Comfort Food

These are my favorite dried herbs to put in roasted veggie stew. Peel and cut into one inch pieces root veggies and put into a roasting pan, I use a glass one. You need about 4 cups of veggies. Dried spicesmake winter stews tasty.Spare no expense and get the finest olive oil, Colavita is my favorite. It's worth the extra money. Sure I have a bottle of the cheaper stuff, but I prefer this.
This is what it looks like after roasting 30 minutes, after dizzling with olive oil and tossing with the dried herbs. At this point you stir and recoat the veggies with the juices from the bottom of the pan, and return to the oven for another 30 minutes or so. Parsnips, sweet potato, celery, carrots, garlic and onion. I forgot regular potatoes!Meanwhile brown one cup of TVP ( textured vegetable protein in 2T butter, then add organic vegetable broth until it is a bit watery and simmer, keep adding broth as it evaporates, I used about 1'2 of the container. Then add your roasted veggies.

This is what it looks like when the roasted veggies are added to the TVP and vegetable broth, after simmering for a bit. Its now ready to eat, so good with a piping hot slice of homemade bread! This will keep you warm all day!

Winter is going to be winter as long as it is winter, and you can quote me on that!

I am eccentric. I allow the mock orange to grow high near my picture window, as the cardinals nest in it.

Alas this is why most birds fly south for the winter! But even cardinals dont use their nests in winter. Can you see the nest from last year, covered in snow?

The woodpecker's peanut feeder is empty! I had better do something about that.

The pond is frozen over and burried in snow. We got a powdered sugar snowfall, dusting everything. The dogs, the horses all were covered in it. It just kept coming! It is hard to believe that Thursday and Friday it was so warm, over 40 degrees both days and I rode the horses both days! We were all a bit rusty, but then sugar cubes are great motivators. I carried the veggie peelings out to them and they gobbled them up.

The weekend came and it was below 10 F. too cold to ride! So we went to Barnes and Noble, and to the movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It was good. Very long, 2 hours and 48 minutes! I loved the actress that played Queenie. It was definately Brad Pitt's Forrest Gump. If he gets an Oscar, it will be for this. It was really his best work. I won't spoil it for you with any more details. It takes you back in time, wonderfully. I love Tilda Swinton in this too. Put that woman in a hat and she looks like a queen!