Strawberry CC Muffins

So last night John and I were sitting around when we realized there was not ONE baked good in the entire house!! Horror of horrors how did this happen??? We decided it was time for some muffins... but what kind? How about blueberry? Hmmm out of all types of frozen fruit... Banana??? None in the freezer and the ones on the counter were too far away from being ripe... Pumpkin??? Seriously... we don't have ANY pumpkin in the house??? But there is ALWAYS a can of pumpkin in the house!? Huh... now what?

I'll tell you now what... 2 containers of strawberry yogurt and some chocolate chips later... we had these bad boys!


I wouldn't tell John what they were, I didn't want to influence him by how weird they sounded... but in the end we both liked them :) I mean strawberries and chocolate totally go together :) why not in muffin form!

Steph chows strawberry chocolate chip muffins
recipe by steph chows

Blueberry Muffins
1.5 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup splenda granulated (or 1/4 cup white sugar)
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
dash salt
1/2 cup apple sauce (I use unsweetened)
2, 6 oz containers fat free or low fat strawberry yogurt
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup chocolate chips

topping
1 tbsp slivered almonds
2 tbsp firmly packed brown sugar
1 tablespoons whole wheat flour
1 tablespoons agave nectar
1/4 cup uncooked regular oats

Pulse almonds 2 or 3 times in a blender or food processor until chopped. Add brown sugar and 1 tablespoon flour; process 5 seconds. Add agave; pulse 5 or 6 times or until mixture is crumbly. Stir in oats; set aside.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and spray 12 muffin cups with pam.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In another bowl blend apple sauce, yogurt, egg and vanilla thoroughly. Stir the wet mixture into the flour mixture just until combined. The batter will be very thick.

Add the blueberries and stir gently. Divide the batter between the 12 cups (they will be very full cups) sprinkle with topping, and bake for 6 minutes at 425, reduce heat to 350 and continue cooking for 12-14 minutes, or until tester inserted into center comes out mostly clean. Cool completely on wire rack.

Happy New Years Eve!!! What do you all have planned for tonight??

Tuna Melt

When John and I started dating he wanted to show me that he was able to cook. The first thing he cooked for me was a tuna melt... I must admit, I really really don't like tuna melts... but you all know how you pretend to like things when you are first in love... and he was so sweet to cook for me... so I put on my biggest smile and told him I loved it, and ate every last bit of it!


At some point later when I felt more comfortable with him... the truth came out!!! We had a good laugh, but from then on when he feels like a tuna melt, he goes solo with it :)

John's Hummus Tuna Melt

Spray two slices of whole wheat bread with I can't believe it's not butter spray, set aside

Mix together:
Can of tuna drained
2 Tbs hummus (chili pepper is a favorite)
few glugs red hot

Place a sice of bread butter side down in a pan and top with tuna mixture. Add a slice of cheese of your choice then the other side of bread butter side up. Grill over low heat until browned, flip and brown other side.

What food have you pretended to like in the name of love :D

Noodly Doodle

I'm glad you guys all liked the penguin I made for Walton, his other home made gift was this adorable hat!


The best part are the noodly doodles on the top... doesn't the name just make so much sense? I based the hat off of this pattern here. I added an extra noodle on the top, and made the stripes bigger.


The only problem will be getting walton to wear said hat... you put a hat on the kid and within 2 seconds he throws it off :) I sneaked it onto him at one point, he torn it off and then handed it back to me and said "dank ooo" translation "thank you" LOL well at least he was polite about it!

We're back!

Hey guys! Hope you all had a wonderful holiday, or at least a good day off! John and I ate our way through NJ and are back home in Rochester! I must admit I left the photo taking to my dad and sister while I was home... so I don't have much to show at the moment. But so much to tell!

Christmas dinner was hosted by one of my cousins and they totally outdid themselves. My Aunt's cream of chicken soup recipe to start (best soup ever). The next course was homemade noodle lasagna made by Vinny. Followed by the largest ham I've ever seen (I LOVE HAM!) pineapple stuffing (which if you ask John is NOT stuffing.. I love it anyway) all types of veggies, shrimp french, salmon, all types of cheeses... and then dessert of course!

