NOMADICISTA

It's 2PM and I thought I would invent another crockpot meal for tonight.
My friends on the Ghetto Pot Roast thread really got me inspired to cook. I will tell you that it is quite fun. By using the crockpot, I can just put all the ingredients in and let it do it's stuff. It's very easy. I will give a report with photos later today. So, today's recipe is this:

1 quart beef broth

3 carrots

6 cloves garlic (squeezed through a garlic press)

1/2 onion (chopped finely)

3 stalks celery (diced)

1 can diced tomatoes---or 1 small can sliced beets

1lb kielbasa (cut into slices)

1 cup brown rice

1 tbsp rosemary leaves (a 4 inch sprig)

1 tbsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp curry powder

2 small sage leaves (finely cut)


I still have the scent of the spices on my fingers. What Fun!

My Lotsa Kielbasa soup has been cooking on the crockpot for 4 hours now. It is smelling great in the bus. I just put the crockpot on low. I will have a giant bowl of this soup in an hour. I have been sampling it every hour to see when the rice was done. Once again, I gotta say Yummy Yummy. I really think that the can of diced tomatoes helped in this soup.I mentioned in the recipe that I used three carrots. I actually used enough baby carrots to equal three regular carrots. I know that all of my crockpot dishes, so far, have been soup based. I just love soup. As you may have seen, I have the new device, pictured in the lentil soup post. I will attempt to use it with the boneless beef eye round steaks that I have in the freezer. I bet that will make a pretty picture. I am also excited about trying Dennis's meatloaf recipe on the Ghetto Pot roast thread. I have the hamburger and bacon in the freezer. So, here is the photo of the Lotsa Kielbasa soup.

I had a giant bowl full of the Lotsa Kielbasa soup. I am extremely delighted with it. It had only a tinge of spiciness. I have to confess that the Chorizo dish was way too spicy. When, on the next morning, I had it for breakfast, I had a sore stomach the whole day. I am not going to use that Chorizo hot sausage again. Second of all, what was I thinking to put curry and other hot spices in that stuff, to begin with. Well, it ended up with a thumbs down review. I dumped it in the woods. I sure hope I am not killing off wild animals with my failed experiments. That Chorizo meal tasted great the first night I ate it, But I wondered why I did not feel so well the next morning. After having it for breakfast, I quickly realized that the Chorizo hot sausage was the culprit. In this current Kielbasa meal, I intentionally curtailed my hot spices. I did know that Kielbasa was not a spicy meat. I think that I will be able to finish this whole pot. Keep in mind that cooking is a new art for me. I am averaging about a 65% success rate. It will get better. So if you are looking at my recipes, be sure to read my reports on their success. So far, both the lentil soups and the kielbasa soup are winners. More to come after I finish my latest dish. Signed Rudy The New Guy In The Kitchen.

Rudy, I’m intimidated buddy. That looks really good.

It is one week later, and I am making the Lotsa Kielbasa soup again. This time I followed a recipe. What recipe is that? It is my recipe from last week. It turned out so good that I thought I did not need to experiment with this one. I must say, though, I did not have a can of diced tomatoes. I used a small can of beets instead. Hey, They're both red!! It is 9PM here, so I won't get to eat it until tomorrow morning. I finished off Dennis's chili tonight, so I am stuffed. I expect this soup to look like the last one, so a photo may not be necessary.

TWO THUMBS UP!!! It is seven in the morning. I just finished a giant bowl of the Lotsa Kielbasa soup. I started making the soup last night. I put the crockpot on high for an hour. I then put it on low for 7 hours. I got up at five this morning and turned the crockpot off. I also added 1/2 quart of water because the rice had almost soaked the juices up. I knew that by seven o clock, it would be ready for eating. It is awesome. I think I will always use the can of sliced beets instead of the can of diced tomatoes. The beets give a wonderful texture to the mix and flavor the soup greatly. They lost a lot of their red color. They actually became grey in color. They remained firm and very tasty. The soup (stew) looks like the last batch I made, so I did not take a photo. I would be proud to serve this to anyone who was to come visit me. It is not spicy. It is full of goodness.

It is day two that I am totally enjoying this batch. I think that the beets are the ace in the hole. I will always use them again, instead of the diced tomatoes. I will be sorry to see this batch get finished. I like it so much that it may very well replace my lentil soup as a daily dish. An added benefit is that I am not farting all day long. That can be embarrassing when in the company of other human beings. I just finished a bowl of the Kielbasa stew. What is really cool is that the beets absorbed the flavors of the juices and spices more that anything else in the soup, yet they retained their texture. Can I give it three thumbs up?

I got an extra thumb for yah.

Hey kids, This is a big time food weekend so how about some other folks postin up some of the things there makin. Come on it’s always good to get some new ideas.

Amen Brother. Lets hear from some other people who know about cooking. By the way, Dennis, Your apple pie looks too good to be true.

So it's you and I who are keeping the food forum thread afloat, and it's dburt and I who are keeping the A Funny Thing Happened forum thread alive. I think that it is only appropriate that you, Dennis, give us a funny story on that thread, and that dburt give us a recipe on this forum. SO THERE!!!

Rudy,
Ok here it is, the copycat creation. First the tools. A plastic chopping surface, easy to clean but dulls blades way faster than wood. Also a custom made knife.

I went shopping at local store that has a lot of Russian food (because they had the best sale on beer) they had two kinds of kielbasa so I used some of both, they call it Kielbassy. I also used fresh beets. I doubled all the ingredients because I have a big CROCK and don't want to waste electricity. This recipe is a good one, it tasted great. I have all week to figure out what to cook next.
Chuck


Next, a few veggies.

8 hours later on low. Yummy!

Feast your eyes on this closeup.

Chuck, Dennis has created a monster! I know he will be happy to see that he has inspired us. The soup looks GREAT!

oh man you guys are nuts

but i have to say that sure looks good

Okay guys, I'm takin pics of the hamburger soup.

Ingredients first

1Lb lean burger-

1/2 an onion cut thin

6-8 cloves of garlic chopped fine

1 can diced tomatoes, 1 good big tbsp of dried basil or oregano, 1 or 2 tbsp chili powder, 1 cup barley , 1 carrot, shredded, 1 stalk of broccoli cut small,
and 3 quarts beef broth.

I know that sounds like a lot of broth, but the barley will soak up at least 6 cups of liquid if it's good barley.

Rudy, look for pics tomorrow night, Dennis, try the recipe and fine tune it for me please.

Lois
PS-why so happy?, keeping busy!