The Pig and I

And once again, the trees are laden in pollen. I always forget the midwinter episodes of crippling allergies. Since I feel like I have the flu due to tree pollen, I figured I should make some gentle stew so I'm still getting some nutrition while eating is hard. This recipe should be adapted to whatever is in your house that needs to be used up. I went through my produce bin and found a lot of "half of this, half of that" in there. Those all feature here. Whenever I'm feeling under the weather, the stews tend to be comprised of whatever I was able to easily forage from the fridge, pantry, freezer, and/or garden with a minimum of effort. This should serve 4 people on its own, but if you put it over rice, pasta, or similar, you can stretch it to 6 or so people. Hope you enjoy! In a 2-quart saucepan, combine the following: 1 tablespoon each: sesame and veg oil 1 cup beet stems, chopped into 1" pieces (I pre-chop these when I buy the bunch of beets, since I

The Pig asked me recently to make her some Olive Garden style meatballs and pasta, and I said okay. Today was that day. I looked up copycat recipes and thought, "nope." So I figured I'd just have a go at it. These were really, really easy to make, and everyone liked them. She asked if she could have leftovers for breakfast tomorrow, which is basically the highest compliment she gives. Outside the meat and an egg for the meatballs, all other ingredients can come from the pantry. I am not a huge fan of meatballs, so it's most likely I'll keep making this sauce without those. Hope you enjoy! Sauce: 1 14-ounce can each: stewed tomatoes, whole tomatoes 1/2c beef stock or water (I had leftover stock in the fridge, or I'd've used water) big, healthy shake of each: dried mint, dried basil, dried marjoram or other oregano, dried thyme, garlic and onion powders salt and pepper to taste add-on: meat, if desired, and/or olives, and/or mushrooms Put all of t