I try to never drag dear husband along to the grocery store. There are several reasons for this. First and foremost would be the "impulse issues" we both have when it comes to things like chocolate glazed donuts (in the bag!) and "instant breakfast food stuff". Sunday found us both at the store to pick up a few necessities. (After our walk/hike.) Not even two aisles into the place and he stops cold in front of the Hostess display. (We both are recovering Entenmann's Chocolate Glazed doughnut addicts.) Being a little spent from the morning activity, we had no business going anywhere near food. But yet, here we were. And like a true enabler, I said the unthinkable: Well, if you must. And sort of started down the rest of the aisle when again he'd stopped, only this time, he has a box of NEW Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Breakfast Bars in his hand and says, I had these on the plane last month, they weren't that bad. Really? What pray tell might said "cookies" be made of, I ask. (You can see where this is going.) The look on his face when he turned the box on its side to read the list of nearly thirty ingredients (some undecipherable to me) was priceless. I'm not knocking "instant" food stuff. I'm just not someone for whom the chemical-processed-food bell tolls. Or at least I try really hard not to be. So, having made it out of the store without the breakfast bars or chocolate glazed donuts, we counted this store visit as a victory. When we got home, I promised I could whip up a batch of those dang cookies and they'd be way better. And I did. And they were. And the recipe for said cookie is at the bottom of this post. Scrumptious, chewy, moist with just a bit of crunch on the outside--but full of oats and yummy spice. Mission. Accomplished. Meantime, there was some house drama I had to contend with.
When we were house hunting eight years ago, we sort of stumbled across our home at the last minute on a Sunday Open House scavenger hunt. I'd seen this home on the internet, and liked (for the most part) what the house features listed--land being number one. However, I also knew that there would be some serious interior TLC cosmetic "fixes" in order. Not least of which was the overly zealous use of wallpaper. (All homeowners in previously owned homes know of what I speak--those wannabe "decorators".) The wallpaper in the kitchen alone was nearly a deal breaker. (Green and white prison stripes!) It had to go. And I knew I'd be the one to change these cosmetics. Sure, DH would pitch in to help, but as it was discovered, this house had way more than just a few minor cosmetic issues. In a nutshell, it became a bit of an equity nightmare. Oh and there was the nicotine aroma. Ew. Ew. Ew. To this day, I've harbored a disdain for the hoodwinks and smooth selling (can you say "major fabrications") that were used in the sale of this home--both by the previous owner AND their illustrious real estate mogul. For months, even years, I'd felt we'd made a mistake. I wasn't sure about a lot regarding this house/location, but the ink had dried and it was now HOME. Hard stop. As I lay in bed with fever a few weeks back, I recalled a literature class and the assigned reading of, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. One of my favorite feminist pieces. They just don't write them like they used to. The story has stayed with me for years and I will probably read it for the fourth or fifth time again--it's that good. And it's free!
While I felt I was not yet mad, though getting close, I tend to the dramatic when I am ill (as in at one point asking Dr. Thyme, Do you think I'm . . . dying?). I spent the better part of my days staring at the wallpaper in the bedroom. I remember a line from the seller when I offhandedly commented, Wow, someone certainly loves wallpaper. (Read: My God, How Awful!) With pride the response went something like this: Oh yes, we had that professionally hung and it's a high quality paper. Oh. Kay. Thank god I know how to use a paint brush.
My first trip to the home store was in a quest to find out how easy? it might be to remove wallpaper. I was assured it could be done, but the word "easy" should be omitted from the project description. Boy they weren't kidding. But the kitchen prison stripes HAD to go. After all, it was the kitchen! That was my first foray into the art of wallpaper removal and my swearing off from doing it EVER again.
Fast forward to last week and walking into the bedroom, I noticed a seam on the wall begging to be ripped. So I ripped. . . and ripped, and ripped--one eight hour day of ripping wallpaper. Suddenly I was staring at beige walls with fuzz. Surely I can paint over that fuzz? Surely. Uh, no. No you can't. Don't even try. What I was staring at was the remnants of the glue backing (and an incredible heady smell of old cigarettes). Ew, again.
