Simply Norma – Page 71 – Living Simply

A New Garage Heater

When we bought our house over a year and a half ago, we were thankful that we had a heater in the garage because of the cold Minnesota winters. Very few houses we looked at had garage heaters and we looked at well over 100 houses.

The heater had a thermostat attached to it so my husband turned it down to the lowest setting last winter and the garage stayed nice and warm, especially on extra cold days.

This past January, after we arrived home from vacation, we pulled into the garage and it smelled like gas. The smell seemed to be coming from the gas heater so we turned it off and figured we’d have the gas company out to see if maybe we had a leak.

When I called the gas company though they told me someone would be out in a week. Hmm … it must not be important, I thought. So, we kept the gas valve turned off to the heater (the winter was quite mild) and I didn’t worry about it until late this summer.

When I called the gas company this time, they came out within 30 minutes. The young lady I spoke with regarding the problem said that someone should have come out immediately when I called before. What a warm fuzzy feeling I had in my stomach when I heard that. Uh, not!

The repairman did some testing and after a few minutes told me that the valve had a small leak but that it only leaked if the heater was turned on so there was no danger as long as we kept it off. He then told me I should call a heating/cooling company to replace the valve.

This time I decided to move a little quicker than before and called a heating/cooling company right away. The gentleman who came out measured the garage and told me that the heater we currently had was an industrial one and too large for the square footage we had.

That actually makes sense as the previous owner of our house worked in heating/cooling and did many “upgrades” to our house that went above and beyond what one would expect.

The options we had were to replace the valve or buy a new heater. Keeping in mind that the industrial heater was almost 20 years old, we decided to buy a new smaller heater. Maybe then it would be quieter also.

I felt sorry for the installers when they arrived to install the new heater as the old one was Â really heavy and they should have had three men to dismantle it instead of two. Unfortunately, I could not offer my services as I didn’t want such a large contraption falling on my head. They figured it out but the old heater almost fell on one of the installers.

The newly purchased heater is a lot smaller than the old one, runs smoothly and is quieter.

We’re fortunate to own a garage heater. Yes, very very fortunate.

Cranberry Carrot Salad with Citrus Walnut Vinaigrette

This simple yet delicious salad took no time at all to make. I always toss my salads with a touch of vinaigrette then serve the rest on the side as most of the time the amount of vinaigrette that’s called for drenches the salad instead of lightly coating it.

Ingredients

1 pound shredded carrots
1 cup sweetened dried cranberries
1/2 cup toasted walnut pieces
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons walnut oil
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoons salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the carrot, cranberries and walnuts then set this aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, walnut oil, sugar, salt and pepper.
Combine the dry and wet ingredients.
Lightly coat the dressing over the salad, toss gently to combine, then serve.

That’s it! Pretty simply, eh?

Cranberry Carrot Salad with Citrus Walnut Vinaigrette

I found this recipe in one of my favorite vegan cookbooks called 1000 Vegan Recipes.

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A Cooking Tip

There are many times when I have to boil potatoes and I normally follow the same course of events:

Fill the pot with water
Add the potatoes
Watch the pot to make sure the water doesn’t boil over onto the stovetop
Boil the potatoes until a fork pricked through one of the larger pieces goes through easily

Sound familiar? This past weekend, I learned something new as I watched my sister make potato salad. She followed the same basic steps except she wasn’t watching her pot to make sure the water didn’t boil over. So, I did.

It suddenly dawned on me that she had a wooden spoon lying across the pot. I guess that’s a good place to put the spoon so you don’t have to use a spoon rest.

My sister thought it curious that I was sitting watching the pot and informed me that I didn’t have to watch it as the water wasn’t going to boil over. What? I asked.

“The water is not going to boil over because the wooden spoon won’t allow it to,” she said.

Yeah, right, I thought. So I continued watching. And continued watching. And continued watching. And the water did not boil over.

Pretty interesting, eh? Or am I the only one who didn’t know about this cooking tip?

Are there any other tips any of you know of that seem “unbelievable” but work perfectly?

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Aristo’s Greek & Mediterranean Restaurant

My husband and I have passed the Aristo’s restaurant quite a few times but figured it was not “authentic” Greek food so we always kept driving by. But, I was in the mood for Greek food one day and decided to look at the menu online (which looks scrumptious) so off we headed to dinner.

The lighting inside was dim (romantic?) as the host led us to our table. I’m not positive but I believe the staff is from Greece. Service was fantastic here as they took our orders immediately and made sure that things went smoothly — from appetizer to soup to dinner. Both our waiter and another gentleman (perhaps the owner?) checked with us to make sure there was no lapse in service.

We ordered an appetizer calledÂ Saganaki which is a lightly battered Kasseri cheese (my favorite cheese! if you haven’t tried it you should) flamed table side with rum and lemon juice. I was expecting a little piece of cheese but I was wrong as we received quite a large portion.

