BeeZee

Grilled a ton of vegetables last night and made my standby ratatoiulle warm salad, grilled some tuna steaks, and wild rice blend on the side. Will probably take the leftover veg, add some small pasta and chicken and turn it in to cold pasta salad.

Ventured to my local Trader Joe's this morning, hadn't been in a couple of months (last visit to a TJ's was in 2nd week of March, smaller store near my office). Got there around 10:30 and the line (6 feet spacing) was around 120 yards long (eyeballing by golf reference). Took about a half hour to get inside, one in/one out and they cleaned a cart for you to take in. The aisles were not marked for one way traffic but with the decreased number of shoppers it wasn't really a problem. Stock seemed pretty good across the board, only a few holes. Some refrig/dairy items were short date, but that's almost normal for them. They had meat in the refrig case and I bought fresh turkey tenderloin and frozen Argentine shrimp. Got some frozen veg mixes, some dairy items, pantry and canned goods, couple of fresh produce items, bottle of wine. Pretty satisfactory experience all in all. Glad I waited until the panic buying had abated.

The shears I have look very similar (except with neon green grip), but are a cheaper knock off version...bought in 2016 and not available any longer.

Cinnamon graham crackers. I haven't had them in a really long time, but they are so comforting...simple, reminds me of after school snacking. Just sweet enough.

I have one that has been sitting on a shelf above my kitchen counter to remind me to replace it. It was a victim of scraping a bit too harshly around the inside of the Cuisinart with the blade still in place. I'm leaning towards a one piece molded design, there are tons of them on Amazon which I am starting to sift through. On an unrelated note, but relevant to this topic...I LOVE my kitchen shears. When I have to trim up some boneless chicken breasts, they are quick and effective. I can even roughly butterfly them if they are too thick by using the tip of the shears to carefully snip at the meat. The pair that I bought come apart for cleaning and came with a magnetic "holster" so they live on the side of the fridge.

Sea scallops (frozen defrosted) just cooked on a sheet pan with some seasonings. Also roasted the not so great “baby” carrots from my recent produce delivery, along with fennel bulb sliced thinly. Tossed them with a little balsamic syrup and agave syrup after cooking. Seasoned rice from a pouch.

Greek inspired chickpea salad with cuke, tomato, scallion, dill, feta.

Picture of my delivery...ordered 5/6, delivered 5/9, total was $27. They dropped the carton on my front porch, good thing I was sitting in the living room area and saw the truck. Most items were 1 lb. except for a couple of things sold per piece. Eggplant, sweet/vidalia onions, golden beets, fresh basil, green squash, yellow squash, plum tomatoes, pint of grape tomatoes, strawberries, mango, fennel bulb, bag of baby carrots, 4 red bell peppers, 3 pack romaine hearts, 2 bags spinach (I ordered 1, but I guess since the bags are 10oz they packed 2). Some things much better quality/value than supermarket (so much basil!), others on par, the only stinkers were the baby carrots which were old (will cook them tonite) and the mango is hard as a rock and likely will never ripen. All in all, I am happy.

@Kim Shook, Turkey london broil is basically half of a boneless breast. Perdue sells vac packed pre-marinated ones, some supermarkets have plain ones that are injected/light brine, we have a local turkey farm that sells untreated ones. They can dry out if you get the plain ones, so I do my own marinade. Wegmans probably sells them.

First use of the grill this spring. Chicken breasts (cooked a few extra for freezer stock), sweet potatoes, red bell pepper. Chopped salad from a bag.

Placed an order with NE Restaurant Direct, ordered fruit/veg/fresh basil. When I went back in the web site this afternoon they had added stock of 10 lb packs of partially trimmed chicken breasts for $24.90, which is a pretty good deal. But I can't deal with that much chicken myself. Will report on the produce order tomorrow.

Roasted salmon fillet and asparagus, wild rice blend. My prototypical spring dinner.

By chance I saw an article about a supplier in our area, North East Restaurant Direct, which is delivering for free in the immediate area (Mercer County, @JoNorvelleWalker) with a $25 minimum, which is reasonable for our two person household. They have a decent selection of very basic produce, sell in smaller quantities, and the prices are very fair. Looks like they deliver the day after you order. I may give them a shot next week since the stuff at the supermarket hasn't been great.

Last night I was eating wheat crackers scraped directly thru container of spreadable goat cheese. One after another.

Today's grocery shopping adventure...We really didn't need to go shopping today (the only critical shortage was half and half for his coffee), but he gets nervous whenever his friend calls him with shortage reports. He said the only packages of chicken breasts were the "bulk" packs (around 3 lbs). Since it was a small list, not too many screw ups other than ziploc regular gallon size bags instead of the freezer ones (I underlined freezer twice on the list to stress that). He said he thought because it was a zip close it meant it was for the freezer.😣

Snack before a morning walk, matzoh with spreadable goat cheese. Late morning was cherry Greek yogurt with Kashi Peanut Butter crunch cereal mixed in...for a PB&J vibe.

@blue_dolphin, that must be a Farmers Market tomato, sigh.

My first quarentine baking project after receiving yeast this week, bagels! Some whole wheat flour in the mix.

Took advantage of my supermarket visit to pick up a package of shredded rotisserie chicken breast. Had one sad bag of chopped salad mix left from last week, added the chicken and some fresh radishes, called it a day.

mmm, I like marzipan, I always think it is my Austrian ancestors influence...

I did the grocery shopping this week, noon at Shop Rite. Reasonably well stocked, with some predictable holes. Paper goods aisle still bare, although they had a pallet of paper towels and I believe TP in a main aisle (one brand of each). Any sort of "instant" rice is gone. Small boxes of flavored rice mixes were a bit thin. No cherry or grape tomatoes at all. No Mother's Day cards at all (they still had Easter on the display). Cereal a bit thin. Baking aisle...small bags of AP flour, cornmeal, one lonely 00 flour. Fresh meat...good amount of Perdue chicken, zero Tyson. I don't buy other meats so I honestly didn't look. Dairy...big cartons of half and half, no pints. Good amount of yogurt and other dairy. People were generally respectful of distancing and everyone wore a mask of some type. As an aside, I spent literally double what I would have before this all started. It is really apparent how not having any meals outside the home (and more "regular" dinners during the week) impacts the total cost. Freezer is full, I suspect next week will be fresh produce only.

I got the goods...almost 3 weeks after ordering from King Arthur

Husband mumbled something about putting a box from a chocolate place out in the garage (quarantine) yesterday. Didn't really listen because I figured he mis-read the label. Went out this morning and sure enough, a box from a chocolatier! His son and girlfriend sent us a nice little 9-piece sampler from a local chocolate shop where they live. I ate one for breakfast to ensure no damage had occurred in shipment😉

Homemade tomato soup, oven baked falafel from mix (Fantastic Foods, not so), cucumber quick pickles, pita.

Leftover peanut sauced ww spaghetti with veg and tofu. I had some broccoli stems to find some use for, so I peeled and sliced thinly and added to the portion, since there was plenty of sauce. The couple of minutes in the microwave to reheat cooked them perfectly. Clementine for dessert (they have kept just fine for several weeks, I'm pleasantly surprised, although I will be happy when they are gone this week).