VeganMoFo Day 19 - Rainbow Skillet Medley

We love hash browns in this family. For around 6 months now, not counting MoFo weeks, every Thursday I would make up 2 skillets of hash browns. One of them would contain a dish known as Poorman's Meal, based on Clara Cannucciari's dish from the Depression Cooking YouTube site.

This is the dish I make my son. He doesn't follow the McDougall - or ANY plant strong - program. Yes, I put those little pink globules known as sliced hot dogs in it, too.

But I don't make this for hubby and myself. I've never found a vegan hot dog I like, so just don't bother trying to replicate this for us. I usually make some other version of a hash brown meal each week, and as long-time McDougallers know, Mary McDougall loves using those bags of hash browns in recipes so I have plenty to choose from! I only buy the Ore-Ida Southern Style if it's on sale. I usually buy the store brand whose only ingredients are potatoes and some brands have a preservative.

This meal we had is Rainbow Skillet Medley and comes from the Quick and Easy cookbook. 

Still tossing stuff into the skillet

Instead of boiling the taters as Mary directs, I just take them out of the freezer in the morning and they're defrosted when it's time to start cooking. 

Not only did I use frozen corn as directed, but also used frozen broccoli and jarred fire-roasted red pepper. The green pepper was fresh, although I do keep some sliced up in the freezer that I usually use. The green onions were from the bag of dehydrated ones I keep in the pantry from the mail order place Spices, Etc. I use this so infrequently, and many times the bunches at the store look wimpy, so I found keeping a supply of the dried stuff works out nicely. I keep some other dried veggies in the pantry, too, like diced red pepper, green pepper, and a combo of both (I know - silly but an impulse purchase at the time). I tried the tomato bits, thinking they would be like the sun-dried tomatoes, but even when boiled in water for a few minutes they stayed hard as rocks. I forget what happened to them. If they're still buried in the pantry I might try grinding them down into powder and add to some of Bryanna's broth powder for a cheap but quick instant tomato soup. Carrots are another one I keep on hand, tossing a handful into soups or stews if they need just a touch of "something."

I did have one problem with this meal - I burnt it. One of the hazards of cooking without oil is that things don't brown, the stick unless you toss them about every 5 minutes or so. I got distracted and it was almost 15 minutes before I got to the pan, and although it was on the lowest flame, the entire bottom layer burnt onto the bottom of my 6-month old non-stick almost $100 Calaphon skillet. Damn! So with about a third less food to eat (It's a big skillet so even a small amount takes up a lot of volume) I knew we would still be hungry so I opened up a box of McDougall Right Foods Lentil Soup. They may be out of stock at the factory store, so I'm glad I stock up when the local grocery store has them on sale.

And the skillet washed up beautifully. Things may still stick while cooking, but with a little soap and water the burnt on mess swished right out of there.