Then we had a wonderful green lentil soup which tasted better than the one I make at home (and I make a pretty good one).

And there was still dinner to be had. I had the Gyro Plate which is similar to a gyro sandwich except you don’t have the bread (although they gave you bread on the side). The onions were sweet tasting and everything was cooked to perfection.

My husband had the New York Steak which he downed quickly, meaning it’s good!

The restaurant has quite a few vegetarian options also.

My brain said “Have the baklava” but my stomach told me “You’re full.” I decided to listen to my stomach today. Kudos for me!

What a great place to go to for authentic Greek food. Check out their website below. It’s not the best looking website but it does its job.

http://www.aristosmn.com/

Pureed Soups

What am I going to do? I love pureed soups but my husband does not. I’m lamenting my dilemma as I was looking forward to many many new soup recipes for this winter.

But, alas! I will have to try new un-pureed soup recipes. I guess if that’s the least of my problems I’m doing pretty good, eh?

Are there any recipes that anyone can recommend that they’d like me to try out?

I’ve been trying to “cook for two” so there are no leftovers as we don’t seem to do very well in eating our leftovers. I’ll fight that battle another time.

The Evergreen Tree

On a recent outing to Sunfish Lake Park, I walked past the lake, some bare trees and evergreens. Winter is fast approaching yet the evergreen stands in stark contrast to the bare maple, birch and oak trees whose leaves have fallen and have left their barks transparent for all to see.

Then I came home and started reading a book and look at the quote that caught my eye:

“In summer, as we look upon the trees of the distant forest, all clothed with a beautiful mantle of green, we may not be able to distinguish between the evergreens and the other trees. But as winter approaches, and the frost king encloses them in his icy embrace, stripping the other trees of their beautiful foliage, the evergreens are readily discerned. Thus it will be with all who are walking in humility, distrustful of self, but clinging tremblingly to the hand of Christ. While those who are self-confident and trust in their own perfection of character lose their false robe of righteousness when subjected to the storms of trial, the truly righteous, who sincerely love and fear God, wear the robe of Christ’s righteousness in prosperity and adversity alike.”

God has always spoken to me in nature with all its beauty and mystery. This time he took one more step and spoke to me through a devotional I was reading called The Sanctified Life by Ellen White.

If there’s one thing I know — God always will make Himself transparent to me when I seek Him.

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Archway Cookies

The seasons of autumn and winter always leave me hungering for any foods with the smell of ginger, cinnamon, cloves and other “autumn” spices.

Walking through the grocery store I spotted a box of cookies that I hadn’t had in quite a while. Archway Windmill cookies. Yum yum yum! They were separated from the rest of the cookies in a main aisle and as I looked at the sign I noticed that they were on sale too. What a blessed day I am having, I thought.

When I got home, I promptly put them away in the cupboard for “future” tasting — the “right time for the right cookie.” Unfortunately, my husband found them one day and opened them up. I hadn’t realized that he had spotted them (not that it mattered) until he said “there’s not much in here.” I wondered what he was talking about. Could we possibly have a mouse in the house?

Well, not exactly. I went to the counter to see what he was talking about and noticed that the bag was “one cookie over” half full. Â I looked at him and mockingly said “How many did you eat?” as normally he doesn’t gorge himself on cookies. His response was “Two.” Â What happened to the rest of them?, I wondered.

The Nancy Drew sleuthing mentality from my youth suddenly sprang into action.

Looking at the box the cookies came in, I carefully examined the “serving size” of the contents. Hmm, let’s see, 6 servings and each serving is 2 cookies so I should have … twelve cookies in the bag.

I went back to the bag and counted them. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten and oh yes, two cookies that my husband ate. That makes twelve.

So what’s going on here? Gimmicky marketing? Half the package is mostly air. As a consumer can I reasonably expect that the package contents should be at least 3/4 full? Or, should I have to read the number of servings, determine how large the cookies are and whether or not there are enough of them in the package? Is almost half of the package supposed to be air?

It’s just so weird. Â Anyone else have this happen to them with other products?

In fairness to the company, I sent them a Facebook message with the above picture of the contents and they replied within 30 minutes. Here’s their response:

“We’re so sorry to hear that you’re unhappy with the Windmill cookies you purchased. Weâ€™re always working to find better ways to package our cookies to keep them protected, and at their freshest, until their delivery to store shelves near you. We sincerely appreciate your feedback, and we hope you continue to enjoy the taste and quality of our Windmill cookies in the future, despite dissatisfaction with the packaging. We’re passing your comment along to the bakery and our customer service team. Thank you for finding us on Facebook, and please keep us updated on any other concerns you might have about packaging or quality assurance.”

