Monday Recipe – Brownies

BROWNIES

HISTORY: While I was growing up, my parents were friends with another couple with kids, and my mom made this recipe for them EVERY time they came over, for some unknown reason.  But I think they kept coming because they knew they’d get these brownies.  People’s brains are so tied to food, even when they don’t realize it!  This was also a great go-to for birthday “cake,” especially for my dad, who could live off chocolate bars, fudge, hot chocolate, chocolate ice cream, chocolate croissants, and chocolate-covered cherries.

RECIPE:

Put two squares of butter (REAL butter is always best) into a saucepan on medium heat.  Stir in 5 generous (ie. overflowing) Tbs cocoa and turn off the heat when the butter is melted.  Then add 2 cups of sugar, followed by 4 eggs.*  Stir in 3/4 cup flour, 1 tsp baking soda and 1 tsp vanilla.  Bake in a greased pan at 350 for 25-ish minutes.  Voila!

With or without frosting, you will never taste better brownies.

 

This is exactly how they look, although I found this picture online. Yum!

* IMPORTANT – it helps to mix these separately and then stir them in quickly.  Once, in my teens I made these with a friend and we added them in slowly to the still hot sugar/butter mixture and ended up with cooked egg pieces before the brownies entered the oven. gross. Haha, we still cooked the brownies, hoping that somehow the cooked eggs would go away!  They didn’t.  Sorry to gross you out.  Just wanted to protect you from making the same mistake.

Mushrooms

I really like mushrooms.  When I was little I thought all mushrooms were poisonous and so when my mother put mushrooms into dishes, she was trying to kill us.  Of course I refused to eat whatever food I thought had slimy, evil mushrooms in it!  I asked her once, why she would try to kill us by feeding us mushrooms.  Then she told me the truth – not all mushrooms are poisonous!!  Thank goodness because they sure taste good.  Here are my three favorite mushrooms:

Crimini mushrooms are my third favorite mushroom.  Great with salad, stir fry’s and a multitude of other Italian and Asian dishes, these mushrooms absorb taste very well and add their own slight flavor to any dish.  I also really like them stuffed with hard and soft cheese blends, bread crumbs, and olive oil.  Soooo good.  Also these are nice because they are relatively inexpensive and you can find them at any grocery store.

My #2 favorite mushrooms are Shiitake.  Shiitake mushrooms are fantastic for any type of meat substitute.  I especially like them on buns as a “mushroomurger” (I just made up that word out of mushroom and burger).

 

My all-time #1 favorite mushroom is Enoki!  Thin, long and white, these are best in soups.  As in SO GOOD in soups.  Like, IF YOU PUT THESE IN ANY SOUP I WILL EAT IT.  Koreans make a lot of kinds of soups and stir fry’s with these mushrooms.  It is always fantastic, whatever these are in.  I cannot explain why or how they taste so good.  You must buy these in Asian supermarkets.

I knew a fellow in Asia that grew his own mushrooms in his bathroom.  It is the perfect environment – steamy, usually dark, wet.  He had some good success.  Maybe I should try such a thing…