Ann's Immaterium

Mostly physical culture but also writing, gaming, and other dark procrastinations

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Work Outs: March 28 – April 3, 2021 (Hoover Stew)

We saw this recipe for Hoover Stew from The Wolfe Pit and I thought it might be amusing to make a pot of it. As chance would have it I had all of the ingredients on hand, including some plant-based hot dogs, since my husband has been eating plant-based for quite some time now.

Apparently Hoover Stew was one of many pot luck type of recipes, popular in the United States during the 1930’s, where the idea was to feed a family very cheaply. It was named after the American president, Herbert Hoover, who was in office when the Great Depression kicked off in 1929, which was a worldwide phenomenon.

Kudos to hubby for repairing the handle on my favorite pot with J-B Weld!

I mentioned Hoover Stew to my mother and she said she had it and many variations like it under the common rubric of “Pot Luck Stew” where the ingredients were simply whatever was on hand. She said they called it “Mulligan Stew” if there was a lot of potatoes in it, which there commonly were since my grandparents grew potatoes commercially up until the mid-1980’s.

So it seems to me that this recipe for Hoover Stew is simply a base that can be varied greatly depending on what you have on hand. My mother said they most often had it with beef because hot dogs cost money while they had large quantities of beef because they raised cattle. I knew this because I ate much of this sort of thing growing up too, both because my mother had learned habits of frugality and because money was tight in our family, as it was for many, during the 1970’s.

I followed the recipe from The Wolfe Pit using the ingredients listed below, but you can add pretty much anything you think will work and omit anything you don’t like.

Ingredient List

  • 16 oz. box of Elbow Macaroni
  • Two 15 oz. cans of diced or stewed tomatoes (with juice, if any)
  • 15 oz. can of corn (with juice)
  • 15 oz. can of cannellini beans (with juice)
  • Eight hot dogs
  • Optional: Bouillon to taste. I used Better Than Bouillon brand “Roasted Garlic Base.”
  • Optional Wolfe Pit extra: Granulated garlic and onion to taste. Fresh would be good too, I bet.
  • Salt and Pepper to Taste. I also used Italian seasoning. (The video presenter instead used tomatoes that came with spices.)

How to Cook (more or less following Wolfe Pit directions)

  • Cook elbows for about half the time it says on the package. Drain but do not rinse.
  • Add tomatoes, beans, and corn to pot you cooked the pasta in as well as whatever spices you want to use.
  • Mix in pasta and hot dogs. The presenter just added them in cold, but I pan fried them first to give them some character.
  • Add some water if needed. The idea here is to have the finished product resemble something like a stew but not so much water that it is like a soup. Also, you’ll want to have some liquid to help finish cooking the pasta.
  • Simmer until heated throughout and pasta is done however you like it. (We like it al dente.)

We thought Hoover Stew wasn’t bad though I can see where it would be bland if one didn’t have some spices on hand. I might try making it again but instead of hot dogs using TVP. I think it would also be good with chicken, beef or pork and any kind of vegetables, such as say broccoli or cauliflower. Whatever you have sitting around, really. I’ve got the remains of a package of edamame that is just itching to go into a pot luck stew!

Sun, March 28th: Calories: 2596, Protein: 153 g.

Mon, March 29th

  • Morning Walk: 2.98 miles.
  • I spent much of the day doing yard work. I was tired enough that I decided to hold off on the weights until tomorrow. My hands were pretty warmed up though from all of the hacking, cutting, toting and hewing so I did some hand work.
  • Captains of Crush Gripper (Trainer, 100 lbs.):
    • (Set 1): Left = 6 mm x 2 + 3 reps, Right = Closed x 3 + 2 reps
    • (Set 2): Left = 6 mm x 3 + 2 reps, Right = Closed x 2 + 3 reps
    • (Set 3): Left = 6 mm x 2 + 3 reps, Right = Closed x 1 + 4 reps
    • (Set 4): Left = 6 mm x 1 + 4 reps, Right = Closed x 0 + 5 reps
  • Board Pronated Hand Holds (each hand): 1.75 lbs. x 4 sets x 30 seconds. The pronated grip works the thumb in an interesting way.
  • I worked the Muay Thai “Jab” lesson and also did a set of 100 left jabs. Then I did the “Cross” lesson, which touches on the right cross punch. Afterward I worked on Taekwondo White Belt Drill #1. All of this comes from the globalmartialarts.university site.

Calories: 2088, Protein: 150 g.

Tues, March 30th

  • I warmed up with some miscellaneous yard work and mowed the Lower Fifty. After that I did some more warm up work with the indian clubs and steel mace.
  • Arnold Presses: 35 lbs. x 8 reps, 30 lbs. x 3 sets x 8 reps
  • (Super Set) DB Lateral Raises: 15 lbs. x 4 sets x 8 reps + following exercises 10 lb. mace (ea. side):
    • (Set Three) Grave Diggers x 15 reps
    • (Set Four) Pike Push Ups x 10 reps
      • I’m not satisfied with my form on these. I’ll have to do some research.
  • Dead Bugs (2-ct): 36 reps + 64 reps (rest-pause as needed) = 100 reps
  • I worked on some Muay Thai footwork and the left jab. I did some upper body stretching to end the workout and a little more stretching in the evening.

Calories: 2208, Protein: 120 g.

Wed, March 31st

Morning Walk: 2.29 miles. Calories: 2257, Protein: 162 g.

Thur, April 1st

Morning Walk: 2.9 miles.

I took an hour archery lesson in the early afternoon to see what I needed to work on after over a year of not shooting (except for last week) what with the range being closed and all. I had a lot of things I needed to address but I think we did make some progress.

