Books. . . because it's Winter and Winter is Wintering

I don't watch the news often, but we do try and listen to the weather report if we can.  

We are dipping into another very cold, cold spell here.  The news is warning us that the temperatures could dip as low as -25°F with the windchill (the forecast changes hourly).  Not only that, but they are predicting snowfall in abundance.  The snow expected could be 10 inches and up in areas here.  The weather predicted, is said to last another week.  They are calling the weather "Mother Nature's Fury."

The snow does not concern us, as much as the sub-zero temperatures do.  

We have been to town to re-stock a few items, but typically we avoid town when people are panic shopping (thank you news people).  We were low on chicken feed and a few other necessary items.

Now...about books.  First, I have had very little reading time if you can believe it.  When your house is 6 weeks behind in cleaning and what not, there is no problem with staying "busy" around here.  Talk about Better Crocker meets Mr. Clean, ha ha!

 Not very often do I really have the motivation/interest in reading a memoir.  Back in February of 2025, we went to a concert by the Righteous Brothers.  It was a farewell type tour, with Bill Medley and a new singer with him (as Bobby passed away).  I purchased the memoir book, written by Bill Medley and Mike Marino.  I had put it on the shelf, and literally just forgot I bought it (happens to those who buy too many books, ha ha!). 

I decided to read it, and make a change in my typical genre, and give it a whirl.  It was definitely a "palate cleanser" as far as a change in genre.  I really liked this book.  It was very interesting.

Fun facts I learned?  The Righteous Brothers were not actually brothers, and how they got their name was....well, you'll have to read the book to find out.  Very, very interesting book, and I'm keeping this one.  My kids would never understand, nor be interested in it anyway, but boy I enjoyed this book from the very first page.

(I have not yet crocheted my granny square for this book)

I added these two to my homesteading bookshelf.  The first one states it is for beginners, but it has recipes that I want to try, that I have not seen in other herb garden growing books.  the second, is packed with recipes, and I cannot wait to dig into it.

Side note:  I have two tea stores on my visit list. One store is newer, but both will be new-to-me.  They will require travel, so hence waiting for better weather.

I'm still a coffee gal, but tea is still interesting and has never ending knowledge to learn.

Not to leave our little tiny, local library out of the loop of business....

I think I have about 6 or 7 books out of the library right now.  Most are on recipes with different mushrooms, and a few on more herbal tea recipes.  I am reading recipes that use a variety of mushrooms, that we have yet to try.  We have a resource for locally grown mushrooms now, and learning to cook with more mushroom options is one of my "learn something new" subjects this year.

Do you cook with Lion's Mane mushrooms?  Shiitake?  Oyster?  I'm told shitake will freeze well in homemade mushroom soup, but I have yet to try them.  Have you grown your own mushrooms?

A bit boring of a post for most, I am guessing, but when it's polar bear weather the "what's going on" slows way down.  The chickens, however, are still laying eggs for us.

Meanwhile, we'll be bundling up, hunkering down, and getting ready to clear all that predicted snow.  

Nothing like putting on 15 layers to leave the house.  One year, it was so cold, I had to wear snowmobile goggles to go outside to water/feed the goats and the chickens.  The cold hurt my eyes that badly.

Books . . .because it's Winter and Winter is Wintering  ©  January 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Kitchen-ness

 I picked up some local orchard apples, so I baked us an apple pie.  Not the healthiest way to start the new year, but I did.

I freeze my pie crust crumbles, so all I have to do is add the ice water and roll the dough (recipe is online with King Flour's website).

The recipe is from a very old book of mine - Farm Journal's Complete Pie Book, printed in 1965.  I haven't bake an apple pie in a long, long time.  I used to can apple pie filling when all the kids still lived here.  The pie was not a pretty thing, but tasted okay.  I have only baked Dutch apple pies if I remember correctly.  I will bake it again, but not too soon, and tweak the recipe. 

I also realized, I only have one pie cookbook on my homesteading bookshelf.  Do you have a favorite pie recipe book that you use?  Do you have a good old fashioned apple pie recipe?

I have gotten tired of breakfast sausage and bacon lately, so I switched things up, dug into the freezer, and baked us a breakfast pie. I tossed this together with eggs, Canadian bacon, mushrooms, and a few more ingredients.  There are no potatoes in this, so it's healthy, and we won't be eating it for 3 days, like our scramble breakfast.  We are due for some greens on our breakfast soon too.

As you can see, the news around here is a bit boring.  The rain left us, but the colder air is with us.  

It doesn't look like much, but I finally got around to using some thawed spaghetti squash.  If you follow my blog, I roasted all of our garden spaghetti squash and froze it.  I tested it out with a combination of healthy ingredients.  I call it chicken spaghetti.

What's in it?  When it's sort of like the recipes I found online for using an instant pot (don't have one), but I baked it in the oven.  If you google for recipes, you will find many recipes to give you ideas.

I cooked the chicken the day prior in my crock pot, and shredded it.  I thawed 4 cups of frozen spaghetti squash, added tomatoes, cooked onion and garlic, seasoned it all, added some sliced bunching onions from the herb garden, tossed in some cheeses and baked it.  

It turned out very good, although, we both were him-hawing on adding some flavor to it.  Maybe some jalapenos, possibly some "fire powder" or even homemade taco or fajita seasoning.   I may add some black olives too next time.

I have written it all down, to also tweak, but we are very happy with the thawed spaghetti squash in this vs. pasta.  I am also happy with the thawed spaghetti squash.  I didn't have a lot of liquid in it, as I drained it prior to freezing it.  Overall, happy I froze it the spaghetti squash.

Kitchen-ness © Jan 2024 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Crock-pot Beef Burgundy with Homemade Noodles

Although we love Beef Stroganoff, we love beef burgundy with homemade noodles and mashed potatoes as well.  Here is my recipe (all organic ingredients or home grown and homemade ingredients):

First:  Thaw a quart of homemade onion soup from the freezer.  To make the soup, see the blue ball book for the recipe.  I make this when onions are harvested, and I use a mandolin to slice all of my onions.  This soup comes in handy to use for a soup start as well, for corn chowder and other dishes.

Add the quart of soup to the crock pot, and add the following:

2 lbs. of stewing beef, cubed and tossed with 1 Tbsp or so of flour
1/2 lb. fresh mushrooms, sliced*
1 tsp. salt*
1/2 tsp. marjoram, dried
1/2 tsp. thyme, dried
black pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups burgundy wine
*(Salt if your soup hasn't been salted)

Cover.  Cook 8-10 hours on low.

I like to thicken this a bit with arrowroot powder, but it's up to you really.

I boil my homemade noodles, drain them and simply toss them into the crock-pot just before serving.   I have also found non-gmo/organic noodles at our grocery store.

We serve it over mashed potatoes (3 lb. of organic white, with 1/2 cup homemade yogurt, 1-2 minced cloves of fresh garlic, and salt).

*for mushrooms, if you don't have fresh on hand, you could use 2-3 cans of organic mushrooms, drained, or re-hydrate some dehydrated mushrooms as well.

Our beef was very tender.  The photo is store bought noodles for this meal.  I use homemade noodles more often than not, but Non-GMO/organic noodles are available in most stores now.  I really need to restock my noodles.