First of all, I recognize that Crock-Pot Monday usually takes place on this hallowed day, but this week we’re flipping the schedule around a bit due to the week’s outlook! Look for Crock-Pot Tuesday instead, filled with all the promise of Monday only with an extra day of experience.
Tonight, I arrived home completely spent. I had an incredibly productive day at work – one of those days that makes the hours just fly by – but I’ve also been battling a sore throat for the last 24 hours or so, brought about by an influx of pollen from who-knows-what. To be frank, I’d sort of thought we were done with the allergy season, but what do I know? This spring has been one for the record books.
All that to say, I decided to forgo my normal Monday tai chi class in order to get some R&R and prepare for another crazy workday tomorrow. And what better way to restore one’s health than a piping-hot pot of vegan chik’n gumbo?
Now, tonight’s road to gumbo glory wasn’t an easy path. No, first, I went on a fruitless search for frozen chopped okra – my second such search in three days’ time – and came up empty. Then I decided to just leave the okra out of the gumbo and carry on with dignity, even though my heart ached at the thought of a meal without its star ingredient. But what could I do? LeeLee was running late, I was getting hungry, and my throat remained on fire. I had to have some gumbo, and stat.
But then a miracle occurred. LeeLee called about 30 minutes ahead of schedule to say he was on his way!
“Oh!” I exclaimed. “Could you swing by the Harris Teeter and see if they have any chopped okra?”
It took some doing, admittedly. The shelf was teeming with whole okra, which simply won’t do in this dish, and nary a bag of the chopped variety to be found. But after several minutes of rooting around in the freezer case, LeeLee emerged triumphantly with a bag of chopped okra safely in hand! When he arrived home with it, both he and the okra were given a heroes’ welcome, and I put the bag of frozen goodies into the already-boiling broth.
As the gumbo cooked, so did a batch of white rice in my rice cooker, and by the time the gumbo was finished and the okra was heated through, so was the rice! So we spooned copious amounts of both rice and gumbo atop our plates and each enjoyed two-plus helpings.
As is the way with gumbo, we’ve got plenty left for lunch tomorrow! It’s the gift that keeps on giving, and it sure is a generous one at that.
:)