My Mother and Meatball Stew

Hi guys. I wanted to tell you about my mother's Meatball Stew. I cannot swear that she made up this recipe. As a matter of fact, I would swear that she did not make up this recipe. 

My mother was many things. The sweetest woman that ever lived, loads of fun, childlike in her playfulness, helpful, kind, all the good things that you could think a mother would be, but...a great cook she was not. 

Don't get me wrong, please, her food was delicious and I get my love of cooking from her, but I distinctly recall only five dishes that she made regularly.  

She was a good cook, but not too adventurous. My mother's grandmother was a caterer back in the early part of the 20th century. She catered all the wedding and family functions that occurred in the Polish families in her neighborhood. Now, she was a great cook. 

My mother's skill was in sewing. Man, she could sew anything. She made all my Halloween costumes. FROM SCRATCH. The tiniest little sequins. I can barely sew on a button. Instead I think my real passion is cooking. I guess my great-grandmother's skills skipped a couple of generations. 

Now, do not misunderstand me. I am no great cook, my would-be catering mentor passed away when I was 6 years old, long before my interest in cooking took hold. I wish I had some of her recipes. I am envious of chefs that reminisce of days from their childhood when they stood next to their mothers and grandmothers and learned to knead dough or make pasta by hand. But, I would not trade my mother for the world. 

After my father died when I was twenty, my mother and I became much closer.  We would sit and watch the cooking shows on our local PBS station on Saturdays. All day sometimes. This is long before the Food Network came around. Sometimes, when I was at work she would call me and tell me that she saw a recipe that she wanted me to try to make for us. I took over the cooking duties after she was diagnosed with diabetes and she didn't really know what kinds of things she was allowed to eat. So, that's where my cooking story began. I got a cookbook one day. Then another. Then another. Now I have more cookbooks than time to cook from them, but I mostly just like to read them like a novel. Occasionally, I will follow a recipe and if I do, I follow it to the letter because I want it to taste the way the chef wanted it to taste. Only if I decide it is worth my trouble to make it again will I tweak it to my liking. Sometimes, I just read and read and absorb techniques that I use to make up my own recipes and dishes. 

Anyway, meatball stew....my mother's meatball stew was a quick, weeknight stew that was (and is) delicious, but since it relies on almost 90% canned goods, it is a sodium nightmare and in this climate of healthy cooking, I really want to work out a homemade, but equally tasty version. 

The way she would make it, homemade meatballs browned in a frying pan until  

crispy (I prefer a softer meatball and so I skip this and just put it in the casserole with the other ingredients raw) also, jarred pearl onions, canned potatoes, canned carrots, canned green beans, canned beef broth, and canned cream of tomato soup. Put in the oven at 350 degrees for a half hour to 45 minutes and to finish it off, buttered white bread. 

Like I said, delicious, but not too healthy. I guess I could try lower sodium versions of the canned vegetables. Although it's just as easy to toss in parboiled 

potatoes and carrots. Likewise, boiling and peeling the onions the night before or even just using chopped onions would be an option. Although, one of my favorite parts is biting into the whole pearl onion and having the layers slip apart as I savor it in my mouth. It would be a shame to give that up due to my laziness. The same with the green beans, those should take just a couple of minutes to heat through when fresh. Even frozen.

My biggest concern is the canned soups. See the idea is that instead of water or milk to thin out the condensed soup, the beef broth is used. So I can make cream of tomato soup and I suppose I could boil it to thicken. Then make beef stock to thin it out. OR I could use homemade beef stock as the base for the tomato soup from the get go. I haven't tried either one yet. But I will. Very soon. 

This is my first post ever. I am pretty shy. I have been thinking about posting for some time now, but I was always  afraid it wouldn't be good enough. It may not be, but it's done now and in time my posts will get better. More polished. With pictures too. For my first post, this ain't too shabby. 

Thanks.