Just a Note

Just a short note to say that today's post is further down the blog. It's dated December 21, because that is the date I started writing it. Scroll down and find a week of menus plus a few really good recipes.

Christmas Greetings!

Jim joins me in wishing you all, children, relatives, friends, acquaintances out there in Blogland, a Blessed Christmas today. May the love, the joy, and the peace of God live in our hearts and in our world today, and in the days to come. Our prayer is that God will create justice in the hearts of all, that the poor may be blessed by the rich and that peace may come in place of war.

Our little country church held a Christmas Eve service of lessons and carols last night. Because this is the year of our church's centennial celebration, many of us dressed as we would have in 1909. We sang only carols that would have been sung in that year, and although we used electric lighting (candles would have given the Fire Marshal fits!), we sang from song sheets and hymnals. I played organ for the service and Brian was on piano. For special music three young men sang "We Three Kings", and for another number I played "Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne" on violin, accompanied by Brian. It was a lovely service, appropriate to those of a century ago. Though we were not many gathered in our little church, we had a joyful time together.

Today is a day of leisure for the two of us. Daughter #1 is at work as an RN in an emergency department. Daughter #2 is at her in-laws, who live much closer than we do. Son #1 is at work in Yosemite as a mechanic and tow truck driver, and son #2 and his family are also at in-laws (same situation--it's a much shorter drive). Actually, we discourage our children and grandchildren from visiting at this time of year. The roads can be treacherous and the airports can be a nightmare.

We are spending the day by the fireplace reading and knitting, with the Christmas tree lit up. If it becomes warm enough (say -18 or -16) we plan to do some cross country skiing from our back door and over the fields.

In the meantime I'm baking a bit. When the kids were home there was always fruit cake and banket (a Dutch almond ring) for this time of the year. But since it's just the two of us, we just can't get rid of all that baking. So instead, for breakfast this morning I made a Fruity Scone and now there's some Boston Brown Bread in the oven.

Fruity Scones:

1 orange peel, zested

1/2 cup of orange juice, used to soak

1/2 cup of dried cranberries.

Mix together

2 cups of flour

1 tablespoon of baking powder

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt.

Cut 5 tablespoons of butter into

the flour mixture (I use my Cuisinart for this).

Beat 1 large egg into 1/4 cup of milk.

Transfer flour mixture to large bowl.

Add the cranberries and orange juice, and the

egg and milk.

Stir gently until all the flour is moistened.

Shape into a circle on a cookie tray covered

with baking parchment.

Pat the circle down, and score into 8 parts.

Bake at 375 for 18 minutes.

Enjoy warm with a good cup of coffee, and don't worry about the calories.

And to replace fruitcake as an afternoon snack, here's my take on

Boston Brown Bread

Combine:

2 1/2 cups of freshly ground whole wheat flour

(Or 2 cups of w.w. flour and 1/2 cup white flour)

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt.

Add:

2 cups of low fat plain yogurt

1/2 cup of dark molasses

1 cup of raisins (rinsed with warm water).

Divide into 3 coffee cans, thoroughly greased with margerine.

Bake at 350 for 50 minutes.

Let stand in cans until cool.

Turn out of cans.

Can be frozen. Tastes great with jam or with cream cheese, or with both, or with any other suitable cheese (cheddar, provolone, etc.)

This is a very low fat, low sugar treat which we enjoy.

One Down, Two to Go

This afternoon I finished the first waistcoat, the one for our younger granddaughter. It turned out so well, I'm really pleased. I love the colour, and it feels so soft and comfy. The button needs to be sewed on yet, but I don't have any blue thread. The waistcoat needs to be blocked. It's a little smaller than anticipated, since after I started it, I didn't like how loosely knit it was, and switched to the next size smaller needles. It's a size 7-8, and the granddaughter just turned 7, so I think it will be fine.

Her sister's waist coat is coming along well. The back is finished and this evening I started knitting the left front.

For this first one I did change the pattern in a few minor ways: I knit the body in one piece, dividing when I reached the length for the armholes. That took away the need for a seam under the arms. After the garter stitch lower border, I started with row two, a wrong side row. That puts the nicer side of the cast on to the outside.

The larger version for her sister was too big to fit all the stitches on the needle, so I'm knitting that in sections: back and two fronts.

