S Cookies

How are you feeling these days?

Are you having a case of the winter doldrums? 

Are Covid restrictions making you feel trapped?

This is a funk to beat all funks.

Aside from binge-watching Downton Abbey, I spend a lot of time looking at my phone. I came across a note that I had written seven years ago which apparently got transferred to my newer phones along the way. As I read it, I thought - Wow! I had enthusiasms back then!  

My Dreams of a New Life

Food & wine, beauty, flowers, beautiful sunny days, calm, a small cottage - white and blue - a flower garden

Walking in a small, charming downtown area... working at a gallery, helping out in a bakery, meeting a friend for dinner, going to the symphony, traveling to Paris.. Taking walks in the countryside, going to the ocean...

It doesn't involve working in a library, taking a train, going into the city. It doesn't involve sickness, depression, death, or tv. It doesn't involve working full time...

It involves being in a community with kind, learned people.

It's a village. There are art festivals, farmers markets, street fairs, small bookshops. There are local churches, church events to go to and to contribute a pie to.

I don't have a full-time pressure-filled job. Life is slow, unhurried. 

Take the steps to get the life you want. There are other ways to live.

Go find it.

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Not long after I wrote that, I did end up making a change, though it didn't quite live up to my dreams. 

Today I didn't come up with any brilliant thoughts of a future beautiful life, but I did make something tasty to eat. 

That'll have to do for today.

S Cookies

2 sticks of butter, softened

1 1/3 cups of sugar

4 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

4 ounces Amaretto

5 cups flour

4 tsp. baking powder

Cream together butter & sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and Amaretto. Sift together flour and baking powder. Combine all throughly.

Glaze

Make an egg wash. Take a whole egg and about a tablespoon of water and beat with a fork.

If you have some coarse sugar - like demerara sugar - that would be great. If not, granulated sugar works, or any fancy sprinkles you may have on hand.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Handy tip: spray your hands with some spray oil, like PAM, to help you form your dough. Take a small amount of dough and roll it between your hands to form a 6 inch long log that's about a half inch wide.You might think that this is not enough dough for the size of the cookie you want, but you would be wrong! :) The dough puffs way up when baking and looks about the size of a Stella D'oro breakfast treat. Place your S's on the parchment lined baking sheet. Dip a pastry brush in the egg yolk, brush the cookie, then sprinkle generously with sugar. You can make any shape you like, of course. X's and O's, knots, you name it!

Bake at 350 F for about 25 minutes until lightly golden. Makes about 3 dozen large, perfectly dunkable, not-very-sweet cookies.

Good Old Fashioned Pot Roast

It's hard to believe that I haven't posted this recipe before.

I've made this easy, delicious pot roast many times. It's an adaptation of a beef stew recipe that I got from a Woman's Day magazine umpteen years ago. You can vary it to your heart's content. I always make it in a crock pot. It takes no time at all to throw together and at the end of the day you have a delicious hot meal waiting for you. You can cook it on the stove or in the oven if you'd prefer.

Good Old Fashioned Pot Roast

3-4 pound pot roast 

4-5 potatoes, peeled and quartered

4-5 carrots, peeled, and cut in large pieces or use baby carrots

a couple of stalks of celery, cut up

1 medium-sized onion, quartered

1 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes

2 cups water

a couple of generous glogs of Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp. or so of herbs of provence or italian seasoning

beef bouillion cube or a teaspoon of beef bouillion granules

1 tsp. salt

ground pepper

1 bay leaf

I happened to have a few mushrooms in the refrigerator so I decided to add them as well. I rinsed them with water, then used a paper towel to clean them off, then sliced them. This made me think of Gus Saunders - the host of the Yankee Kitchen radio show. I remember a discussion he had on the radio with someone who said that they never cleaned their mushrooms. Gus said that he always cleaned his mushrooms because he knew what they were grown in. 

HAHA. 

Put all of the vegetables and remaining ingredients in the bottom of a crock pot and place the roast on top. Cover and cook on high 5-6 hours or on low for 8 hours without removing cover.

Enjoy!