Vegan Winter Salad of Quinoa, Radicchio, Cabbage, Tart Cherries and Pistachios with Dijon Balsamic Vinaigrette (a return to running, there's a new guitar in town and why I used to love winter)

I keep our refrigerator continuously stocked with all of the greens necessary to whip up an impromptu salad like this one at the drop of a hat. Winter demands it, as I've found I feel one hundred percent better after consuming a meal of raw veggies (tossing in a bit of cooked quinoa amps up the protein level to boost my stamina). Mentally I need it. Physically I need it, too. The salad information will be covered shortly below if you care to skip this next part.

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. 

Whole Wheat Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins with Lemon Syrup Glaze (Rediscovering Rod Stewart)

I don't know how it happened, but suddenly I was standing at the checkout counter at the store with six lemons. I always have lemons in the fridge-had at least four or five in the "crisper" already. Something as simple as lemons can take over my mind in a nanosecond. Maybe it's the heat. Nineties already, and it's not even June. So, when I got home, I thought it might be fun to crank up the oven in the morning and whip up something lemon-y and poppy seed-y. After I baked them, and while I was patting myself on the back for a "job well done" in the baking of said muffins, I ate. . . two. This morning, I ate two more. Dr. Thyme had three for breakfast. I think I want another one before I go to bed here shortly. I thought if I wrote about these lovelies, I might not be as inclined to binge eat my way through my cake keeper of muffins at nine o'clock in the evening (which is sure to keep me up and extra hour). 

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. 

Vegan Farro Soup with Crusty Ciabatta Bread (Strumming Pain And Tire Tracks on My Music)

Wednesday night is guitar lesson night. Dinner needed to be something quick and something I could either cook the heck out of the hour before I leave the house and just "leave" warm on the stove until I get home after lessons or. . . it's vegan grilled cheese and a can of soup night again.

I have been neglectful of my kitchen lately because of all the topsy-turvy remodeling taking place. I can't stand chaos and thus, was unable to "work" in such conditions. Now that all seems to be in order (this after a serious purging from the pantry and fridge)--I am able to navigate the possibilities for dinner more easily. (I could spend several posts on the virtues of keeping your kitchen in an OCD sort of way--but I'll wait for another time.) During this purge, I unearthed quite a chache of beans, rice and other pantry staples that had somehow been residing in either another time dimension or happened to pop their little heads out for the new kitchen unveiling. Either way, that's how the farro came into the picture. During one of my shopping trips to Whole Foods, I must have stumbled upon "farro".

Vegan Whole Grain Blueberry Crumb Coffecake (Cowls And Guitars)

This is a very "crumby" coffee cake: I love it to pieces! Literally. It's baked with tons of good-for-you whole grains and a yummy cinnamon-y, crunch-y topping that, as it sits, gets better by the day. I've had this for breakfast, lunch and dessert. For evening time, if you have a hankering for something sweet, but want to feel "healthy" about it, then this cake's for you! The added bonus are those antioxidant-rich blueberries. I'd probably add another cup of berries the next time I make this, but meantime, thought it totally worth sharing. If you wanted to make giant muffins out of this, or even regular-sized muffins, you could. But you'd need to adjust the baking time and keep an eye on them during baking. Either way--the flavor in this is outstanding.