Lazy man's Vegetable Gumbo( good way to use up fresh okra from the garden )

Lazy man'sVegetable Gumbo(good way to use up fresh okra from the garden instead of blanching)

Well let me begin by saying I am inherently lazy....and it shows in my cooking. However since 1950 and the TV dinner was invented most cooks are less serious and use ready made and processed items whenever they can get their grubby little hands on them. I know I am all about quick and easy in almost ALL areas of my life.So you will see frozen and canned items in my kitchen.But I also love plants and adore growing my own food.  Lately I have been trying to add some "organic" foods in my diet and been incorporating some veggies from the garden...which considering the "abandonment" technique I tend to use in regards to doing little beyond watering my garden and hoping for the best....they are surely in the " organic" category as well.

Gumbo is a favorite in the South. If you are not from the South or in particular Louisiana ( which I am not claiming this version even comes close to either of them but it is a start) you probably have no clue how to even start to cook gumbo. Most local people in my area use shrimp (but I used ham tonight )....I will look up about gumbo and post some articles in a minute but for the most part my understanding is it is just whatever combination of foods you wish to cook together ( basically a way to use up leftover veggies/meat). On the package it reads " Simmer one bag of frozen vegetable gumbo mix with one can stewing tomatoes for 30 min. Season to taste". Well I did a hell of a lot more than that but I still am not a chef by any means. But I like food and I am " a good eater" as my daughter age 6 says. But like all the recipes I post this one falls under the "for beginning cooks" or "inexperienced cooks" category....I just want to help people who are not confident by showing them how simple it really is. So without further ado....Here is my version of

Lazy man's Vegetable gumbo

This is what I started with....I used half the ham and could have used shrimp or chicken or sausage instead....some people combine all three but according to an article I just read you are not supposed to mix seafood with meat but then in the pic they did just that....sigh....I think anything goes really....I know I have eaten all three meats in gumbo before. That cubed ham is a nice easy thing to throw into various dishes...makes meat part easy on the cook. 

Stewed tomatoes are a great way to add instant flavor to your meal and these organic diced fire roasted tomatoes are pretty good as well....they have a good flavor due to the fire roasting process.

I started with two of these from the frozen section of the grocery store....I also had two cans of tomato soup and one can of spaghetti sauce and two cans of fire roasted tomatoes and one can of stewed tomatoes....ideally you could use tomato paste or tomato sauce for a thicker base....I didn't want to go out to the store so I used what I had on hand. The key is to let a thin sauce simmer and it will thicken over time....it will go from watery to a thin tomato sauce if you let it cook Low and Slow.

I also had some fresh veggies like okra from the garden I wanted to use ( you could blanch them but I decided to make gumbo instead)...i could have used the tomatoes for some flavor as well but I held on to them....I just plucked them....give me a few days and they will be less precious....I also used some leftover onion from the fridge that I saved in a ziploc from when I sliced a little bit off a week or so ago. Real onion makes all the difference. I sound like a broken record but honestly it adds alot of flavor to your cooking. 

 

This is what the two bags of vegetable gumbo mix looked like prior to adding anything....it was a good bit of vegetables....I was impressed at how much corn,etc there was

first I added about an inch of water to the stockpot with the two bags of gumbo mix

then I added my half thing of ham ( my overhead light wasn't working so I had to use a flashlight and that is why the lighting is wierd)

I then added two cans of tomato soup ( plus two cans of water total),  one can of  roasted organic tomatoes, and one can stewed tomatoes....later when my sauce was too thin I added the can of spaghetti sauce ( ideally use tomato paste or tomato sauce but I used what I had in the pantry)

Here is the whole reason I made gumbo....fresh okra from garden wanted to use up. Just cut the tips off them and then cut into little slices about 1/2 inch thick....discard tips....added diced okra to tomato mixture on stove.

These are the seasonings I used but you use whatever you find yummy....I love my italian seasoning grinder and pepper grinder and  I also used powdered minced onion and garlic pepper and salt. Some people might want some hot sauce as well. Not me. I am not a spicy lover.

I diced up some real onion at this point and added it as well. Stir mixture well. Say a prayer to the Gumbo Gods that it will be yummy....haha.

Let mixture simmer for an hour on med low to high. I don't like my tomato sauce to bubble too much. Low and slow is the key to getting a thin watery sauce to thicken into a nice tomato base....the longer you can cook it the better....you will begin to smell it....at first it just seems like watery broth but then the flavors begin to unite and you will know when it happens b/c the whole house will smell divine! Serve over a pot of white rice...well a bowl of rice each....a pot of rice each would be a teeny bit excessive but this is America so it wouldn't complete surprise me ;)....Enjoy! --Tips