Simply Nurturing

When life seems to complicated to me, I find it really important to make a simple meal that feeds my soul. Rather than grabbing a bag of chips and sitting on the couch with a beer, I knew it would be a more restorative act to prepare a simple nurturing meal tonight. So, I reached into my fridge, and discovered my vegetable stash. How could I have forgotten the 'octo-carrot' I found at the Wedge Coop last week! Rice is always the thing I make a meal around when I need comfort, so I started by making a quick pot of broken rice. While the rice was cooking, I started cutting up the veggies, sharing the scraps with Chou Chou the little bunny. I always like to start by heating canola oil and toasted sesame oil in a heavy skillet, adding 1/2 julienne onion, 1 tablespoon diced ginger root, and 2 cloves of sliced garlic and saute until the onions are caramelized. Add 1 diced carrot and cook until just tender. Add a little soy sauce and a little dash of white wine, and toss in some broccoli bits. Cover and cook until al dente. Serve the veggies over the warm rice. Such a good, simple dish to comfort on a cold evening.

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I had some leftover rice and also some nice ripe mango, so I added some coconut milk, vanilla sugar, and a little bit of Celtic sea salt to the rice and topped it with fresh mango slices sprinkled with a little bit of crushed sea salt. Perfect!

Nothing says 'I Love You' like chocolate chips cookies....

Nothing says 'I love you' like chocolate chip cookies fresh out of the oven when you come home from school. Or, at least that is what my kids might say. I was inspired by the lovely autumn day, and my daughter talking about another 'perfect fall day' where she remembers the sun streaming through the window, walking home crunching through fall leaves and then coming home to the smell of chocolate chip cookies! So, that is what I set out to do today....with the intention of showing my motherly love through baking. There really is something cozy about having the oven going on crisp fall days, and the alchemy of butter, sugar, vanilla and chocolate chips baking. I pulled out my well worn 'Joy of Cooking' and within minutes had everyone's favorite dough to eat out of the bowl. I pulled the first tray out just as the kids got home from school. There are days I find the simple 'motherly' activities so satisfying!

Here's the recipe from 'The Joy of Cooking"

Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies

makes about 3 dozen 2 1/2 inch cookies

Position a rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. ("Joy" says to grease pans, but I prefer parchment) Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk together thoroughly:

1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Beat on medium speed until very fluffy and well blended:

8 Tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

Add and beat until well combined:

1 large egg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract(I always add a little more!)

(and here's my secret ingredient I just love to add to everything....a little dash of 'Fiori di Sicilia', it adds a little something special)

Stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture until well blended and smooth. Stir in:

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

3/4 cup chopped roasted walnuts or pecans

Drop the dough by heaping measuring teaspoonfuls (or just use a scoop with a sweeper blade...so much easier!) onto lined baking sheets, spacing about 2 inches apart. Bake 1 sheet at a time, until the cookies are just slightly colored on top and rimmed with brown at the edges, 8-10 minutes; rotate the sheet halfway through baking for even browning. Remove the sheet to a rack and let stand until the cookies firm slightly, about 2 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks to cool.

(Another hint from me....actually via Shirley Corriher; heat a baking stone in the oven while you preheat and place the baking sheet with the cookie dough directly on that to bake. They just seem to bake so much more evenly that way. Shirley's new book 'BakeWise' is full of baker's wisdom!)

Mmmmmm....milk and cookies....how can you say that isn't wholesome?!