10 Recipes To Try This Week |3/29/20

Turning lemons into lemonade is basically where we’re at right about now. Agreed? I mean, what other option do we have?

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But I’d like to argue there’s two ways of thinking about this, and one is not as saccharine as it seems.

The first is the natural, look-on-the-bright-side, count-your-blessings mentality that is always the best course of action, but let’s face it, not always the easiest.

The second is a grittier approach. One I was reminded of yesterday when Governor Cuomo said, “Let’s kick Coronavirus’s ass!” It’s a different way of looking at the lemonade-out-of-lemons theory. I’m sure you’ve run across this saying before, but if not, it goes like this:

When life gives you lemons, eat them whole. Seriously. Just choke them all down…skin, pulp, seeds, and all and don’t break eye contact. Maybe life will stop being such an a-hole if you show it you’re done messing around.

I’m looking at this beautiful brown paper sack of Meyer lemons my neighbor dropped on my doorstep this morning and thinking we (and I mean we in the grandest sense of the word) are not going to let Coronavirus win.

Just look at us! A plane full of nurses and doctors flew to New York this past week to lend a much-needed hand, the oldest restaurant in San Francisco refused to lay off a single employee, and a first-grader used his savings from his last two birthdays to buy food for his elderly neighbors.

We are coming together in ways we haven’t in a really long time. Take that COVID-19!

In less significant, but maybe more relatable terms. Armando and I crushed homeschooling this week. And by crushed I mean, we did it. Our kids learned stuff they didn’t know before and I taught them things, even if I didn’t know them before either. I didn’t get frustrated or give up even when I spent a solid 15 minutes explaining dependent and independent variables to Louisa only to find out what I had just told her was wrong! Lord help me.

We are also cooking the crap out of our pantries! You guys continue to send me the list of ingredients in your kitchens and I hope I’ve sent helpful recipe suggestions.

Louisa wanted chocolate ice cream today and we improvised by adding 1/4 cup of cocoa powder to our favorite No-Churn Cream Cheese Ice Cream even though we only had 6 ounces of cream cheese and some previously whipped cream that certainly wasn’t anywhere near the 2 cups called for, but still. Delicious.

Below you’ll find 10 recipes that will provide some well-needed inspiration for all meals—seeing as we’re eating every meal at home these days. If you try any of them, don’t forget to tag @holajalapeno and #holajalapeno on Instagram so I can see.

We take our victories when they come. Keep your heads held high and your lemons eaten whole.