January Thaw???? - Country Cousin

After a late start, it looks like winter of 2023-2024 may have finally arrived. If we’re lucky, it got here just in time for the January Thaw. The unusually high temperatures so far this winter sure have made it easier to pay the heating bills. In these days of runaway inflation, hate to think of what it would have cost had we had a winter like the one we had in 2018, when temperatures on New Year’s Eve dipped to 17 below in some areas of TIMESLand.

ON THE SOAP BOX

CLIMATE CHANGE

We didn’t even have it bad that year. During that winter of 2018, Hettinger, North Dakota saw the wind chill drop to minus 58 degrees on Sunday, Dec. 31, and Embarrass, Minn. shivered at 45 below. Sioux City, Iowa set a new record low for Jan. 2, with minus 28 degrees, which tied with their fifth coldest Jan. 2 temperature in weather keeping history, and was the coldest January day there since Jan. 21, 1970, when the low was minus 26 degrees.

That was after the scaremongers had been ranting on about Global Warming for a few years. After that frigid winter they changed their tune, and Climate Change became their Boogey Man.

As if this old Earth hasn’t always had climate change. If we didn’t, how the glaciers get here, and why did they go?

I know what I’d like the profiteering politicians to do with their subsidies for electric cars, but you can’t use those words in polite company.

SKIN CARE

Speaking of cold, though, cold winter winds can be as hard on the complexion as hot summer sun, or even worse. To protect your tender skin, treat it regularly to a warm oil feast, inside and out.

To cure dry, itchy skin and help prevent colds and other ailments, take cod liver oil. At the rate of one teaspoon a day for a month you’ll be watching your face take on a youthful glow. Incidentally, cod liver oil taken internally is a good preventative for a number of bodily ailments, including Vitamin D deficiency. Doesn’t taste very good, but Mama used to make us take it all the time. You could also purchase cod liver oil capsules. Not sure how many it would take to equal a teaspoon, but it pretty much depends on the brand.

In very cold weather prevent chapped skin by mixing a teaspoon of castor oil with half a teaspoon of rose water.  Massage gently into the face and neck before bed at night and wash off first thing in the morning.

Once a week or so, work a tablespoon of castor oil into your hair, put on a shower cap (or one of those elasticized bowl covers) and watch TV or do your nails for about half an hour while it soaks in. Then wash it out in a nice warm bath but do be sure to shampoo thoroughly. The oil then gets into the bathwater and onto your skin before it goes down the drain, so be sure to wash the tub or shower floor to get every bit of slippery oil off.

If you want the warm oil benefits but not the castor oil odor around you, instead of the castor oil, treat your hair with olive oil and then take an oil bath to prevent your body from becoming rough, dry and itchy. Put two tablespoons of olive oil in your bath water along with a few drops of your favorite Cologne. Your skin will turn soft and glowing after you have had your bath, and the lovely scent will cling. Again, do be sure to wash the tub very well so no oil remains to create a hazard.

Lips too can suffer from the cold. Apply chap stick regularly, and massage in a bit of baby oil each night before bed.

SAVE YOUR BACON

I promised last week that I’d be sharing some tips on trimming dollars from the family budget.

Here‘s one about saving your bacon and putting it to better use besides. Needless to say, again - after you’ve fried bacon, always save the pan drippings and bacon grease. They make wonderful seasoning for green beans, collards, brussels sprouts and cabbage. You can use the cooled bacon grease in place of butter or other fat in savory biscuits, or even crust for meat pies.

As to the bacon itself, most of us, especially those of us who live in one or two person households, have been dismayed to find that the pound of expensive bacon in the fridge has gone bad after we used only a few slices.

Here’s a neat tip from Allrecipes.com. Use your kitchen shears to cut your unopened package of sliced bacon in half crossways, right down the middle. Empty one half by sliding the half-slices of bacon out and removing the paper label but keep the package intact. Slip the now-empty side of the package over the remaining half-package of bacon.

You now have a perfectly sealed bacon package to put into a zip-lock bag and freeze, and a half pound of half slices to use now or keep in the fridge.

The half slices will lay flat in your frying pan, fit into an air fryer, and also fit perfectly on a BLT or whatever sandwich you’re preparing to enjoy,

Incidentally, some chefs say the crispiest bacon is achieved by baking it in the oven, provided you sprinkle it with flour first. If you’re making bacon for a crowd, place strips of bacon on a baking sheet, sprinkle all-purpose flour on top, and bake at 400 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. The flour gives a crispier texture and nicer color and seems to prevent the bacon from curling too much. The starch soaks up the grease from the bacon. Haven’t tried it but am betting you could make an excellent almost no cost cream gravy to serve over biscuits if you scrape a reasonable amount of the floury bacon grease drippings from the baking pan into a saucepan or deep-frying pan, add more flour, salt and pepper and then stir in milk and, stirring constantly, let it boil down to the thickness you like. Taste for seasonings. Add salt or pepper to taste, and perhaps some white pepper and a dash of cayenne.

