"I have made fire!"

I feel like Tom Hanks in "Cast Away" today. I have made good, healthy food for my family, from scratch, without a recipe!!! It is a triumphant day in the battle against cooking laziness and taking the easy way out. So often I serve frozen pizza, hamburger helper, or take-out. And truthfully, not getting home until 5pm and Little Blue having a 7pm bedtime, that's all there's time for on week nights most of the time. Rachel Ray might make 30 minute meals but she also makes another 30 minutes of kitchen clean-up time, and I'd rather spend that time with my son. So really adventurous, homestyle, and slow-cooked meals are reserved for weekends, and today I outdid myself, if I may say so. The in-laws were over for dinner and NASCAR and I put together a delicious and hearty meal of seafood chowder using only ingredients I already had on hand. Plus it was in the crock pot, so it required only occasional attention and prep work from me and mostly took care of itself. Best of all, my family loved it. It started with four or five frozen boneless cod filets, seasoned with a sprinkling of my all-time favorite all-purpose spice, Santa Maria seasoning, which I import via relatives from California because it's not sold out here, but basically it's a nice preblended mixture of garlic, pepper, parsley, and salt. After a couple of hours I added coarsely chopped artificial crab meat and canned whole potatoes chopped into bite sized pieces. With that went another sprinkling of Santa Maria plus some celery salt, since I had no celery on hand. Also a dash of dried minced onions and some onion powder for flavor and texture combined. Oh and about a cup and a half of water. I almost used chicken stock instead for additional flavor, but decided it would've been too salty and also too high in sodium. Another couple of hours later and I was ready to work on my soup broth. I made a rue of butter and flour cooked to a golden sort of dry pasta color, then very slowly added about a cup and a quarter of milk. (If you don't add the milk super slow, its coldness will shock the butter/flour paste and cause it to turn into tiny bits of never-dissolving dough instead of a smooth creamy sauce.) To this cream sauce I added more celery salt, a tiny shake of Santa Maria, a healthy dose of black pepper, and a shake of garlic powder. I cooked it on medium for about ten minutes, not letting it boil, which cooked out any remaining flour taste. Then into the crock pot it went and kept at just below a simmer for about ten minutes so all the flavors could meld together. Voila! I served it with half a loaf of yummy, crusty Country Bread from Panera that was left over from stew we had the night before. Rave reviews, loved by all but Little Blue and even he liked it enough to finish all but two bites of his dinner. I was quietly, humble and gracious but inwardly ecstatic, as I always am whenever I manage to feed people something I feel is good. There's something very satisfying about nourishing people, providing sustenance that I've put my time and love into, made with my own skills, however flawed, and seeing happy faces of enjoyment around my table. If I won the lottery I would probably take cooking classes and host dinners at my house every week just to keep up that great feeling. A truly happy day.