Chocolate chip oatmeal flake cookies

I didn’t have a lot of the standard ingredients on hand and I wanted to make cookies, so this is what I came up with:

• 6 T butter, very soft
• 1 c. white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 c. flour
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/2 t. cinnamon
• 1 t. baking powder
• 2 c. crushed TJ’s toasted oatmeal flakes
• 1 c. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream butter and sugar. Add the egg. Mix in flour, salt, cinnamon, and baking powder. Stir in flakes and chips. Drop onto greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes.

They turned out suprisingly good. I don’t really like the cereal by itself. so this was a good use for it, even though they would probably be better with some vanilla and brown sugar. I’d say I would try that next time, but I don’t know if I am going to buy this cereal just to make the cookies.

Fresh veggie cooking

Summer is great. I got my second box of fresh organic veggies on Thursday. In this month’s box:

• Basil
• Green beans
• Summer squash
• Broccoli raab
• Carrots
• White corn
• Lemon cucumber
• Cantalope
• Apricots
• Chard
• Rosemary

I found some recipes online and invited some veggie-friendly friends over for dinner Friday night. Here’s what was on the menu (sorry, no pictures):

Tomato-Basil Bruschetta
Hot-Sweet Salad of Broccoli Raab and Carrots
Curried Grains and Apple Salad
2001 Napa Valley Atalon Cabernet Sauvignon

The broccoli raab and carrot salad was pretty good, but the veggies needed a little bit more cooking time that the recipe indicates. Maybe I just have a weak microwave. The curried salad was really yummy. It is full of all sorts of vegetables (cucumber, green beans, and corn from the box), and the non-fat yogurt makes the dressing super healthy. It is one of those recipes I never would have made if I didn’t have cucumbers I didn’t know what to do with. I think I’ll keep this recipe on hand to make with whatever combination of vegetables that I have on hand.

On Saturday, since I had some leftover sourdough, I made some French toast for breakfast and a basil, tomato, and cheese sandwich for lunch, along with the cantalope. (Did you know that it isn’t really cantelope? It is musk melon and you can’t get real cantelope in the US. It’s kind of like the whole yam vs. sweet potato thing.) I also made waffles, but that is beside the point. I just love cooking breakfast food.

Tonight I think I am going to grill the summer squash and saute the chard. Maybe cook up some quinoa…who knows? You just don’t know what crazy thing I might do next! Watch out!