Bye Bye, January ! (And not a moment too soon)

ALTHOUGH...look at the beautiful new hat and scarf my friend Sharon crocheted for me !!  I feel like I'm living in a parallel Universe here...front of me, back of me...lol  They are just beautiful, and made with love--always the best kind of present.  Thanks Sharon--you made my night!  Perfect for these cold winter days !


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  January's end.  Finally.  This has been a rough winter and is only about half over.  Today brought some cold temps and freezing rain.  It was grey and yucky and even the chickens didn't want to lay.  I took them out a couple of handfuls of chopped lacinto kale to give them some greens to supplement their layer feed and scratch grains. I think I will make them some nice oatmeal tomorrow morning...they sure love warm oaties on a cold winter's day.  It's supposed to warm up to 41 tomorrow (for just one day and then the temps plummet again), but it's also supposed to rain. So...still beats a foot and a half of snow though.

  I made a carb loaded spaghetti and marinara for supper tonight, along with some soft garlic bread sticks. It was comfort food at it's finest, perfect for a freezing wet night.  I love making marinara with lots of good stuff in it--garlic, onions, mushrooms, bell peppers, carrots and black olives.  And my home canned tomato sauce, of course. The colors are gorgeous, the reds so vibrant.

A beautiful vegetarian marinara that is loaded with organic nutrition and flavor.  That reminds me, I need to get more garlic tomorrow, because you KNOW I used all the garlic I could get my hands on for the bread sticks and in the marinara. lol


  The bread sticks were easy...as I used the bread machine to mix the dough and let it rise in there too. Then I pulled it out,  divided the dough into about 16 balls and shaped the balls into ropes and put them to rise again for maybe 25 minutes and they were ready to go into the oven. Halfway through the baking time I brushed them with melted butter mixed with minced garlic. Shut the front door! They were marvelous.  And I didn't take any pictures of them, but I'll make them again and post pictures and recipe here.


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  I harbor no delusions that February will be a blessed relief from the weather. It may well be worse. But at least it will put us a little closer to spring. Before you know it, seed potatoes will be ready to plant, seeds will be getting their starts, and the garden beds will be anticipating their spring dressings of compost and manure.

  And I'm sure we'll all be wiping the winter cobwebs from our brains, ready again for the spring renewal and awakening that saves us at the end of every long cold winter.  Especially the ones like this one where we've had record cold and snowfalls.



  Alrighty. I'm off for the evening. Watching a Kevin Spacey movie called Shrink.  I'll let you know!


Bon Apetit!