Simple Recipes for Coronavirus Quarantine
In the midst of the coronavirus quarantine, shopping for groceries, finding ingredients, and preparing meals can be challenging. That’s why simple recipes and meals to make with the limited ingredients you have on hand are a must. We thought we’d share a few.
Pan Fried Chicken
Simply marinate chicken tenders or breasts for half an hour in a 50/50 mix of soy sauce and cheap Italian dressing, and then fry the chicken in a pan.
Zoodles
Don’t have pasta? You can make zoodles, also known as zucchini noodles. You can also use other vegetables, such as squash or carrots. You can make them by using a veggie spiralizer, vegetable peeler, or by cutting the veggies into thin strips. Then cook in a skillet over medium heat in butter or olive oil until done.
Sloppy Joes
Sloppy Joes are a simple recipe you can make with a can of Manwich. It can also be easily made with hamburger, ketchup, and relish.
- Add ground beef to a skillet and sauté until brown.
- Add the ketchup and relish, and let simmer for a couple minutes.
Water Cake
Want to make a cake, but don’t have eggs, butter or milk? Then try the water cake. No need for eggs or dairy; just a few pantry staples.
- 2 cups of all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1/4 cup vegetable, canola or olive oil
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 tbsp. lemon zest (optional)
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease the interior of an 8-inch round cake pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, add flour, baking powder, sugar. Whisk until evenly combined.
- Add water, oil, vanilla and lemon zest (if using). Whisk until batter is smooth and no lumps remain.
- Pour cake batter into the cake pan. Bake for about 40-45 minutes or until the surface of the cake is a light golden brown.
Banana Ice Cream
If you want to make ice cream, but don’t have heavy cream on hand, then you can make a simple one-ingredient ice cream with just bananas.
- Peel and chop 1-2 ripe bananas and place the pieces in an air-tight container to freeze for at least two hours.
- After freezing, place the banana pieces in a blender and blend until smooth soft serve ice-cream texture forms.
- Add a couple tablespoons of milk, if you’d like, to help in the blending process, but this is optional.
- For chocolate ice cream, add melted chocolate. Try adding other types of fruit, like strawberries or blueberries, if you prefer other flavors.
Old-Fashioned Potato Candy
Looking for a dessert to satify your sweet tooth that only takes a couple of ingredients. Try old-fashioned potato.
- small potato
- two-pound bag of powdered sugar (Note: The amount of sugar you need depends on the size of the potato. And, don’t have powdered sugar? You can put granulated sugar in a food processor.)
- peanut butter (Note: Have a peanut allergy? Try using sun butter or almond butter. Another alternative is dark chocolate. )
- Peel and chop the potato, and then place the pieces in a sauce pan with water and cook until soft. (Note: Don’t have access to a stove? Make a baked potato in the microwave and peel off the skin before mashing.)
- Drain off the water and move the potato into a mixing bowl to be mashed.
- Add about half of the sugar to the mashed potato and mix. Continue adding small amounts of powdered sugar and mixing until a stiff dough forms. You might not need the whole bag of sugar or you might need to add more.
- Place a piece of parchment paper on a flat service, and then dust the surface and a rolling pin with powdered sugar. Put your dough on the surface and roll until thin.
- Spread on a layer of peanut butter. Roll into to a log shape, and then slice.