3x6=18x6=108-18=90 Brownies in two days

My initial approach to making brownies, having never made them before, was to review the recipe and cut the sugar and butter drastically. It was soon very apparent had made an ugly mistake because brownies are naught but sugar, butter and flour with a little chocolate mixed in. In my time crunch to make a decent batch of homemade brownies I did not take pictures, which is just as well because after trying one I decided to soak them in water and throw them away unceremoniously. Soaking bad food before disposing is an effective way of preventing any man or beast from suffering the same fate that brought you into such a perspective. So that's the minus 18. After the first batch I decided not to mess much with the recipe and things began turning out much better, although I always used whole wheat flour because I don't like to compromise with wheat. I do enjoy utilizing healthy alternatives and avoiding chemicals or modified substances. Here you can see my 'No MSG' sign announcing proudly my unwillingness to compromise when it comes to brownies. This is how I arranged them for work, where I engaged everyone with a challenge to eat too many chocolate brownies in the space of a few hours and report back their favorite. (In wise retrospect, I should have made the pieces smaller) I don't remember what exactly I did to each batch because I did not document it and I made them all back to back but here is a small summary of what I can recall.


FLTR:




A. Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate bars 4oz. --very sweet







B. 3/4 cup Hersey's Coco, really tiny bit of pumpkin from a can --my favorite







C. 4oz. Unsweetened baking chocolate --mild, pleasant flavor








D. 3/4 cup Hersey's Coco no pumkin, deep dish --great texture, good taste





* 1 cup of Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips was added to each

Brownies are very easy to make, prep time is 10 minutes and cook time is only 30 minutes so there's no excuse not to make your own if you're in the mood. I will will be revisiting my quest to find the ultimate brownie soon!

How *not* to start a Monday

Naturally when you think of how best to prepare yourself for another work week your mind wanders to all things wonderful. I woke up Monday craving a delicious meal that would satisfy my hunger, at least until 12:30 in the afternoon. So after poking around in my fridge I decided to grill up the halibut fillet marinated in cilantro salsa with asparagus and those homemade wholewheat tortillas.

The pictures may be delightful to behold and it was indeed good meal but a lesson that I may perhaps pass along - this is not a breakfast meal. It tasted great, though lacking a sauce for the taco I think. But in twenty minutes I found myself famished again. I was under the assumption that expensive fish was never eaten in the morning because it was expensive - not so. After I realized my mistake I ended up having a tall glass of high-pulp Simple Orange Orange Juice and a peanut and honey sandwich with extra peanut butter. As soon as I got to work I was hungry, again, and had two large carrots. My stomach was thoroughly confused at this point and I wanted to apologize with an 8oz serving of Ice Pan but I did not have the time. I'm making more waffles so I should not run into this kind of problem again this week.

Saturday!

After two hours on the ice this morning I was wanting for a good meal so I stopped by the new Whole Foods at the District and picked up some zucchini, organic whole wheat flour and Teriyaki chicken kabob's and a blueberry bush! I've planted him out front in a 16" plastic planter and wait eagerly for how it will grow. I adore blueberries and will find no problems coming up with applications for an abundant supply of them.

But I will have to restrain myself from going off on how wonderful my blue berry bush is and how marvelous it will be to bask in the king like splendor of fresh, home grown blueberries!



So for lunch I fried up a colorful array of bell peppers with onions and after toasting a few freshly made whole wheat tortillas over the stove I threw the kabob's on the grill. It turned out to be exactly what I needed. The handmade tortillas were really quite good and I shall be most certainly be returning to procure more of them.


Despite the need of my famished body being met perfectly I still managed to collapse in the living room and fall asleep for a few hours. After which I decided to make zuccini bread.

It turned out 'right' but I could not stand to eat much of it for it was far too sugary. I will have to make some adjustments. To my suprize, however, it utilized an entire cup of olive oil and no butter. I shall have to try that with my banana bread. All in all it was a good bread, but I look forward to perfecting it to.


Then I found a real cinimon rasin bread recipe that I wanted to try. (http://www.thefreshloaf.com/recipes/cinnamonraisinoatmealbread)



I have made cinimon roles frequently but they have allready been from a frankenstein recipe that I pieced together based on a Honey wheat bread. I had to add a little more water than specified because it was too dry when kneading and I didn't soak my rasins for very long because I didn't want them to be too soft. But they turned out okay. I think I'll try adding more cinimon next time. Having the rasins spread throughout the entire loaf was wonderful though. Total rise time is 3 1/2 hours but I only had time to let them rise for 2 hours - I think I'll try this again next week, provided I stay awake.