Just went onto Facebook (please don't tell me to avoid it, I know all the arguments) and was asked to participate in this survey. Questions about any symptoms I might be experiencing, exposure to others, activity outside of the house, and of course, age, sex, and location. Interesting.

First a PSA





ETA: Weird Al staying at home

Posted on the Embroiderer's Guild of America website:




https://time.com/5827733/new-york-state-coronavirus-deaths/

After reading a thread in GD about a meatless May, I thought this would be a good one to post. As a senior who has trouble keeping her protein levels up and with no time to research a vegan diet, I will try to stretch the proteins I have as far as possible.

Looking at what I had in the freezer, fridge, and pantry today I decided to make a (bastard) fisherman's pie. What I had on hand:
large salmon fillet
8 ounces of cottage cheese
4 ounces parmesan cheese
eggs (I used 2)
10 ounce steam in bag carrots
1/4 cup chopped onions
1 small shallot
1 clove garlic
dry dill leaves
1 pack of Idahoan instant mashed potatoes (see https://www.democraticunderground.com/115791373 for a laugh)
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

I sauteed the onion, shallot, and garlic with spray oil, removed them from the pan and sauteed the salmon on the skin side, flipped it, turned off the heat to finish steaming it. Mixed the eggs, cottage cheese, parmesan, onion mixture, and eggs with my immersion blender. Cooked the carrots in the steam in bag, used about 2/3 of the bag, chopped slightly. Broke up the salmon (with skin), sprinkled some dill over (maybe 1/2 tsp) and mixed it with the cottage cheese and carrots, put into a casserole dish. Then mixed the potatoes according to package directions, let sit for a few minutes, stirred in the cheddar cheese. Spread the potatoes over the top, sealing edges, raked the top with a fork to make a texture. Baked for 30 mins at 350 F in convection oven, turned off oven and let sit for ten minutes and it was ready to serve.

It's probably about 6 servings and turned out delicious. Since I seldom cook with salt in a dish, it needed a little salt on top, but was otherwise great! So one large serving of salmon with leftovers plus odds and ends made three meals for my husband and me - along with a salad.

Digging through my pantry I found a pack of Betty Crocker Roasted Garlic instant Mashed Potatoes. Since I seldom use them and never buy them - my husband picks them up sometimes - they are long expired. The date on box (it was a two pack and I must have used one in the distant past) is 21Sep2010.

I need some mashed potatoes to make a fisherman's pie and while I have two other (also expired, but only last year) packs, this is the oldest. Sooooooo, what are the chance they are still good? The pack is still well sealed, no tears or breaks, the contents still feel flaky.

The contents are potatoes, salt, sugar, garlic, and a nice assortment of chemical names. What could go bad? What should I watch for? Should I even take a chance?

I started with the recipe in this video:



3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp yeast
14 ounces cool water

But adapted it for my longer bread pans. I did a volume estimation for the 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf pans versus 9" x 5" versus my 11 1/2" x 5" pans. 9" x 5" are 20% bigger than the ones used in the video; 11 1/2" x 5" are 50% larger. Since I wanted to make a whole wheat version, I increased the recipe by 50% and got this for my recipe:

3 1/2 cups bread flour
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
3 tsp salt
3/4 tsp yeast
21 ounces (2 2/3 cups) cool water

The first I made the bread, I thought the dough was too dry and added more water - which was a mistake. The dough was too wet and the bread came out very dense but with a nice chewiness and very good structure, but so damp it won't toast at all. So I am trying again today. I used only the amount of water I'd computed and the dough is about the texture of that in the video.

Unfortunately, three and a half hours after I began the first rise, it has nearly doubled. I'd planned to bake the bread in the morning but I'm afraid that it will overflow the bowl by then!

I suppose it would be OK to punch it down before I go to bed tonight and let it rise again overnight if it looks too big at bedtime?