To jump start one of my resolutions to try something new as often as possible, this week I am experimenting with making my first meals in a slow cooker. So far so good, though from what I’ve heard it takes talent to screw up a crock pot meal. But if it just isn’t working, there’s always the stock pot on the stove to the rescue, right? To continue with the new theme, I’ve also decided to make two dishes I personally have never made before – chili and pulled pork for pulled pork BBQ sandwiches and carnitas. Today’s adventure is the chili. I combined the elements I liked from about 5 different chili recipes, so here’s hoping it turns out well. I don’t mind following a good recipe exactly, but I’m also a big fan of adding more or different ingredients to it if I think it’ll amp up the flavor and/or nutritional content. I had to make my third trip to Kroger in two days (which is far too often to be in Kroger, btw) because not a single one of the chili recipes mentioned that with all the meat, beans, onions, peppers, spices and diced tomatoes in that slow cooker, you might need more liquid in there to balance it out then just a 1/2 cup of beef broth. So off I went in pursuit of tomato paste. It’ll be another seven hours before it’s done, but I really like the convenience of getting dinner cooked in the morning and out of the way so I don’t have to worry about it tonight.
I’m also excited to finally be baking an apple rhubarb crumble! How, you may wonder, since rhubarb is virtually unavailable in fresh or frozen form in Cincinnati this time of year? Well, I received two packages of rhubarb from my mom & dad-in-law for Christmas! I was really surprised to unwrap such an unusual package from a pile of gifts under the tree, but it was perfect and I’m really grateful since it is definitely something I’ve been wanting and hunting for for at least a month now. How’s that for creative, thoughtful gift giving? I’m pretty happy about it. The apple rhubarb crumble recipe is the same one I made for the Sweets & Sips Welcome Party to kick off our wedding weekend in Door County for our guests. There was so much going on that I never got to try it for myself (I made three of the six desserts and didn’t find the time to try any of them!). The crumble is made with maple syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg, and brown sugar, and it sounds phenomenally savory to me!
We’ve determined that the mysterious, enormous stain that appeared on the hallway carpet next to the bathroom while we were gone is most likely a leak in the pipes somewhere in the walls. I used the holy grail of carpet cleaner to clean it up when we got home Tuesday night, and it was gone instantly. Problem solved. Except when we woke up the next morning it had partially reappeared. I cleaned it again, and it came back again, so I repeated the process again, and the stain keeps coming up. The carpet by the seam of the wall is also wet, which contributes to the leak theory, so for now we’ll have to deal with a huge ugly stain until our landlord can get someone to come out and rip apart the wall in the closet to get to the pipes. Being responsible for a house is so adult of us. But at least it’s our home and no matter how cold, or uninsulated, or leaky it is, I love it.
To cap off this post, I have to throw this disclaimer out there. I hate thinking of myself as domestically inclined because it instantly conjures up images of the 1950s housewife who went to college to find a husband and then use her education to clean the house, but since I just wrote an entire post about cooking and housekeeping I’ve apparently been feeling a touch homebound lately, which I certainly hope will change quickly and in the near future with the addition of a job. It’s nice to be able to cook fresh, flavorful, homemade meals for us daily, and to be able to blog at my leisure, to live in a tidy house, and to not keep a strict, hectic schedule, but not nice enough that I want to keep it up much longer. I like working, especially for non-profits and companies whose missions I support. I love using my education for its intended purpose – which is not sitting at home while Ted works all day. I really like being around people (but not the stupid ones) instead of being alone during the day. I’m not dissing stay-at-home moms, because parenting is an incredibly important contribution to society, but I’m not parenting now or in the near future and the stay-at-home job (and it is a totally valid job) just isn’t for me, so I’d like to be contributing to our lifestyle and to our community in a way that is a little more profound than cooking and cleaning our own home. So that’s that. And with the chili in the crock pot and a rhubarb crumble in the works, I’m off to continue the job applications. Wish me luck!
