Brownies

So this is a recipe I originally found on allrecipes.com and it is perfect for when you are craving just a little something and you really don't want to make a big batch. They are super quick to whip up and they are perfect for baking up in a toaster oven which is what I usually do. I love that I can just heat up something small instead of a large oven - it makes me feel like I'm cooking in a little Easy-Bake-Oven, ha! Also, when I went searching for Brownie recipes a lot of them called for actual baking chocolate you had to melt down first, which I never have on hand. For this recipe all you need is cocoa powder for the chocolatey flavor, which I always have, so it really is perfect and easy to do. The original recipe calls for a frosting/topping you can do, but I usually just leave them without, they really don't need anything extra. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking powder. 

PREPARATION:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour an 8" square pan. 
2. In a large saucepan, melt 1/2 cup butter. Remove from heat, and stir in sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat in cocoa, flour, salt and baking powder. Spread batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes. Do not overcook. 

Chinese Soy Sauce Chicken

So when we were first out in Portland and stocking a new pantry we ended up with a lot of frozen chicken thighs. We discovered chicken on the bone doesn't tend to work out as well as just regular chicken breast when thawing out for recipes. At least the skin on it isn't really good anymore for baked chicken etc. We had it in the back of our freezer for the longest time until we came across this recipe and finally made use of it. It's a really simple recipe, just put everything in a pot and let it simmer. It may be an acquired taste for some but, we both like as we've had a lot of experience with Chinese food. :0) And of course it holds special memories for me being a Chinese recipe and all! Enjoy! Original recipe can be found here.

Oh, and a small note, the hardest thing for us to find for some reason was the star anise. We used whole cloves the first time around because we couldn't find it and it was ok. The smell was right but the flavor was weaker. It was on ok substitute. We ended up finding whole star anise though at a World Market/Cost plus for a really reasonable price and the taste was much better. To make a stronger sauce as well we ended up cutting down the liquid a little to concentrate the flavor of everything else - so usually 1 part soy to 2 parts water instead of the original 1:3.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup soy sauce
• 2 cups water
• 2 to 2 1/2 lbs chicken wings, drummettes and wings separated
• 1 2-inch piece ginger, peeled and sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, smashed
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 pieces star anise
• 1 scallion, shredded or chopped

*Maintain 1 part soy sauce to 2 parts water ratio so liquid covers at least 3/4 of the chicken

PREPARATION:

1. In a large Dutch oven or pot, heat the chicken, soy sauce, water over medium flame. Bring the liquid to a simmer. Reduce heat to very low and cover the pot. Make sure heat is as low as can be without turning off; simmering soy sauce can easily become rapidly boiling soy sauce, which can easily become a big mess to clean up.
2. Add the ginger, garlic, sugar, cinnamon, star anise, and sugar. Allow the chicken to simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, or up to an hour if you want falling-off-the-bone tenderness. Ladle the chicken and sauce into a deep platter. Garnish with scallions and prepare to enjoy some savory, succulent chicken.

Serves 4 to 6...or 2 with leftovers for next time :0)

Lola's Kopanisti Spread

So during the summer we spent in Portland we took a few days (due to a wonderful gift from some great friends) and spent sometime in downtown Seattle. One of the things we enjoyed the most was lunch we had at this Greek restaurant, Lola. It was sooooo great! Everything was wonderful, and we had a really great appetizer. Of course, I scoured the internet and hunted down a recipe similar to the Kopanisti dip we had. I tweaked it a little for our taste (the original recipe calls for wine, which I don't tend to use when I cook). Apparently this isn't a traditional Kopanisti style dip but this, at least ingredient wise is the closest to what we had! Can't wait to make it! Wonderful memories, and if you ever find yourself in the area-check Lola's out. It's fantastic! You'll probably need to make reservations... ;)

INGREDIENTS:

• 8 oz feta cheese
• 2 oz bleu cheese
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 Tbsp fresh mint leaves
• 1/4 tsp chipotle chili powder
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• Blackberry/Marionberry Syrup
• chopped pistachios
• fresh mint infused oil (optional)

PREPARATION:

• Blend first 5 ingredients in a food processor.
• Slowly add olive oil until you've reached desired consistency - you want it to be creamy and smooth.
• Top with as much or as little syrup, chopped pistachio nuts, and fresh mint infused oil as you'd like
• Serve with the breadstuff of your choice - warm crostini, chunks of french bread, or our favorite, wedges of pita.

SERVES/MAKES: 1 1/2 cups approx.

Granola Bars!

The first time I made this was w/ Bernice at Char's house, and they were good! So good I got a copy of the recipe right then, and then haven't tried making it since. Until tonight. We bought a large thing of oats awhile back and haven't used much of it except on no-bake cookies, which are great, but definitely not on the healthy side so I went looking around the internet for something to use it up on. Turns out there's also a copy of this recipe on allrecipes.com which totally reminded me about this recipe and inspired me to finally get around to making them. And on the plus side, we had practically all the ingredients for it, just had to go out for the wheat germ.

Anyways, while I was looking around on the internet I saw an awesome photo of someone using a muffin pan to make pre-portioned pieces. Thought that was definitely a GREAT idea as I really hate cutting bars - it's messy and I forget about them and they end up too hard to cut etc. I was determined to make a whole batch  fit in 24 cups of our mini-muffin pan and managed to do it... But unfortunately I packed it in way too tight and we managed to forget to set a timer for it, so I really have no idea how long they were in there for for sure, but we're thinking it was probably close to the recommended half an hour. Which ended up being definitely WAAAAAAY TOO LONG! They were really dense and kinda hard. Still edible and flavorful, but not really enjoyable to eat. On the upside though, they really were the perfect size. So next time, no packing it in and probably will cook 10 - 15 min. only. We figured on this batch, if they start getting too dry we'll just crumble it in a bowl and have it with milk and eat it like cereal! Kinda fun having pre-portioned sizes like that. 

INGREDIENTS:
Dry Ingredients:

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar (Try with just 1/2 cup next time?)
• 1/2 cup wheat germ
• 3/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 cup flour
• 3/4 tsp. salt

Wet Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup honey (Increase to 1/3 to compensate for less sugar?)
• 1 egg - beaten
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tsp vanilla

OPTIONAL MIX-INS:

• 3/4 cup raisins or 1/2 cup craisins
• 1/3 cup coconut
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup peanut butter

PREPARATION:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13 pan. Mix oats, brown sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, flour, mix-ins and salt. Make well in center and pour in honey, egg, oil and vanilla. Mix well and pat into pan. Bake 30-35 min. Cool for 5 min. Cut into bars and serve.

Char's Hot Fudge Sauce

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup of butter
• 1 cup of sugar
• 3-4 heaping tablespoons of unsweetened powder cocoa
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 small can or 1/2 large can of evaporated milk
• 1 tsp of vanilla

PREPARATION:

Melt first 2 ingredients together, mix thoroughly. Add next three ingredients. Bring to a boil and simmer until mixture reaches soft ball stage. Test in a glass of ice water. I usually stop before I get to this point. I just let it simmer stirring almost constantly for 5-7 min. After fudge reaches soft ball stage remove from heat and add vanilla. Keeps in fridge for a couple weeks.