Vegan Brown Butter Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (. . . and summer canning tips for the "cherry" obsessed)

This is one of those recipes that came about because another oatmeal raisin cookie recipe didn't. I was insane to bake today in this ninety degree gawdawful heat. Cravings have priority. While I was at it--baking, that is, I whipped up some cinnamon raisin bread, too. It was a little steamy in here. (Something about the cinnamon being out made me crave the bread. But I don't know.) I can barely concentrate enough to stay on task going from one room to the next. But somehow today I was able to accomplish both bread and cookies thanks to a little cinnamon-obsessed moment.  

I think of the oatmeal cookie in the way I was raised to think of them: chewy. There are other schools of thought on the matter of oatmeal cookies. And I won't eat them. You know who you are: dry and crumbly. Save that for the shortbread cookies. So after one huge, messy kitchen cookie disaster, I did what any other woman would do, I baked another batch of cookies again, only this time, I wasn't messing around. And brown butter showed up to take these to the next level of yum. It wasn't on purpose, sort of a happy accident with the butter. I wasn't paying attention. But it worked, okay?   

Canning: Homemade Chocolate Cherry Preserves (And Summer Reading List Part Two)

I never saw my grandmother canning with chocolate. Grapes? Yes. Chocolate? No. If you're thinking OMG, this sounds crazy good. It is. Trust me. What else does one do when it's a hundred degrees outside? Why can, of course!

Apple Butter in The Slow Cooker (And Cowboy Boots on My Feet)

Out of our element and/or out of our minds, we managed to somehow drive nearly an hour away for apples on Sunday. This was not a planned trip. What started out as a plea to DH to accompany me to the "country store" for deer corn and a salt lick (if you have to ask, you probably don't need to know), ended up as a diversion of the crazy kind. *I can't lift the salt lick--it weighs like fifty pounds--just an fyi. 

Jam Sessions ("A Little Nina Simone Would Do You Good" And My Summer Drought Harvest)

When I heard the temps would be in the "dangerous/triple digits" range for an undetermined period of time, I made a mad dash to the store for provisions: canning jars, Bing cherries, Rainier cherries, plums, blueberries (two pounds each), sugar, lemons and chocolate. If things were going to get bad, really bad, I wanted: bread, homemade cherry plum jam, Pandora (my Nina Simone station!), chocolate and my favorite espresso--Lavazza. I pretty much lived off these things the past few weeks--give or take. 

Green Tomato Salsa (Canning Is NOT For The Faint of Heart Nor For Those Prone to Carpal Tunnel)

Let's say you're at home and decide to take on a couple of "projects" you thought you HAD to finish before husband returns from his business trip. Let's say hubby left you with twenty pounds of green tomatoes he'd strongly suggested might make a wonderful salsa. Godforbid should you disappoint. Godforbid even more that you should NOT take on such a seemingly easy-peesy project. But let's say because you are suffering daily bouts of hormonal upheaval so daunting, you decide to cram as much as you can into the course of your fourteen hour wake cycle to keep the wolves "at bay", you end up conquering not only THE WORLD, but everything in your home with lightening speed--amazing yourself at the surrealness of the female body heading into it's second stage of life: this amped-up hot flashing engine you drive is nothing short of a miracle. (Why aren't more Almost Fifty women willing to speak of this?!) To top it off, you have enough energy at the end of the night to begin yet another knitting project.

Cherry Plum Preserves on Homemade English Muffins (Canning Project No. 1)

 

I began canning about ten years ago. Literally "jumped" into it. My first canning exploit took me down the apple butter road. Fun but really, really messy. And truth be told, I was scared silly over the possibility of poisoning my husband with botulism. It was an intense first experiment. But all turned out well.

A Very Vegan Thyme Christmas! (Vegan Christmas Cookies Galore, A Party to Attend, Dog Treats, Apple Butter, Dexter and More!)

