Cooking for insanely busy people
Every morning I walk Small Boy to school and do a few errands before I start work at 8:50 AM. Today I went to two banks and the town hall, for example. I also ran into my friend the Blind Lawyer whose seeing eye dog was off-leash and Ela got a nice romp with her buddy. Sometimes, I swear, Ela is better behaved than the Working Dog. Her disposition is just so calm and anxious to please me.
Back at home I went past the freezer and remembered to stop and grab something out of it for dinner. I also grabbed some frozen chili to have for lunch, while I was there. My intention for dinner was to grab whatever Hunk-o-meat was nearest the top and figure out a way to get it cooked later. I brought a roast upstairs and stuck it in the microwave to thaw.
At lunch-time I had a small break and ran to heat up the chili and discovered a thawed leg of lamb in the microwave. Right next to the microwave was a crockpot. Hmmm. It gave me an idea. I put the hunk-o-meat in the crockpot and turned it on. It looked lonely in there all by itself. I grabbed a mason jar of broth I had canned this fall. Nope, not enough. It needed more. I grabbed a jar of mint jelly and plopped a few big spoonfuls in. Closer. Then I grabbed some dried rosemary and put it on top. Yep, now it was right.
Six hours later I came back to find that it had fallen apart a bit in the broth. I added a bag of green beans we froze from our garden. Eldest Son cooked some rice.
Total prep time: approximately 3 minutes over 10 hours, including time spent fetching things from the freezer. Being a localvore isn't hard anymore.
Also: it was good. I've never braised a lamb roast like that before. It worked.
Back at home I went past the freezer and remembered to stop and grab something out of it for dinner. I also grabbed some frozen chili to have for lunch, while I was there. My intention for dinner was to grab whatever Hunk-o-meat was nearest the top and figure out a way to get it cooked later. I brought a roast upstairs and stuck it in the microwave to thaw.
At lunch-time I had a small break and ran to heat up the chili and discovered a thawed leg of lamb in the microwave. Right next to the microwave was a crockpot. Hmmm. It gave me an idea. I put the hunk-o-meat in the crockpot and turned it on. It looked lonely in there all by itself. I grabbed a mason jar of broth I had canned this fall. Nope, not enough. It needed more. I grabbed a jar of mint jelly and plopped a few big spoonfuls in. Closer. Then I grabbed some dried rosemary and put it on top. Yep, now it was right.
Six hours later I came back to find that it had fallen apart a bit in the broth. I added a bag of green beans we froze from our garden. Eldest Son cooked some rice.
Total prep time: approximately 3 minutes over 10 hours, including time spent fetching things from the freezer. Being a localvore isn't hard anymore.
Also: it was good. I've never braised a lamb roast like that before. It worked.