SIMPLE PLEASURES

Hello dear friends!  Yay!  We've finally had a day above freezing.  Even Georgie is hopeful, digging in the asparagus patch looking for the first signs of green.   It's been a good week to watch the birds bathe in a puddle, they were really enjoying themselves.  I suppose the winter has been a long one for them, also.  Poor little dears!  The sun porch was warm enough to sit in and soak up a few rays.  Ah! Bliss!  We have been putzing about the house and enjoying our hikes without the bitter wind stinging us.  Life is good!

We find that more and more often, we would rather do for ourselves than pay others.  When it comes to food, it just makes sense.  Have you ever read the labels?   Almost everything has some sort of corn or soy product in it.  Or an artificial flavoring or color.  Really, if you want to enjoy your retirement, you need to take care of yourself and the best place to begin is with what you eat.  Plus it's cheaper too, so it's a win-win situation.  We aim to always buy groceries in their most natural form.  A bag of potatoes is certainly cheaper than potato chips!  I always ask myself why would I pay to have someone package up something like a pancake mix when even the most meager pantry has all the ingredients to make them?  Or cake mixes?  They're just a bit of flour, sugar, baking powder, and a whole lot of stuff you don't need. Did you know that they use silica as an anti-caking agent in those mixes?   Who needs that?  One of the things we do for ourselves is bake our own crackers.  They cost around  fifty cents to make as opposed to the two or three dollars for a box.

DON'T BUY IT, MAKE  IT

 Honey Cornbread Crackers

1 C. flour
1 C. cornmeal
1 tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
4 tbsp. cold butter
1/4  C. honey
1/3 C. milk (we use buttermilk)
some butter to brush on finished crackers

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl combine the dry ingredients.  Cut the butter into the mixture until it looks like fine crumbs.  Stir in the honey and milk to form a dough.

Roll out the dough  very thinly (about  1/8") on a floured surface .  Cut the crackers into squares or desired shapes.  Prick the crackers with a fork.  Sprinkle with coarse salt if desired.

Place crackers on parchment paper  lined baking sheets.  Bake for 12-15 minutes until they are golden brown.  Remove  from pans and brush with melted butter.  Allow to cool. We made ours in chicken shapes just because they're cuter than squares.

This week our local thrift store has their big final winter clearance event.  All the clothes are 85% off, which equals fifty-two cents an item.  So I leave the menfolk at home and head out for the big hunt!  I'm searching for good quality sweaters that I can unravel for the yarn, blouses with interesting buttons to be used on my sewing projects, and anything made of gray wool for an old-fashioned woolen quilt I'm making. I got a garbage bag sized bundle for $12!  I even found a pretty winter white sweater for wearing that I had to buy because it had a Hudson's label on it.  Trips to the big city and the Hudsons department  store bring back many happy childhood memories, but unfortunately Hudsons no longer exist, so I bought the sweater just for the label.  I know, it's silly! I've already unraveled one of the sweaters and started knitting a cardigan for one of my grandsons for Christmas.  It's never to early to start Christmas presents, especially when it involves knitting!

So that has been our week at Sweet Briar Cottage.   Hope you had a pleasant one at your little corner of the world!