Sunday, January 29, 2012

Brownies

It was just too hard to wait until morning before eating a few!

When one has a hankering for chocolate, it's hard to find a better dessert than brownies. The final product is delicious but you don't have to wait for the timer to beep before you can enjoy your work! At least that's what we think over here, as our batter bowl is left with perhaps a bit more batter than necessary. Brownie batter - so good!

Of course, the above is only true if you make box brownies. Until now.

That's right - I have found the best homemade brownie recipe. Previous recipes have resulted in brownies that just aren't chocolatey enough or more often than not dry brownies. Why go to the work when one can use a box mix to make the best brownies?

Again, that was until now.

These brownies check all the right boxes:
  • stay moist for days
  • chocolatey
  • include vegetables (w0w!)
  • no need for frosting
  • vegan (Now you'll know what to serve for dessert to your vegan friends!)

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Brownies



1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa
2 cups shredded zucchini
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 x 11 baking pan with cooking spray, set aside.

2. In a stand mixer, combine sugar, canola oil, and flour, combine until mixture resembles wet sand.


3.While mixing, on low, add cocoa, zucchini, vanilla extract, salt and baking soda. Mix until well combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

4. Pour brownie batter into prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean and the brownies are set.

5. Cool on a wire rack. [Oops, I just leave them in the pan!] Cut brownies into squares and serve.

Recipe from Two Peas and Their Pod

Note: These are definitely more of a cakey brownie, so if you want the fudgy-ness of a box brownie, stick to the box. My days of box brownies are definitely not over, but now they won't be my only brownies! (And sorry, the batter isn't the best - but really, try these!)

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Fun with my new computer

John & I gave ourselves a new computer for Christmas. I've been working on figuring out everything I can now do. Current project - video maker.




Wasn't the timing of the sample music on my computer perfect?

Monday, January 23, 2012

Kleenex

But Mom, they just kept coming!

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Our Apartment Building on TV


The TV series The Firm is out, and to be honest, we are not all that wild about it. We watched the Pilot and after 20 minutes acknowledged that the only reason we were still watching was to see our old apartment building.

So, this week, while John did homework, I watched episode 2 and there was our apartment! Yay! If you care to watch it, our building (or the outside of it) is the set from 23:34 - 26:10 and 38:23 - 38:32. Not really that much time but well worth looking into if you`re curious.

A little caveat to go with that - the hallway they walk into from the elevator is exactly what ours looked like. But the apartment, well, it was recently renovated and looked nothing like ours did. Oh, and the sidewalk that Mitch and his brother walk on, we have walked on that same sidewalk so many times!

Perhaps this is as close to our 15 minutes of fame as we`ll ever be.

Friday, January 20, 2012

Two Parts

Part One: It's been a long 10 days. We're almost done with being sick. John is good, Helena is pretty good, and I have sinusitis. Medicine should start working in a few days...

But let me just say being sick is hard when you're a mom. You can rest every chance you get, but you're still not resting as much as you really should. It's just another one of those things you don't appreciate enough about your mom until you become one. Thanks Mom!


















Part Two: In those same ten days, Helena has become quite the hugger. She loves hugging her mom and her dad, and we pretty much melt in her arms every time. But she also loves hugging her stuffed animals and her dolls with a good close hug like a mom would give. Here's the evidence:


















See what I mean?



















Such a good hugger of her baby...




















until she decides to shake the baby while only holding onto her hat! She's got a ways to go in her motherhood training...