Winter Solstice & Frugal Accomplishments

Hello, friends.  Last week, I was able to catch up on a number of things on my to do list.  One day, I made dog treats and a double batch of granola.  For the dog treats, I pulled cubed pumpkin from the freezer, and pureed them when defrosted, to add to the dough.  Home ground wheat was used in both the dog treats and granola.  The forecast for Wednesday kept changing, and in the end, we only got rain.  But, it was one of those raw, cold days, so I made a cup of tea and mended cashmere sweaters, then ironed while watching a few short videos on youtube.  When I have various bits of leftovers, I tend to make fritters these days.  This week, they included pinto beans, corn, lentils with maple syrup, sauteed cabbage, and lambs quarter.  I made cranberry blueberry relish again, to go with them, and opened a can of peas.  Peaceful Christmas tunes have been enjoyed several days on Pandora, and I enjoyed listening to this Robin Wall Kimmerer interview.  If you haven't had the pleasure, I'd recommend reading her Braiding Sweetgrass book. 

Pasta sauce was made with our tomatoes, summer squash, herbs, garlic and onions.  Laundry was hung on the line.  Lettuce was gathered for salads.  Cashmere sweaters were washed with homemade soap gel.  I added soap gel to the bathroom sink dispenser. Kale and collards were harvested, enough for 18 cups of chopped greens, but you know how it cooks down to not much.  I used them in a new to us recipe.  Next time, I'll cut down on the bread crumbs, and may halve the recipe.  I subbed cheddar for fontina cheese, as that's what I had.  We thought it was yummy, but it's definitely not lowfat.  Some comfort food right about now is a good thing, I'm thinking.  Some of our potatoes and store bought rutabagas were cooked to go with it.  We decorated our tree on Friday, bringing some cheer to these short days.  First, we had to hang the paintings on the living room wall, taken down in the spring when painting, as they were sitting where the tree goes.  That's been on my to do list a long time, waiting for J, so I'm glad to have that done.  There's a book I've been wanting to read, but hadn't wanted to buy.  I checked my library again, and they now have it, so I put it on my list.  

This was the first year I tried bringing in the turmeric pot for the winter, to give it extra growing time.  It began fading rapidly last week, so I harvested what there was, a small 2 1/2" piece, and three tiny pieces.  Not enough to save to replant, they were cut up and added to the Fire Cider in progress.  J was visiting family over the weekend.  While he was gone, I pulled a bag of maitake from the freezer, and made mushroom gravy with jasmine rice for dinner.  He's sensitive to many foods, and that's one of them, so I'm using up the frozen mushrooms whenever he's away.  Some were used in a breakfast scramble on Sunday.  Earlier this week, I had mixed up a batch of za'atar, from foraged sumac.  Some was made for us, and some for his Mom, who expressed interest in tasting it some time ago.  I also sent him with a couple of jars of preserves.  On Saturday, I was grateful to be able to devote most of the day to spiritual pursuits.  On Sunday, I went through cookie recipes, in anticipation of our GD coming to bake cookies this week, then wrapped all the presents, and decorated, both of these simpler than most years.  I have all the ingredients for the cookies.  A number of J's presents were wrapped in cloth wrappers and pretty boxes I'd saved, instead of paper.  Almost all of the ribbons were reused ones.  I'm looking forward to the return of the light. Happy Winter solstice!