Covid Journal, Day 86: Simple Pleasures

69 this morning and mostly clear. The promised heat arrived this afternoon. 91 degrees, so the AC is on finally this afternoon.

Today was some hot, grubby work, cleaning out an old building so Larry can store the lumber he's getting from the neighbor. It was sad work--we'd stored some furniture for later projects in there, but the roof leaked and many pieces were ruined. Fortunately the best were in a dry section. The burn pile grows ever bigger! But on the up side, the building is now tidy, I know what we have in there, and Larry has the needed space for his wood and even to park the tractor, which was this shed's original purpose.

A few kitchen things to share: first, I mentioned a few weeks ago that I've been washing and re-using some of the ziplock freezer bags. Well, I have found that this old Christmas card holder is the perfect thing for the job. I've dried 6 or more bags at a time on it.

Another problem I've been mulling over for a while: spray cooking oil. I really like the spray olive oil because it keeps calories down and it's just so handy. BUT: the overspray makes a mess, and Larry tends to get it all over the stove which means extra cleaning. And there's the whole aerosol spray issue too. So I tried using a pump sprayer and making my own spray oil, but I guess the oil was too heavy as I couldn't get it to work. The other day I came up with this--just a basting brush in a jar of oil. It works great, no mess and no aerosol. If you've found a better way, or a spray bottle that works, I'm all ears.

One other little kitchen thing:

I bought this stove lid at a yard sale with a specific use in mind. It's perfect for putting under pots of cooking food that might scorch. It diffuses the heat and removes the direct heat from under the pot, allowing cooking that even reducing the heat doesn't help.

Yesterday for breakfast I made oatmeal, and for a treat, apple-cinnamon muffins. They're easy but take a bit of time. Here's the recipe I use, cut from a bag of flour about 40 years ago.

Apple-Cinnamon Muffins

1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1 medium apple, chopped ( I leave the skin on but you can peel if you like. I chop it pretty fine.)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups self-rising flour
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (I actually use a little more than that because we love cinnamon)

Topping:
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup chopped nuts
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease bottoms only of 12 medium muffin cups. (I grease the whole thing, actually). Beat the egg in a medium bowl, then stir in milk, chopped apple and oil. Mix flour, brown sugar and cinnamon in a separate bowl and add all at once to the liquid mix. Mix until just moistened (will be lumpy). Fill the muffin cups about 3/4 full and sprinkle over the batter in each cup. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Remove from pan immediately and cool on a rack. Makes about 12 muffins.

Staying home more means more time for simple, homey things. I miss friends and family badly, but there are some upsides to this stay-home thing. Kind of a homestitched silver lining?

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.