The Quarantine Cookbook

I appreciate the timeliness of this cookbook, which was put together by the author during a time of crisis, and uncertainty. Beth Carter informed her Facebook followers that she was putting the book together, and was quite confident that it would be completed. I was grateful that it is not only available in electronic form, but it was soon made available in paperback form, to the delight of Ms. Carter's readers. She had been working on completing a romantic comedy novel, but took a break from that project and informed her social media followers that she would be working on a side project, early on in the pandemic. I ordered several copies, some to be given away as gifts, all which arrived on my front porch, a few days ago. It was such a joy to receive her gift of a simple, tasteful, and elegant, cookbook. Her archival tome was being created, all while the modern history it reflects and documents was taking place. It's a well-organized offering of not only simple recipes, but the gift of her humor and inspiration, as well, with her delightful six-word memoirs and a list of potential quarantine activities. She included all of this as her form of a gift, to joyfully occupy her readership. It was remarkable to me how she, herself, had her finger upon the pulse of what her readership was seeking, during a really rough time, in our country, when even our government's response to COVID-19 was seemingly quite haphazard and disjointed. As it turns out, leadership before and during the COVID-19 crisis has been clearly lacking. Many have carried on in spite of a lack of leadership. As such, Ms. Carter managed to conceive of her own personal contribution that she could make to the cause, in a time when so many have been suffering from feelings of depression, loneliness, hopelessness, helplessness, malaise, and despair. We have been made keenly aware of the country's unpreparedness for the crisis, under this administration, and also are made aware that domestic violence has been on the rise, as families are sheltering in place. The victims include too many abused children, and other weaker family members, who are in the plight of being confined with their abusers, during such stressful times. That reality of people's challenges with domestic violence is enough of a societal blight to reconcile, aside from the misery and despair created by the reality of mass death, all thoughout the pandemic. It is quite trying, and even can become overwhelming, as we have been inundated with press coverage of the pandemic response, confronted with the reality of the inadequacies of our government, and the proof of the federal government's unpreparedness and lack of coordination, between agencies. The press reports of the crisis have been punctuated with photographs of refrigerated trucks and bodies in orange or red body bags of people's loved ones, being rolled on gurneys, and heaped into cold storage, in semi trucks, behind hospitals. Ms. Carter summoned up her strength and courage to give a sense of direction to her followers, in terms of understanding there was a need for action, for being proactive, which was our best hope. Her action was like that of the many women, who began sewing masks, as a response of their own to the COVID-19 crisis. This was the contribution of many women, instead of just remaining helpless, when the government was somehow unable, or unwilling, to provide adequate PPE to healthcare workers, exacerbating the crisis to levels that never should have happened. At any rate, many answered the call to help ourselves, and others, in a time with a lack of decisive leadership. Conversely, in the spirit of fortitude and action, Ms. Carter grasped her opportunity to complete a project that would be helpful, to others, in terms of what was most occupying people's time and energy and concern all throughout the pandemic: food, and its procurement and preparation. Our citizenry's efforts to stay healthy, and as happy as we could, centered on food, found and bought in grocery stores, and convenience stores, delivered to us by so many essential workers, and as was also provided to us by restaurants. Our meals, together with our loved ones, while sheltering in place have been what has held survivors together, all the while so many have been dying. In the midst of it all, our feelings of fear and sadness, and the murkiness of such an unexpected, profound, and sudden deep sense of loss, could only be allayed by food and companionship, as we try to grieve for the many nameless, faceless thousands of lost citizens. The pandemic has especially hit our African-American citizens much too hard, in terms of numbers of our brothers and sisters we have lost. Our best hope in these hard times has been tied to the procurement and preparation of food, and to the eating of food, and exercising off so many calories consumed, sometimes with family, or even friends, while social distancing and wearing our masks. Thankfully, exercise can also be done while procuring food, toilet paper and hand sanitizer. For me, Beth's energy and enthusiasm was exciting to observe, for her to be able to publish a book in such short order, in a time when many people still are struggling to keep track of the day of the week, in the midst of all of the confusion and chaos. I am grateful for her book, "The Quarantine Cookbook."

Wow! What a perfect Christmas gift and at the same time, a COVID souvenir to pass down to kids, grandkids.I suspect you’ve either read the book or seen the movie, Julie and Julia, where Julie blogs about her determination to cook all 500-plus recipes in the Julia Childs French cookbook. During this time of COVID isolation, I set about to try at least 100 of the 200-plus recipes award-winning author Beth Carter shares in The Quarantine Cookbook. Although the author’s pantry is better stocked than mine, I substituted or bypass some of the ingredients without a problem.Most of the recipes are as she says, quick and easy. Some take more effort than others, but none are hard or intense.I loved that some of the cooking methods made a smooth transition to the pressure cooker option on my multicooker. All recipes were husband tested and approved, by the way.Some of the recipes I tried were: Cranberry Pumpkin Bread, MexicanCornbread, Pineapple Cole Slaw, Taco Salad, Trees ‘n Raisin Salad, Beanie- Beanie Casserole (this one I had my doubts about, but it was surprisingly delicious.) Brussel Sprouts with Cranberries, Parmesan Potatoes, Sesame Broccoli Spears (I also used fresh green beans), Black Bean Soup, Southwestern Bean Soup, Bacon Asparagus Quiche, Barbecue Ribs, Black Bean Pie, Cashew Chicken Casserole, Creamy Herbed Chicken, Crispy Almost-fried Chicken, Crock Pot Pork Chops, Crunchy Onion Chicken, French Dip Sandwiches, Frito Chili Casserole, Garlicky Chicken, Gourmet Hot Dogs (a favorite), Hamburger Biscuit Casserole, Kraut and Chops, Parmesan Chicken, Rosemary Pork Chops, Secret Ingredient Roast, Taco Lasagna, Bean and Cheese Quesadilla, and Quarantine Balls.I already had several of the recipes, so I didn’t try Beth’s. We don’t eat much sugar. So I haven't tried the desserts, but I will. I'm looking at several more to try this winter.The cool thing about this book that makes it unique, it includes quarantine activities and there are also six-word memoirs on quarantine life by the author.All of those things are amazing, but the biggest deal is, during the pandemic crisis, all proceeds from this book will go to Tunnels2Towers.org,which is providing housing for fallen COVID-19 healthcare workers and first responders with young children.What can you lose? You get a great recipe and activity book, contribute to a wonderful cause, and extra copies are great Christmas gifts at a low price.Enjoy!

The recipes seem simple but creative, so I give it points for being something that would be very useful during quarantine. It’s fine that there aren’t pictures, but I do find it a little off putting that some of the pages are half (or more) blank. I would rather have multiple recipes per page than all of the blank spaces.

What a great surprise from one of my favorite romance authors! The Quarantine Cookbook is just perfect. There are a LOT of simple, tasty recipes that I can't wait to make and the bonus is all proceeds go to a charitable cause. There are so many great recipes I want to try. Tonight I made the Sausage Balls! She makes me smile with her clever quotes and quarantine activities all in a cookbook! The cookbook makes me happy! I downloaded the digital version so I could make my shopping list now. Ordering print books for me, and for gifts!

Love the idea and the amazing execution of getting a cookbook out for our crazy 2020. Beautiful pictures and very easy to follow recipes. Well done!

This is a fun recipe book I got my mom for Mother's day. I didn't get to see it but she thought it was a very cute idea and said it had some tasty-looking recipes with simple ingredients.

Most of the recipes were ones I have seen for years. Big disappointment.