a small batch of hamburger stew

I made meat loaf yesterday, and was left with perhaps a third of a pound of ground beef. I know, most of you would have incorporated it into the meat loaf, right? But I'm a stickler for using the amounts stated in recipes.

I eyed the meat, wondering if it was enough for two hamburgers. But since I limit our meat portions, that didn't seem like a good idea.

After sleeping on it (not the hamburger, silly; the idea of what to do with it), I decided to make hamburger stew. Thankfully, I do make some things without a recipe.

Trouble is, I'm so used to making a huge pot of stew, and it's hard for me to judge amounts in a smaller batch.

At this point, I realized I should have used one more potato, but it was too late... until I remembered the microwave! I baked a potato in three minutes, peeled it, diced it, and tossed it in. No problem.

I wait until the last ten minutes or so to add the cabbage. Here again, I had to be careful to use the proper amount for such a small batch of stew.

As I added ingredients, it occurred to me how many spices I use that my mother never had in her cabinets, as far as I can remember. Here are just a few of them.

All the above except for lemon pepper and bay leaves are in my stew, which I just sampled. It's good!

When I was a kid growing up, sometimes I'd climb up on a kitchen counter, open the cupboard doors, and sniff all the spices in there, one by one. Mother had a lot of phony Watkins flavorings (coconut, lemon, etc.) that smelled divine. My favorite thing was vanilla; it was so heavenly that I decided one day to taste it.

Bad mistake.