"It was the week before Chirstmas and all through the house, all I could do was creep around with flour on my blouse. I fell in the snow, scraped up my hand, then turned on the oven, parchment paper in hand. Grandma's recipes were scattered about, my hands were covered in dough, food coloring and sprinkles while Dr. Thyme sat back (reading without Nook) all of the fine books one library could hold. Suddenly I noticed a cookie I craved. . .then another and another, till all we had were cookies, a cake, dog treats and the first season of Dexter to keep us entertained."

Summertime Corn, Avacado And Pinto Bean Soup (Pressure Cooking: I'm Dreaming of Less Time to Cook!)

This ain't your grandma's pressure cooking here, okay? So if you are all like--Oh, what is this cooking with a pressure cooker nonesense? Can't those kill you? Uh, welcome to the twenty-first century, and no--they can't harm you if you read the directions. I was the same way until I had my first homemade soup and first risotto from this wonder-gadget. Let me add--PERFECT risotto in seven minutes--yes, I said seven minutes. This cumin and orange-scented, fresh whole pinto bean soup you see here--went from hard beans-in-a-bag to soup in about thirty minutes--and flavors out of this world! No pre-soaking required. (And don't worry, I'm not going all pressure cooking on you and only giving recipes for that type of cooking--the recipe I wrote up for the soup requires no pressure cooker!)

My cooking life has been changed forever. (Well, at least until I feel another kitchen must-have-it-now urge swallows me whole.) The best thing about summer that I can think of right now is that cooking has become something completely centered around "What Can I Make in Twenty Minutes or Less And Not Break Out into A Major Sweat?" Then, of course. . . what can I make for dessert with all that extra time! Before I continue--this is not an advertisement. I simply have to share how lovely it is to cook in 100 degree heat using less energy and less heat (thus helping ease my mind over my own "carbon footprint" and how much LESS oil/energy I expend creating my meals. Thank you BP Oil for bringing this to the forefront of my culinary life.)

When I told a friend I was interested in a pressure cooker, she looked at me with a sideways glance then laughed. I said, What's so funny? Turns out her own mother "way back when" would use the pressure cooker for nearly everything--all dinners basically. All veggies, too. (Toss out the idea "if ten minutes is good, fifteen must be better!" when cooking with a pressure cooker--just stick to the rules with this one--follow the cooking guidelines). Sadly for my friend, her first memory of how broccoli really looked (green) and tasted (crunchy) wasn't until she left home, having it served sans brown and mushy--declaring only then that she loved it!

My first pickle canning experiment was a disaster. I had no idea how icky a pickle could be until I tried canning my regular garden cucumbers--OH MY! Save those for relish. I repeat--garden cucumbers are not to be pickled! Who knew? I didn't. I just had so many darn cucumbers, I didn't know what else to do! They were just awful. So, I re-canned  pickling cucumbers I had to go purchase at my local farmer's market this weekend (shown here) for my second go-round pickling adventure. Much better--at least in looks so far. Sitting next to the pickles are spiced peaches and blueberry preserves. Yum!

Vegan Curried Chicken Salad on Homemade Four-Seed Bread (My Garden in July And Peter Piper Picked Pickles--But I Had to Can My Own!)

I was desperate for an old favorite: chicken salad--with a kick of curry powder: YUM! I'm sorry, but I am a mayo freak and really, of all mayo bites, this one classic was something I'd eat a dozen or more times before summer ran out--like the beloved BLT (come on tomatoes, ripen up already darlings). Grant it--vegan-izing this baby was not rocket science with the advent of Vegenaise. You have your tempeh--boiled first, then cubed--which makes nice with the rest of the chicken salad regulars: apple, celery, grapes, some kalamata olives, a few green onions and pecans plus the fresh lettuce and tomato wedges, sitting beautifully atop a slice of homemade, bread machine four-seed bread--it's all I could think about a few nights ago. An easy, easy recipe for anyone on the vegan summer blahs wagon.