Cannoli, cakes, italian cookies, chocolate covered pretzels, fruit salad... and my favorite linzer torte!!!

So tell me, what is your favorite thing for christmas? Mine is ham hands down :) followed closely by rye bread and linzer torte :D

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!!! Can you guess what I made my nephew this year?


And he's wearing a scarf!!! I mean it doesn't get any cuter than this!

OK time for your close up Mr Pengi


Hope santa is treating you all well!!

Mocha Mousse

So this mousse is a good option for the lactose intolerant... It uses tofu and greek yogurt (seems like all my lactose intolerant friends are able to eat greek yogurt... no clue why!)


The recipe calls for silken tofu... I just found out there is such thing as chocolate silken tofu??? I'm totally using that the next time I make this!



Although this was pretty good, I felt like it still had a little tofu undertone to it... next time I'm also going to add some kind of liquor... maybe amaretto? Or Kahlua?? YUM That should fix the problem :D



The- Best- For- Last Chocolate Mousse
recipe from Prevention
12 ounces soft silken tofu, drained (trying chocolate silken tofu next time)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted
1/2 cup fat-free greek-style yogurt
(adding some kind of liquor next time too...)

Directions
Place the tofu, vanilla extract, and almond extract in a food processor and blend until smooth. Add the chocolate and blend for 1 minute. Scrape the sides with a rubber spatula and blend for 1 minute longer or until incorporated. Pour into a large bowl.
Fold in the yogurt just until blended. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Butterscotch + Muffin =

Butterscotch + Muffin = A sticky mess from muffins gluing themselves to the pan...


But is also equals a really tasty tasty muffin!! So what if they were a pain to get out of the pan.... just use cupcake liners and you'll be good to go :)


Fudgy Chocolate Butterscotch Cupcakes (makes 12)
recipe by steph chows

1 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/4 cup splenda OR (1/4 cup white sugar)
2 Tbs brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup Hershey's 100% Cocoa Special Dark
2 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
dash salt
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup butterscotch chips
cupcake liners

Preheat over to 350 F
Mix apple sauce, sugars, vanilla, beat in egg
In a separate bowl mix flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon.
Add flour mixture to wet mixture a little at a time, stir in boterscotch chips.
Spoon batter into 12 cupcake liners
Bake for about 20 minutes or until tops are firm to touch.
Dust with cocoa/powdered sugar mixture.

And the winner is...

Lucky number 2!!!! Jennifer of Maple N Cornbread is the winner! Here is what Jen had to say in her comment:

"What a great gift basket! Ive not tried Musselmans before!"

Congrats Jennifer!! Send me an email at stephchows at gmail.com with your address and I'll pass it on to Muselmans for you!

And as some of you may have realized... Sunday was the 20th not the 19th like I said in my post... whoops! LOL

And to get you drooling for tomorrow....

Peach quick loaf

So remember that delicious raspberry loaf I made a little while ago? MMMMM SO GOOD. Well, raspberries are darn expensive, so I tried making it with some cheep and cheerful canned peaches (not packed in syrup!) I made the loaf half raspberry half peach... just in case the peach side came out gross for some reason. The verdict, YUM!


This peach loaf is perfect for dessert, breakfast, snack time, you name it! And now that you can make it with peaches... it's even more economical :) OH I made a version with frozen blueberries too (no pictures) also a total good to go version! Don't you just love recipes were you can toss in a new fruit and it's like a whole new thing!


love it.

PS don't forget to enter the giveaway!!



Peach Almond Streusel Quick Bread
recipe redo by steph chows
Makes 1 9x5” loaf

Streusel:
1 cup lightly toasted almonds, finely chopped
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
3 Tbs firmly packed dark brown sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons agave nectar

Bread:
2 cups canned peach slices, drained and divided
1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
dash fine grain sea salt
½ cup unsweetened apple sauce (I used Musselman's)
1/3 cup granulated organic zero (or granulated splenda or white sugar)
¼ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature
½ cup fat free sour cream

Make the Streusel: Toss the first 5 ingredients together in a bowl. Add agave and stir until combined. Divide mixture in half into two bowls; set aside.

