recipe hoarder

one of my favorite things to do is collect recipes. it's near-obsessive really. i have a pile of pages torn from magazines (martha stewart living, everyday food, real simple, whole living…); i thought by tearing them out i'd at least be de-cluttering my apartment of old magazines. well, this half-worked--now i just have random folders filled with magazine pages cluttering my apartment… don’t even get me started on the cookbooks. i started to put little post-it tabs on all the recipes i wanted to try and ended up basically flagging the whole book. it would have been easier to just mark the ones i didn't want to try. -sigh- at least the cookbooks look nice in my bookcase. the online recipe collection is way worse, as you can imagine, since it's pretty easy to bookmark a page (ctrl+d is my friend and enabler). i love having all these different recipes saved, but what good is a recipe if you never try it? so this weekend, i decided I'd start tackling some of them. here we go: oatmeal fig chocolate chip cookies and sam's (eggy) coleslaw.

the cookies were simple with a hint of fancy from the figs. (yes, i think figs are fancy.) i halved the recipe (actually yielded closer to two-thirds--never a bad thing when it comes to cookies) and shared them with kim when we hung out on sunday. actual text message: Yay eating cookies now so good! i think that's a pretty good endorsement :) the cookies were soft and chewy, not too sweet, and the amounts of chocolate and figs were just right. i totally gobbled up the leftovers over the next couple days. the fruit and oats have to count for some nutritional value, right??

i've been meaning to try the coleslaw recipe for a while now, which might seem strange since when do you ever eat coleslaw besides at bbqs…and maybe not even then? but when i read the recipe intro it made this coleslaw sound pretty appealing as a simple side salad. the addition of egg and poppy seeds was a nice twist. i already had some savoy cabbage and radicchio leftover from a chopped salad so just needed to pick up some chives and parsely. other than boiling the eggs and waiting for them to cool, the coleslaw came together really quickly. after mixing everything together i realized that i probably needed more cabbage since the slaw was fairly eggy and there was a bit more dressing than i prefer. added some arugula to the mix and it was all better! it still veered more towards a light egg salad to me, but i like egg salad so not really a problem. if i make it again, i'd definitely use more cabbage and maybe less egg. all in all, a nice salad.
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:: oatmeal fig chocolate chip cookies ::
(recipe from edible living)
makes 2-3 dozen.


1 cup thinly sliced dried figs 
2 sticks butter, softened
¾ cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup natural applesauce
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 ½ cups whole wheat white flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
3 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1 cup chopped chocolate chips


preheat the oven to 375 degrees. pour 1/2 cup boiling water over the figs, cover and set aside to plump, 15 minutes. drain. 

meanwhile, beat together the butter and sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer on medium high until light and fluffy. add the eggs, one at a time, applesauce, and vanilla. beat.

in a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. stir in the oats, plumped figs, and chocolate chips with a wooden spoon.

scoop the dough in one heaping tablespoon-sized portions. arrange onto cookie sheets leaving plenty of space between cookies.

bake until just cooked through and golden brown on the outside, 8 to 10 minutes, depending on your oven. serve warm, or cool completely and store in an airtight container for up to three days.

:: sam's (eggy) coleslaw ::
(recipe from a sweet spoonful)
serves 6.


1 head cabbage (green or purple), finely chopped
2-3 green onions, chopped
1/2 bunch italian flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1-2 tablespoons chopped chives
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
3 hard-boiled eggs, cooled and chopped
2 tablespoons dijon mustard
1/4 cup mayonnaise, plus more if you like
salt and pepper, to taste
3 tablespoons (or more) poppy seeds



in a large bowl, combine the cabbage, green onion, parsley, celery, and eggs. toss to combine. add the mustard and mayonnaise and stir together. taste to see where it stands; add more mustard or mayonnaise if you wish. season with salt and pepper. finish with a generous dusting of poppy seeds and mix the whole thing together.

store covered and refrigerated for up to three days.