With my water mister in one hand and a putty scraper in the other, I began peeling the next layer of paper off the walls.This took me two more days to complete. It was now day four. While I was doing the bedroom, I thought: I might as well do the bathrooms! Yay!
By the end of day four, I had the colors in mind: Gray on the bottom and very, very light gray for the top. (I'd have removed the "Shaker-like" chair rails, too, but feared I may discover they were used to cover some other contractor disaster.) Don't get me started.
Well, here it is a week later. Walls are painted in both bathrooms and bedroom and brightness and color rejuvenation abounds. I am happy as can be with how the walls turned out. Dr. Thyme loved the choice of the lighter color for the top half in the bedroom--it makes it very bright. This is typically where my day starts and with winter approaching, he felt it would help offset the Seasonal Affective problem I tend to battle. The more I stared at it, the more I realized, the color scheme--gray on bottom, nearly white on top--was like snow. And I LOVE snow. The project took me a week from start-to-finish. I won't say I didn't want to cry, or run screaming from the bedroom with shreds of glue-y paper sticking all over me and a spray bottle in my hand. I maintained my sanity by keeping a jar of chocolate Halloween candy nearby.
Now, I am preparing to re-cover two of our bedroom chairs (re-purposed patio chairs!) with some lovely fabric I found at Jo Ann's in their remnant sale pile. I heart remnant piles. Meantime, here's the breakfast cookie recipe, and better yet, you can pronounce ALL of the ingredients! I incorporated a bit of Gluten Free All Purpose baking flour (my favorite is Hodgson Mill) in these because I like how doing so adds protein and lessens the chance of my having a glucose moment right after eating them. I've been doing that a lot lately, adding in GF flour or mixing AP flours with other whole grain flours. For the oats, I used half Bob's Red Mill Five-Grain Cereal mixed with instant oats. You could use whatever type of oats you have on hand: rolled oats or quick cooking. I used both dark and light raisins. Feel free to play with the spices--I personally love a super cinnamon-y cookie. You might not. It is a forgiving recipe. If I make these again, I think chocolate chips may be called for.
Oatmeal Raisin Breakfast Cookies
1/2 cup gluten free all-purpose baking flour1/2 cup white whole wheat flour1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour1/2 teaspoon baking soda1/4 teaspoon salt3/4 cup sugar1/2 cup brown sugar1/2 banana, mashed and mixed with 1/4 cup warm water1 teaspoon Ener-G Egg Replacer powder1/2 teaspoon ground allspice1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon1/4 teaspoon ground cloves1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg1/2 cup vegetable margarine (2 sticks)3/4 cup sugar1/2 cup brown sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract1 cup rolled oats (I used Bob's Red Mill Five-Grain Cereal)1 cup instant oats1 cup raisins1/2 cup shredded coconut1/3 cup chocolate chips (*optional)
Preheat oven to 350. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Sift all dry ingredients together--flours, baking soda, salt and spices (reserve the oats and coconut)--in a medium bowl. In the bowl of a stand mixer or large mixing bowl, beat together the sugars and butter/margarine until light and fluffy--add the banana/water mixture and teaspoon of Ener-G Egg Replacer and vanilla extract to this and beat until well incorporated. Add half the flour mixture to the sugar mixture and mix for about ten seconds--just until large clumps form. Then add the second half of the dry ingredients and mix once more for another ten seconds or so--just until the dough just starts to come together. Now, add the oats and coconut and/or chocolate chips. Using and ice cream scoop, place the dough on cookie sheets with about 2 inches between them. These are large cookies because they are breakfast cookies, not tea time cookies! I was able to fit six cookies per cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Don't over bake--they tend to dry out if you do. Remove from oven when the edges of the cookies begin to turn golden. Allow cookies to cool on cookie sheet for ten minutes, then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely before storing. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for three days, or you can wrap and freeze the cookies and eat within a month.
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