Make the Quick Bread: Arrange oven rack in center of oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9”x5” loaf pan with nonstick spray.

Chop 1 cup peaches and toss them with half of the reserved streusel; set aside.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt to aerate and combine; set aside.

Beat together apple sauce and sugars. Beat in vanilla extract. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry mixture in three additions, alternately with the sour cream. Begin and end with the dry mixture and beat briefly until just smooth.

Scrape half of the batter into the prepared pan, spreading evenly with a small offset spatula. Top with streusel/chopped peach mixture, forming an even layer. Scrape remaining batter on top, spreading carefully to cover center streusel layer. Top with remaining streusel and place remaining peach slices evenly over top, pressing gently to help adhere.

Bake for about 55 minutes or until a bamboo skewer inserted in the center shows a few moist crumbs when removed. Cool pan on wire rack for 15 minutes, then unmold directly onto rack, right side up, to cool completely.

Gift baskets for me and YOU

Don't you love this time of year? Gift baskets showing up for all types of people? Such was the case when I got home last night and this was waiting for me to unwrap...


The wonderful people at Musselman's sent it to me and it was chocked full of tasty treats!



There was all natural apple sauce, a lite apple sauce (ingredients look the same except this has a little artificiall sweetener added in at the bottom of the list) I also got lunch packs of all different flavors of apple sauce. I busted the pom/blueberry straight away... the verdict, totally tasty! I brought them into work with me for random snack time. They also sent me two kinds of pie filling, I see pie in my near future for sure!


Here is the great part, they want to send one of my readers a gift basket too!! Wicked fun right?? Everyone loves gift baskets! To enter leave a comment before noon Sunday the 19th, and I'll pick a person via random.org. Winner will be announced Monday!


You can even become a facebook fan of Musselman's if you like here. But if you do, you better be a facebook fan of mine first! LOL not that I'd be jealous or anything...

Sesame chicken with bok choy

So this is another recipe from Real Simple. They say it takes 25 minutes... I think it took even less actually. Perfect weekday meal, or quick weekend meal. I have to say the chicken was a bit bland, but mix it up with the side and it's good to go! I also added brown rice (the 10 minute boil in the bag kind) because the side would be a bit skimpy without it... at least for my big appetite! So follow this recipe... except cut up the chicken, and once it is cooked, toss it into the pan with the bok choy and dump in a bag of brown rice.. now we're cookin!

oh why hello there little jalapeno round, would you like to set fire to my mouth now?? (they said to use a red jalapeno... I couldn't find any... sure would have added a nice pop of color though!)

Sesame Chicken With Gingery Bok Choy
Recipe from Real Simple

Ingredients

• 2 large egg whites
• 1/4 cup sesame seeds
• 1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 8 small chicken cutlets (1 1/4 pounds total) (I cut mine into 1 inch cubes)
• 4 tablespoons canola oil
• 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 6 heads baby bok choy (about 1 pound), quartered
• 1 jalapeno (preferably red), sliced (seeded for less heat, if desired)
• For my version (1 bag boil in bag brown rice)

Directions

1. In a bowl, whisk together the egg whites, sesame seeds, ¼ cup of the cornstarch, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Dip the chicken in the batter and shake off the excess.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add half the chicken and cook until golden brown and cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes per side; transfer to a plate. Repeat with 1 tablespoon of the remaining oil and the remaining chicken.
3. Meanwhile make boil in bag brown rice according to direction...
4. In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, ginger, sugar, 1 tablespoon water, and the remaining teaspoon of cornstarch.
5. Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the bok choy and cook, turning, until just beginning to soften, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the soy sauce mixture and jalapeño and cook until the liquid has thickened slightly and the bok choy is tender, 3 to 4 minutes.
6. Toss the chicken and rice in with the bok choy and serve.

Pumpkin CC Cookies!!!

