A little bit pantry...

Good Evening, my dears.. 

Here we are on a very stormy Saturday evening here in Eastern Canada... 

The snow and rain are coming down and the wind is up a bit.. 

And I guess there is more coming overnight.. 

Praying that everyone on the roads are safe.. 

Terry was up to the farm and he said the roads were horrid on the way home.. 

I was so glad to hear him come in.. 

The fire was going and supper was ready.. 

A rather healthy fish and chip... smile..

I so love fish and could eat it everyday almost.. 

To make it healthy, I just put a bit of butter in a pan and sprinkled the fillets with salt, pepper, parsley and some lemon juice.. 

And the chips were just a few potatoes that I coated with a bit of oil and kosher salt.. 

Sometimes, I add crushed garlic or rosemary.. 

We really enjoyed it along with a tossed salad ... 

Anyway...  

I did not accomplish much on my weekly to do list this week as I was down with the flu for about 3 days.. sigh.. 

Oh well.. All better, now.. 

I did putter away when I could and managed to get my pantry cleaned... 

Oh ... It feels so good to get this big job all finished.. 

It is not a big pantry like my friend's but I am so blessed to have it.. 

When we bought this house 30 years ago it was a kind of pantry with just shelves all the way around.. 

Several years ago I persuaded Terry to put in a work counter with wee shelves here and there for spices and measures and such.. 

I put my kitchen aid in there and it is so nice to make my mess in there.. 

Have you noticed there are two types of cooks.. 

Tidy ones and messy ones.. 

I, of course am a very tidy cook.. not... grin.. 

No, sorry to say I am very messy but not much is going to change after all these years.. smile.. 

So... 

I cleaned off the first shelf and put some blue there.. 

Makes it look a bit more old fashioned, I think.. 

It used to look like this.. 

Now it looks like this.. 

The pic is not too good as it was a dark day, today.. 

Much more organized and a bit prettier.. 

I love pretty as much as organized.. 

How about you?

Shonda gave me the lovely labels for Christmas along with a chalk pen .. 

I have lots of grains and such so they are all in bottles that I save and the labels make them easier to find..

I found this sweet little set of blue dishes at a thrift shop..

I have a little collection of Flow Blue that my Mom gave me from my great aunt but they are safely put away behind a glass door in a cupboard in the hall.. 

I love this little antique flour cannister.. 

Do you love old, vintage and antique?

Or are you more modern..  

Spice Box...

Basil that I grew myself.. 

Actually, there is a whole cupboard of mason jars with herbs that I have dried or whatever.. 

Not perfect but much better.. 

Pots all hang on the other side as dear hubby made me some hanging racks.. 

Home made Vinegars and such..

A set of measuring cups my dear mother-in-law gifted me with many years ago.. 

I still use them.. 

My love for all things UK... smile.. 

That container there holds my lentils.

A just bit of a pantry post.. 

My friend has such a wonderful one that I posted about HERE..

Rhonda at the Down to Earth blog had a pantry challenge but I was late reading about it and did not have time to do it correctly.. 

Just decided to do my own little one.. 

Hope you enjoyed it.. 

The last few years I have been trying lots of grains.. 

Millet, Bulgur, Wheat, Quinoa and such.. 

Terry is not much into this stuff so I just usually make salads and sprouts with them for myself..  

One of my new faves is Freekah but I must admit that so far the best one is Quinoa.. 

Love it.. 

Freekah has a lovely nutty flavor.. 

It is an ancient grain, I believe.. 

Anyway..

You put them in a frying pan with a teaspoon of oil and toast them a bit first.. 

Then you simmer them like you do Quinoa for 15 or 20 minutes.. 

Cool .. 

Then add veggies and your favorite salad dressing.. 

Lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper and a herb or two.. 

Very nice lunch on a stormy day in front of the fire.. 

Oh and I love olives in it.. 

Tomatoes, green peppers, tomatoes, green onions and dressing.. 

Very very good for you.. smile.. 

Well, dear hearts that is all for tonight.. 

Hope you are having a great weekend and keeping safe.. 

Tomorrow is the Lord's Day.. 

I wonder what the storm will be like in the morning.. 

For now, though, I must get to bed.. 

The wind is blowing and my window will be open,.. 

Do  you open your window even in the Winter?  

Thank you for stopping by and I look forward to your sweet comments. 

Thanks, too , for liking the Face Book page.. 

And welcome to the new followers ..

So glad to have you.. 

Take care, my friends.. xo

Linked today with the Enchanting Rose Here..

Thank you for featuring the Blessed Hearth, Stephanie..

And also linked to Home Making Mondays...

Cold weather days ...

Welcome to the Blessed Hearth this day.. 

So glad you dropped by.. 

Hope all is well with thee.. smile.. 

How is the weather in your part of the world?  

We had a couple of warm days and one was even record breaking.. 

Then overnight  the temps dropped back to very cold.. 

Typical, I guess for this time of the year..

The hunting season will soon be over for another year.. 

Our oldest son and oldest grandson got their deer.. 

A little bit of excitement for them.. smile.. 

Trevor and I had a little laugh together.. 

He has my Dad's gun ... 

Dad would go hunting every Fall without fail but the dear man never shot a deer.. 

But his gun shot one this week.. sigh...

I wish he could know.. smile.. 

He is certainly in a better place and we would not wish him back but sometimes you just wonder what he would say.. 

He never had a son and now we have all of these boys.. smile.. 

Sorry about that but sometimes I just get to missing him.. 

On with the show... grin.. 

I don't have anything very exciting or creative for you all.. 

Just another post of my doings as we say here... 

The thing about being retired is that you run the roads a lot.. 

This week we went to the farm for a day...

Made another broccoli salad... 

Set the old harvest table once again just for the two of us..

Made a banana bread and burnt the edges again.. 

That dumb  great stove... grin.. 

Made a casserole of chicken, rice and mushrooms..

Then ate too much of it.. 

Well, actually I only ate half of my chicken and Terry only ate half of his.. 

Brought the leftover casserole and chicken home and just added some carrots and chicken broth and had the best soup... 

You know me and my soup.. grin.. 

Terry went back to the farm today but I stayed home and did some much needed cleaning.. 

This pantry needed it badly, believe me.. 

I love it when it is all tidied up but it does not stay that way.. 

See that little flour canister there?

Isn't it dear?

I found it yesterday when we went to town at the thrift store.. 

Only $1.99... 

I know I did not need it but how often can you find something like that for two bucks?

Right?

Oh.. and I bought a huge old cloth Santa for three dollars.. 

I think I can make him prim.. 

I will let you know.. later, that is.. smile.. 

After all of that hard work cleaning today I decided since we both are going to stop eating sweet stuff on Monday that perhaps I might make this tonight for dessert.. 

It was very good... 

Here is the recipe I have used for many years.. 

Just click HERE..

We did not have ice cream.. 

Terry and I cannot have it in the house.. 

We both said at the same time tonight how nice it would be to have a scoop.. 

It was still delicious even without it.. 

Well, my dears I guess that is all for tonight.. 

I had a lovely conversation today with a dear girl in Maine.. 

Thank you for the lovely chat, Julie.. 

We do hope to meet in person some day.. 

Take care my friends and I look forward to hearing from you all.. 

The comments are the icing on the cake as far as blogging goes..

I know you don't always have time to leave me a note but when you do it makes my day.. smile..

God bless..