Random Cougar Life

Whenever I’m chopping up meat to use in a meal I always save the bits that don’t go in the recipe and use them for a stew. I was just thinking of posting it up here so other peeps could use it, since its efficient and a cheap, great for college students . Its not gonna be in normal recipe form though, since it sorta varies on what you have in your kitchen. Most of the ingredients are optional, since it uses all your leftovers and stuff. The only stuff you really need is meat and veggies and water, enough to fill your stew pot at least halfway with.

Contents: Equipment, Meats, Adding Stew Base, Thicker Stew, The Other Bits (Veggies), (Beans), (Pasta), (Seasoning), The Best Bit, The End

Need:

• stove top
• 1 really big pot
• Meat (amount variable)
• 2-3 cans of veggies
• 2 cans tomato (optional)
• 1-4 cans of tomato paste (optional) OR 1 jar of spagetti sauce (optional)
• beans, fresh or canned (optional)
• Pasta (optional)
• Fresh Veggies (optional)

Equipments

First off, you gotta have a stove top, or I guess you could make a fire and use the coals for heat transferring… But either way you need heat making and a really big pot. Not like, that little pot you use for rice even though it overflows and is really gross to clean up, like a damn big pot you could put like, a dog in, and not a tiny little shit dog but a kinda big terrier, or something.

Ok, so tonight your preparing some meats of your choice and you like to clean your own meat. Whichever meat your using (except for fish and shellfish) trim it so that there is muscle still attached to the ligaments and fat that your cutting off. Depending on how busy your kitchen is for that meal, either freeze the bits or cook them right there.

Meats

When you decide to cook them, either sear the trimmed bits in olive oil on a pan, or grill them (one of those george foreman grills works fine).

Once the meat bits are done, take them off the fire and make sure your really big pot has a little water in it (about 2-3 cups) put the meat bits and juices in there, turn the fire on low, and start on the next step.

Making stock! If you cook a lot, you usually have boullion laying around and can put 2 teaspoons of the appropriate flavor in your really big pot and fill the pot half way with water. If you don’t really like cooking or don’t have a whole lot of seasonings you can use some other things for a stock base, such as tomato juice, vegetable juices, or tomato paste and water.

Adding Stew Base

First check your pantry for canned veggies. If you have alot of canned veggies (peas, green beans, corn, hominy, mixed veggie, etc.) use 2-3 cans of your veggie of choice. This should have filled your really big pot about halfway. If you don’t like thick stew then add some water and your done! Let it stew for 3 hours and hooray, stew.

Thicker Stew

If you did all of this (except the waiting 3 hours bit), and think the stew still looks thin, there are a few ways you can make it thicker. If you happen to have tomato based spaghetti sauce lying around, put the whole container of that in there. If you actually buy tomato paste and/or canned tomatoes DON’T put the spagetti sauce in there, and instead put in 2 cans of canned tomatoes (diced, whole, it doesn’t matter) and one can of tomato paste. Stir thoroughly, and if it is still too thin, put in another can of paste and stir thoroughly again. Repeat until thickness satisfaction has been met. Let cook for 3 hours on low heat and you have stew.

The Other Bits

But wait, what are all those other ingredients for? Well, I’m going to tell you.

(Veggies)If you’ve got any fresh veggies lying around that you know your never going to use, go ahead and chop them up and throw them in the stew pot. If they’ve started going bad, don’t worry, cut around the bad bits and throw those away, and put the good bits in the stew.

(Beans)Alright, if you saw a bag of raw beans on sale and just couldn’t resist them, but know your never gonna get around to cooking them, here’s your chance! Rinse the beans thoroughly in a bowl or strainer, and drain. Add to the stew, and let sit for about 5 hours on low heat, or until the beans are soft and done. Also, if you just like beans, and keep cans of them around, go ahead and add a can of them if you like. But DON’T add any flavors that have HONEY, SUGAR, MAPLE(unless it has ham or bacon in it, that’s ok), or some variation thereof in the title. A little sweetness is fine, especially if you used chicken or some other poultry, but those flavors are TOO sweet and might throw the rest of  the flavors off. If you like really sweet things, then go ahead. Keeping in mind that SPAGHETTI SAUCE, if you used it, has garlic and onion flavors in it, and usually oregano and basil, those seasonings usually don’t mix well with very sweet seasonings.

(Pasta) Ok, so when you got your canned veggies you realised you had a flaming ton of pasta in your pantry and have no idea how you can possibly eat it all. Well luck for you, your making a stew! If the pasta is anything other than angel hair/”normal”/fettucini go ahead toss it in your stew, and when the noodles are soft and squishy your done! Yey, stew. But maybe you bought a Sam’s Club Valu Pak of long noodle stuff, and really want to use some. Well take about 2-3 handfuls of pasta and break it in half, then put it in the stew. If you think that’s still too long for you, break it further until your satisfied. If you think that isn’t enough pasta just add some more until your happy.

(Seasoning) Add just about anything you like to it, EXCEPT salt. Remember guys, you just put like 3 or more canned goods in there, you don’t NEED any more salt!

The Best Bit

Now we are at the best bit! You just made a stew, and you might not know what that means, so let me share.

It means you can eat for at least four days now without doing ANYTHING except heating up your bowl of stew.

Also, if you keep adding water or other stock to the stew it can last even longer, pretty much until you decide your damn tired of it, or until you get your next paycheck! The best kinda food for poor college students, and once you have it all cooked you just have to reheat it!

The End

Alright, that’s everything! I hope you guys find this useful, if you have any questions just reply and I’ll answer