Cooking on the Wood Stove

It’s been cold and wet – (a bit of rain finally – yay!) so it was time to crank up the wood stove and be cosy while I worked on my manuscript today. In the morning I bunged some ingredients in a pot to make my Mum’s Beef and Barley Soup recipe and plonked it on the wood stove to do it’s thing while I was preoccupied writing, and make sure the family gets fed something decent and wholesome (I can easily forget to do the feeding the family thing while I’m distracted!).

Slow Cooking on the Wood Stove

I realised at 3pm I’d forgotten to have lunch, so I peeked in the pot and stole a small portion of the family’s dinner for my late lunch. I accidentally poured in a whole teaspoon of ground black pepper into my little bowl of soup, but even withstanding that it is the best version of this soup I’ve ever made. It spent a number of hours bubbling away and then I moved it to the cooler raised section of the stove to just keep warm and simmery (if that’s even a word?!) That’s the first time I’ve cooked on top of our wood stove but it certainly won’t be the last. So, so melt-in-the-mouth tender and tasty. I do like a little soup with my pepper.

It’s been a productive day writing. So far 2 1/2 chapters and a few handwritten pages of plotting, with more to go. Woo hoo!