Thursday, June 26, 2008

Refresher.





Now that it is feeling a bit like summer here, after what I like to call a long ‘Juneuary’, I am feeling like a nice cool beer, a frosty Caprihana and a nice glass of chilled white wine. In reality, I still can have none of these. But, I came across a lovely refresher in a cool book that my mom gave me, one that was nominated for a James Beard award, very deservingly. It is called Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson, and in it, she does what I have been striving to do lately; cooking more using whole grains. Not only is it a beautiful book, but it is quite informative too. She finds uses for the more obscure flours…mesquite chocolate chip cookies anyone? I have yet to try these using the mesquite flour, but I am intrigued.

In the book, she has a recipe for a drink called Aqua Jamaica. Sounds refreshing doesn’t it? It is made from Hibiscus Blossoms, which, randomly, I had in my tea cabinet, a little sugar and water. It was quite refreshing with a little sparkling water and lime.

If you have a hard time finding Hibiscus Blossoms, try Trader Joe’s Raspberry Infusion Tea. My second batch was made using this instead, and you will see that the tea actually contains hibiscus as well as raspberry..so, there you go!

To make:
Bring to boil 2 cups water and 3 Tablespoons sugar and pour over 4 tea bags. Let steep for 5 minutes. Then, add 2 more cups of cool water and chill. When ready, fill a glass with ice, pour tea to fill 2/3 and then top off with sparkling water and a couple lime wedges. Add sugar to taste.

Saturday, June 14, 2008


The brownie not worthy of its name. (i.e. another dud)



I am not sure what I am thinking with this one. I think it started with my desire to play around with whole grains in my baking adventures, and secondly, the fact that I am 35 weeks pregnant and feeling large…not to mention an evil mirror and lighting experience I had last night in the bathroom at the Salish Lodge. (think posterior + cottage cheese)

My oven, after being kaput for 2 weeks, is now fixed, so you guessed it..the baking must go on.

While I have a few pretty tasty brownie recipes, I decided for some insane reason to make a low fat brownie tonight. I am kicking myself already, and they haven’t even emerged from the oven yet, in all of their non gooey, non chocolaty badness. I tasted the batter; something that I try not to do in pregnancy, given the raw egg thing and all…but, I couldn’t resist tonight when I noticed the extremely pale hue of my brownie batter. It was then that I had my doubts. Then I tasted it. Think of a batter, that tastes not even remotely resemblant of chocolate, then add that flavor of whole wheat which is great in breads, not so great in brownie batter.

People, it wasn’t good.

I should have known. Really. I mean, how many times do you see a dessert recipe that says “low fat,” and it actually tastes good? Well, I am sure that it happens every once in a while, but let me tell you as someone who spends most of her time baking with real butter and eggs….it happens not often enough. And, STILL, I went along with this recipe. Wishful thinking I guess..

So, to mildly defeat the purpose of the low fat brownie, I added a heaping cup of Green and Blacks Hot Chocolate Mix, which is essentially chocolate and sugar…so, here comes the fat, back into my brownies and onto my posterior. I am not even sure that this will salvage the mess that I may have just made…but, I am waiting, somewhat un-eagerly to find out….

30 minutes later…

Well, they don’t smell too bad…but…

It looks more like a cake, and not quite the fudgy, chocolaty brownies that I normally make…

10 minutes later…

Oh boy, I really hit it on this one. I think that this is the absolute worst dessert that I have ever made. It is that bad. How can the Bob’s Red Mill Whole Grain Baking Book publish this recipe and feel good about it? Yuk, yuk, yuk.

To think that I was so, so close to making a full fat oatmeal cookie instead, and now I have a pile of tough, chewy, not chocolaty at all, ‘if-you-can-even-call-it-a-brownie’ brownie….such a shame.

This is no brownie of mine, no brownie at all.


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