Keeping Warm
WOW!! Can you believe we had 9 degrees this morning. The wind was blowing and that put the wind chill below zero. Our furnace hadn't quit running all day!! We keep our house at 68 degrees in order to save on propane. Blankets are cheaper than gas!!
Baked an apple pie for John yesterday. Since he can't have animal products, I had to use vegetable shorting for the crust instead of lard. It turned out pretty good. I was actually surprised how good it browned. I have used lard for pie crust ever since I learned to bake. We lived on a farm and always rendered our own lard.
Still busy crocheting. I got two hats done and today I finished a dishtowel with a crochet topper. I still have a hat and three dish towels to do and I am hoping to have time to crochet a dishcloth to go with each towel. My 6th grade teacher taught me how to knit and crochet. My Mom did beautiful work but she was left handed and couldn't teach my sister and I. But she did teach us to embroidery and to quilt. I was never good at quilting. I could never get my stitches small enough. But I can embroidery. I have a tablecloth I am working on that is really complicated but I hope to get it done someday!!! It takes more patience than I currently have!!! Maybe I will get it back out later this winter.
Hubby has been watching football all day today. At least with him watching football it gives me time to crochet. Tomorrow will be another day of football.
Tomorrow I am going to stuff a chicken for dinner. Our grocery store had them on sale so I got one. It will be a different way to fix chicken. It is amazing all the dishes that I have found to fix. Next week I want to try chili made with ground chicken. We have also been using black beans in place of meat for protein. Desserts have been a challenge but fruit salads have been working. The apple pie I made yesterday didn't bother John's system so pies may work if made with fresh fruit and not pie filling in a can. I have lots of apples and also I canned peaches last fall I can use in a pie as well as frozen blueberries and frozen rhubarb.
Deer season is in full swing here right now. We have hunters all around us. I makes me nervous that a shot will come through our house since we are in the woods. The good thing is that all the land around us is posted so the people that own it are aware of our house. John hadn't tried venison yet but we are assuming it is a nono like beef. He wanted me to fix it the other night but I was just a little afraid to try it so I didn't. I do miss it. It is one of our favorite meats.
Well that is about all I have for now. Hope all of you in the path of this cold front are staying warm. According to the weatherman we have a couple more days of this and then it is going to warm up in the high 30s, which will seem like a heat wave.
Replies
John cannot eat anything Mammal....that includes deer....sorry to tell you that...Well pies made with vegetable shortening is a great thing to sub in for lard....your going to need to start looking for recipes for fish chicken turkey and any other birds you might have access too like pheasant or quail...sorry it is so cold there....
That's cold!!! I keep my thermostat set at 64, I have oil heat and it's very expensive. Like u said it's cheaper to bundle up.
I hope John enjoyed the pie.
It's good that u are keeping busy crocheting
Enjoy your stuffed chicken :-)
Hopefully a stray bullet doesn't;t come into your house!
take care and have a good week and do your best to stay warm ....hugs
Hi Debbie, and John :) happy football sunday :)Go Steelers :) We're so glad you all are keeping warm, and it's so nice you all are enjoying a nice peaceful weekend :) that's great, you're trying new recipes, cooking and baking foods, that John can have, and baked a nice apple pie for him :) We love hearing about the times you all are sharing during the seasons :) We hope you and John enjoy the football games today :)Wishing the Steelers a big win :)
That's great ,you're enjoying crocheting, and John watched football :) We love hearing about the crocheting projects you're enjoying :) it's a great hobby you have : )Holly loves to crochet :)She's crocheting some scarfs :) Wishing you all continued joys of the holiday season :)
Holly doesn't eat meat, but loves the veggie burgers, i even have some, they also have chickpea patties, that are like chicken patties :) If John likes meatloaf,maybe you could use veggie burgers to make the meatloaf :) there's so many nice recipes :) There's also packets of taco veggie meat, where you just add water and it tastes like tacos :) the foods are planted based :) keep us updated :)Wishing you all the best of good health : )We love you friends :)
Wishing you all continued joys of the holiday season :) We send our love,many peaceful healing blessings, and our warmest caring happy sunny friendship hugs, from CT to PA :) Take care, enjoy a nice day :)