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 Velvety Chocolate Mousse (I Craved, I Conquered And . . . Morning in The Garden)

Recent events in my life lead to this dessert. Mainly stress. Chocolate is my salve. At my whit's end, the chocolate gods were smiling down at me. I feel quite accomplished after this mousse. Proud, giddy. Secure in knowing that this once most-craved dessert item can now go back into our rotation. Grant it, I had to really get creative. There is NO tofu in this. (You all know how I feel about tofu.) Plus even better--no baking! I'm slowly getting over some of my no-tofu-for-me-thank-you-very-much opinions. But not completely.

Blackberry Lavender Double-Crust Pie (Moon Gardening)

I spent the weekend eating pie. It was a good weekend. In between my pie lust, I planted all of my "above ground" vegetables. That's a moon-planting rule of thumb: plant above ground crops when the moon is waxing, that is--during the phase of the New Moon up to the Full Moon. (Insert song here: Fifth Dimension, Age of Acquarius.)

It's been a busy past two weeks. What with my library presentations, gardening, general lawn maintenance (then periods of "recovery" afterward), a plant sale here, a visit to a lavender farm there, all the other time in between: cooking, playing scrabble, knitting, guitar practicing, cookbook buying. . . time has simply gotten away from me.

Vegan Shortbread Cookie (Whole Wheat, Crunchy, Dunkable Midnight Snack!)

Sometimes I just want a plain cookie. No chips. No lemon. And, believe it or not, no chocolate. Growing up, we had a ready supply of "pecan sandies" on top of our fridge (along with the "Count Chocula" and "Lucky Charms"). In our house, the shortbread cookie was a staple. Like cigarettes and eye brow pencils. Maybe not in that order. I don't ever recall our mother whipping up a batch of shortbread cookies from scratch. Just that they were there . . . all the time.

Roasted Strawberry Frosting on Chocolate Cake (My Sugar Dilemma and. . . Rainy Day Garden)

Here was a cake that came about for no other reason than to do "something" with all the strawberries I had on hand. I am the person the grocery store has in mind when the display of this fruit is so large and in-your-face you practically have to high-hurdle jump over them to not notice. And before you can reach the bananas you "originally" came in for, there they are again, in a second display area! What's a girl to do? Buy two large flats, of course.

Of Bread, Books and Song (Dutch Crunch Bread)

I've been in the kitchen playing with dough again. I had two amazingly delicious baking events take place in one week. I'll tell you about one of them in a moment. But first: I somehow hurt myself last week while playing "farmer girl" in the yard. I tend toward being overly zealous when it comes to keeping things "tidy" around here. I now have tennis elbow something fierce. (My own diagnosis. Thank you WebMD.) Of course given my propensity for hyper-analyzing aches and pains (I wouldn't say I'm a hypochondriac. . . yet) but I will say I have gotten very good at hitting Google when such needs arise as those involving my body and pain. (Almost Fifty folks.) No lifting anything too heavy (including my cast iron pan). Take anti-inflammatory meds. And overall ix-nay the awnmower-lay. Thank goodness we're in the midst of a cool spell. The grass went dormant again.

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).

Vegan Dilly Casserole Bread (Uninvited House Guests And Camera Grief)

I don't know where to begin. Let me start with the camera first. I am now in the acceptance stage of grief, but I barely made it out of the denial stage. I denied my camera was broken an entire day until husband came home and I said, I think there's been a loss in the family. He said, You think. . . what's that supposed to mean? And I pointed to the keeper of my blogging "sanity"--my dead camera. He began immediate investigation--doing all the things I had done for an entire afternoon--turning on and off, peering into the card reader cavity, etc. Seemed hopeful at one point. Then he sighed, looked at me and said, Yep, it's dead. I had to leave the room at that point. 

Vegan Suzy-Q Mini Chocolate Cakes with Fluffy Cream Filling (On My 399th Blog Post: How'd This Happen?)

This is my three hundred and ninety-ninth post. Seems pretty remarkable to me. There were moments when I thought, Well, that's all I have to say; I've cooked just about everything I can think of. Or this: I've shared just about enough drama. It's over, no more sharing. Then . . . this incredible pull toward the blog happens and I once again begin typing, opening that iconic window, "New Post". The blog has taken on a life of its own. Short of giving it a seat at the dinner table, it's here to stay. I reflect on this a bit at the end of this post. But let's get to the chocolate first. 

This was our Valentine's Day: flowers and chocolate. When Dr. Thyme came home, he had flowers for me. So sweet. (Good thing that "Roses" guy in the van at the bottom of the hill hadn't closed shop!) I had these chocolate hearts I'd baked for him. Could we have been any more cliche'?

Vegan Buttermilk Cake with Chocolate Fudge Frosting (Triple-Layered for Cake Weather)

It started raining on me this morning while I was taking this picture of the cake on the back deck. Perfect. Just what I need on day four of living in No-Sun-St. Louis in the middle of winter. Not that we're in the sub-zero's or anything. It's just that when it's cold AND sunless here in the Midwest (close to the Mason-Dixon line) with temps hovering in or about the thirties combined with rain and/or snow (which is what is predicted), it feels somehow much worse than if it were snowing a blizzard and a mere ten degrees. Don't ask me why, it just does.