The instructor let me stay and shoot by myself afterwards for about a half hour. I shot a somewhat harder target (though still not a particularly difficult one) than last time. I had some nice rounds and some pretty ugly ones too but I did have this one round where I did very well indeed. It was as if I had been touched by the breath of Artemis and was pulling a +3 bow and letting fly with +2 arrows. Now if I could just bottle that moment!

  • Captains of Crush Gripper (Trainer, 100 lbs.):
    • (Set 1): Left = 6 mm x 4 + 1 reps, Right = Closed x 0 + 5 reps
    • (Set 2): Left = 6 mm x 4 + 1 reps, Right = 4 mm x 4 + 1 reps
    • (Set 3): Left = 6 mm x 4 + 1 reps, Right = 4 mm x 4 + 1 reps
    • (Set 4): Left = 6 mm x 4 + 1 reps, Right = 4 mm x 4 + 1 reps
    • (Set 5): Left = 6 mm x 3 + 2 reps, Right = 4 mm x 4 + 1 reps
    • (Set 6): Left = 4 mm x 2 + 3 reps, Right = 2 mm x 4 + 1 reps
    • I did better than usual with my left hand but worse with my right. Although I didn’t feel fatigued after my archery session, I suspect my right hand was a little tired from all that shooting.
  • Board Pronated Hand Holds (each hand): 1.75 lbs. x 4 sets x 30 seconds. (Thirty seconds rest between sets.)
  • Did a little stretching in the evening.

Calories: 2252, Protein: 124 g.

Fri, April 2nd

Afternoon Walk: 4.76 miles. Calories: 2254, Protein: 142 g

Sat, April 3rd

Afternoon Walk: 5.25 miles. Calories: 2986, Protein: 153 g.

(I gained 0.2 lbs. this week. My total loss thus far is 30 lbs.)

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20 responses to “Work Outs: March 28 – April 3, 2021 (Hoover Stew)”

  5. Hoover stew? I think I’ll give it a go. I made something a little while ago in my slow cooker, another American recipe called “Shipwreck Stew”. The idea being based around some basic ingredients (a can of tomato soup was part of it). No idea if that’s well known or not in the US!

    “touched by the breath of Artemis” 🙂 Well done!

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  6. Great recipe 😃will try it out as it fits my random way of cooking , recipes are just for an idea for me not to be followed to the T . That’s why I don’t bake cakes and biscots😅 I remember my old dad talking about Mulligan stew as a kid , as it’s origin is the USA I’m not sure how he picked it up apart from meeting some Americans when a prisoner of war in Singapore where I’m sure it would have been a great banquet then .

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  7. Hoover Stew has to be ironic or sarcastically named as I think many people blamed him for the Great Depression if I have my history right. It is certainly an interesting dish and it is fascinating that it still persists today. I’m not sure it is in my taste wheelhouse though I do find veggie hot dogs to be better than the real thing so maybe I should give it a try one day! 🙂 Thanks for sharing and I appreciate how you never know exactly what your next update will have. It keeps all of your readers on their toes 🙂

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    • I think you have it right, that is my understanding as well about how Hoover was generally perceived by the public of the time.

      I know that there were other things ironically named after him too, though the only one I already know about was “Hooverville,” which my grandmother told me about. I didn’t know about these other ones, which I learned about when I was scanning the Wiki page about Hoover:

      “Hoover’s opponents developed defamatory epithets to discredit him, such as ‘Hooverville’ (the shanty towns and homeless encampments), ‘Hoover leather’ (cardboard used to cover holes in the soles of shoes), and ‘Hoover blanket’ (old newspaper used to cover oneself from the cold).”

      I found the hot dogs to be ok, but I think it might have been tastier with some other protein. On the vegan side, I think some varieties of plant-based meatballs would be good in it, such as Gardein brand or Beyond Beef, but then that kind of abandons the cheap aspect, not that vegan hot dogs are cheap of course.

      Another thing about Hoover Stew is that it is extremely easy to make, which suits the fact that a lot of people come home from their jobs and don’t want to have to prepare a complex meal. I know I didn’t, when I was working, and neither did my husband, who likes to cook but not after putting in a full day at work.

      You are welcome. 🙂 I’ve taken to posting different things, though I do try not to put up things like spider and slug pictures in the same post with recipes, though some years ago my husband went through a phase where he was cooking with bugs, so we were having cricket flour, grasshopper stir fry and so on. He caused quite a stir at work one day when he took some dried bacon and ranch flavored rhinoceros beetles to work with him and munched away at them while at his desk. I think I like this plant-based phase a lot better.

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      • Yeah! Hoovervilles are exactly what I was thinking though it sounds like it went much deeper than that (and I can understand why).

        Gardein meatballs are quite nice indeed and I can see those going better with the tomatoes. I have some easy go-to meals because I have trouble wanting to cook after work too. Its better now that I work from home all day but even with that, I still need quick stuff to make so that is certainly helpful!

        Haha! I’ve seen suckers that have bugs in the center (Hotlicks, I think they’re called) and the idea of a co-worker snacking on bugs is wild to say the least. I can see why you prefer the vegetarian diet to an insect based one 😀

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    • Thank you. I really like those arrows. The guy that put them together for me did a good job on them, I think. They’ve held up well, though I am pretty careful with them. I used to have eight of them, but I lost one, some years ago, shooting at an outdoor range and I think one of the other shooters accidentally or accidentally on purpose took it and then another last year when I Robin Hooded it with a particularly unlucky (or lucky, I guess, depending upon how you look at it) shot. Had to replace the tip too on the other arrow but fortunately the shaft didn’t get bent. So now I’m down to six, but that is plenty, I think though if I get any lower than that I’m going to have to buy another arrow or two.

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