Cozy during the Christmas preparations

A well laid fire is no trouble to light and doesn't need to be fussed with to keep it lit.

Just shut the door but be sure the drafts are open.

Mine even has a thermometer to let us know if it is getting too hot!  Very handy it is too.

I do love to start up the stove.  It's not just that the house is 70 degrees again, the very heat of the stove calls to us when we are getting tired in the afternoon or watching tv in the evening or just reading.  Then we snuggle up at the stone hearth and take comfort in the palpable warmth.  No furnace provides that.  But we've not had many really cold days.  And a wood fire warms the house too much if it's not cold outside.  The cold is coming though!
This year I wanted to have some real mincemeat for the holidays.  So I got out some of the stew beef we bought from the Butcher's Block and cooked it in my small crock pot.  Then I added apples, raisins, brown sugar and spices.

It cooked in the crock pot some more and finally filled 2 quart jars to make 2 pies for Christmas parties and for Christmas day feast.  Beside it are 5 jars of rose hip jam made from dried rose hips from Blooming Foods.

I made fruit cake the same day.  Owing to having so many projects going at the same time, I forgot to put the oranges in the mincemeat.  It tastes great anyway, though.
Today I got out the feather tree and the ornaments.  And there was a little note in the box to myself.  It said:

                                                   For Christmas 2011
Walnuts
Orange slices, 2 bags please.
Cordial Cherries, 2 boxes
Plain or iced gingerbread
Salted peanuts or cashews
Sugar Cookie "trees"  (stacked)
Fruit cake, double fruit Please,
Peppermints


I wished I had read it before I went to the store, but I can stop in again.  It's too late for the double fruit in the fruitcake but I do agree it would have been better.  I did get the peanuts but only one box of Cordial Cherries and one bag of Orange slices.  And I got pecans instead of walnuts.  Apparently I felt very strongly about the Christmas refreshments last year.  But you know what, I loved getting a note from myself!


Here are the menus for this week:
Hoppin' John, Green salad, Cream biscuits, Fruit cocktail
Thin Steaks, mashed potatoes, tossed salad, Fruit cocktail
Chicken fingers with bar-be-que sauce, roasted garlic potatoes, Asian vegetables, fruitcake
Hoppin' John soup, Chef's salad, fresh hot bread from the oven
Hamburgers, baked sweet potatoes, left-over salad, Butterscotch pudding
Hearty meat canned soup, toasted cheese sandwiches, pudding
Frozen Pizza, salad, pudding


The cream biscuits were a big success.  My daughter Rose came over to experiment with it.  The recipe came from my 'new' 1924 cook book It's just 2 cups self-rising flour and 1 1/3 cup whipping cream.  Mix gently.   Roll out about 1" thick, cut with small cutter, bake at 425 about12 to 15 minutes.  Some recipes call for a tablespoon of sugar.  Yummy either way!