THE ROAD TAKEN : Covid Cafe Presents: Pandemic Potluck

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Covid Cafe's sideboard is groaning under the weight of all your contributions so we're moving the party out to the street, where we can do some serious distancing and also...

Dance break!

It's an invitation across the nation

a chance for folks to meet

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Please set your dish on the long table, grab a plate, and we'll dance through the line together. Look at all this beautiful food...

Sister Holly (not a nun, my actual sister) from Grayslake brought stuffed peppers. Woo!

Here's the recipe...

Kathy from Seattle is ladling out lasagna soup, from a recipe her sister-in-law sent from Quincy, Illinois. Oh my goodness does that smell good. It has broken lasagna noodles in the mix.

1 pound organic ground chuck

1 onion chopped

1 green pepper (I used a red one) chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp thyme

1 Tbs firmly packed brown sugar

32-ounces chicken broth

2 (14.5 oz cans) Italian style diced tomatoes

1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce

1 tsp Italian seasoning

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups broken lasagna noodles

1 (5 oz) pkg Parmesan cheese

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

In a large Dutch oven, combine ground chuck, onion, bell pepper and garlic. Cook over medium high heat for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until beef is browned and crumbles. Drain well.

Stir in thyme, brown sugar, broth, diced tomatoes with juice, tomato sauce, Italian seasoning and salt. Bring to a boil over medium high heat; reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes. Add noodles and simmer until noodles are tender. Stir in Parmesan cheese. In bowls, top with mozzarella cheese.

Ta-da!

Nancy from Chicago's stir-fried shrimp. She sautes red and green pepper with sliced carrots, adds sesame seed oil and some chicken bouillon, and then adds the rice, whole kernel corn, peas, and scallions. Finally, the shrimp, with salt and pepper. Nancy is serving this right out of the fry pan so please save some room on your plate.

I've brought curried vegetables with a big scoop of peanut butter stirred in.

Also spare ribs straight from the oven. With Lillie's Q sauces...

Make mine Carolina Gold

Maybe we should have a pandemic potluck every week? Keep those pictures coming!

Phyllis is slicing her honey/garlic/dijon pork roast, which she says should have been surrounded by a bed of glazed veggies, but she didn't have any. Needs must, Phyllita.