Saturday, February 18, 2017

Living the Pantry Lifestyle - Getting life back to normal


The above photo shows the Jewel Cookies I made for Valentine's Day.  I had promised my husband lemon bars but there was no way I felt like making them.  They aren't hard to make but it does take time.  Then I remembered I had lemon curd in the pantry and it would make a great filling for Jewel Cookies.  Since I fill the cookies before baking them, they don't look all that lovely so I let confectioner's sugar snow fall on them.  Gently.

Yesterday was the first time in two weeks I felt human again so this post will most likely be another rambling about things on my mind.  I wish I could say the virus has left the building but no... Hubby came down with it yesterday evening.  He lost our cell phone last week (it fell out of his pocket when getting his gloves on a cold day) and there was one place he hadn't looked, yet.  So he had gone to the home of the elderly farmer he helps out and looked around there.  Unfortunately, he didn't find it.

However, he had just arrived home when he got a funny look on his face and ran to the bathroom.  Poor guy!  It came on him as quickly as it did me.  He was suppose to take part in a military funeral this morning and had a busy day planned but instead had to cancel everything.  Currently he is on the sofa with Florentine stretched out on his legs.  She is loving it that he has to stay quiet.  At least someone is happy.

I defrosted a whole chicken (the last of my stash in the deep freeze but this is a good cause) so at the moment it is taking a hot bath with some onions, celery, carrots, whole garlic cloves, salt, and peppercorns.  Just what the doctor ordered if he or she was into natural medicine.  I'm hoping Hubby can keep soup down.

I must admit, watching Alaska: The Last Frontier and reading their cookbook has reinforced my love of cooking from scratch and when possible, making healthy alternatives to get well (like soup).  Of course, there are no alternatives to what I have to take for the autoimmune diseases but there are ways to help the immune system.  Thus, the reason I've added quite a few whole cloves of garlic and a whole onion with everything else to my chicken soup stock.

We first began to get into natural foods and such in the early years of our marriage in the 1970s, as a way of helping my husband's environmental illness symptoms.  I laugh now because back then the answer to everything was roughage!  Whole foods have come a long way since then as a lot of people realized true healthy eating is the way great grandmother cooked.

Having said that, I wished I had a few cans of Campbell's Chicken Noodle soup on the shelves when I was first sick.  When the kids were both still at home, I used to keep a Rubbermaid style container labeled something like "Colds and Flu" and everything I could store together for illnesses was in that container.  I always had Campbell's Chicken Noodle soup after reading an article that it is actually good for when you have the flu due to its' high salt content (go figure).

I thought of that when I was feeling so sick at first.  I actually craved potato chips.  That was all I could keep down the first day of the virus. Thankfully, the high carbs kept me from plunging into low blood sugar. A friend suggested it could be to the salt content and I thought back on my Campbell's soup days.  Most likely!

After going through this reminder, I am going to once again stock a cold and flu container on the pantry shelves.  Except for a bag of potato chips and some crackers, I was totally unprepared for not being able to cook and needing food and drink I could keep down for awhile.  I also need to fix some make ahead meals for the freezer.

My favorite cookbook that combines healthy recipes and advice is Karey Swan's Hearth & Home: Recipes for Life.  Long time homeschoolers will probably recognize it.  It is a simple book, fun to read as well as cook from.  It's an old fashioned kind of cookbook with no photos but that is okay.

So once again, excuse the rambling blog post.  It's what I can handle today now that I have a patient.  I have been working on the soup off and on while writing this and it is now time to finish it.

Items mentioned in this post:
Homestead Kitchen cookbook... here.
Hearth & Home: Recipes for Life cookbook... here.

Links I liked this week:
Stocking a Pantry Like a Pro... here.
Freezing Spinach and Other Greens... here.

Jewel Cookie recipe... here.

Disclosure:  Most links to Amazon.com are Associate Links.  I thank you.
Photo from: @coffeeteabooksandme on Instagram

13 comments:

Carol said...

Those cookies look delicious. I hope that your hubby was okay with them instead of the lemon bars.

Anonymous said...

So sorry you are both "under the weather"--glad you are better and able to cook soup today. Hope hubby is better soon.
Hope you have a beautiful day where you live--it is a beautiful sunshiny day here in East Texas today. But that's supposed to change by Monday, I'm told. Blessings to you both, Sharon D.

Jane said...

I had terrible morning sickness with one of my pregnancies and the only thing I could keep down were potato chips and saltines. I ate so many, I thought of naming our son Chip!

Vee said...

Oh dear. I hope that Mr. Coffee (it tickles me to call him that) feels better very soon. What a nasty interruption to some perfectly fine plans. No more sharing of this flu bug now.

Those cookies look amazing. Wish that I had some lemon curd in the pantry. Actually, it is getting to the place where I wish that I had anything in the pantry. =D

Rebecca said...

What a great idea - a "cold and flu container"!

Carol said...

I pray that your husband might feel better soon. (MD)

becky said...

That is so interesting you mentioned potato chips. When I am nauseated or fluish that is the 1st thing I eat is potato chips. It keeps the nausea at bay.
Glad you are on the mend
Becky

Deanna Rabe - Creekside Cottage Blog said...

Glad you're better, sorry about hubby.

I don't have any items for sickness stocked either. I'll have to give some thought to this!

Sherry said...

i'm so sorry to learn that now your husband has fallen ill. :( praying for him in addition to you and your health. thank you for the links - going there now.

Ann said...

Hope both you and hubby rid yourselves of that ugly virus very soon.

Judy said...

I'm sorry to hear that you (and now your husband) have been ill, Brenda. I thought I would pass along a link to some bottled chicken stock which I always keep in the house, and have found wonderful when family are unwell. It lacks the noodles of chicken noodle soup, but a teaspoon of it stirred into boiling water makes for a comforting and salty beverage, drunk from a mug. Once the patient is feeling up to more than drinking, any number of things can be added - celery, carrots, corn, bamboo shoots, kale, left over chicken.... with or without some minute noodles, and you have soup. (Its not as good as broth cooked from scratch, but I do recommend it, and it is especially useful if everyone is sick at once - or if there is only one member of the family with solid cooking skills - smile.)

Here's the link
https://www.amazon.com/Better-Than-Bouillon-Chicken-Base/dp/B000VDSS3C?th=1

Good wishes for a speedy recovery for your husband...

Debbie said...

I'm so sorry that you were and now your hubby is ill. Praying for you both.

I have that book you mentioned "Hearth and HOme". It is one of my favorites. :)

Savoring Sixty said...

The cookies look delicious. Thanks for sharing the recipe!