First off, there are 24 of us taking part of the cookie exchange woowooo!!! I sent out an email with your partners yesterday... so if you think you signed up... and didn't get an email... email me ASAP at stephchows at gmail.com Thanks everyone!!!

OK now back to those pumpkin chocolate chip cookies... WOW, just WOW. These are a new favorite for sure!! I adapted them from Joy the Baker, who adapted them from a cookbook. We all know what I did by now, got rid of most of the fat, subbed in whole wheat, and lowered the sugar some... and even with all that fiddling... tasty tasty tasty!!

Seriously, just look at these??? The recipe says to make them 1/4 cup big... which made them somewhat like soft muffin tops (not complaining one bit) The smaller ones were fun too though. I made a half dozen with sweetened coconut pressed into the tops before baking... good call steph... good call!!


Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon soda
dash teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 eggs
1/2 cup splenda granulated plus 1/4 cup white sugar... OR (3/4 cup white sugar)
2 Tbs melted butter (OMG I used butter!! LOL)
1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips, or any chip you like

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with silicon baking mats.

Stir the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices together in a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar/splenda until smooth and lightened in color. Then mix the apple sauce, melted butter, pumpkin, and vanilla until blended. Mix in the flour mixture to incorporate it. Mix in the chips.

Using an ice cream scoop with a 1/4-cup capacity, scoop mounds of the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing the cookies at least 2 1/2-inches apart. You could also simply use a 1/4-cup measuring cup if you don’t have a scoop. Use a thin metal spatula to smooth and flatten the rounds.

Bake the cookies until the tops feel firm and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry, about 16 minutes. Cool them on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then use a wide metal spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Salmon With Warm Lentil Salad

I'm always looking for quick dinner ideas for John and I. I read this one Wednesday night and it's what we had for dinner Thursday, yup it looked that good :) The warm lentil salad calls for arugula... for some reason Wegmans was out, so I picked up a bunch of asparagus, steamed them up, and cut them into 1 inch pieces to toss in the salad... wicked good!! I'd say skip the arugula and make it with asparagus if I were you :D

Oh and since John likes more flavor with his salmon I did a quick hot wing marinade on his piece, mine was just a little sea salt and pepper. I cooked it up on the G.Forman grill (with skin on - I take it off after it's done cooking) instead of skinless and in a pan like the recipe calls for. Quick and oh so tasty!


Salmon With Warm Lentil Salad
recipe from Real Simple
serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 cup green lentils, rinsed
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 1/4 pounds skinless salmon fillet, cut into 4 pieces
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1/4 red onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1 bunch arugula, torn (about 4 cups) (my substitution: 1 bunch asparagus steamed and cut it into 1 inch pieces )
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges

Directions

1. Bring 4 cups water to a boil. Add the lentils and 1 teaspoon salt and simmer, stirring occasionally, until tender, 20 to 25 minutes; drain.
2. Meanwhile, heat 1 teaspoon of the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Season the salmon with ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper and cook until opaque throughout, 4 to 5 minutes per side.
3. In a large bowl, combine the vinegar, mustard, onion, parsley, the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil, and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper.
4. Add the lentils and arugula (or asparagus) to the vinaigrette and toss to combine. Serve with the salmon and lemon wedges.

Healthy Bread in 5 minutes a Day

So when I was at the Foodbuzz festival I was lucky enough to get a copy of this book, and I was SO EXCITED that I did!! By now you know I love bread, and I normally eat wheat, but when I make it at home, it's just so much easier to make white bread... not anymore!!!

Seriously ask for this for you holiday gift, you wont be sorry.

PB chocolate swirl Loaf

oh yeah... you see that title... makes me want to chow, how about you? Unfortunatly I didn't have any chocolate or PB chips on hand... I just used up the last of the chips the other day... so I tried making it without them... not such a great idea, it needs those chips. I'd make this again for sure, but I'd make sure I had the chips on hand!