But the biggest change in plans was this: I liked the pattern so much that I bought pink yarn to make one for the youngest granddaughter, their cousin, to wear when she goes to ballet lessons. So that explains the "one down, two to go."

This past Sunday we had another little trip out of town. We went to Rocky Mountain House where Jim preached and I played organ for two services on Sunday. That church often invites us, and we enjoy going there.

We've become quite good friends with a couple about our age there, and we've often had dinner with them. On Sunday two of their grown boys were there with their wives and six children, aged 17 years to 6 weeks old. I enjoyed having young children around so very much. The two youngest are little girls, one 6 weeks old and one 17 months old. They are little dolls, with dark curly hair, very expressive children. There was also an angelic blond boy, almost three, who had the most amazing ability to turn down the corners of his mouth when he wasn't pleased. I could hardly keep from laughing at him! He wanted some craisins, and that was fine, but Grandpa tried to sneak some mashed potatoes along with them, and little Derek insisted that he wanted that craisin there in an empty spot on his plate.

That church has quite a nice organ, and they sing most heartily. Sunday morning we sang the Christmas hymn "As With Gladness Men of Old." When we got to the final verse, two sopranos sang the descant. What a joy it was to be in the midst of all that music, both hands and both feet busy on the organ, and all the people singing with that descant floating above it all! I was transported! That's one of my special memories from this particular Christmas season.

A Week of Menus

(The date of this posting is deceiving. It spent just over a week as a draft. The actual posting date is December 28.)

Just thought it might be interesting to record our dinner menus for one week.

Sunday we were guests at friends' home. The dinner was plentiful: ham, sausage chunks, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, peas, carrots, applesauce, pineapple slices, coleslaw, raw carrots, broccoli, and yellow pepper with dip, wine, juice, Saskatoon pie with ice cream and cheesecake with Saskatoon topping for dessert. No wonder we were stuffed!

Monday at home: grilled pork (from pork tenderloin) with sweet and sour sauce, oven baked sweet potato chunks garnished with olive oil, celery salt, ground cumin and ground coriander, steamed broccoli, salad of fresh tomato slices with onion and peas, choice of Italian or Ranch dressing. No dessert.

Tuesday: Fresh spinach salad (spinach, mushrooms, onions, grated mozza, choice of dressings), Tilapia (gently heated in pan with dab of butter and sliced onions), Basmati rice (with onion and green, red, and yellow peppers), asparagus (from the freezer.) We have a prolific asparagus patch, and eat as much as we can in season. The rest goes into the freezer (boil 3 minutes, drain, freeze).

Wednesday: whole wheat spaghetti noodles, sauce: 3 mild Italian sausages, cut into rounds, sauteed with 1/2 pound fresh mushrooms chopped, 1/2 large onion chopped, green, red and yellow sweet peppers chopped, 1 clove garlic (all I had or I would have used 2 cloves). When the saute is ready, add 1 jar of Classico Tomato Basil sauce, and heat through. Add some dried oregano and a little ground anise seed. Serve with focaccia bread and red wine. Finish with a serving of frozen vanilla yogurt.

Thursday: Salad: fresh tomatoes, cut into 12

sections, drizzled with olive oil, and sprinkled with dried dill. Main dish: Prime Rib roast (1st time I've done Prime Rib!), mashed potatoes, vegetable combination of carrot slices, onions and celery slices, boiled lightly and dressed with a little butter, sauteed mushrooms on top of prime rib, accompanied by a glass of red wine.

Friday: Christmas Dinner: turkey thigh and drumstick, slow roasted for 3 hours at 350 in an oven bag, mashed sweet potatoes with butter and brown sugar, boiled Brussels sprouts, homemade cranberry sauce, stuffing (from a box, alas), accompanied by a glass of red wine. Maybe a dish of frozen yogurt later on for dessert.

Here's a wonderful recipe for a big batch of stuffing, cooked in a large crockpot.

SLOW COOKER DRESSING

1/4 cup butter

1 cup finely chopped onion

1 cup finely chopped celery

1 (8 ounce) can of mushrooms, drained

(OR use fresh mushrooms)

1/4 cup chopped parsley

2 teaspoons poultry seasoning

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

12 cups (or whatever) toasted bread cubes

2 eggs, well beaten

1 1/2 cups chicken bouillion

1 pound pork sausage, cooked and drained

Put all ingredients into large crock pot, stir thoroughly.

