11/04/2012

Cooking without power




We live in Connecticut.  As many of you might have heard, on October 28th we had a little storm.  Her name is Sandy.  As a result, we were without power for 6 days (we just had power restored last night, November 3rd.)  We were truly blessed.  Our home was not damaged.  Our family is intact. We didn't have phones, Internet, or TV until Saturday night.  We didn't have the ability to get out of our road until Tuesday due to downed trees and wires.  We have a generator that powered our refrigerator, water pump, boiler (for hot water) and a few outlets.  We have cords of split, seasoned wood, thanks to some very industrious teenagers in August. 
 
We also, thanks to many wonderful people from our church, have a wood burning stove.  It was, finally, totally installed on October 28th, the morning of the day the hurricane hit.
 
*A little thank you shout out to Moroni Taylor and Bob Payne and all the muscle guys who picked up and carried in the very heavy stove.*
 
As a result, my meal preparation was restricted to a slow cooker or on top of the wood stove.  I felt very pioneer-y.  It was fun (not all of it, but might as well have a good attitude, amiright?)
 
Some meals were really good.  We won't talk about the others, not bad, just not noteworthy.
 
One of our favorite meals was a stew that I made out of leftover pot roast (see http://ahawker.blogspot.com/2012/08/pot-roast-super-easy-in-slow-cooker.html)
 
I chopped up the left-over meat, added the vegetables and gravy.  Because there wasn't enough gravy I punched it up.  I added a can (14 ounce) of beef broth and 1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce.  I cooked all this on top of the wood stove.
 
This stew was served over toasted, buttered oatmeal bread. (http://ahawker.blogspot.com/2012/10/oatmeal-bread.html)
 
It was really good.  I might even do it again.  We're expecting a nor'easter on Wednesday.  Hmmm.

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