A Gorgeous Day for Doing

It was so wonderfully quiet when I awoke this morning.  No wind, no sounds, nothing banging, knocking, racketing.  Beautiful even though it was only 9F degrees when I got up.  NOAA predicted a 10 percent chance of snow after 11 a.m. with wind gusts of 22 mph.  Nada.  No wind, sunny and a high of at least 40F degrees.  They also are predicting a 60 percent chance of snow tonight after 11 p.m. with a possible accumulation of one to two inches and another two to four tomorrow with wind gusts as high as 55 mph.  I hope they are as wrong about that as they were about today because I have that 10:40 a.m. appointment in Boulder tomorrow to get my taxes done...and I hate digging out in the wind. 

I decided, though, based on that weather report, I'd better get out, carry in some wood and do my other regular outdoor chores.

Dixie the three-legged Australian cattle dog came for the second day in a row...

...do you think she feels comfortable here?!!!...but when she saw I was getting my boots, coat and hat on, she got right down off the bunk where I'd lifted her and sat outside while I did the usual outside chores, including loading the empty water jugs into the car.  Dixie loves riding in the car and thought I was going to Nederland, but I loaded her into the car and took her back to her house where her running mate, Jimmy...

isn't he a cutie?...and the household cat were waiting for her.  I didn't want Dixie here in case I decided to drive to Boulder today and take the Golden Buff Lodge Best Western up on its offer to mountain residents of a $60-a-night rate when the weather is bad up here. 

While I was keeping an eye on the sky and deciding whether to go down and stay overnight in Boulder, I got a lot done.  I think I was motivated by being able to have the door to the cabin open--it was that nice--or it just improves the energy in the cabin when the door is open.  For some reason, it just makes it seem roomier in here and when the weather is moderate I can go in and out without fighting all the accoutrements I have to have on the door when the wind is blowing, can easily discard used dishwater and rinse water and even wash some bigger pots and pans outside where I can splash.with abandon.  So I did dishes--a lot of them--I don't even want to say how long it had been since I'd really washed up everything, but I was totally out of silverware!  Then I cleaned up that corner where I store the food and water I don't want to freeze. 

In the process, I finally got around to making a dish we often had at the holidays when I was growing up--corn and oysters.  I'm not all that fond of oysters.  I can't stomach them raw, but grew up eating them at the holidays in oyster stew, which I just sort of mouthed and swallowed, and this corn and oyster casserole.  For some reason, a couple of weeks ago, I started thinking I'd like that casserole.  I fancied this up a bit mainly because I was trying to use up some things that I thought might spoil if I didn't.  So, I started out with my little slow cooker that friend Paula gave me for Christmas year before last.  Drained and dumped in a can of corn and a can of oysters, added some evaporated milk and crushed saltines.  Now that, along with some dabs of butter and plenty of salt and pepper, is the original recipe as far as I recall.  Today, I added some frozen spinach well drained and some lite sour cream, lemon pepper, paprika and salt to taste. 

After I got my chores done I decided I'd try putting some of the cooked mixture into a couple of little tart tins and baking the miniature casseroles in the wood stove oven.  They came out looking great...and taste the same!

It was a gorgeous day for doing.  What did you do today?  Teddee

Baking in the Shadow of Vesuvius

It's windy as predicted.  Although the high is supposed to be 30 F today, winds are predicted to gust to 65 mph with 85 mph tonight.  It doesn't seem that bad to me right now.  I've got a very hot fire because I am doing some experimental baking, but every once in awhile if I don't keep the fire really blazing, a big puff of smoke belches out into the cabin so it's a bit like baking in the shadow of Vesuvius. 

I've spent way too much time trying to document the smoke, but here is a close-up of the light above the stove after one smoke emission. 

I just dusted all the ash off the cook top and the inside and top of the warming oven first thing this morning and it looks as if I hadn't done it at all.  I can just see the sightseers of the future as they view the plaster cast of my body crouched over the old Worker range and hear the guide say, "And this seems to be proof that at least some residents were still cooking with wood stoves in the 21st Century."

I had some zucchini that needed using.  I don't know if you ever stoop to investigate what I like to call the used and abused vegetable bin at your local supermarket, but I often find perfectly good veggies in this bin at the supermarket in Nederland.  I got this bag of zucchini for 99 cents. 

Now, I have to admit, I didn't use it right away and I forgot to open the bag to allow the moisture to escape, so I had some waste today when I finally decided to try to make zucchini muffins.  I didn't have any baking powder and I wasn't going to venture out in this wind to Nederland just for that, so decided to use Bisquick.  I used the pancake recipe, added a lot of cinnamon and nutmeg and some Stevia, shorted the milk and used low fat soy milk, then stirred in grated zucchini and some walnuts.

I'm mixing up my batter on top of the steamer trunk for lack of counter space.  You can see some of the "new" canisters I found at thrift shops for my pantry re-do.

I had purchased for use in this wood range oven some mini muffin tins at Goodwill because I wasn't sure I could keep a consistent oven temperature for any length of time.  Well, it all worked, although after tasting the first batch I had to add more Stevia and a little salt.  I thought Bisquick was rife with sodium, but the muffins tasted really flat, so I guess they must be trying to make their product healthier.  I undid their efforts, but  the second batch was much better.

Finished product.  Quite pretty, don't you think?

If you are reading this blog on a regular basis, I hope you'll sign up as a follower.  I noticed yesterday that I only have one follower and that's my niece's husband!  Thanks, Josh! 

Well, I have a lot of grated zucchini left.  I guess I'll scoop it into jars and set it out in the wood shed to freeze for later use as I've ruined my appetite with muffins!  Teddee