Yup, Another Cook Book Giveaway

Do you have a desire to learn more about cooking vegetarian meals? Or perhaps you'd like to know how to cook flavorful, nutritious meals that your family will enjoy using less meat than you do now. Or are you already a vegetarian household but would like to find some new recipes?

Do I have a good deal for you! (I sound like I'm hawking snake oil from the back of a horse drawn wagon.) I'm offering two books for the price of one entry.

I got these two books written by Linda McCartney (yes, Paul's first wife) in the mid-1990's and found them very informative and made quite a few recipes from them. But now I'm ready to pass them on to one of you.

"Home Cooking" is a soft cover book described as having "quick, easy, and economical vegetarian dishes for today."


There are lots of great photos of the food recipes.

"Linda's Kitchen - Simple and Inspiring Recipes for Meatless Meals," is a hard bound book.


This book also has ample color photographs of the recipes presented. (I really love that in a cook book.)

If you're interested in having both these books, just leave a comment saying so and I'll draw a name from all interested this coming Tuesday night, and post the name of the winner Wednesday morning, November 9th.

Please don't be shy about entering your name for these two books even if you've never commented on my blog before or if you've already received one of the books I'm trying to clear off my stuffed cook book shelves. You're helping me out here, and I'll never pare down my collection if I can't find somebody to share them with!

The Disappearing Wood Box

Ever noticed how even though you think you've got things planned out to the nth degree, when reality sets in it doesn't always follow the plan?

In remodeling the kitchen, I first thought I wanted a floor to ceiling storage unit put in this area. That would have meant taking out the double window which looks out onto our enclosed small back porch but you can see through the porch to the outside.

We put heavy brown paper over the window and lived with that for a few days. It took a very short time for us to become aware that we wanted that window view into the area in back of our house.

So the window stayed and I designed a lower storage cabinet.

I knew I wanted part of the unit to be used for wood storage. And I had not planned on putting a door on that section. We lived with the wood box door-less for a while. Then I got nervous.

As anyone who heats with wood knows, safety is a matter of great concern. The vent for our wood stove is on the front of the stove. The front of the stove faces the wood box . . . at a bit of an angle, but still facing that way.

Most of the time, that vent is closed nearly all the way. But when getting a fire started, the vent can be open to show as much as a 2" x 1" gap. We have, very infrequently in the past, seen wood snap, pop and shoot a spark of glowing ember out through that hole. I had visions of the possibility (highly unlikely) of one of those sparks being propelled farther than probably possible and landing in the wood box and smoldering there.

"Um, honey? I'd like to put a door on the wood box."

Okay, I'm much happier now. I didn't mind the open door and looking at the wood. Matter of fact, it was handier when loading the wood into the stove and I liked the interesting way it broke up the face of the cabinet. However, having the door covering the stack of wood just makes the whole operation that much safer.

Here's a shot of all the doors of the cabinet standing open. I don't want to store any food stuffs in that cabinet because it stays warmish when the wood stove is perking away, and since the stove is our main source of heat all winter long, I store baking dishes, pans and appliances that aren't affected by the heat in the cabinet.

I guess that's why I marvel that people will have an architect design a house for them. Has the architect lived in the house? Actually lived and worked within the plans? Even when designing something to your own specifications after giving it tons of thought, you don't always get it right. The first time.

It's All Your Fault

Never one to take responsibility for my failures, I'm blaming this all on you.

Setting the oatmeal to cook over a low, slow flame first thing this morning, I shuffled back to my desk for a couple of minutes to check your blog posts. Which sucked me right in because they were, as usual, very interesting, funny, educational, entertaining and . . .

Huh. What's that aroma I'm detecting? Oh, it's our yummy oatmeal breakfast cooking.

Wait. It doesn't smell just right. More like something is . . . burning.

No problem. If I'm careful I can scrape enough hot oatmeal for breakfast off the stuff in the top of the pan. A month or two of soaking will get the burned-on stuff off the bottom of the pan. And the stove top needed a good cleaning anyway.

Happy Friday!

Late Breaking Bread Bulletin

My rye bread rose nicely (for rye bread . . . which ain't sayin' a lot) . . .

. . . and looked pretty good.

But the desired strong, bohemian rye flavor wasn't there.

It was yummy with our Cheddar-Cauliflower Soup for dinner, but I think a blind man on a galloping horse wouldn't have been able to tell it from a dense whole wheat bread.

I even increased the amount of rye flour called for in the recipe. What does a girl have to do to get a dark rye bread? Do you have to use molasses as the sweetener? Neither Papa Pea nor I care for a sweet rye so that's why I left out the 1/4 cup molasses in this recipe and substituted honey instead.

And how to capture that elusive robust rye flavor? Ah well, back to the drawing board. Or maybe I should more correctly say bread board.

It May Be Time

We had our coldest temp of the season this morning . . . 23 degrees. And the frost was definitely on the pumpkin.

Or at least on the strawberries. It may be time to cover them with their winter blanket of mulch. Don't think we've ever gone this late in the season before covering them.

We even had a light covering of skim ice on the pond this morning.

Time for all of us good little homestead-y people to settle in for a long winter and tons and tons of leisure, free time. HAHAHAHAHA!

(That big thump you just heard was yours truly going over the edge.)

Oh, I almost forgot. In my never-ending quest for that Perfect Loaf of Rye Bread, I tried another recipe this morning.

Here are the loaves before I set them to rise. If it turns out, you'll hear more about it. If it ends up in the Bah-Humbug-Yuck file, you'll never see or hear of it again.

Here and Now

I AM
Tired
Achy
Slow
In a funk
Overwhelmed

I FEEL
Unappreciative
Guilty
Unhappy
Worried

I WANT TO BE
Full of energy
Eager for the future
Content
Happy
Positive
Rested

I NEED TO
Recharge
Change habits
Change thought patterns
Sleep more
Read more
Relax more
Live in the moment

And You?