Brownies

On a snowy day, it makes sense to get some goodness in your tummy. My son and I decided to bake some brownies. 

I turned here and my brownie stash didn't find him anything he wanted to make, but he was on board with these brownies from Cravings of a Lunatic, which we found on Pinterest.

They came together really easily and are quite delicious. I don't know if they're "The Best Brownies in the World," but they are quite good. They even made me, someone who dislikes the taste of milk, craving a glass of milk to go alongside.

Give them a try; you'll be happy you did!

The Best Brownies in the World Via Cravings of a Lunatic

Ingredients

• 8 tablespoons of butter
• 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs. beaten
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• ¼ cup flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
• Line an 8x8 pan with parchment paper. 
• Melt the butter and unsweetened chocolate together over low heat in a medium saucepan. Stir with a rubber/silicone spatula (I used my spoonula and it worked great!).
• Remove from heat and add the sugar. Stir well.
• Now add your eggs and vanilla, stirring until it’s smooth.
• Add chocolate chips, flour and vanilla salt. Stir until well blended.
• Pour into pan and place in oven. 
• Bake for 35-45 minutes, toothpick inserted should come out clean when done.
• Remove and cool on a rack, about 10 minutes.
• Slice, serve, and enjoy!

Easy peel boiled egg

I've discovered the way to perfect hard boiled eggs, through much trial and error. Here's how:
Put eggs in a pot, cover with cold water, don't cover the pot. Put over high heat on the stove, and bring to a rolling boil. Let boil about 1 minute. Remove from heat, cover the pot, and let sit 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl filled with ice water and let sit at least 5 minutes.

But then peeling was always a bear. When this came across my radar, I had to try it... see, I've been making my eggs on the weekend but only recently started peeling in advance.

I tried and didn't have much success. It was easier than my previous methods, but no pinch the whole shell off as in the original.

I tried again on this snowy day and it worked! This time I used a straight glass, a little bit of water, and shook more than I thought I should.

Here's how it went for me, a regular person!

Chopped Thai Salad

I hate shredding vegetables. I do an excellent job of shredding my knuckles when I do. I have purchased one of those Kevlar gloves, but in reality, I just use my mini chopper when shredding is required.

I love Thai food, but we never as a family seem to get to Thai restaurants; I think the last time I had Thai food was when I was in labor with my now 7.5 year old. I really need to get on that!  When this popped into my Pinterest feed, it was really a no-brainer. Healthy, fast (weeknights have been insane with my having gone back to school in January), and all the trappings of delicious.

I rushed home after work and threw this together while my husband picked up the kids from school. All told, it probably took me 20 minutes, maybe 30, but only because my cabbage would not cooperate with being cut in half. I was really wishing I had bought coleslaw mix, with the cabbage and carrots already shredded, but it wasn't bad to take care of and certainly less expensive to do it myself.

My husband and I enjoyed this, and he even enthusiastically packed it up for our lunches today. I was concerned (I ate before the rest of the family) that it wasn't enough food, so I took an uber small portion and was quite hungry about 2 hours later, but the others had plenty.

The boys gave it mixed reviews, but my 4 year old has really only been eating tried and true favorites lately, so there's been a lot of skipping for him.

I omitted peanuts simply because I didn't have any. I think they would have jazzed things up a bit, but my husband said they wouldn't have been good in the salad.

Chopped Thai Salad via Pinch of Yum

INGREDIENTS

Salad

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 small head green or white cabbage (2 cups chopped)
• 1 large carrot (1½ cups shredded)
• 1 small papaya, chopped
• ½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• ½ cup green onions, chopped
• ½ cup chopped peanuts

Dressing

• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ½ teaspoon fish sauce
• ¼ cup peanut butter
• ¼ cup water

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Cook and cube your chicken into bite sized pieces. I love this method.
2.  Toss the chicken and vegetables in a large bowl and keep chilled.
3. Mince the garlic in a small mixing bowl with the soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, lime juice, oil, and fish sauce. Whisk until smooth. Add the peanut butter and water and whisk again until smooth and creamy.
4. Toss the salad with the dressing. Add the crushed peanuts. Serve chilled. Leftovers can be stored in the fridge for up to one day. For best results, keep the leftover salad and dressing separate until ready to serve.

Meal Prep Sunday

It has been a really long time. I want to get back into this, because I keep trying new recipes, but they get lost to the ether since I never record what is great and what is not. I'm not trying to make excuses, but it really became a hassle taking pictures of our food. You know, you just want to sit down and eat? So you don't bother taking the 20 seconds it takes to take a crappy camera phone picture just for posterity.

So it's meal prep Sunday. On the stove I have 6 eggs hard boiling, and I'm excited to try this method. (The verdict: First I tried 4 eggs in a Tupperware container; it worked ok--not as easy as in the video, but easier than my typical method. I found that it was even better with the egg submerged in cold water).

In the red crockpot, I have chicken cooking for shredding. This method is so easy and I do it several times a month, sometimes remembering to freeze some of the shredded chicken.

In the white (and apparently very dirty on the outside) crockpot is black beans. I love this no soak method!

Most of my meal plan requires cooked chicken, so I really hope I made enough.

My meal planning method is to work out the meals on Friday night, planning through the weekend, so that I can grocery shop super early on Saturday morning. My meal cooking plan, however, usually means that I forgot to check the reality of our week when doing my meal planning and that I left a 45 minute dinner for a night we need dinner on the table at 4:30. I also never plan a dinner out, though it happens typically once a week.

Monday
B: Breakfast Sandwiches (made by my husband)
L: Tacos (leftovers from last week's Not so Sloppy Joes)
D: Chopped Thai Chicken Salad

Tuesday
B: English Muffins
L: Mac and Cheese (not sure if it will be Annie's or homemade just yet...depends if I can get it made in my meal prep today)
D:  Burrito Bowl

Wednesday
B: Smoothie Pop
L: Chicken Nuggets
D: Chicken and Broccoli with Sun Dried Tomato Cream Sauce

Thursday
B: Cereal
L: Mango and Black Bean
D: Pizza

Friday
B: Overnight Oats
L: PBJ
D: Turkey Pesto Sliders

Saturday:
D: Honey Chicken Stir Fry (I actually made this last night; next time use half the garlic chili sauce)

Sunday
D: BBQ Chicken Pockets


How do you get ready for a super busy week?