The photo on today’s update is from a slow-cooked stew I made yesterday evening. I took a slightly different approach this time.
First, I put the pearl barley and a pint of vegetable stock into the slow cooker while I was still prepping everything else. I still prep at a snail’s pace with long rests between bursts of activity.
Later, I added red lentils and started on the onions. I diced two onions and lost all vision for a moment. When my vision cleared I dropped some olive oil into a pan. On a spire of the moment decision, I added some buttery flora to the pan too. Then, when it was hot, the onions went in. They stayed there on a low heat until they were soft and buttery. Then they went into the slow cooker.
My next task was to mix up another stock cube and rehydrate the pot as the barley had drunk almost all the stock that was in there.
Now with those items out of the way it was time for the lemon. I juiced an entire lemon and added it to a third pint of stock.
More olive oil and buttery flora went into the pan and all the herbs, salt, an entire garlic (crushed) went in there. I dripped in some stock as there was so much dried leafy stuff in the pan that it just drank the oil. When the kitchen smelled like herbs, I added the diced mushrooms to the pan. I let them simmer together to get buttery and flavoursome.
The sweet potatoes, celery, and carrot (diced) joined the pot followed by the mushrooms and herbs and the last pint of stock.
Then I just let it get on with it.
Sometime later I gave it a taste test. YUM! That’s not just me saying that. I had a friend try some and he loved it too.
Then I ended up pulling an all-nighter (the food was ready in the wee-small-hours anyway). As a result, I slept all day. Sleep cycle? What is that?
Other than sleeping odd hours, my mental health is pretty good this evening. I plan to make the most of it.