DIET TIME AGAIN

Most of us have been overloading our bodies with sugar for the past few weeks, and it’s time to get back on track. Sugar may give us a rush for a few minutes, but over the long haul makes us sluggish, stupid, sleepy and - yes - fat.

If you overate on sugar the night before, then have a high-protein, low carb breakfast with a bit of fat in the morning. Perhaps a meaty, cheesy omelet cooked in butter. No toast. It’s okay to have a bit of no-sugar salsa with it, but not essential. The idea is to kick start the burn from sugars to protein and fat.

To clean your plumbing, drink green tea with lemon juice, along with plenty of water. The diuretic qualities of the tea and lemon forces your body to pump nutrients and other waste products (including excess sugar) through your kidneys and out of your body, according to some nutrition experts.

Incidentally, if you realize right after eating that sugary treat that you shouldn’t have done that, have a teaspoon of peanut butter or eat an egg to get the balancing effect of fat and protein. Then do some exercise, for example walk briskly up and down the stairs a few times. This gets your muscles busy using up the excess sugar instead of having your body store it, the nutrition experts say.

A study in “Diabetes Care” showed that older adults who walked or did other exercise for 15 minutes after each meal had lower blood sugar levels than those who walked for 45 minutes in the late morning or before dinner.

CABBAGE SOUP DIET

On the original Cabbage Soup diet, you can eat as much of this soup as you want, whenever you want it. The real trick for a successful cabbage soup is to make it with real bone broth, which contains a respectable amount of protein so it will keep you satisfied and well nourished. In addition to unlimited soup, the diet itself calls for eating only fruit (except bananas) the first day; the second day, start with a baked potato with butter for breakfast, but then eat only the soup and non-starchy vegetables for the rest of the day. On the third day eat only non-starchy fruits and vegetables; only soup, bananas, milk and no-sugar yogurt on Day 4, only soup, tomatoes and protein foods like fish, meat or eggs on Day 5 and then only protein and non-starchy veggies on Days 6 and 7. Then you’re supposed to return to normal eating for a week or so before starting over if you have more weight to lose. You can keep eating the soup if you want to.

CABBAGE SOUP RECIPE

Some folks use half V-8 juice in place of half the chicken broth, or beef broth. Whichever broth you use, be sure it’s real bone broth, not just salty seasonings. I like adding a can of French style green beans, juice and all, or frozen tiny whole beans, and then cook until they’re done as you like them. I also like adding a pound of browned hamburger or some other chopped lean meat, but then it really isn’t this diet soup any more. Tastes good, though, and it kept working for me.

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup celery, diced

1 cup white or yellow onion, diced

1 cup carrots, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced

4 cups chicken broth

14 ounce can diced tomatoes with basil, oregano and garlic

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon basil

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

½ teaspoon salt (optional)

Heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add celery, onions, bell peppers and carrots and sauté until slightly tender. Stir in garlic, chicken broth, tomatoes and cabbage. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and cook until cabbage is tender. Stir in oregano, basil, red pepper flakes, black pepper and salt. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.

COOKIN TIME

Time for some good, sensible eating and stick to the ribs comfort food for those who aren’t on a diet. Especially when the cold winds blow, soup is good food! And homemade soup is infinitely better for you than anything you can buy in a can.

SLOW COOKER TACO SOUP

This really good soup tastes just like tacos, and in fact, if you omit the tomato juice it makes a good meat for tacos. It can also be prepared in a pot instead of a slow cooker. Serve with shredded cheese, diced raw onions, sour cream and corn chips for topping if desired. Add more water or more tomato soup if you like your soup soupier.

1 pound ground beef

1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning mix

1 (1 ounce) package ranch dressing mix

1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes and green chilies, un-drained

1 (15.5 ounce) can corn, un-drained

1 (15.5 ounce) can black beans, un-drained

1 (15 ounce) can sliced black olives

1 onion, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

2 cups tomato juice

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat; cook and stir beef until crumbly, evenly browned, and no longer pink. Drain and discard any excess grease. Transfer beef to a slow cooker and sprinkle with the taco seasoning mix and ranch dressing mix. Add the diced tomatoes and green chilies, corn and black beans, all with their liquid, to the slow cooker. Stir the black olives, onion, bell pepper and tomato juice into the ground beef mixture. Cook on Low until the vegetables are completely tender, about 5 hours.

Thought for the Week: if your face is wrinkled with worries and woes, turn to God for a faith lift. While praying, don’t keep trying to give God instructions. Just report for duty and let Him take it from there. Shush up those words rushing through your head, open your heart and your ears and listen to what He has to say.

(This column is written by Shirley Prudhomme of Crivitz. Views expressed are her own and are in no way intended to be an official statement of the opinions of Peshtigo Times editors and publishers. She may be contacted by phone at (715)291-9002 or by e-mail to shirleyprudhommechickadee@yahoo.com.)