Leftovers

I guess that I am cooking like I still had a family at home. I haven’t been able to cut down the recipes of “toss into a pot until it tastes good.” I will start out with something simple and decide it needs noodles or rice. Or I might toss in some carrots, onions, celery or potatoes as my desire to create expands. Crock pot cooking is my choice of weapon, although I can wield a frying pan with dexterity and ease.

When my family was at home, I worked 3-11 shift and my wife Cindy taught school and my kids were in school during the day. I would make my own lunch and they would be forced to eat leftovers for supper. Many times I would empty out the vegetable drawer in the refrigerator, toss in some kind of meat, even if it was lunch meat. Adding oriental seasonings and soy sauce, I’d stir fry it, then serve it over rice. I told my kids that the dish was called Daddy’s revenge. My one daughter Anna would request it on occasion while my son Andrew said, “Dad, don’t make it any more.”

Cindy’s favorite soup was potato soup. I would occasionally make some for her. I liked a smoky flavor and would toss in ham hocks, a piece of ham, or even some bacon. I decided to make it. One day after dumping the ingredients into a pot, I couldn’t find any smoked meat. I searched the freezer and refrigerator…nothing. As I mentioned before the lunch meat drawer wasn’t out of bounds for my culinary talent and did a last ditch search inside. Aha, there were 5 pieces of hard salami waiting for me to claim them. I Julienned them and added them to the already bubbling mélange. Voila…Cindy said it was the best potato soup she tasted. The spices in the salami were great flavoring.

I also like to cook things that are easy or that I can use only one pot. No one else is going to do the dishes for me. A cookie recipe I like to use when I force myself to bake yields two kinds of cookies. I mix the batter for a double batch of tollhouse cookies, but only use chocolate bits and walnuts in one half. In the other half I use butterscotch bits and pecans, two completely different flavors. If I choose not to scoop the dough to make individual cookies, I will spread the batter into baking pans to make bars.

It’s nothing that Julia Childs or Bobby Flay would be proud of, but they don’t have to eat it if they don’t want to.