Cook on high for 1 hour.

Reduce to low and cook for 1 to 2 more hours.

Note: 22 slices of bread, cubed and toasted,

yields 12 cups of toasted bread cubes.

Saturday: We had our neighbors, our good friends L and M, over for supper this evening. I had made a huge pot of chili on Monday, refrigerated it for two days to let the flavours blend, and then froze it in quart containers. I took out four quarts in the morning to thaw and gently heated it in a crockpot throughout the afternoon. Here's how we serve chili: crumble some corn chips in the bottom of a large soup bowl, spoon hot chili over the corn chips, top with grated cheese, shredded lettuce, chopped onions and fresh tomatoes, and finish with a dollop of sour cream. Add focaccia buns on the side, along with a glass of red wine.

For dessert: a slice of homemade cheesecake with a spoonful of homemade strawberry topping.

CHILI

1 pound (or more) ground beef, cooked and drained

1 1/2 chopped onions

3 large carrots, chopped

2 green peppers, chopped

1 red pepper, chopped

5 cups sliced mushrooms

1 medium zucchini, shredded

1 14 ounce can of black beans, drained

2 28 ounce cans of red kidney beans, drained

1 28 ounce can of white kidney beans, drained

2 28 ounce cans of Romano beans, drained

2 28 ounce cans of diced tomatoes

1 13 ounce can of tomato paste

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tablespoon ground ginger

1 tablespoon garlic powder

2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 cup red cooking wine

1 tablespoon cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 tablespoon coriander

1 tablespoon paprika

1 tablespoon oregano

1 tablespoon basil

2 teaspoons dill

1 teaspoon dry mustard

2 bay leaves

Combine all ingredients in a BIG heavy pot, and simmer for the afternoon.

Remove the bay leaves and serve. (Or leave them in and give a prize to the person who finds them in his/her bowl.)

CHEESECAKE

4 pkg (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened to room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup cornstarch

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 cups heavy cream

6 eggs

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 10 inch springform pan. Line the bottom of the pan with baking parchment. Wrap the outside of the pan with aluminum foil, to form a collar above the pan.

Beat the softened cream cheese until smooth. (Use a few of the eggs with this or your mixer will suffer.)

Add sugar, then cornstarch, butter, cream and eggs, beating well after each addition. Pour into pan. Place pan in a pan filled with 1" of water.

Bake for 1 hour or up to two hours--until the top is golden brown. (I usually bake it for close to two hours, and it's never been overbaked.)

Cool on a wire rack for 3 hours.

Take out of pan and refrigerate, or cut (into 24 slices) and freeze.

This is a VERY rich cheesecake. Made with these ingredients it comes to about 300 calories per slice (when divided into 24 slices). Top it with some nice homemade strawberry topping.

Winter Gardening

Since the cold weather broke, we've had gloriously sunny days. That's especially welcome as the days are at their shortest now. And when the daylight fades, I turn on the Christmas tree lights, the lights in the garlands above the kitchen cupboards, and the icicle lights on the peak of the house. It's very cheery.

But this morning was solidly overcast. The atmosphere was milky and it looked as if snow were hovering in the air. Around noon, the sun started to break through. I was just a little too late to get a really atmospheric picture of this little spruce laden with snow. We are thankful to have a good snow cover insulating the perennials and shrubs. Besides that, it's a beautiful scene outdoors these days. Our daytime highs have been in the single digits and the overnight lows dipping down to around -14C. That's pretty comfortable winter weather.

My little experiment with container gardening in the solar space is going well. These two containers were seeded late in September, and I've been picking from them for about four weeks now.

It stays very cool in the solar space, just above freezing at night, so the growth is very slow. But I'm able to harvest one spinach and one lettuce salad each week.

You can see that a few lettuce seeds accidentally fell into the spinach pot. No problem, just let them grow up together.

Other years I've seeded pots like this in the spring, starting them in the greenhouse when we begin heating it in March, and transferring them to the back patio when the weather warms sufficiently. But after the success of this fall seeding, I'll be sure to do this again. I'd much rather pick it from our own pots than buy it in a plastic bag that was shipped from 2,000 km away.