I was quite shocked but appreciative that they responded so quickly. But you know what? The cookies are very good. They are not paper thin but nice and thick and actually taste like ginger although the label doesn’t say it has ginger in it (it says “spice”).

Archway does not need this kind of marketing to sell these cookies. I could probably do it for them all on my own. Â (smile)

[amazon_link id=”B0075WCTK0″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ] Archway Windmill Cookies, 9.0-Oz Packages (Pack of 12) [/amazon_link]

[amazon_link id=”B005EP1PBO” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ] Nancy Drew Starter Set [/amazon_link]

Sour Cream Banana Bread

I have finally found a banana bread recipe that is absolutely fantastic because it’s the moistest banana bread I have ever tasted. I tweaked the recipe just a tad because I didn’t have 2 medium bananas but had 1 banana and 1 frozen banana. It worked beautifully.

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sour cream
1 medium ripe banana, sliced
1 frozen banana, thawed and smushed

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan
In a large bowl, stir together the melted butter and sugar.
Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well.
Combine the flour, baking soda and salt then stir this into the butter mixture until smooth.
Fold in the sour cream and bananas including the juice from the thawed banana.
Spread the mixture evenly into the prepared loaf pan.
Bake for 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.
Cool loaf in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Banana Bread Ingredients (plus one frozen but thawed banana)

Mix Dry Ingredients Together — Combine the flour, baking soda and salt

Fold Dry Ingredients into Wet — Add Eggs and Vanilla then Dry Ingredients, Fold in the Sour Cream and Bananas

It came out perfect and oh so moist! This is now my “go to” banana bread.

Anyone for a slice?

Special thanks to allrecipes.com for this recipe.

Potato Soup

It’s not easy to find a good potato soup. Why is that?

I finally found a vegan one that I “unveganed.” Â (laughing) Â I left out raw cashews and soy milk so this is basically a new recipe. In addition, I added sour cream which gave the soup a more “full bodied” taste.

The soup turned out good but you have to be careful how much white pepper you add … although, I thought I had put too much (what the recipe called for) and my husband thought it could use more. Â Go figure.

I have to remind myself that I might think a recipe is too sweet, tart, etc. but to someone else it’s perfectly fine. Hmmm … I guess not everyone is like me. (laughing)

Ingredients

3 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, cut into small pieces then boiled until cooked (thrust a fork through a piece and if the fork comes out easily, ie the potato is not hard but soft, then the potatoes are ready
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 cup vegetable broth
1/4 teaspoon rosemary
1/8 â€“ 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups 2% milk
3 tablespoons sour cream

Directions

Add 2/3 of the potato to the pan, along with the broth, rosemary, white pepper, and salt.
Simmer this mixture, covered, for 10-15 minutes.
Pour this mixture into a blender along with the milk.
Blend until smooth.
Put the blended mixture in a soup pot, add the remaining 1/4 potatoes and the sour cream then stir.
Cook through, stirring often, over low heat until hot.

Potato Soup Ingredients (and sour cream -not pictured)

Cut the Potatoes in Small Pieces — Cut the Potatoes in Small Bite-size Pieces

That’s it! I’m learning to play with the ingredients in recipes that I find and it’s quite fun to experiment. I served this with banana bread that went beautifully with it.

Sunfish Lake Park

Recently my husband and I decided to explore another park in Lake Elmo — the Sunfish Lake Park.

This park has approximately 284 acres of land and 9 miles of trails.

It was so peaceful when we went as we only saw one other couple there. Autumn is just about over and the trees are bare now — except for the evergreens.

As we entered the trail we were met with a leaf laden path.

Further down the path we could see a small part of the lake. Our Minnesota drought this year has affected the lake as it could barely be seen as the water was pretty low.

The air was still and not a sound could be heard except for the rustle of leaves beneath our feet. Further ahead, we saw a beaver house.

As my mind wondered about the possibility of seeing a beaver, my husband pulled my sleeve and said “Look.” And there he (she?) was. He was not moving much but standing in one spot as if chewing on something.

It is rare for me to see such a beautiful sight and when I do I feel giddy. I don’t want to move from the spot I’m in for fear that nature’s beauty will slip away. Further down the trail we saw more beaver houses and throughout the park they also had bird houses in various places.

There is something magical about walking through a park and having nothing but silence. My head clears itself of all of life’s busyness and just “settles” into a blank state of simple enjoyment.

Even in dead trees life can be found just as hope lies waiting for lives that are mangled by life.

It is good to pause in life and allow the beauty of nature to fill one’s senses. Breathe. Breathe.

I must return here in winter when the cold of snow lies on the ground and the landscape looks white. There will probably be more people though as the park is used for cross country skiing also.

Hmmm … perhaps that’s something I should try.