My stew adventure and my new broth strategy!

[Guest guest]

HI, All!

 

Early this week I made something that is quite nifty (at least, I think so!)

 

My DH and I had made a trip across the state to meet his parents for lunch

in Champaign, IL., and then, after the folks left to go back home, DH and I

meandered around town, stopping at a few places we liked.

 

At a favorite health food store, I bought a large bag from the bulk bins

that contained dehydrated mixed vegetables-- " Soup Veggies " was the label on the

bin. I love that kind of stuff! At home, I filled TWO of my empty pantry

storage jars with those dried veggies. I also bought some large beans called

" Christmas Lima Beans " --they're really pretty " butter-bean " -sized dry limas with

deep purple-maroon streaks on them.

 

The next day, I had a stew in mind. I cooked some of the Christmas Lima

beans, saved the broth and had chunky-cut carrots, potatoes, lots of onion,

coarsely chopped green cabbage and sliced celery to add to it. I also had a

large amount of thin-sliced (and slightly-chopped) onion that I browned or

sauteed in oil, added seasoned-salt to and a few herbs and, last of all, a tiny

amount of water--this makes a kind of gravy-flavor to add to the bean-stew.

 

Before I stirred the veggies and beans into the sauteed, seasoned onions, I

also stirred in a couple tablespoons of something else I had made...

 

(Sorry, I have to back-track!)

 

I took some of the dehydrated soup veggies and ground them to a fine powder

in a small coffee grinder that I keep for this use. I had also a box of

(purchased) " gren vegetable broth powder " that I didn't really like (kind of

bitter) that I mixed in with the ground up soup veggies--blended about equal

parts. I added in some Mrs. Dash (also ground up)for a peppery taste...added

some (this sounds odd, but it worked, don't ask me why)--about a tablespoon, not

much more--of dry-roasted, but unsalted peanuts--to grind and blend in with the

powdered veggies. I added, lastly, about 2 or 3 tbsp. of steel-cut oats, to

grind to a flour and stir into the mixture as well.

 

I can't remember if there was anything else, but you can get the idea.

It ended up being quite a LOT--probably about 2 1/2 to 3 cups of powdered dried

vegetables, the " green veggie broth powder " and the Mrs. Dash, the

ground peanuts and ground oats.

 

This is (for me, anyway) a REALLY handy batch of stuff! (Now, back to the

stew I was making!)

 

I stirred in 2 or 3 tablespoons of this powdered vegetables mixture into the

" gravy " from the sauteed onions. I added water just as needed to thin it then

let it cook--the small amount of oat flour thickened it nicely. At last, I put

the beans, vegetables and bean-broth together with the onions and " veggie-mix

broth " . It went all together into a large, covered Dutch oven pan and was popped

into the oven to finish cooking so all the flavors would blend nicely.

 

VOILA! When it came time to eat a little later, I had this wonderful

vegetable stew that LOOKED really great--carrots, a few potato chunks (Yukon

golds), celery slices, green cabbage chunks, chopped onions and the Christmas

beans, with their nice maroon-ish color. Those beans were

a great contrast of color to the other vegetables! And the " stew gravy " that

surrounded the veggies was superb!!!

 

My husband, who cannot bring himself to " like " or even try Lima beans gave me

a grudging, " Well, I'll try these beans... " --and he LOVED the stew!!! He went

back for a large SECOND helping, in fact. (His only concern, when he looked into

the Dutch oven the first time, was that he thought the large beans might be

" mushrooms " --I assurred him that (unfortunately, in my opinion), there were no

mushrooms in THIS stew.

 

I often have been skeptical, at some point, of a complete reliance for flavor

on some so-called " vegetarian " broth-starters. Not enough " OOMPH " of flavor, it

seemed, and I'd had that bad experience with the box of " green broth

powder " ...Well, now the " green broth powder " had come to a good use and I hadn't

had to throw it out--AND I feel fully satisfied with the results from the

concoction I came out with, despite its having weird things like peanuts and

oatmeal ground up into it. It's DARN GOOD!!!

 

If we hadn't eaten up almost ALL of the huge batch of stew in the first

sitting and the last of it a day or so later, I would have tried to make it into

a pot-pie. It would have been a PERFECT filling for a great vegetable pot-pie,

IMHO! I have plans to do that sometime in the not-too-distant future. But

first, I have to learn how to make a decent pie crust!

(My days of buying store-bought frozen crusts and " cheating " are over!)

 

Good wishes to all! It's a dreary, rainy day here!

--Laura B., in Illinois

[Guest guest]

Now THAT sounds wonderful! I had several pounds of the Christmas Limas, as

well as a number of other dried bean varieties, that I bought from a heritage

bean company in Idaho a few years back. I wish I could remember the name of

the company. The Christmas Limas were one of my favorites.

 

And, dehydrated mixed vegetables sounds like a wonderful thing to keep on

hand. I will have to remember to look for them. It would be so much easier

than trying to dry and mix them all myself.

 

Nancy C.

East Texas