a story of stew

-

 You know when you are scrolling down facebook and you see the photos of all those yummy recipes?  If you are in the mood they look good and if you are really hungry or really full they look really aweful.  Isn't that odd?  Lately I was in the mood and shared a bunch of warm, hearty recipes I'm sure many of you saw....one of them was a soup with smoked sausage, potato and sour kraut.  This one appealed to me for several reasons....it was wintery....hearty and warm and full of the things I like when its cold and dark outside.  Sour kraut is something I want to eat more of because it has many health benefits but I'm not super crazy about it, so I was challenged to try it in soup.  I love smoked sausage, a.k.a ring bologna.  My favorite school lunch as a child was ring bologna, tater tots, apple sauce and a chocolate chip cookie....all in seperate sections on the lunch tray.  With chocolate milk in a carton.  yum.  

Tonight I made the sausage potato kraut stew and yes, it was stew not soup because last night I made cheese tortellini tomato soup and I can't make soup two days in a row or my kids will start to buck at me (well, Isaac did and even though he no longer lives here I am very sensitive about my soup schedule).  When it's cold outside and everyone has the sniffles it feels so right to chop onions and boil potatoes and stir steamy things in the afternoon in January.  I was moving along well, following my recipe, and then I decided to add some health benefit to my stew and threw in a bag of frozen kale.  Well.  The kale took over.  I mean....took.  over. Tsunami wave, overwhelming, where did that come from kind of take-over.   It was like.   Hi!  I'm kale in a pot with a few potatoes and some sausage bites hiding under me.....oh nooooooo!  what to do, what to do?  Jeremiah is pretty willing to eat whatever I make.....and Josiah as well if I dim the lights and pour a big glass of milk....and Roger is gone on a work trip but seriously.....this pot needed some help and fast.  

Thankfully, some swiss cheese and some more liquid to thin things down a bit helped, and then topping it with bacon bits and crunchy croutons did indeed finish off the stew factor. (unfortunately the health benefits disappeared rather quickly with all of the stuff I started pouring into the pot but oh well, at this point I was just trying to save dinner).   I served it up to Jeremiah with a disclaimer that it would be "never to be repeated" as a stew recipe and his response was "well then I'm sure it's gonna be really good".  Guess what?  He was right.  Thanks goodness.  

I think I'll wrap this up and go find some tooth floss....I think I have a bit of kale in my teeth.....

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Superbowl musings, Niki-style

-
 Last week I walked dogs in unexpectedly warm late winter afternoons.  I realized that when I don't walk regularly it matters.  This week I wanted to walk again but I am such a wimp and if it is cold or windy or rainy or all of those things put together, I don't want to walk outside.  I spend my work days in and out and in and out and cold and warm and cold and warm.....but today I needed to walk.  It was cold and windy and rainy.   I started my walking app that tells me when to walk slow, speed up, slow down, speed up and eventually cool down.  In my home office space in front of a cooking competition.  I looked ridiculous walking in place, dancing and prancing, moving foward and backward and working up a sweat but I got it done.  I sure did.   I got groceries because we were out of milk and I got food for "superbowl Sunday" which is not that different from any other Sunday evening.  My parents come over and we have snacks and drinks and then we eat together and clea
Read more

Family

-
Image
  These are my people.  My big kids gifted me for Mother's Day with a photo shoot organized and paid for.  It has always been hard for me to schedule family photos so this gift is extra special.  We did the photos late summer/early fall.  Our smiles do not reveal how hot or windy it was that day.  Yet and still we managed to get some really great pictures, thanks to our sweet and competent photographer...Cassie Beth.   Here is the thing.  This photo tells so many stories...so so many stories.  Each of the 9 of us could be a story, a novel on our own.  Then if you pair up any of the 9 with another, there are more stories to tell, and in groups of guys or girls still other stories to tell.  Looking at Roger and I....chapters and chapters of stories...and separate us out each of us is also a story.  Our lives are stories. I have told my kids over and over that their lives matter.  They were created by God to do something in this life that will expand His kingdom, give Him Glory and ma
Read more

mid-summer check in on being Aware

-
 I remembered today that I had been doing a monthly reflection since January.  I missed June...and apparently July.  Here we are on the second day of August and I find myself aware of it...aware of how June flew by and July slipped by and now I'm settling into August....aware.  June was a full month of ball games and volleyball competition and vacation.  It was also the last month of my fiscal year of my work as a public health nurse and that means there are lots of reports due and documentation needed to make sure we get funded again.  June was a lot and it was awesome...and hot....and busy.   July slowed down a bit with more nights at home, more lazy pool afternoons and a break from the heat.  We caught fireflies and we cooked more meals at home.  We decided to tackle a huge project long overdue and tore out carpetting in our main living area.  This carpet has been there for over 40 years.  It was gross and disgusting....suffice it to say that I am very, very aware of how unsettl
Read more