Cooking: Glopinapot Version 1.0 (Vegetarian)

Glopinapot Version 1.0 (Vegetarian)

I have a tendency to simply dump a bunch of whatever I have on hand into a pot and hope for the best- aka glop in a pot.  Sometimes the results are a little scary and a little inedible, but then sometimes the results are just awesome.  This concoction falls into that latter category.

Ingredients:  Olive oil, onion, minced garlic, green pepper, summer squash, zucchini, eggplant, rehydrated TVP, and either a combo of drained salt-free petite diced tomatoes and salt-free tomato sauce or simply use salt-free crushed tomatoes.  Seasonings:  thyme, basil, rosemary, finely crushed black pepper.

I'll include the amounts I used in parens.

Start by rehydrating the TVP (1/2 cup dry) - you don't have to get technical with TVP if you've never used it before.  I use 1 part TVP to 1 part boiling water in a small covered
bowl.  Just mix them together, cover, and let sit for about five minutes.  I use TVP a lot and have consistent, positive results with that method.

In a large pot I put a couple of tablespoons of olive oil.  I slice up a medium to large onion and add that to the pot.  I run a couple large cloves of garlic through the garlic press and add that to the pot.

Now I add the seasonings- this is something that will be different depending on your personal preferences.  And also keep in mind that I never measure spices, so I am guesstimating here as closely as I can.  Start out small - you can always add more.

• Rosemary-  about a tablespoon of whole leaves that I grind together in my hand to crush them into smaller pieces.
• Thyme-  about two teaspoons dried
• Basil-   about two tablespoons of whole dried leaves (probably about one tablespoon crushed dried)
• Black pepper-  this is really a personal preference, but I added probably about a teaspoon of extremely finely ground pepper.  

Now I add about 1/4 cup of water or so to the pot and turn on the heat to a medium setting- up until you add the tomatoes, keep adding a little water to help cook the vegetables.  Let the onions/garlic cook a bit.

Chop up the pepper in to small bite-sized pieces, add to pot.

Slice summer squash and zucchini into 1/4" slices, add both to pot.

Add TVP to pot.  Let any remaining water in the pot cook off.

Add two 14oz cans of petite (or regular) salt-free diced tomatoes (drain these) and one 14oz can salt-free tomato sauce to pot.

Slice a small eggplant lengthwise and then into 1/2" slices, add to pot.

Keep stirring often and cook on medium until the eggplant is cooked through.

This can be eaten by itself like a stew or you can serve with pasta or rice.  It's a very filling meal by itself and I really like it this way on days when I've eaten most of my carbs earlier in the day.

It reheats very well in the microwave and it's juicy enough that you can add some dry cous cous to it before popping it in the microwave (just remember that for every 1/4cup dry cous cous you need 1/4cup liquid so plan accordingly).

This also freezes relatively well.

So that's my favorite glop in a pot at the moment.  Enjoy!

~Cyn