Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies + Lentil Soup

I found a divine lentil soup recipe to use up the remainder of the massive quantities of kale that Crystal and Jason generously gave me from their garden.

Onions and kale

Broth and lentils

As most of you know, I'm not much of a baker. For some odd reason, I had a hankering for cookies recently, so I made these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I think they turned out well, although J. mocked me because I didn't eat any of them for several weeks. In fact, a large plastic bag of them is still living in my freezer. I guess I just wanted to make them.

batter

Coq au Vin + Concord Grape Juice

Last week, I made an easy version of coq au vin and Concord grape juice with grapes from my backyard. To simplify the coq au vin, I used rotisserie chicken that I'd frozen, but even making it with regular chicken is dead simple. Who knew such a swanky-sounding dish is actually a breeze? I served it over whole wheat cous cous with steamed haricots verts (those slender French green beans). Delish.

Here are some shots of making the grape juice:

A thoroughly blurry shot of the coq au vin. (Sorry. I think I was too hungry to hold the camera still.)