Sunny Tuesday ~ cleaning, cooking, and the Eve of a Great Feast

Once again,
I find how tired I am after a trip.
And Mr. Husband hurt his back a bit
so we are a little out of sorts.
*
I need to return two library books.
I ordered groceries online, they will come late this afternoon.
*
I am trying to figure out some good ideas for
toys for our littlest short people, under 5 years old.
I did find some teddy bears, made in the USA.
Any ideas for small gifts that are not being made 
by slave labour? 
Do share, please and soon!! :) 
{Note, I don't think I have much time to
make presents, FYI, though ideas on
this are welcome too.}
*
I got a head start on dinner today.
Will just reheat them...
Vegan potato and onion pierogies!


I chopped up two onions first.

Fried them in canola oil.

Put perogies in boiling water.

Once they float up they are done.

Spooned the perogies into the fry pan
with already caramelized onions. 

Fried the perogies until they lost the look
of being 'wet' and had a bit of golden colour on them.

They were pretty good!

I used up our organic frozen peas as a side.
These will be for me, as Mr. Husband does
not care for many cooked veggies... :)

 

A pretty simple lunch
and now I know they will work DV
for Christmas Eve's Holy Supper!!
*
I woke this morning so grateful for
Mr. Husband and I's home.
I was thinking of the
nuns abducted in Syria
and am praying that they will have a safe return
home soon.
*
It is a wonderful thing to have a home
that is peaceful and seeking to join in
the the liturgical life of Christians and the Church.
*
FYI, for those who wish to have more
information on Wes and Alana and how to help them
financially, please see their new website.
*
Tonight Mr. Husband and I hope to prepare for tomorrow's
Feast of the Theotokos' Entrance into the Temple.
We have prayers for this that we hope to do at home,
as it would be difficult for us to find a church near by
on the old calendar and in English.
*
We still have not gotten the 12 Festal icons for the
12 Great Feasts... Any thoughts on
where we should look?
*
Tomorrow will DV by my Oma's two year anniversary
of her falling asleep on this Holy Feast.
May her memory be eternal!

Chicken Ala King

Made a new recipe from one of my
vintage cookbooks.
I had this organic cream to use up
last week.
I decided I really wanted a
creamy chicken.
*
I baked organic chicken thighs for
40 minutes at 350 F.


I followed this recipe,
but did not have mushrooms or green pepper.

Nor sherry.
But I decide to have it over
white basmati rice and it was lovely.
Oh, and I threw in a bit of corn starch when the
cream was cooking in the double boiler...

This cookbook,
I love it.
Found and immediately snatched up at a garage sale
years ago in Michigan...
I love that someone before me used it
and it is loved, stained and well-used.

I was very happy with the results.
I tried it again,
yesterday, with fried mushrooms
and a bit of green pepper.
I had a lot more chicken so I added more milk
and cream... but a little too much I think,
so that it was not a thick.

 

But thankfully the chicken was so moist
I would say it was succulent and
the taste was just right ~
though I still find a dash of salt and pepper
from my salt and pepper mills to make it
that inch towards culinary perfection.
A pleasing result and yet another example of
why it is so wonderful to have vintage cookbooks...

First meals...

I made a lovely pizza for my husband and I...
with knife that was a gift from my Ukrainian family...

Fresh cheese and
farmer's market mushrooms, kale and tomatoes.
Pepperoni for my DH...

The cheese was really different to grate;
the sauce good but more runny
than I was used to.

 

One of the gifts I got from IKEA in Ottawa
with the gift card I received
was a large white tray
that these plates are on;
we use it to carry food outside to eat.