March 17, 2020

Smashed chickpeas, granola bars and homemade hand cream

Well.

I’m going to open with the two best pieces of advice I’ve heard on managing social isolation:

Don’t think about changing your behaviour so you won’t get it. Think about changing your behaviour so you don’t give it to somebody else.

That’s infectious disease expert Graham Medley speaking to the BBC.

That’s my friend Jennifer in Calgary, with some excellent advice. Facetime get-togethers will see us through!

Also, for those of you sad about missing the gym, a couple of options. My sister and her husband are running free daily workouts on Instagram Live. And my sister and my trainer, Cass, are both offering packages for customized at-home workouts. Let me know if you want contact info.

In this weird space we’re all in, I think it can be helpful to have longer-term projects on the go, rather than just filling time day by day. Maybe yours is to hit a certain number of push-ups, or a longer plank, or to make homemade apple cider vinegar using apple scraps? Me, I am working through my crafting queue. If all goes well, by the time summer weather hits I will have some cute new clothes.

A cabbage is forever

Last time we spoke, I had 1/2 red, 1/2 napa and 1 green cabbage in the fridge. Now, I’ve got 1/2 green and 1/2 red left. Progress!

I mean, if you’re looking for a fresh vegetable that goes really far and will last forever in the fridge – and is budget-friendly to boot – you can’t go wrong with cabbage.

One thing I made was this Sesame Ginger Cabbage with Tofu and Shiitake from Golubka. (Side note: I really recommend her cookbook The Vibrant Table.)

I really enjoyed this one, and it makes great leftovers. I only used half a cabbage (a full one seemed like a lot) but if you’re feeding a family you might want to use a whole one. I also started the cabbage earlier in a separate pot rather than waiting until after everything else was cooked, to speed up the process.

I also made a napa cabbage slaw last night, based on this recipe. I didn’t have Greek yogurt so I added some mayo to give it some heft.

More with cabbage: This Smitten Kitchen Cabbage and Mushroom Galette is really good. And I enjoy a simple braised cabbage with cream and lemon zest – this recipe is a good starting point.

More with tofu

Amy recommends this Bon Appétit recipe for Sesame Noodles with Crispy Tofu.

She writes:

Obsessed. New fave. I left half the sauce out of hot pan and added separately because it’s got honey and I don’t like babysitting it on the stove.

Rediscovering an old favourite

On Thursday, before a client meeting, I had lunch at Boxcar Social and got their barley tabouli with chickpeas. (How was that only Thursday? It feels like a lifetime ago.)

It stirred up a memory of a mushroom barley stew with chickpeas that I used to make all the time. I dug it up in my 20-year-old copy (!) of How It All Vegan and I’ve been enjoying having it back in my repertoire.

For those of you not in possession of late ’90s vegan cookbooks, I found a version of the recipe online. I might use some soaked dried mushrooms as well next time to boost the mushroom flavour.

Vegan meringues

While my chickpeas for the stew were simmering, I started thinking about aquafaba, the liquid left over from cooking beans. Coincidentally, I had found a jar of lemon curd in the fridge. I’d made it a couple of weeks ago when I had leftover egg yolks and we were heading out of town. So I thought I’d try making aquafaba meringues.

Most recipes for these use the liquid from a (preferably unsalted) can of chickpeas, which is more consistently thick than what you get from cooking dried beans. I used this recipe and had success, though they took forever to whip up and they are very light and crumbly. I feel like if I had reduced my liquid first they might have had better texture. My oven also won’t go lower than 275, which is a tragedy when it comes to making meringues.

In any case, they are tasty with the lemon curd spread on top, and in this new era of food hoarding I feel less wasteful using the aquafaba. I have some more saved in the fridge and I am perusing this list to think of what else to make. Maybe this chocolate mousse?

Granola bars

Also on the sweeter side, I made these carrot-tahini granola bars, from a cookbook also called Eat More Plants that I have on hold from the library and maybe will actually get one day? (Actually, looks like they have an ebook version, so I’ve ordered that off Libby.)

One reviewer said that they were designed for people who were already into “hippie food”, then proceeded to polish off four bars. They didn’t last very quickly, in any case.

The chickpea theme continues

If you have chickpeas around and happen to be working with what you have in your kitchen, this formula for making smashed chickpea salad is a good one. I made it yesterday with mayo, capers and chili flakes.

Off topic

If your hands, like mine, are super chapped from all the extra hand washing, and if you’re looking for a DIY project to keep you busy now that everything is cancelled, I recommend this homemade hand cream recipe. I make it without the essential oils so it’s just three ingredients. It’s very thick and heavy from the beeswax but that also means it stays on your hands nicely without disappearing.

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