Sarah bought me a slow cooker a couple of years ago, which is the best sort of gift for a mother who is not a great cook to begin with. (How did that happen, I ask myself, given that my own mother was fit to make meals for the angels.
I used to come to the dinner table and find radishes cut in the shapes of roses; succulent pork chops stuffed and strung together with spiced rope; home-made apple pie that peaked (and peeked) higher than eye level. Had my mother been in good health, she might have become a world famous chef years before television made fine cooking ultra popular.)
But as time and dinner wait for no wo/man, and because autumn brings with it seasonal flu and prohibitive mould allergies, here is my slow cooker Sunday recipe, the creation costing me today no more than seven minutes of preparation time in the (still half-finished) kitchen.
· two cans of Stag Vegetarian Chile (high in sodium and fibre, low in fat)
· one 16 ounce jar of Portobello mushroom spaghetti sauce
· four washed, sliced white potatoes
· one large washed, sliced carrot
· one really large (or several small) washed, sliced mushroom/s
· one teaspoon of minced garlic
· ½ diced onion (which I forgot to put in today)
Set the temperature on low and let simmer for five hours.
You might not believe me, but this is one of the more delicious meals my cooking endeavours have realized. (Mind you...)
In fact, one of the last times I concocted this dish was a year ago this very weekend when Sarah was here…the last time Sarah was here…with us, to enjoy it. You would think I had prepared a feast, but that’s the sort of person she was. I could have offered up a cardboard sandwich, and she would have said, “Oh mum, this is delicious.”
Food is, inescapably, much less palatable these days, but every time I see that slow cooker I think of my daughter and of the wonderful gift – of all the wonderful gifts – she gave me...of the wonderful gift she was.
