Slow Winter Days

 The side roads and driveways around the county remain blocked by chunks of snow or treacherous with thick ice. Schools were closed all last week and everything for this weekend was canceled again. The pause in social activity is welcome but only so because we know it is brief. Time at home stretches before us in a luxurious way. The routine may shift in order but the activities within it are the same every day. Steve works most of the day. In between tasks he ventures out to the wood shed and builds fires in the wood stove. In his spare time he downloads music, plays his saxophone, and researches tractors. I do light cleaning in bits and drabs, hand embroider or sew at the machine, read, and cook meals. We have given up looking for good movies to watch. 

It has been fun to spend more time on meal prep than usual. Yesterday I made dinner using King Arthur Flour's recipe for a deep dish Chicago Pizza. It was delicious! We have made deep dish pizzas before but this was the first time I made the dough from scratch. I enjoyed the process and I will definitely make it again.

 The crust is pre-baked a little bit and then layered with mozarella, sauteed Italian sausage, sauteed vegetables (I used red pepper, onion, mushrooms), seasoned tomatoes, and finally Parmesan cheese. The crust is big but it is light, airy, and crisp on the outside.

Since church was canceled today, we decided to make our own "coffee social hour" by brewing an extra pot of coffee after 10:00am. I reached way back into the recipe archives for the cinnamon buns I learned how to make in Junior High School Home Ec. class. These were the first thing I learned how to bake on my own. I felt so grown up baking these and I would make them on weekends for my parents and sisters. After Steve and I married and had children, I continued making them for all of us. It had been years since I last made them. Eating them today was a treat and it brought back happy memories from weekend breakfasts long ago. They are made with a basic biscuit dough, rolled into a rectangle, spread with melted butter and sprinkled with brown sugar and cinnamon. Then rolled up and cut. It was an indulgent treat for us today both in body and spirit. : )