Hello one and all. Hope this finds everyone of y'all doing well and enjoying first few days of the year. It has finally turned winter in my neck of the woods. I'm kinda happy about that in one way. It kills off insects. But the down side of it, huge utility bill. But, by the grace and love of God, we'll manage and survive and thrive. The cold doesn't bother me as much as it does my husband. I really feel for him during the cold weather, he's so cold natured. And I know lots of other people are too. Check on anyone you know who could use a little extra help during the cold weather.
It's has been an eventful year so far, and it's just got started. hahaha My fridge, that has been in this house longer than we have, just went belly up 2 weeks ago. It moved into this house 2 days before my husband and I did, and that was Dec.19th, 2000. I had been very pleased with it and my husband had already said that we may need to consider a fridge this year, so we was thinking about it already, we just wasn't ready for it to happen without having one ready to move in to the house. So we was without a fridge for a week and living out of coolers with ice in them. UUGGHHHH!!!!!!! Yeah, you heard me, UUGGHHHH!!!!!!! hahahaha I never want to do that again. But I thank God for His help and provision.
Do you know that NO ONE carries a storehouse of refrigerators? All they have are the floor models or returns. My, how things change!!!!! And, I don't like change!!!! They don't realize that it's not only people buying new homes, building new homes, people moving that needs fridges, but also people who have had a refrigerator to quit on them!!!! If we had known it was gonna quit, we would have ordered one sooner, BUT, we didn't know, so we had to wait a week. It was very frustrating to say the least. It was very stressful and my body has been paying for the stress. It is so nice to have a refrigerator setting in the kitchen now. I know there are people on the planet that would love to have our old one, they would get it fixed or something. And I wish and hope someone does do something with to get it work again.
The main thing I hate about losing the other one is all the food I lost when it stopped working. The freezer was full of food and a lot of it had already thawed. I guess I threw away 3 or 4 hundred dollars of food. Plus all the stuff in the fridge that had gotten warm too. Now, I have been in the process of restocking my fridge. I had quite a few extras to go ahead and put in the fridge, but there is a few things I still need to get.
In the process of the getting new fridge, I have started cleaning my kitchen cabinets out. Wow, how stuff accumulates!!!! My problem is this, I have a very hard time getting in the floor to see what's at the back of the bottom cabinets!!! And that's what it takes, is getting down in the floor to drag it all out and I did that to one on my cabinets. It's all clean now, My main problem is figuring out how to maximize my storage without forgetting whats back there and still being able to get to and use it. I need to put my thinking cap on for that. I know I'll get something figured out. That has always been my major problem in all the kitchens in the past also, not enough usable storage space. I've never had a lot of cabinet space to begin with, in any of my kitchens, but I've always managed. On the other hand, it was easier to manage back then, because I could get up and down without the help of the fire department!!!! hahahaha That was just a joke, but it's almost that bad. Anyway, I do have a great start on having a cabinet cleaned out and ready to maximize the use use of it. Need to start on the cabinet above it now. That won't be too hard, as I cleaned it out sometime last year and got it more accessible. Neatness used to my strong point. Now my strong point is hoarding!!!! hahaha
My husband and I was talking about that the other day. My parents were children of the Great Depression. My grandparents lived and worked and managed to make it thru that time. They used what they had or done without. They really knew what it was like having to live from one day to the next. I remember the stories and I remember reading about how people barely survived and some didn't even survive. So, with all that in mind, it's hard to just get rid of something that I may need or someone else may need. So, we moved stuff from house to house. We have bought more stuff to add to what we already had, and then we buy even more and the next thing ya know, you keep expecting to see the people that make the tv show "Hoarders" at your front door wanting to do an episode on you!!!! Maybe a little extreme, but not by far!!! hahahaha
Anyway, it does feel good to have the new fridge and the starting of a cleaned out kitchen to cook in. I do love to cook and I do love my kitchen appliances, large and small alike. My first electric pressure cooker quit on me between Thanksgiving and Christmas of 2019. I think I did tell about it in maybe the last post of the year or the next to the last one. But I have an Instant Pot and an Insignia EPC now. I like them both equally.
The Instant Pot has yogurt setting on it and I do love that. I have my first batch of yogurt and it is the best greek yogurt I have ever eaten!!! So, I would encourage anyone to use that function of their Instant Pot, if it has it. You can't make yogurt if it doesn't have that function.
I love to take a box of pasta noodles and a can of salsa and water and cook the pasta with the sauce already in it and then add a pouch of Velveeta cheese and stir stir stir. What would also be delicious would be to add a bag of mixed veggies in this!!! Some of the smoked turkey sausage or kielbasa would be delicious in this too. As a matter of fact, it is delicious!!!!
I make a rice dessert too that is fabulous. I cook a batch of rice with a can of coconut milk. When the rice is cooked, I stir in a can of cherry pie filling and a small can or sweetened condensed milk. This is a very delicious dessert. I don't give us much at a time because it's so starchy and unhealthy, but it does help curb a sweet tooth. We can eat on a batch of this all week.
Of course an old standby is pinto beans or great northers in the EPC. Quick and easy. 99 minutes for me to a wonderful batch of beans!!! Collard greens is also a favorite of mine in the EPC!!!!! Wow, they are so delicious. They taste just like you cooked the low and slow all day!!!
Most of it simple foods, but with a heart warming memory and comfort foods.
I have started making fire cider, kombucha and elderberry syrup. All for the health benefits. There is no telling what else I will get into making, especially if it has wonderful benefits. There are lot's of recipes on the internet for all the wonderful elixirs and home made medicines. I wouldn't tell y'all how to take them, but you can certainly google and find out how to make and take anything.
I am looking into making ricotta cheese with the whey left over from making my yogurt. Did I say how good my yogurt is? Well, I'll tell for the 40 eleventh time, it's delicious!!! I don't even put any sugar or salt, that's how good it is.
I recently got a small greenhouse to set up on my deck when early spring gets here. I am hoping to fill it with lettuces, onions, radishes and other smallish things that can be raised in containers and in the greenhouse. I don't know if it will be a waste of time or now, I am certainly praying that it won't be. I am hoping it begin my growing time earlier and make it last later in the season. We'll see.
Well, that's about got me caught me caught up what's been happening with us in our neck of the woods. I hope that wherever y'all are, that you have fun plans in the works and that you get to see the fruits of your hands. I pray that God will bless all of our efforts and He will our efforts are pleasing to Him. Take your daily struggles directly to Him. He opened the door to Him, by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. So if you have a relationship with Christ, then you certainly have the ear the Father and you can call on Him any time, any where, for any reason. While He doesn't love our sin, He is very offended by our sin, but He loves us and His desire is for us to love Him enough to lay the burden of sin down and start asking Him for direction and guidance. I pray that if you don't know Him, today will be that day that you decided to call on His son, Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior of your life. All it takes is for you to admit you're a sinner, confess your sins and ask Christ Jesus to come and live in you and help you with your daily walk. I want to say, "that's all there is to it", but in reality, that's just the beginning. When you learn to do better, you will do better. But until you fully commit to Christ and let Him be active and alive in you, you may not see a change. A change in a persons life is proof that Christ is in you. If you keep doing the same things, going the same places, using the same language, then that's not much of a sign that you accepted Christ as your Savior. It's up to us to accept Christ as our Savior, for real, and seek Him in every way, every day. I will say this, Jesus loves you more than you could possibly know.
Be blessed and have a wonderful rest of this day that the Lord has made!!! God loves y'all and so do I. love and hugs, patty
