yogurt brownies

When you don’t have certain basics in your kitchen, it kind of forces you to get creative.

These brownies are slightly sour because they have plain yogurt instead of eggs in them. We haven’t had eggs in the apartment for a while which is kind of unusual because my roommates eat so much of them… But I don’t feel like leaving the house to go buy them, so Google told me to use tofu or yogurt as a substitute. Considering I’m all out of tofu as well, I decided to use my last half cup of plain yogurt.

These brownies do, however, have sugar, cocoa powder, and chocolate chips, so don’t think that they’re good for a diet or something ridiculous like that. No no no. The only bad thing about them is that they don’t have edges. I am such an idiot. I put them in muffin papers b/c I wanted one less pan to clean but I didn’t think ahead enough to realize that they wouldn’t have chewy edges because no contact with the pan. MORON!!! -____-

I’ve been craving brownies since last week or so. I think I’ve had too much to deal with lately, and it’s all been catching up to me. Just been one of those weeks where all I can think is,

“Life’s been good lately…. so why do I keep wishing for a freak accidental death?”

I’m sure there is some Freudian, subconscious, underlying root to it all that I haven’t figured out yet, but morale has been low recently. I want to just quit school and live in a temple for a year or something. I heard a presentation in class about Teach for America today and even that sounded good. Then, I started thinking about Peace Corps or teaching English in Japan or Korea. And of course all of this is me wanting to run away from my problems.

But today, brownies will fix it all.

Now if only I could get someone to do my grocery shopping for me..

Yogurt Brownies

1 stick of butter, melted
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup plain yogurt (or 2 eggs)
3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a muffin tin.

Combine the melted butter, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each, until thoroughly blended.

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Gradually stir the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture until blended. Stir in the chocolate morsels. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared baking dish.

Bake in preheated oven until an inserted toothpick comes out clean, 25-30 minutes. Remove, and cool pan on wire rack before cutting

ruth’s chris steakhouse

I was born a carnivore.

Had  a temporary stint as a herbivore. (Yes, I was crazy in the head at the time.)

I appreciate all food groups now.

But the point of this post is….

I try to maintain a well-balanced diet of vegetables, proteins, and carbs, but my natural instincts always gravitate towards meat.

There’s just something about dead animal flesh that appeals to my inner beast.

STEAK!!!!!

Is there any better way to wind down the week than sharing a bottle of wine with an old friend over a nice, bloody medium rare filet mignon?

Get ready for some food porn.

steakhouse salad

filet mignon with cajun shrimp

(my only complaint about my meal was that the shrimp was not as tender as I would have liked. Overcooked. Hmm.)

creamed spinach

mashed potatoes

And of course, I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t have dessert.

new york cheesecake and mini chocolate mousse cup

new year’s resolutions

January is about half over, and I may be posting this a little late, but this is my list of New Year’s Resolutions. :)

1. See more sky. Spend more time outdoors.

2. Give people the benefit of the doubt.

3. However, no more putting up with B.S.

4. Travel more.

5. Pray more.

6. Read more.

7. Be better, faster, stronger, wiser, smarter. How this will be accomplished I’m not so sure.

8. Enjoy life.

9. Cook more and eat out less.

10. Start saving instead of impulse buying.

fluffy pancakes

A lazy Saturday morning. Slept in. A certain somebody complaining and whining that I promised them pancakes and then never made any and now I’m going back to school blah blah grumble grumble.

topped with a wad of butter.

So, I finally made pancakes. And this may sound cocky but I don’t really care. these pancakes are effing LEGIT. These are essentially buttermilk pancakes but instead of buttermilk, you just sour your own milk which creates a ton of bubbles and makes these fluffy and fat. If I had any, I would throw some chocolate chips or blueberries in there.

We usually buy the boxed mix and that was all I ate growing up, but man. Forget that. Make your own from scratch. As with everything, homemade is always better.

syrup. diet? what’s that…

Hello breakfast.

Fluffy Pancakes
yields two servings

3/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
2 tablespoons butter, meltedc
cooking spray

Combine milk with vinegar in a large bowl and set aside for 5 minutes to “sour”.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in separate mixing bowl. Whisk egg and butter into “soured” milk. Pour the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and whisk until lumps are gone.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and coat with cooking spray. Pour 1/4 cupfuls of batter onto the skillet, and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip with a spatula, and cook until browned on the other side.

new year resolution = typical yea yea

HAPPY NEW YEAR PEOPLE. Goodbye 2010, Christmas, and Thanksgiving. Time for new Winter and Spring holidays!

And post-holidays always comes with “that” feeling.

You know that feeling.

“Crap, my tights keep rolling down” feeling.
“My back is poking out over my jeans” feeling.
“Did my boobs get bigger? No… Just the bra feeling tight around my waist” feeling.
“I can’t see my ribs anymore…even when I suck in” feeling.
“Where the hell is my belly button” feeling.
“I keep bumping into things with my hips/butt” feeling.
“Thinking I can squeeze through there and getting stuck mid-way” feeling.
“Is it just me or did my eyes get smaller” feeling.

I feel like everyone (or at least every girl) I know has “losing weight”, “get into shape”, or “eat healthier” (which is just another euphemism for “I want to be skinny”) on their list of New Year’s Resolutions. I would put something more detailed like “eat less butter/sugar/fat” on my list, but I don’t really want to put something I have no intention of keeping.

I really should get back into shape though since I’m going to Cancun for spring break. SUPER EXCITED about that, but I’m really pasty and fluffy everywhere which isn’t suitable for a bikini or a beach, so I started running again this week. It’s been months. After two days, my legs wanted to kill me, and again I am reminded of why I never run. Damn these weak knees.

The mission of weight loss is also a bit more urgent since I’m supposed to be going to Vegas next week but I feel like a whale so…… Yes. I don’t know exactly how this situation will be resolved, but I may just wear something with long sleeves and a lot of fabric to hide under.

Back to the point:

I wanted to bake something, but I didn’t want to bake something that was going to make me feel all guilty and whatnot so I decided to do something without sugar. Or butter. For once.

I made my own granola.

See?

I can be healthy, too.

I read somewhere that store-bought granola and cereal is one of the worst processed foods you can eat and be tricked into thinking it’s healthy so I just made my own because I LOVE LOVE LOVE granola. I like to layer mine with a lot of plain yogurt for a nice yogurt parfait. This is probably adjustable. I’ll probably try to make granola breakfast bars next. Teehee.

Healthy Sugar-free Granola

2 cups mix of old-fashioned oats, rye, barley, and wheat (or you can just use oatmeal)
1 cup sliced almonds, roughly chopped
2/3 cup honey
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups chopped dried fruit (mine was mango, blueberries, and cranberries)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread oat mixture and almonds over a large baking sheet and toast in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Grease a 8×8 pan and line with parchment paper.

When the oat mixture is done toasting, put in a large bowl to slightly cool. Lower the temperature of the oven to 325 degrees.

Meanwhile, whisk together honey, vanilla, salt, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Pour over the oat mixture and add the chopped dried fruit. Mix well to cover everything evenly with the honey mixture.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and pack down tightly. Use a piece of parchment paper and your hand to press it down until it’s even and tight, and don’t forget your edges! Bake for about 25 minutes. Let cool completely before crumbling into pieces of desirable size. Store in an airtight container.