BITS AND PIECES

For someone who is about to tell you that not much is going on around here … I have sure been busy. I haven’t left the house for four days, we have been eating one of our favorite linners, “Roast Stoup” for three days and there is still enough left to freeze for another meal. My mother made what she called “hash” with left over pot roast and vegetables. She always made an extra amount of her delicious gravy for the binder and it was like a Shepherd’s Pie without the mashed potatoes on top. It was very good but when I became an adult, I developed a meal with the roast leftovers that greatly expanded the potential and is no doubt a bit healthier. The roast beef is trimmed of all fat and along with the potato, carrot and onion chunks (and any other veggies you cook with your roast) are chopped into good-size pieces then put into the crock pot.

Then the fun part begins. We add canned or fresh mushrooms, canned corn, cut green beans, green peas and diced tomatoes. If you don’t like canned—use frozen (I suppose you could even use fresh if it was cut into small pieces but I have not done that) then add 2 or 3 cans of beef broth (salted or unsalted) to fill up the pot. Don’t be too quick to add salt or other seasonings because after cooking all day, the flavors will blend and you will discover it doesn’t need much. The vegetables you add are completely up to you, there are dozens of choices on the grocer’s shelves but the point is to make a pot full and let it simmer all day. You want plenty leftover as it just gets better by the day and freezes beautifully. We add a French or sourdough bread of some kind and voila’ we have dinner … dinner … and more dinner! Approximate cost for us is about $2.15 per person per day for five days. How is that for lowering your food cost?

My holiday newsletter is finished, gift shopping is done and we will take the snail mail cards to the post office tomorrow. Then next week, I can get busy with what I call my “real work.” We have carried four large plastic tubs full of genealogy research and pictures along with us in the back of The Lone Ranger that are the last of my five file cabinets full of 40 years of family history work. Once scanned, (and backed up of course) the copies can be destroyed, the originals can be stored for posterity and the pictures can be put on a CD or DVD to share with family as requested. It has been a huge job but I hope it will be a big part of my legacy in the final assessment of my life when I’m gone.

Until next time ...


Words of wisdom: We could certainly slow the aging process down if it had to work its way through Congress. -- Will Rogers