Things are Looking Up (and a few favorite recipes)
I've finally paid the girl to get her car fixed, and they actually decided they wanted less money than they'd need to fix it. I wrote her a check, she wrote me a reciept (which I locked up in my safe). So that is taken care of. Now all I need is to pay my insurance and fix my car, and looking at my account balance I may just be able to do that without going into my savings! I am very much joyful about that, as the money I had fervently squirrelled away is money I had planned to use for my trip to Minnesota (hopefully with some left over when I get back).
I haven't had a "sugar episode" in almost two weeks, which, if you had seen me two weeks previous, seems to be quite an accomplishment. I'm doing quite well now actually, and still getting better. My next challenge to myself is to get up at a reasonable hour. I lack the self discipline to pull that one off.
I've been getting swelled up and itchy fingers and toes from the cold (happens every winter, grr) and nothing was working for them. I don't know what made me think of it, but I have some aromatherapy oil that I mixed up, I have no tincture of benzoin and the scent does not last long enough to be of any real value for aromatherapy. So for some odd reason or another, I rubbed the stuff into my hands and feet. My fingers and toes (which had been itching terribly, and making me do the "itchy foot dance") did not itch at all while I was at work yesterday, and the swelling is considerably down in them today. (It does help that I've been trying to avoid the cold as well.)
I was playing around in the kitchen and decided to see what I could come up with that was something different. I wanted oatmeal, and so I started playing around with it. Here's what I came up with:
Use actual rolled oats, not quick oats, please. ::shudders at the thought of glue quick oats:: Make the oats with milk, instead of water (just make it how you usually do, follow the directions on the box, whatever). When you're boiling the milk put a few shakes of cinnamon, an allspice berry or two, and a few cloves (I did not crush the cloves or allspice; you might want to). When the milk is boiling, add the oatmeal and cook as usual. (Don't freak when at first the cinnamon forms little lumps that look kinda funky...they'll go away). Serve with a spoonful of brown sugar.
My next recipe is for fried apples. It's simple enough. Cut the apples into tiny pieces (not too tiny, bite sized) and coat them in brown sugar mixed with cinnamon. Heat some butter in a frying pan (get it pretty hot) and fry 'em up! Don't cook them *too* fast, you don't want the insides still cold and the outsides burnt
And for good measure, spiced cider: Put your cider in a microwave safe mug, and nuke it for a few minutes. While it's in the microwave, crush up a few cloves and allspice berries (not too fine) and put them in a teaball. When the cider is good and hot, put the teaball in, and let it "steep" for about five minutes. Of course, you can probably do this on the stove, but for a redneck like me the micro is just as good. So is a soup can on a hot car engine, but I digress. (just kidding about that last one. No, really!)
If you haven't noticed, cloves are my favorite spice, followed by allspice (followed by cinnamon, ginger, and garlic. Not all together, of course)
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