Wednesday, June 05, 2019

What's Cookin'?

This week I have been doing some secret sewing that I can't show yet.  So, I thought I would share with you another part of my life. 

Saturday I cooked some pork in a nice sauce in my Instant Pot.  I love cooking meat in a pressure cooker.  It is always so tender and delicious.   Before you ask for the recipe for that, I will tell you that I made it up as I went like I frequently do when cooking. I do improv cooking as well as I do improv quilting.
Improv Quilting
There are a few ingredients that I remember:  diced tomatoes, tomato paste, a cup of liquid whey, Mexican Oregano, a quarter cup of sugar, ground cloves, smoked paprika and a diced onion. 
The sauce on this was excellent and there was a lot leftover. 


So today I am using that leftover sauce as the base for a soup/stew that I am making in the crockpot. After adding the rich red sauce to the pot, I put in cabbage (a whole cabbage, cut into bite sized pieces) along with a can of diced tomatoes, a can of garbanzo beans (drained and rinsed)  and some frozen meatballs that needed using.  I did precook the meatballs in the microwave and then chop them.  I also had a couple of nice fresh broccoli crowns so I cut the stems off and trimmed them.  Then I sliced and diced those stems to add to the stew. I also added some baby cut carrots and a small bit of frozen cauliflower that was in my freezer. The heads of the broccoli were not added.  I will have those for another use. (Possibly some of them will be steamed for lunch today.) 

It needed more liquid so I added a half pint of liquid whey which was leftover from making a simple farm cheese.  Also added was a partial container of low sodium beef broth. 

Here are a couple of pictures of the concoction right after I put it all into the crockpot and stirred it down a bit.

I can see that I "slopped" some of the liquid on the rim of the pot.
This is started on High, but once the cabbage cooks down a bit I will move the setting to low for continued cooking. Right now, it smells delicious.

The bonus of making this is that several containers have been removed from the refrigerator and freezer, making a bit of space available.  Of course, once this is fully cooked some of it will be refrigerated for use over the next few days.  The rest will be frozen for use later.

How creative do you get with cooking? Do you use the broccoli stems or do they end up in the compost or trash?  They are edible and quite good to use to extend a soup or stew.  You can even cut them in matchstick size and use them in a salad or slaw.

Until Next Time,  
Stay Creative 


Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

6 comments:

Barb said...

I am more of a baker, especially when I am bored....so today I am trying really really hard not to bake. I bake, I eat.... I love to make a big batch to store in the freezer. When it is just myself and my husband those big batches go a long way and I don't have to cook...lazy me.

A Left-Handed Quilter said...

That looks YUMMY!! I'd rather sew than cook - so when I DO cook, it's usually an old "favorite" or a little improv to use up stuff that I have on hand. Then I tend to make a big batch and freeze dinner-size portions for the days when I don't want to cook at all. I figure it takes just as long to bake one chicken breast as it does to bake 6 of them - so I bake 6 and have lots of cooked chicken to freeze for later - LOL - ;))

Barbara said...

Creative cooking? What is that? Haha we are in such a food rut! If there are leftovers, I don’t get creative with them. I simply line them up as they are and call it a “smorgasbord night”. After raising a family of 4 kids over 55 years, I’d be happy to never cook again! Lol!

Jocelyn is Canadian Needle Nana said...

Ah, Gene Black who dances, sings, acts, quilts and now I see is continually creative in the kitchen as well. Wish you could come and live with me, LOL. Oh well, visiting your blog will have to do. Stay creative and don't melt!

Kathleen said...

Why the liquid whey? I have no heard of it and wouldn’t think of using it. I do love cooking that way; and need to go back to some cleaner eating. Fun recipes!

Susan said...

I actually like to eat the broccoli stems, maybe more than the florets. =) This looks like an amazing soup mix.