I found this recipe over at Sugar Plum. As for my changes... since you know I made some. I used organic zero for the sugar, and used half whole wheat flour... oh and I used Better n' Peanut Butter instead of normal PB. But don't try making this without the chips, it just tastes like it's missing something LOL which it was :D

You know how you make it taste good though without the chips? You toast up a slice and add some cream cheese on top, totally yum.

You can find her recipe here.


Don't forget to sign up for the cookie exchange! All the info here :)

Frittata? Quiche? Egg thingy

What's the difference between a frittata and a crustless quiche? Ehhh no matter, John loves these things (not so much me) so I've been making them as an easy dinner for him. Then I just do a quick egg sandwich for me (so much better if you ask me!). I have to say I don't normally like making things that take 45 minutes in the oven... but whenever I make this for John I just whip up a quick bread loaf for us to eat too... come on two birds one stone. Both take about the same time, and in the end everyone has something tasty to eat!

I'll tell you more about the loaf variation tomorrow. For now here's the quiche... frittata... whatever.


John's tasty egg dinner

In a frying pan saute in a little olive oil spray (then set aside to cool a bit)
1 small onion chopped
2 tsp garlic chopped
1/4 cup mushrooms chopped
2 chicken sausages (sliced)
handful of turkey pepperoni sliced (chopped up)

Meanwhile, in a large bowl beat up
4 eggs (don't tell him I put that many yokes in... he wont be pleased)
2 egg whites
1 cup skim milk

Then toss in:
1/8 cup grated parmigiana cheese
couple glugs red hot
1/4 tsp chili powder
few grinds of black pepper
dash of salt
1/4 cup mozzarella (john likes the fat free variety)
1/4 cup roasted red peppers
4 rings of pepperoncini chopped

Stir your cooked up onion mixture into your egg mixture and then pour it all into a greased 9x9" pan. Bake at 350 for around 45 minutes. (jiggle the pan... if it still jiggles... it's not done yet)

Let cool slightly, and serve!


Don't forget to sign up for the cookie exchange!


All the info here :)

Come on peeps

OK so 22 of you said yes to doing a cookie exchange after the holidays... another 5 yes to before... ok peeps I only have 4 of you signed up so far... really now??

Lets do this!!!


All the info here :)


PS we have someone in Australia and someone in the UK who need partners!! Sign up peeps!!!

First Annual Cookie Exchange

OK everyone it's the first annual steph chows cookie exchange!!


Feel free to grab the above image to display on your blog and link back!

Basically 75% of you all said you wanted to wait until after the holidays to ship your cookies. Here is the deal. You all have until this Saturday (December 13th and the start of Hanukkah!) to send me an email to sign up. I will email out your partner by Monday. Once you know your partner you can either send the cookies ASAP... or wait and send them by January 16th. That way the peeps who wanted to participate before the holidays (I'm guessing you already plan on baking tons of cookies so would be ready to go) can still join in, and those who want to wait until after all the craziness can also still join in! Best of both worlds right??

OK, first lets set some ground rules.

1. You don't need to have a blog, anyone can participate (we have one person from the UK who is looking for a partner!! so even if you are international sign up and hopefully we'll have more from your country to pair you all up with!! everyone is welcome!!)
   
2. Email me by saturday at stephchows at gmail.com with your name, address, and any allergies.
3. You must be willing to bake 1 -2 dozen cookies and mail them out by January 16th (I'll let you and your cookie partner decide how much you want to send each other)
4. Send me a picture of what you sent if you would like to be included in the roundup, along with a link if you posted about it on your blog.

Don't know what to make?? Here are some of my favorite cookies to make and give!

Pizzelles, either chocolate or traditional!

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Almond Saltine Bark - people eat this stuff up like mad!

Magic in the middle cookies

Raja Oaties


PB chocolate chip cookies



And you can always see all the cookies I love to make HERE.

Birthplace of the Sloppy Joe

OK if you think I'm going to talk about a sandwich made with chopped meat and ketchup served on a sad roll... you are very very wrong. I'm here to talk about the ORIGINAL, the TRUE, South Orange New Jersey Town Hall Deli Sloppy Joe!!! This is a MUST have whenever I visit home, no exceptions (except for those 5 or so years they were closed and relocating... saddest years of my life...)


