Uninspired

As you might tell from the dearth of posts, I've been uninspired. I made a beef stew in the slow cooker the other day and it was just gloppy -- too much flour, not enough juice. It had a hearty beefy and red wine flavor, and the meat was tender and the carrots and potatoes were creamy, but it was gluey. I just couldn't get past that. I overestimated the amount of moisture that would be self-made in the slow cooker. Note for next time.

January is comfort food month, at least to me, hence the beef stew. I also did something I call "train wreck," which is browned ground meat (of your choosing, but drained of course), a chopped onion, can of chopped tomatoes (or fresh if you have them in the summer), can of low sodium broth (your choosing of veg, beef, chicken; or use a can or bottle of beer, the hoppier the better in my opinion), chipotle or ancho chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper, touch of good quality cinnamon. Sounds kinda like chili, right? Let the flavors meld, then add some uncooked maccaroni and let it cook in the broth til the noodles are done and most of your liquid is absorbed. Take it off the heat and add shredded cheese, stirring until melted and melded -- cheddar is good, so is mozz, but if your mixture is spicy, mozz tends to get lost. Serve with a drop of reduced fat sour cream or plain yogurt to smooth out the spice if you like.

You could pretty easily I think do a Greek version of train wreck and call it pastichio. Instead of cumin and chili powder, use oregano and um ... oregano (?). Instead of letting the pasta absorb all the liquid, put the mixture into a sprayed baking dish and bake it til slightly crusty on top and the moisture is absorbed. Hm, cheese for this: Try Kasseri or Feta or Halloumi (known in our family as "squeeky cheese" for the sound it makes when you chew it)! I haven't tried this yet so if you do, let me know how it goes!

That's about all I've cooked since the year started and honestly I haven't been much in the mood to drink anything except water. Maybe my body is telling me something: After all the richness of December, January shouldn't be comfort food month.