mmm, Good

I am back to cooking by scratch again. I am back to learning how to cook for just two again. We have a little grocery store just two or three blocks from home where we can get what we need to make simple meals. I have learned some tricks, such as cutting up and freezing onions so that they are always on hand. You can do the same thing with chopped celery and green peppers, too, so even though we have a very small fridge, I have managed to stockpile a few essentials. Yesterday I seared a thin steak, removed it from the pan and cut it into small bite-size pieces. Into the pan with the meat juice, I put in garlic (which I cut and dried), onion, celery, carrot chips, a handful of cut up cabbage,one potato cut into bites, green bean bits, a little leftover corn (cut from the cob), broccoli, salt, pepper, and seasoning salt and a little water. I put the meat back in, and simmered the whole thing for an hour while we worked with our tutor. Jay kept saying, "This is Good!" And it was. Tonight, I cut up another piece of the same carrot, added another handful of the cabbage, onions, garlic, slices of green pepper, thin strips of green beans (raw), and chunks of pineapple (fresh), some of the barbecued chicken from another meal, and let it simmer for about 20 minutes to warm the pineapple. I had a bottle of sweet and sour sauce that I added just before serving over rice (not instant). It was really good. The best thing is, is that Jay finally has the time to taste his food and is discovering that I am a good cook. So with basically the same vegetables and choice of meat, you can come up with meals very different from each other.