They slice the rye bread on a meat slicer to get it super thin. Layer of rye bread, turkey, cole slaw, russian dressing, swiss cheese, another slice of rye, corned beef, cole slaw, russian dressing, swiss, and top it off with another thin slice of rye bread. Seriously heaven... one of my favorite things to eat EVER. Then they slice it into 8 little squares.

They come in all type of meat combinations... all include the slaw and russian dressing, totally mandatory, and totally delicious. One sandwich can feed 2 normal people... if I'm around you might want to order me my own though... or loose a finger... your choice ;)

This is a ham and roast beef combo. *drool*


PS The cookie exchange is ON!!! Full details on how to join in to come Monday :D

Amish Friendship Bread

When I got back from NJ there were a few surprises waiting for me back at my townhouse... the first was that the entire house was decked out in full blown Christmas glory (Roomie Steph loves her some christmas). I have to say it looks beautiful, but still made me laugh when I walked into it all :) (also funny I'm not used to expecting it since we've been living together for 6 years now!) The second surprise was a weird bag of white goo on the kitchen table... there was a sheet of paper under it with these instructions:

(click to see a larger image - yes I'm lazy and don't feel like retyping it)

Steph was given said goo (a bag of starter) from her John's sister. Lucky for me, Steph was planning on making said goo into a cake that night! We were both a bit sceptical of the whole thing... but away she went stiring and mixing. I accidentally left our loaf pan at my John's... so she made this in a 9x9 pan and a small loaf pan. It was supposed to make 2 normal sized loaves. And can I tell you... The crumb... so tender... the crust... a sweet crisp!! AMAZING!!!


Now don't go thinking it's super healthy or anything... Steph did health it up a little though. Instead of a cup of oil she used 1/2 oil 1/2 apple sauce. She also used skim instead of whole milk YUM! Oh and she upped the vanilla to 1 tsp instead of a 1/2. Good job Steph GOOD JOB!!!! I'm totally going to try to health it up more with another bag of starter she has! Can't wait to see how it comes out!

As you see the note says you can't know how to make the starter... Amish secret recipe... well good thing the Amish don't use the internet, otherwise they would not be happy to see someone leaked said secret recipe on All Recipes!!! You can find it here. :D

Cookie Exchange?

Sooooo would anyone be interested in doing a cookie exchange?? We can wait until after the holidays so it's not so crazy crazy?? Basically I'd pair peeps up... and you send a batch of cookies to each other... and then we all eat the cookies and get fat? Sound like a plan? OK OK, not the get fat part... lets leave that part out!

So... before I go planning out this whole thing... lets see how many people would be interested! See below cool poll...

Would you take part in a cookie exchange?
	Yes, but only if it was before Christmas so I have more cookies for Santa
	Yes, but I want to send the cookies after the holidays... maybe in January
	Nahhhh no thanks
pollcode.com free polls

Come on... cookies cause friendships to happen, I'm living proof!

Brownie Fail

Happy December!!! So I just read in the news that this is the longest snow free period for Rochester NY in 57 years... it's been 235 days without snow!!! Crazy I know. What does it have to do with this post? Nothing... I just felt like sharing :)

Don't you love when you make a new recipe to bring somewhere... and it totally fails!? I know I love it ;) This recipe was from Martha Stewart... and it looked like it would be so tasty... brownies... with sweet potatoes?? Count me in!! AND it was a pretty healthy recipe, so I didn't even have to change a thing...

maybe I should have though...

These were the thinnest brownies ever, totally didn't rise... and they had a weird, not very sweet taste to them... something was just off... They call them fudge brownies... and yes they were... fudge 1/4 inch thick brownies.

Although my cousins all said they were fine, I was not a fan (and lets be fair here... they are family so were probably just being nice) :D Either way... don't make this recipe here. Just don't do it...

On another side note... while I was in NJ we found two sets of roller skates and two sets of ice skates that were my Nana's and Popop's from the late 1920's early 1930's!! How cool are these things?? I mean just look at the vintage logos!!