Ready, Set, Weekend With Simply Beautiful Eating
Before I begin, I need to clarify something with all of you. Ready?
Is it a woman’s prerogative to change her mind OR is it NOT?
Now, don’t just jump up and scream YES before reading the rest of this story because that wouldn’t be fair to Steve.
As you know, our home is under renovation. It’s been exactly 6 weeks since D DAY (demo day). I have been running around to various places trying to pick out all the stuff we need to put this Simply Beautiful “kitchen puzzle” together. I will keep this brief because I want to save all the juicy details for my REAL RENOVATION blog which will be coming up soon if we ever finish this project.
So here’s the thing.
I’m wondering how I have still have a husband – because he literally wants to L.E.A.V.E.
Why?
Well….it’s like this.
I KEEP CHANGING MY MIND.
First it was the paint colour and my quest for the PERFECT grey (which I’m happy to say I FOUND – well sort of found….12 samples later, one wasted can of paint and a few hundred trips to Benjamin Moore, I had my GREY mixed and remixed 3 times to get it JUSSSSTTTT RIGHT).
Then it was the hardwood flooring which was ordered, cancelled, ordered, cancelled, ordered and finally installed.
Oh ya. The lighting. Don’t get me started. All I’m going to say is….last night I threatened to sell the house because of my sheer unadulterated hatred for the LED pot lights Steve installed.
YES. That’s right.
FOR SALE – AS IS– NEWLY RENOVATED, 4 BEDROOM, DOUBLE CAR GARAGE, SINGLE FAMILY DWELLING WITH HIDEOUS LIGHTING (OFFERS READILY ACCEPTED EVEN THOUGH I AM POSITIVE NO ONE IS GOING TO BUY A HOUSE WITH STADIUM LIGHTING)
The island.
I always wanted a kitchen island. This was supposed to be my dream work station, with tons of space for rolling dough, creating dishes, and storing all kinds of kitchen crap in and on top of. AH….MY OWN OASIS….I could not wait.
So.
It (the island) arrived.
AND…..
it was too small.
SO?
I told my husband that it needs to be bigger
(I said it really fast by the way….kinda like this…..
“Steve? Theislandneedstobelarger…I’mgoingoutnowBYE!”
That’s when I realized that there was a good chance he would ensure I wake up on a REMOTE deserted island yelling…WILSON….WILSON!!!!
To conclude there are two things you need to know today.
1) Steve is the best (let’s just refer to him as SAINT STEVE – Master of Patience once in a while or practically never 2) I made these brownies eons ago and saved them to post now because who can bake brownies with no oven? I was tempted to go out and buy an Easy Bake Oven. Only problem is, the last time I had one in the house all three of my children ended up with salmonella poisoning from our experiment of baking a cake with a LIGHT BULB.
Needless to say, I’m going stir crazy without the ability to cook, bake, photograph and do my usual shtick on here. We just have to wait for the rest of the puzzle to come together – unless I change MY MIND.
TRIPLE CHOCOLATE CHUNK PRETZEL BROWNIES - ½ cup unsalted butter - 1 cup chopped good quality dark chocolate - 1¼ cups granulated sugar - 3 large eggs - ½ tsp. salt - 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract - ¾ cup all-purpose flour - ½ cup cocoa powder, sifted - 1 cup chunks of good quality chocolate (dark, semi-sweet, milk and/or white chocolate), divided - 1 cup pretzels
1) Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Butter a 9” x 9” brownie pan and line it with parchment paper so that it hangs over two of the sides. Dust the two other edges with cocoa powder. Set aside. 2) In a medium saucepan, heat the butter and dark chocolate on medium, stirring every so often. When everything is melted, take the pan off the heat. 3) Add the granulated sugar and stir it in, then add the eggs, one at a time, making sure to stir well after each addition. Mix in the salt and vanilla. 4) Stir in the flour and cocoa powder. Next add three-quarters of the chunks of chocolate. 5) Pour the brownie batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface with the back of a spoon or small offset spatula. Scatter the remaining chocolate chunks on top. 6) Bake the brownies for 30 to 40 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the centre comes out clean. For fudgier brownies, bake them for 30 minutes. 7) Cool completely at room temperature before cutting. 8) Top with pretzels if desired. Makes 24 bite size, 16 small squares or 8 giant size ones.
See you next week!