The best brownie recipe EVER

This was the most labor intensive brownie recipe I have ever done but produced the BEST brownies EVER. The brownies themselves took only 25 minutes to bake but the icing had to stand for an hour, then they had to chill for one hour after I iced them.

The result? Moist, fudgey chocolatey goodness. I am sure they will be a hit when my friends come over Tuesday night.

Iced and ready to go into the fridge to chill per recipe instructions.

14 of the most delicious, labor intensive brownies EVER. The recipe made 16. Guess where the other two are?

Another fun way to use leftover spinach

Why not use it as a way to add healthy bulk to meat sauce? It's so easy: just saute meat, onion and seasonings, then add pasta sauce. Bring to a boil, then add spinach. Stir it in the sauce, then cover and allow to cook on very low heat so it has a chance to wilt. The result is healthy, delicious and a GREAT way to sneak some vegetables into your food. I think this would work well for children who are picky eaters as you cannot even taste the spinach. Enjoy!

Meat sauce with spinach. This photo was taken as I was mixing it in, before it had a chance to wilt and disappear into the sauce. 

An evening of new recipes and great company

Last night was cold and windy, perfect for a night of Indian food enjoyed with good friends.  I tried a new recipe called Indian chicken stew, which I prepared in my Crock Pot.  It contained lean chicken breasts, garbanzo beans, diced tomatoes, an onion, curry powder, garlic, ginger and smelled amazing while it simmered to perfect over eight hours on low. I served this with basmati rice and whole wheat naan from Trader Joes.

For dessert, we had brown sugar pound cake with caramel-Snickers ice cream. Everything was delicious and a good time was had by all.

Indian chicken stew over basmati rice

Brown sugar pound cake cooling on the table

Slice of brown sugar pound cake with ice cream

Brown bagging your lunch can be fun!

Think brown bagging your lunch is boring? Think again! There is no need to stick to turkey on whole wheat or PB and J. Think outside the (lunch) box and get creative with delicious creations like the curried chicken salad I made last week.

I created this by marinating bite-sized pieces of chicken breasts in pineapple juice, honey, dijon mustard and a little curry powder. Then, I sauteed the chicken. After allowing it to cool, I tossed it with a little mayonaise, curry powder, celery and diced pineapple. I served this in a tortilla with lettuce, tomato and cheddar cheese. The result was a delicious wrap that gave the kind served in restaurants a run for the money.

I cannot say enough good things about brown bagging your lunch. It's a win-win situation: you will see a difference in your wallet AND your waistline. In these rough times, I am sure this is something everyone can appreciate.

Curried chicken salad on a tortilla with lettuce, tomato and cheddar cheese.

Fun with my food processor and leftover spinach

I rarely use my food processor but I brought it out tonight to make spinach pesto sauce out of some spinach I wanted to use up. I tossed this with penne and bite size pieces of  sauteed chicken breast. This was delicious and so easy to create. The only catch? It didn't have the pine nuts that are traditionally included in pesto sauce as I did not want to buy a huge bag and that's all they had at Trader Joes.

Spinach pesto with penne and chicken in a pot

Plated....

Spinach pesto sauce in my food processor

What did I do differently this time?

Would you believe I STILL had some chocolate chips left? I decided to make one more batch of the muffins I made last week. I am not sure what I did differently this time but this batch came out beautifully! So much prettier than the last one and just as delicious. I couldn't resist eating one fresh out of the oven as a post workout snack.

One dozen muffins fresh out of the oven. Aren't the beautiful?

One dozen muffins on my cupcake display stand

First batch, made last week as a basis for comparison

A great brown bag lunch for the turbo-charged

I teach an intense, three-week class that meets for five hours, four days a week. I call it a turbo-charged class and every minute counts. That includes the 20 or so minutes I get for lunch. This week, I decided to give the wrap-sandwich places a run for the money and make my own. For the filling, I created a spicy chicken salad. This was very easy to make. First, I marinated bite sized pieces of chicken breasts in lime juice, cumin, chili power and cinamon. Then I sauteed, allowed to cool and mixed in mayonaise and salsa.

I wrapped it a tortilla and topped it with Swiss cheese, lettuce and fresh tomatoes. Not only was this delicious and easy to make, it fit in perfectly with my short lunch break as it does not require microwaving. As an added bonus, it is easy to eat with one hand because sometimes I need to wrestle with the copier or other office equipment on my lunch break.

I do not have the best  picture of this creation as this was taken at 6:10 Monday morning with me moving at three speeds: slow, stop and frantic!

Stay tuned for my next turbo-charged lunch break creation and I will try to take a better picture next week.



Spicy chicken salad on a whole wheat tortilla with lettuce, tomato and Swiss cheese.

A taste of Marrakech in Montgomery Village

In previous posts, I have written about Gourmet Garden seasoning pastes. Armed with the Moroccan and Cilantro blends, I created Moroccan meatballs with cous-cous.

I made some changes: I baked my meatballs in the oven, I did not fry them as the recipe instructed. I also didn't serve it with the cilantro-flavored yogurt.

This was delicious enough by itself. The meatballs tasted like something I could get at my favorite Lebanese restaurant and the cous-cous was a delicious blend of roasted bell peppers, spinach and zucchini.

These seasoning pastes are truly amazing and I cannot wait to discover what else I can create with them.

Vegetable cous-cous on the stove.

Moroccan meatballs going into the oven.

Moroccan meatballs out of the oven.

Moroccan meatballs plated with vegetable cous-cous. 

Fun with leftover mini chocolate chips

I had some mini chocolate chips leftover and I wanted to use them up so I decided to try my new recipe for Chocolate chocolate chip muffins. I haven't tried making muffins in years as every other time I had attempted them, they came out gummy. Not appetizing!

Not only did these fill my home with an amazing aroma on this cold and dreary day, they made a delicious pre-dinner snack as I couldn't resist trying one fresh out of the oven and a little bit o' cold milk.

 Chocolate chocolate chip muffins heading into the oven

Cooling on a plate