Friday focus

 Let’s talk about variety and adapting.    We are now in a trade war with China.  While most of us don’t buy food from China if we know something  is from China,  not everything is marked.  It seems that China is a big producer of pork.   They have already dealt with some kind of a disease that has depleted some of their stock.  Now, with tariffs, the price will go up more unless the retailers bear the tariff.   The lesson here, I guess is to get some while the prices are low and work around not cooking pork.  Bacon is going to be a problem here.   Maybe our pork producers will step up to the plate.

We went through shortages and foods that were not available during the Second World War.   We can do it again.  I suspect if the tariffs hurt the wrong people, they will be short lived.
We have been through a the Great Depression, double digit inflation, and WWII, and we survived and I am sure that we will live through this too.

We had depression stew the other night, not because of anything bit the fact that I was too lazy to find the stew meat in the downstairs freezer.   I made it in the insta pot.  Hands on time was about five minutes, and the processing time was three.

Potatoes, peeled and cut onto fourths 1 small potato per serving
Carrots, peeled and cut into even sticks. 1 per serving
Cooked meat balls- I used about 3-4 each serving
Beef broth - 2 cups
Process 3 minutes

When the pressure had released, I removed the “stew” from the pot with a spider and placed the stew in a serving bowl.  Add 1/2 cup of water to a small bowl and make a slurry with 2T cornstarch,
Turn the pressure cooker off and turn on the sauté mode.   Stir the slurry into the beef stock in the pan.  Stir until mixture has thickened.  Add the gravy to the stew in the serving bowl.
Season with salt and  pepper. You could add some onion to the vegetable mixture.  My family doesn’t like to bite into an onion.   You could also add some frozen peas and or bacon,

This recipe was made to use up any bits and pieces that one might have hanging around the refrigerator.