A Spoonful of Thyme

This is the way of it....Pandemic day 132...another cookie.  Today's cookie of choice is oatmeal.  I was paging  through another of the older cookbooks on the shelf.  I actually remember the day that I bought this one.  It was my lunch hour and I stood at the small bookcase in the department store trying to decide if I really needed a second "basics cookbook", of course I did.  I enjoy the cookbooks by Rosso and Lukins.  They were published at a time when cooking was changing, becoming more adventurous.  

My mom baked the very best oatmeal cookies.  They were the basic recipe that she did something magical to...I will never know what it was but they were quite tasty.  Today, though, I was branching out.  I wasn't looking for basic oatmeal, I had hopes of finding something just a but different.   I found a recipe for Lacy Oatmeal Cookies.  These were not basic, they were lacy and they were supposed to be extra special.  Actually, they had me at the words lacy and brown…

Reading old cookbooks has become a nice activity during our "stay at home time."  I had forgotten how many great recipes there are in the old cookbooks sitting on the shelves.  (I do have a habit of accumulating cookbooks.)  Reading and cooking from an old or new cookbook makes me happy.Thankfully, I have found that there is always one group or another cooking their way through a new cookbook.  Those groups are enjoyable.  They introduce one to the new and encourage revisiting some of the older cookbooks on our shelves.  Just what is needed on Pandemic Day 1, 2 or 129!
Cooks are rarely shy about sharing their opinion about recipes and cookbooks.  Hearing from others, as their experience with a recipe is shared, usually guides me to recipes that should be reviewed and possibly tried.  The digital Cookbook Club hosted by The Kitchn is a great place to start and the best part, aside from cookbooks and cooking, are the people in the group!  The second group is the Food52 Cookbook…

Cookies equal comfort and isn't it comfort that we are all trying to find?  Cookies soothe the soul. They make one feel happy.  They put a smile on your face as you think of past cookies, baking projects with your mom or baking projects with grandchildren.  No matter your perspective, a cookie solves the problem.
I associate baking cookies with a rainy day.  Growing up, Mom, always baked cookies on a rainy day.  It is what one is supposed to do. While there isn't any hint of rain, cookies have become the go-to for comfort and contentment.
Spicy Mexican Chocolate Cookies made me smile.  They remind me of the Mexican Chocolate Brownies that I made a few years ago.  Both had a deep chocolate flavor and each bite made my tongue dance just a bit!  Who doesn't want to smile and dance?   Proceed with caution though, one bite wasn't enough...one cookie wasn't enough...I do love spicy!  Addictive....

Spicy Mexican Chocolate Cookies adapted from Cookie Perfection
Yield: 3 dozen
1 …

Day 12233% of the year 2020 Wow.  Who would have thought that the movie, Groundhog Day, would become the reality?  
The routine here has been somewhat repetitive, to say the least.  In March and April it was on the chilly side.  There was a lot of comfort food but no posts.  There were new cookie recipes but no posts.  There was bread but no posts.  You get the idea.  I didn't write any posts.
I did do some writing in March and April.  It was all genealogy related.  In fact, I started a genealogy blog and there are posts, but only the few stories that I had thought about for a long time and had a need to tell. 
In May I moved to quilting.  Like most quilters, I have bins filled with fabric.  It was calling to me, so the goal became using up the fabric I had accumulated.  If you quilt, you know that that is nothing but funny.  One can never use up all of the fabric accumulated!  As of today, I have put together four quilt tops.  I am pretty tickled to have been able to accomplish that …

When you are sheltering indoors, it turns cold, and it is pouring down rain, nothing tastes better than a bowl of hot soup.  I had actually been thinking about this soup since I saw it in the Washington Post.  I must admit that trying to buy-in groceries for sheltering-in was a bit of a challenge.  No lentils?  How can that be?  Who would have thought lentils would be a favorite item? 

I inventoried the pantry and guess what?  I found lentils!  So, I bought everything I needed for the soup, picked some lemons from the tree and made a super tasty pot of soup!


Greek-Style Lentil and Spinach Soup  with Lemon Recipe adaptation by Tom McCorkle for The Washington Post
8 Servings (12 cups)
1 pound brown or green lentils, picked over and rinsed 10 cups vegetable stock 1 jalapeño, stemmed, seeded and chopped 2 tsp whole coriander seeds 1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds 2 1/2 tsp oregano 2 bay leaves 2 medium potatoes, peeled, diced (Yukon gold, red or russet) 10 oz. fresh baby spinach, chopped 1 small butte…

I meant well, but I never did invite guests for dinner, but, I do deliver. The recipes that I selected from Salt Fat Acid Heatyielded enough for the neighbors and the two of us...so, it was surprise neighbors, I brought you dinner! The neighbors were thrilled and we were happy to share. Salt Fat Acid Heat is great reading.  I tend to read a cookbook as one would read a novel.  The difference is that I stop along the way when I am reading a cookbook.  I had intended to read everything before doing anything and I tried. But, there were so many wonderful Facebook and Instagram posts going up in the group, that I just had to go for it.

I did read the section about SALT. It was the perfect section for me to read as I have always been on the timid side when it comes to salting. It took a lot of courage and a deep breath for me to taste and “add salt until the broth was saltier than the saltiest soup broth I had eaten.” But, I did it!! And, it worked! The rice and lentils were the most flavo…

I prepared the Persian Herb and Cucumber Yogurt from Salt Fat Acid Heat. This was the perfect addition to the Adas Polo o Morgh (Chicken with Lentil Rice.) The dollop of this Herbed Yogurt made the dish soar! The cucumbers lend a cool and smooth background so the herbs can shine through. One more dollop, please!!! 

Have I mentioned how much fun I am having with this cookbook?  I have learned so much!

The recipe for the Samin has allowed her recipe to be published online at New York Times Cooking.  Take a look.

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020213-mast-o-khiar-persian-cucumber-and-herb-yogurt

Break is over...I must return to the cookbook and cooking!

#kitchncookbookclub#saltfatacidheat