C is for Cookie...

And this one is good enough for me! On Thursday, I had baked some Best Pumpkin Muffins (from VwaV - see Tracy's post) for my beau, Kyle, to take to his work, and had 1 cup of thawed pureed pumpkin left in the fridge. I thought I could just make another batch of muffins from my fave cookbook, but I remember seeing “Pumpkin” splashed across a few other recipes in the book. Sure enough, a recipe for Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies caught my eye. At first, I was skeptical because A) I only make one kind of oatmeal cookie that everyone raves over (I’ll post my delectable recipe soon), and B) Pumpkin in a cookie? Although the recipe called for all purpose flour and raisins, I made an executive decision to substitute whole wheat flour and chocolate chips (Kyle wants them in EVERYTHING). I am known as the Queen of Substitution, and I had to put my personalized mark on the recipe. I tried the cookies today at work, and they were awesome…the spice was a perfect complement to the crisp fall air. I had also brought an extra two cookies to share with my co-worker Derek, a self-admitted cookie freak, in order to solicit his opinion. Derek seemed thrilled with the treat, noted the spiced taste, and told me that I could bring in Kyle’s share for him to eat. I doubt that that would go over well with Kyle, although it might actually make me popular at work.

As Tracy mentioned, VwaV rawks. That being said, for fear of turning this blog into an Isa-worshipping site, I thought I’d talk about a recipe from one of my other favourite cookbook authors. I made this delectable All-Day Minestrone Soup from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson. It was delish, and probably one of the easiest Crockpot recipes I have ever made (I know Crockpots are supposed to be effortless, but I find a lot of recipes involve browning/cooking many of the ingredients in advance, thus making it seem like I’m still having to tend to the meal). I used Eden’s organic Alphabet noodles, which brought me back to eating Alphagetti as a kid :) For my more mature tastebuds, I mixed in some homemade pesto at the end, as the recipe suggested, and it really gave it a lot of flavour. I’m glad this recipe called for chickpeas, as I seem to hate every other bean out there.

The one thing I absolutely love about the Crockpot is coming home after a long day at work in the bureaucracy-filled public service, opening the door, and smelling dinner cooking. I actually forget that I turned it on it the morning, so I get excited at the realization that I don’t have to cook! I then sort of pretend that someone has made me dinner and it’s just waiting to be served! The reality is that I live alone, and I don’t expect anyone to come to my house and make me dinner anytime soon :(

PS - Tracy...you need to get the Wearever Muffin Tin...it makes clean-up a breeze. Ditch the muffin papers and go commando...