Little Rustic Strawberry Tarts (Container Growing Strawberry Know-How)

I have three pints of strawberries in the fridge. I had five! It became necessary to um, get baking. During strawberry season, there is no such thing as too many strawberries around here. Every morning on my oatmeal plus I nibble on them throughout the day (well, when I don't feel the need for chocolate). I am convinced they hold some secret cure. Of what, I am not sure. 

This recipe involves basically very little in the way of cooking. Personally, the kitchen is not where I want to be when there is so much to be done outside. Today the temps are in the nineties so I lasted outside until about noon, then had to come in to cool off. 

I grow my own strawberries, but not in the way you might imagine. There are no fields. Mine are grown in a one container that is literally maintenance free. I do nothing to this plant. I don't feed, mulch or co-plant. It is in full sun throughout the summer. In the fall, I cover it with leaves which apparently provides it with enough protection to keep it in its dormant stage without it being killed by the cold. And we had a truly cold winter, so imagine my surprise when my strawberries showed up! The homegrown strawberry is not your grocery store strawberry. IT is much better! Smaller, yes, but they are simply divine. 

Beautiful Lives of Silent Sleepers (. . . And Reading Maya Angelou's, "Mom & Me & Mom")

This happens every Mother's Day weekend. I count. Sixteen years. I will always count. For some reason this year feels as if it were just yesterday. I don't know why. It could have something to do with the fact that I am this much closer to her age when she left. 

Vegan Brownies (My Best Yet . . . Chocolate Craving Prayers Answered)

I have been reduced to tears by trying to make the perfect vegan brownie. Recently there was one day where not one, not two, but three batches were mixed and baked all in one afternoon. None edible. I thought I might be having a nervous breakdown. (And this would not have surprised me one bit given the state I've been in.) Comfort foods have been on the menu. A lot. Foods we can eat with our hands mostly: sandwiches, baked fries, maybe some sides of homemade slaw for good measure. The whole food thing sort of went on hiatus.  

Then this afternoon a wonderful thing happened. I craved brownies. . . again! And this time, something told me if I just threw open every recipe in every single cookbook I owned from every single expert on the matter of chocolate and brownie making, I'd bake the perfect vegan brownie. And I did. 

The "Things in Threes" Rule (Going Back: Sweet Home Chicago)

Things are better now. I went "away". It was necessary. I called my sister and within three days, I was standing in her apartment. A sense of calm creeping back in. There were three things. Just like there always is: a family cancer scare, an intervention and right before I was to leave town, the sudden death of my best friend's mother. (A woman who's known me since I was fifteen). All in a matter of ten days. I kept count of each incident. I said aloud to DH, "Okay, this is one." Then I'd say, "Now this is two." And just when I'd righted myself to go away and spend time back home, I received news of a sudden death. Well. That's three. 

Vegan Apple Hand Pies with Brown Butter (The Best Snowiest Sunday Ever and Granny Square Hat-Makin')

Being snow bound is the best. Baking when you're snow bound is even better. Not to be trite, but here's the skinny on the day's events: cozy warm fireplace, the dogs, me crocheting a granny square hat, husband reading, a pot of veggie soup on the stove simmering all day, a fresh-baked loaf of ciabatta bread to accompany said soup: yesterday had to be one of the bestest Sundays ever. Then I whipped up these hand pies for dessert, and I'm not ashamed to say, my Yankee-self cherished every snowy moment of it all. More snow please! And how about like two weeks of summer, then fall. 

Vegan Blueberry Jam Surprise Breakfast Muffins: The Chia Seed Experiment (And. . . Seeing Stripes, Finishing Stripes)

Sometimes when I bake muffins for breakfast, I actually want to have them for dessert . . . and then for breakfast, too. This muffin in particular taunted me. I've had a love affair with blueberries for as long as I can remember. I make blueberry jam whenever they're in season. I smother my pancakes with blueberries, put blueberries in smoothies, use frozen blueberries on my oatmeal in the morning. If there's a scientific link between the consumption of blueberries and one keeping their "wits" about them into old age, I'd be a perfect study participant for such work. Just check back with me in about twenty years. Maybe fifteen. Okay ten.

Vegan Carrot Zucchini Lime Bars (Chive Talking, Perennial Dividing and . . . The Scrappy Gremlin Quilt)

If a cake has vegetables in it, does that make it less of a cake and more of a food group? My guess is no. I've probably made over two dozen carrot cake recipes in my lifetime, they always begin the same way: shredding carrots. "Shredding" is labor intensive--more mess to clean up. So I'll make excuses to not attempt carrot cake baking and instead switch to an easy chocolate pan cake or cookies. That kind of thinking is no longer an option in my kitchen. I love carrot cake. There was once a time in my life when the only carrot cake I knew was a boxed kind. Such dark and sad days those were.