Doctored Brownies

So, I had hoped to watch the World Cup (France vs. Mexico) at the local mexican restaurant and introduce my daughter to world soccer, but the restaurant did not have enough interest and canceled the showing.

We used the laptop to stream the game live from ESPN to our television and thus began our new obsession. And after Mexico trounced France, we had dinner at the Mexican restaurant.

The American game today was full of drama and emotion. It ended a few minutes before lunch so I fried up some of those Wegmans spinach feta peorogies.

While I did that, I had my daughter whip up some Duncan Hines brownies. In the house for those emergency chocolate attacks.

The fun with boxed brownies is all about the substitutions.

Instead of two eggs, you could use applesauce. (4 TBS for each egg)
Instead of water, you could use coffee.
Instead of pure vegetable or canola oil, I was wondering what would happen if I included some walnut oil.

Now, in this batch, I stuck to the directions but added lots of chocolate chips and some caramel candies. Then I scooped them into muffin tins since I don't own a brownie pan.

We baked at 325 for 30 minutes.

When they cool, I'm having one with a BIG glass of almond milk.

Five minute chocolate cake

From Instructables.com


o coffee mug
o 4 tablespoons flour - make sure you measure it right - or the cake is a lie!
o 4 tablespoons sugar
o 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
o 2 tablespoons whisked egg - 1 egg is too much, 1 egg white is too eggy, 1 yolk is too dense, but 2 tblsp is just right!
o 3 tablespoons milk
o 3 tablespoons oil
o 3 tablespoons chocolate chips
o splash vanilla or other flavoring - try peppermint or cinnamon

For a fudgier version, omit egg!

Cake Wrecks posted this to Facebook. It cooks in 2.5-4 minutes in the microwave.

We made ours with chocolate soy milk instead of milk.

We also discovered one of our eggs made two cakes.

I made mine with chocolate chips, pecans and chopped caramel candies to make a turtle cake.

Breakfast for dinner

It's been a hectic day. We started out the morning with a trip to the car dealership to get an oil change and an unexpected $450 worth of repairs. My daughter had some Peanut Butter Kids Crunch cereal from Aldi before we left. My husband packed some trail mix with yogurt covered raisins and dry cereal for me. My daughter ate most of it.

Lunch was leftover sicilian from the weekend. I love sicilian from Pizza D'oro. Not only is it a pizza I adore, but it feeds my family for three meals. Usually one dinner, the following morning for breakfast and the second day after for lunch. Plus a free two liter which we pretty much save for parties or mixers for alcoholic beverages. $17.

But dinner tonight was a real treat! Not only did my husband make dinner without being asked to... (Daughter had kindergarten orientation and we got home at 5 p.m.) but he made waffles. I added chocolate chips to the batter when he wasn't looking. And we cooked up some Morningstar vegetarian sausages. And then some sliced apple. With real maple syrup of course. The leftover waffles went into a freezer bag and there's another day's breakfast or maybe a lunch.

Waffles from the Betty Crocker Cookbook

2 eggs

2 cups flour

1/2 cup oil or melted butter (we used canola)

1 and 3/4 cups milk (we used soy)

1 tablespoon regular or brown sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

Heat waffle iron. Beat eggs. Add remaining ingredients and beat until smooth. Pour into the iron and cook for 4-5 minutes.