O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!

FINALLY!!! We've had a break in the weather. Tues-

day evening the temperature began to edge upward. In Alberta we are treated to several "Chinooks" during the winter. A Chinook is a warm wind from B.C. The wind climbs the Rockies, and as it descends on this eastern side, becomes warm air. A Chinook is signified by an easily recognizable cloud arch. I'll take a picture when I can. So first you see the arch in the sky, and a bit later the wind begins to blow. It can be fierce! Anything not tied down will blow away. I've lost the Christmas wreath off the back door many times, only to find it in the evergreens beside the driveway.

This week's Chinook was not like that; it was a gentle warming from -38 to +5C, without the wild winds. By Wednesday afternoon it was mild enough for Jim to take our Christmas tree, which had been resting in a pot by the back door, into the greenhouse to let some of the snow burden melt off. Yesterday we took it into the house to finish the warming and put it into the Christmas tree stand. Last night I decorated it in a very simple manner: just some coloured lights, some snowflakes made of plastic looking like ice, candy canes and hand crocheted snowflakes, all different, which I made some years ago.

I like to vary the way the tree is decorated from year to year, and we're both pleased with how it turned out this year. Here's a close up that shows some individual decorations. The glassy looking flake at the central lower edge is one of the "icicles" made of plastic. My good friend M. gave me several one year. They came from a gift shop in Rosebud, just like the plate I gave her this year. Then I bought some more when we were there, so now we have a dozen. They reflect the light beautifully.

Our Christmas trees come from our own little nursery, which Jim started maybe eight years ago. We have a triangle of land south of the greenhouses which he's planted with spruce, pine and a few other species. In the fall we have a fellow with a tree moving truck come from Red Deer and put about 25 trees into great big pots for sale the following season. He usually moves several other trees to M and L's, or to another customer in town. This year one of the trees just kept falling over in the pot. It was just too big for the pot, so that tree was earmarked for us to use at Christmas. We think it's a really nice, full little tree.

The litany you hear wherever you go now is, "Are you ready for Christmas?" What people really mean is, "Have you bought and wrapped all the presents you feel obligated to give this year?"

Decades ago, when the kids were little, we decided to opt out of that particular pressure. They were a little taken aback when we told them there would be no more presents at Christmas. But we sweetened the sentence by adding that at some time during the year without any special occasion, they would receive a nice present. When they were a little older, I made it a special occasion, taking out each one alone for a special evening with Mom. Jim stayed home with the rest of the family, and the special child for the evening went out for a restaurant meal and little shopping trip with Mom. We would buy something that we'd never consider otherwise. For instance, one year I bought Daughter #2 a bathing suit (a bikini for a teen) for $80. Never would have done that ordinarily, but it was sure fun for both of us!

I hope the kids, all now grown ups, have pleasant memories, in spite of being deprived of the annual Christmas present bash.

Christmas Pageant Practice

Dear granddaughter #2 celebrated her 10th birthday on Saturday. But there wasn't much time for a party, because she had to be at a long rehearsal for their church Christmas Pageant. She's playing two parts, one of which is the wicked King Herod. There weren't enough boys to go around, so she agreed to be King Herod.

This pageant is a BIG production with lots and lots of kids involved. So when they were all there, and the pastor managed to get them lined up and somewhat quieted down, he asked them all to close their eyes and have a prayer before the practice. Silence settled down and pastor glanced around to see if all the little kiddies were ready for prayer, but, wait, there was his own son fiddling around with the king's crown. "IF YOU DON'T PUT THAT CROWN DOWN IMMEDIATELY, IT WILL BE PERMANENTLY EMBEDDED IN YOUR HEAD!!!" the stressed father roared. One of the little angels opened troubled eyes and asked, "Is THAT the prayer?"

I thought this was funny enough to share.

Last night was so cold we used both the new winter duvet, and the summer quilt on top of it. We think it was -40 when we got up this morning, but it's hard to tell because there's snow on the thermometer. Today the sun shone brilliantly and there was hardly any wind. I bundled up in my long red parka and walked to our neighbor's house to give that lovely plate, found in Rosebud, to my good friend M. It's such a treat to find a present for a friend that delights both the giver and the receiver.