Recipe Roundup: What I've Cooked in Quarantine

In case you hadn't noticed, there's a raging pandemic happening outside. Which means I'm inside. Making snacks.

Actually, that's not entirely true. I spent about a week and a half panicking, like a normal person. Now I'm making snacks.

Here's a roundup of what I've made so far, in case you need inspiration for your own isolation menu.

Lauren Toyota's Zucchini Cream Sauce

I never in a million years would have pureed a zucchini and called it food. Never ever. But damn this is delicious. When I did my big pre-isolation shop, I grabbed four zucchinis so I could make a double batch of this sauce and freeze it. Worked like a charm. I froze it without kala namak, cheese, or meaty bits; I add those to each dish individually when I assemble the meal. Highly recommend.


Nacho Cheese

Life without cheese is no life at all, which makes it absolutely essential for the survival of the apocalypse. The Hot for Food nacho cheese is my go-to cheese sauce. I make a double batch every couple of weeks. Pro tip: You can freeze this in single-serving containers and thaw one out whenever you need a quick taco/macaroni/finger-dipped-in-nacho-cheese fix.


Whole Wheat Bread

I'm a new convert to Sweet Simple Vegan, but I'm loving them. This is one of the first recipes of theirs that I've tried, and it won't be the last. Next time I make this, I'll probably skip the oatmeal topping since it just flaked off and didn't add much flavor.


Sandwich Bread

This is, hands down, the best sandwich bread recipe I've ever met. Holy cow, dudes. I've made at least four loaves now. When I'm making it for sandwiches, I use one cup of wheat flour and two cups of white flour. When I'm making it for deliciousness, I roll powdered sugar and cinnamon into the dough to make cinnamon swirl bread. I'm not even kidding, this stuff is phenomenal. Make it. Make it right now. I'll wait.

Oh She Glows' Chickpea Salad

I've been vegetarian for a really long time, and as such, I've made a lot of chickpea salad sandwiches. They were all mediocre at best, weirdly bitter and overly mustardy at worse. But Oh She Glows' recipe is perfect. It's full of crisp veggies and it's tangy and creamy and irresistibly good. Try it on the sandwich bread I just mentioned (what do you mean you haven't made it yet? You're missing out, dudes) with some avocado.

 
Meringue Mushrooms

When the grocery store shelves are empty and you're locked inside your house with nothing to entertain you but the entire Internet and the contents of your kitchen cabinets, you have to get creative. With that in mind, I crafted some aquafaba meringue mushrooms for April Fools Day. I used this recipe for the meringue, which whipped up perfectly. I made the mushrooms from memory (which means they're slightly funky looking), but this tutorial looks like an excellent guide.


Eggplant Parmesan

Full disclosure, I never actually had eggplant parm before going vegan, so I have no idea what it's supposed to taste like. I gather it's generally cheesy. But this vegan eggplant parm is crispy and amazing and you should definitely make it it for yourself. Breading stuff is always a pain in the butt, so do yourself a favor and make a double batch. I've had luck baking the eggplant for 30 minutes, popping it in the fridge or freezer, and then frying it when I'm ready to eat. The eggplant gets a little softer this way, but the breading will still crisp up and it's a baller meal that you can pretend is healthy despite being, yaknow, breaded and fried and served with noodles.

Also, look at this perfect avocado:

Consider it a tiny speck hope that sometimes things turn out just right.