York Peppermint Brownies

After baking these fabulous chocolaty wonders, our apartment smells like Christmas: mint and chocolate. I've seen quite a few recipes for Reeses PB cup brownies, Symphony chocolate bar brownies, and I thought to experiment with York Peppermint Patties. The result: ooey gooey fudgey minty brownies. The mint flavor is apparent, but not overpowering.

I think one of the worst/most disappointing thing to eat is a cakey, dry brownie. If I wanted chocolate cake, I would have asked for chocolate cake. If I'm going to eat a brownie, it should have this texture. Heavy, rich, heavenly.


Enjoy!

Ingredients:
-1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
-1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
-2 large eggs
-1 cup sugar
-1 tbsp cocoa powder
-1/2 tsp salt
-1 cup flour
-3 york peppermint patties

1. Preheat oven to 350, and grease an 8x8x2inch pan.

2. In a heavy saucepan, melt butter and chocolate chips over med-low heat. Once melted and blended together, set aside to cool slightly.

3. Corsley chop the three patties, and divide into half.

4. In a large bowl, mix eggs, sugar, cocoa, and salt.

5. After cooling for a few minutes, add 1/2 of the chopped peppermint patties to the melted butter/chocolate. Stir to incorporate and melt. Add mixture to bowl.



6. Stir in flour, and pour into greased pan. Sprinkle the second 1/2 of the chopped peppermint patties evenly on top of the batter.

7. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Fauxtatoes

When my husband sat down to eat dinner, he was so exited about mashed potatoes! Little did he know that this poser food had no actual potatoes. I tried to keep from grinning, so that he wouldn't suspect anything. After taking his first bite, his response was, "these taste like the mashed potatoes you make, but they're so much creamier...what did you do differently?" SUCCESS!

This is actually a cauliflower puree dresses up as mashed potatoes. When you eat mashed potatoes, unless you leave on a lot of the skin of a red potato, most of what you taste is the butter and salt. I mean come on, most potatoes are served in the US with butter or oil and salt (french fries, potato chips, baked potato). So, dress up the cauliflower with salt, pepper and a little butter (I use the "light" land o lakes butter with canola oil to eliminate half of the calories). This way, you are going to serve a low fat, high water content, high fiber food that will fill you up without the excess starch.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:
-3 cups of water (for boiling)
-1 head of cauliflower
-2 tbsp butter
-salt and pepper to taste

1. Bring water to a boil.
2. Floret the cauliflower, and boil for 7-9 minutes, or until tender
3. Drain the water, and put the cauliflower in a food processor. Blend until creamy. Add in the butter, salt, and pepper. Serve, and enjoy...guilt free!

Spinach Pasta

I feel like at this point I should re-name this blog to say, "Ways to Make My Husband Eat Vegetables". This seems to be the trend in what I've been baking and cooking lately. It's all about disguising the vegetables or presenting them in a way that is out of the ordinary. If I put a spinach salad or a glob of sauteed spinach on his plate, he will refuse to eat it. However, if I put it in the pasta (a favorite of his), then he's just curious enough to try it. Make it tasty. Make it pretty. Make it interesting, and they will eat it!

If you've never eaten fresh (I mean, made that day fresh) hand-rolled pasta, you're missing out. If you've never made fresh hand-rolled pasta, don't be intimidated. It only takes three (in this recipe four) ingredients. It's super cheap and very easy. In contrast to boxed dried pasta, fresh pasta is filling and chewy and so much richer. You might never go back to store-bought, so be careful!

This recipe will get you to eat your daily serving of veggies and a good dose of iron, all while spinning pasta around on your fork!

Enjoy!

Recipe (makes 4 servings):
-2 cups flour
-2 eggs
-1 tsp salt
-4 cups fresh spinach

1. In a food processor, blend together the eggs, salt and spinach until creamy.

2. In a bowl, pour the spinach mixture in the bottom and add in the flour 1/2 cup at a time. You will then need to knead the dough for 5-10 minutes, until you have created a firm, but flexible ball and all of the ingredients are incorporated. Let rest for 10 minutes.

3. Taking 1/2 of the ball at a time, roll out the dough on a well-floured surface. Cut into the desired shape. (you can do a fettuccini shape, as I did, or a thinner spagetti shape. This would also be good as lasagna sheets, or squares for making ravioli).



4. Boil the pasta for 3-4 minutes. (Fresh pasta doesn't take nearly as long as boxed pasta to cook).

5. Add whatever flavors or toppings you would like. I just tossed it will olive oil, garlic salt, pepper, diced tomatoes, and added a little cheese on top. Benissimo!