned throughout. Serve with biscuits and pineapple.

Checked in with everyone I normally text anyways, but some, it had been a month, so that was fun. made masks last weekend; been tending to potatoes and onions growing, everything else got taken by pests; the home freezer was mostly socked last few weekends with homemade vegan meats like sausage links for the fire pit, breakfast sausage patties, burgers, meatballs, soon he'll make soy milk, we'll then have pulp (okra) to make fake fish and chicken!

There were many people not practicing precaution, but we at the store do, and when I ran errands in the next city over that does have it, they were mostly following precautions.

We are hopeful that we have learned enough from this, and we have all noticed people not taking it seriously. It's just like everything else we do in life that requires integrity- we do the best we can. I hope everyone remains safe and healthy

9th week of work, 3rd week operating mobile kitchen during c-19

We had a half case of tomatoes and a bunch of other donated items we needed to get through!

Vegan Minestrone in the Electric Oster Roaster served about 40

oil
30 tomatoes, diced
1 onion, diced
4 celery ribs, diced
1/2 head cabbage, diced
seasoning***
2 small bags of frozen peas and carrots
6 cans/ #10 can of garbanzo beans, drained
2-3 cup veg broth
3-5 small cans tomato sauce

Sautee the first 6 ingredients until nice and soft, crossing up is ok, about 30 minutes on high with lid on.
Open, stir, add rest, stir, bring to a boil with the lid on, cooking all through, about 30-45 minutes.

Nutriplentry rice - 2 packs, precooked and 1/4 heaping cup per serving, minestrone was served on top.

***The current mobile kitchen seasoning donations are as follows, The Kitchen (me) decides what will work in what dish, take your pick:  salt, pepper, hot Chile flakes, brisket rub, no salt fajita mix, roasted garlic, garlic salt, paprika, paprika complete seasoning blend (my secret).

Turkey Cacciatore served about 40

2 onions, diced
5 cans spaghetti sauce
6 cups bone broth
5 pounds cooked, diced turkey, light and dark meat
1 large bag of tube pasta (3lb?), uncooked

Same as above, sautee vegetables, add the rest, heat everyone to boiling, 165 is a good temp, pasta took about 30-45 minutes to cook- we are altitudy, at over 4000 ft.

Turkey BBQ 25, sloppy sandwiches

1/2 head cabbage sliced thin
2 carrot, shredded
5 pounds turkey, precooked, shredded
1 -2 cups bbq sauce
seasoning
broth
thickeners, flour, 2 pieces of bread bun from sandwiches

Did this and Ham and cheese on the side and there was still some cacciatore to give out.
---
Didn't go and pre-buy any thing, usually just shop major once a month. So now about to run out of my normal amount of lysol, and other small cleaning staples.
But, if I had to stay home right, I think we have enough food to hold out a month. I mean the fresh stuff would run out quick but I find the produce section is usually pretty stocked, so if I had to go back in town, I would probably only need that, and want almond milk.

All in all my view, looking at less pollution, people possibly communicating in different ways, new hobbies, skills. I love less people around. It'd be cool if I could buy tp, disinfectant, clothes detergent, alcohol, peroxide, Neosporin, and plain bakers chocolate bars 78%, almond milk, oh and the nestle non-fridge choc syrup.
Things I was able to get a month supply- probably everything we really need, aside from those.
Otherwise the shelves were empty of what I normally buy, oh and no flour (I bought the last 20 lb blue bird flour they had last week because I was out of flour and amazed when I saw shelves getting cleared out of everything, rye, cornmeal...
And today was the first day I got scared- I've been wearing a scarf for 3 weeks, just got a mask yesterday. Guy in front of me in line at the store, 60's-70's, said he thought "everyone was making way too big a deal about this covid19 thing". Fabulous, or as we say here fabulosa. Then I hear my better half witnessed a guy going into veterinary clinic, picking his nose then directly grabbing the door handle. We know this virus will go everywhere, we are waiting for it to arrive here, not trying to be positive, trying to be realistic. It is truly amazing that there can be 5,000 deaths just in our country, and people still think it is no big deal just because it hasn't made it here yet. Scary.