Firestarter

Hi,

have a good start into the new week!

After I made some inquiries about the birthday wishes of my two special birthday boys I know that I can take it slow as they just want chocolates :-) I will make them only shortly before the respective birthdays and they won't take as long as a knitting project or a quilt. Thus I am busy collecting jars and lids for my candle holders and am planning to start my high collar blouse soon.

Two weeks ago I baked some smaller spelt breads with which I had some plans:

I took them as soup(er) bowls for my cowboy beans! Usually I serve them as side dish for spare ribs but we already had the ribs during the girls' visit not so long ago and moreover I don't like to make them for only the two of us - it's just too much work. Although the cowboy beans are with bacon, lots of spices, a hint of brown sugar, beer, whiskey and Worcestershire sauce, they are a bit boring on their own, and therefore the bread bowl made it somehow interesting.

On Sunday we had Tuscany meatballs with an Italian spice mix (thanks to my sister!), tomato sauce and baked in the oven with Mozzarella cheese - not very spectacular and thus without picture. Saturday we (hubby and me) did some sports and hence made a light dinner with lots of veggies and a bit of chicken - I felt really fit afterwards, lol!

And then I have to draw your attention to a superyummy veggie dish with sweet potatoes. At first you have to cut the potatoes into thick slices, and then they have to bake in the oven with some sea salt and olive oil (on the pan are two sweet potatoes). 

In the original recipe it takes a topping of goat cream cheese and Ricotta cheese but I substituted the Ricotta with light cottage cheese. In addition it called for fresh oregano but I had fresh thyme from the garden which matched very good. Then top it off with some dried cranberries and a drizzle of honey and you have some perfect bites. 

In connection with lamb's lettuce a healthy and delicious lunch, it didn't take longher than other dishes and the portions were just right for two. 

We are slowly running out of firewood and I tried out these pressed wood briquettes. They are not as nice looking as logs but they are a good use for saw mill waste and they are supposed to burn longer - worth a try. But as they are a little reluctant when it comes to get them to burn, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to finally try my home made fire starters.

Therefore, I collected dryer lint (about a wine bottle tin full), then some kitchen paper rolls (the inner roll), some newspaper and some candles from my advent wreath.

First I melted the candles 

(and it took me only half the candles in the picture):

Then I cut the kitchen paper rolls into three pieces each 

and stuffed them with the dryer lint:

Afterwards I wrapped the rolls in newspaper, twisted one end and put that into the roll. Then I poured the liquid wax into the rolls so they burn as long as possible. 

This was the result:

Well, if I wanted to operate our fireplace solely with my homemade firestarters I might have to ask all my neighbors in Borkener street to collect their dryer lint for me because hubby always takes three fire starters at once. But in addition to store bought starters they are okay. And they burn like hell!

Have a blazing end of January :-)