It’s been a week, as I’m sure it has been for everyone. We had one complete work week with the kids at home. Luckily, I was on spring break, so I didn’t have any pressing academic commitments, but I did spend some time figuring out the logistics of getting my nutrition practice moved to a virtual setting. But there’s a lot of uncertainty and unknowns out there, and in the midst of it I’m going to try to shepherd my pre-k kiddo through the final months of school without leaning entirely on the Wild Kratts (I have no idea how to teach her how to read!).
On the upside, there’s a lot of amazing resources getting shared in terms of activities and advice for working from home or helping your kids through at-home schooling. I hope I’m not contributing to overwhelm or inundation with sharing some of the links below but rather highlighting what actually worked well for us (or what I personally found entertaining).
I’m also thinking a lot about my clients and families everywhere for whom the struggle of deciding on what to eat and actually preparing a meal is a source of intense anxiety. All along, I’ve hoped my SMC posts have been a helpful insight into what dietitians “really” eat (meaning, what do I as a dietitian feed my family and myself). I’ve doubled up on the weeks below to help tie recipes and meals together, knowing that people are making do with what they can find at stores and not wanting half-used ingredients to go to waste.
If there is something that would be helpful to include or add, I’m all ears.
Here’s what I’ve been reading and cooking this week:
What I’ve Been Reading This Week
Here is a list of ways you can help out in your community.
Craft idea: potato stamping from SayYes. I thought about doing this with some old potatoes that were growing eyes in our kitchen, but now I think I’m going to try planting them outside in a few weeks and see what happens!
Check out this video of the penguins at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium as they explore the rest of the aquarium without guests in the building.
It is wild that this is a thing: Big Brother contestants are the last to know about the pandemic.
The New York Times gives tips to help us relax if this is your first financial crisis.
We made these a few days ago, and the recipe is a total winner: spritz cookies (Sally’s Baking Addiction)
Coping with COVID-19 and tips to keep the whole family happy.
Resy’s city guides to takeout and delivery.
A physician at MGH speaks out on the Coronavirus.
What I’ve Been Cooking This Week:
Last Week:
Sunday: Garlic-butter shrimp pasta, sautéed green beans
Monday: Almost-spring chicken & herb pasta
Tuesday: Leftovers
Wednesday: Asparagus, goat cheese, and tarragon quiche, roasted cauliflower
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Chinese Chicken Salad
Saturday: Turmeric curry with pork (Bon Appetite) — this was great and used up some leftover shredded cabbage from the salad the previous night
Baked: Red wine chocolate snack cake (Food & Wine): highly recommend, and it’s even better the next day or two after baking
Up Next:
Sunday: Pan-seared chicken with a mustard pan-sauce (based on this), crisp roasted potatoes, roasted red peppers
Monday: Leftovers
Tuesday: One-pot mac & cheese with cauliflower, kale slaw salad from Trader Joe’s
Wednesday: Red lentil, apple, and ginger dal (though we’ve so far not been able to find red lentils at the grocery… we may have to punt on this one)
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Pizza (Charlotte firmly corrected me last week at lunch when I neglected to realize Fridays were pizza day at school… whoops! But I like it for dinner, so here we are).
Saturday: Greek meatballs with lemon butter orzo (Half-baked Harvest), kale & spinach salad
