
“Hodgepodge” is a jumbled mixture. Find stuff in the fridge, cook it in a skillet and you have a free hodgepodge meal.
I liked cleaning out the fridge and freezer so much, I checked the fridge again this week. Yes, it was difficult to decide which older food be sent to the compost pile, but I erred on the safe side because it is “Better safe than sick.” On the bright side, I found more stuff to eat: 3 cups of cooked penne whole wheat pasta, wilting celery, older mushrooms and 1 Roma tomato. Perfect!
So I placed my “free” hodgepodge of leftovers on the counter, added a can of Cream Of Celery Soup, 2 green onions from the garden and 1/2 pound of range-fed lean ground beef. and proceeded to assemble a hodgepodge penne noodle skillet meal.
Hodgepodge was defined eons ago as a thick European stew. Now it has a broader meaning like “jumbled mixture” “mixed bag,” or ” assortment”. I think this skillet meal qualifies as being hodgepodge.
To make the one skillet meal:
- Heat 3 T oil in a large skillet and brown the ground beef. Remove the fatty drippings.
- Add 1 1/2 C chopped celery, 1/2 C sliced mushrooms and chopped green onions to the hamburger.
- Sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt and 2 T powdered onion and garlic
- Reduce heat, cover, and let it simmer for 20 min until celery is tender-crisp.
- In a bowl, mix the chopped tomato and its juice, celery soup, and 1./2 C water and add it to the skillet.
- Rinse the penne noodles with hot water and add it to the skillet.
- Simmer until the mixture reached 160 degrees F and serve with salad and fruit.
Note: A home-made white sauce is better than a can of soup but I wanted to speed this up.