Vegan Soft and Chewy Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies (Amiga Cardigan: Finished!)

We needed a Thin Mint break. We were on our third box for crying out loud. I never thought I'd see the day, but I am sort of Girl Scout Cookie-d out. I know: blasphemy. It was time for the standard to return.

I knew I had a recipe "somewhere" for soft and chewy chocolate chippers. Somewhere became an afternoon of paging through the Big Books of cut-out recipes. I am a visual person, so in my mind, the recipe I remembered had a pillowy soft chewy cookie photo. Dang if I could find it. There was one that maybe could have been it. A Martha Stewart recipe--from a cookbook of hers. So I gave that a try. Well. That went horribly wrong. H-o-r-r-i-b-l-y. 

Jim Lahey's Irish Brown Bread (The "Green Acre" Grows and Blossoms. . . in Winter!)

Yesterday morning was gorgeous. Hubby and I set out for a hike first thing. (By eleven--that's what "first thing" means on the weekend.) We had no sooner returned from our St. Paddy's Day outing and were sitting down to have lunch when the sky turned really darkish, thunder sounded in the distance, and it began raining. Buckets. Then mother nature threw in some hail for good measure. We were sitting on the porch watching all of this happen. Trakcing it on our "devices" (I heart my Kindle Fire! Dr. Thyme hearts his Archos thingy)--looking for any warnings (of the tornado kind). After all, it is March inching ever-more-closely toward April, and April in Missouri means: the height of tornado season. Anyway, it was rain and storms (thankfully no tonadoes) non-stop until seven or so last night. I wish I'd put my rain gauge in the garden to measure the rainfall amount. I bet it was over three inches. I'll be putting it out today.

Vegan Bran Muffins with Coconut, Banana, Raisins And. . . The Kitchen Sink

How many bran muffin recipes does one woman need? I say you can never have "too" many. I bet there are at least fifty in my collection. When Sunday afternoon rolls around (usually too soon)--I begin thinking about the upcoming week's provision needs. I don't like to begin Monday without something special to look forward to. It's the little things in life--like knowing there are ONLY fifty-two Mondays every year. Surely I can create fifty-two mornings of special. And bran muffins to me are the be-all end-all of easy-peesy baking. No frosting, no lining with parchment paper, no hand blender and messy blades to clean afterward: one bowl, a spoon.

Vegan Mushroom Burger (My Garden. . . Myself)

We bought this house because I "had" to have a place to garden. I was born under an earth sign which means I am highly inclinded to covet all things "earth". Every winter-into-spring (right about now) I begin to feel very hopeful about gardening. I feel the urge to have my hands in the dirt, to pull out the tools from the garage and begin digging. I walk back and forth, up and down our hills--surveying what I might want to do this year, taking stock of places I felt I just couldn't possibly stand another year--and promise I'll get to FIRST this year. I take more trips to the home store and to my favorite gardening center to watch the trays of annuals arrive. Jokingly the guys ask, Starting already, Kelly? I smile and say, No just looking. (Fifteen minutes later, I have my wallet out).