Better Than Brownies: Lower-Fat Blondies Recipe

Blondies are the butterscotch version of brownies, and I did not believe I could ever love them more than brownies, but now I do thanks to this lower-fat recipe found in a recent Cook's magazine. They turn out moist, chewy and with a chocolate bar chopped into it, and nuts. Note: They really ARE best if you wait 2 hours before cutting into them.

These blondies will melt in your piehole.

Lower-Fat Blondies (makes 16)

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1-3/4 cups packed brown sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg plus 2 large-egg whites, room temperature
4 teaspoons vanilla extract

Chopping the chocolate bar.

1-1/2 teaspoons cider vinegar
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine
1/4 cup pecans, toasted and chopped

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat to 350 degrees. Line a 13x9" pan with foil sprayed with vegetable oil spray.
2. Whisk flour, salt and baking soda together in a bowl. In a large bowl whisk sugar, melted butter, egg and whites, vanilla, and vinegar together until smooth. Stir in the flour mixture, chocolate, and pecans with a rubber spatula until just combined. Don't overmix. Batter will be thick.
3. Pour batter into the prepared pan and smooth out the top. Bake 17 to 20 minutes until toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Cool completely, about 2 hours (I challenged this and they truly are BETTER and easier to cut if cooled completely), and cut into serving pieces.

Bake Some Pretzel Sandwich Buns: Recipe

If you have a bread machine with a Dough setting, this recipe from a recent King Arthur catalog is easy and fun to make, the brief hot-water bath making for chewy, hearty results.

Pretzel Sandwich Buns (makes 10)

1-3/4 cups (14 ounces) of water
2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
3/4 teaspoon of salt
4-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup nonfat dry milk
2 teaspoons of dry yeast

1. Mix and knead these ingredients by hand into a dough, or put them in a breadmaker set to Dough Cycle. When it's ready:
2: Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover, and let it rise until doubled, about one hour.
3. Lightly punch down the risen dough and cut into 10 pieces. Shape these pieces into balls and place on a greased baking sheet, cover, and let them rest for 15 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and in a large pot prepare the water bath:

2 quarts of water
1 tablespoon salt
1/4 cup baking soda 

and bring it to a full boil. Drop 5 dough balls at a time into the water bath. Cook for 30 seconds, remove with slotted spoon, and place on baking sheet. With scissors or a knife cut a one-half inch deep "X" into the tops of the bun. Sprinkle each bun with sea salt if you like.

Bake 20 to 24 minutes until they are deep dark brown like a pretzel. Cool on a rack.

The Most Addictive Snack Mix - Party Mix Recipe: "Texas Trash"

My neighbor gave me a pound of this for Christmas and I couldn't stop eating it and begged for the recipe. It's from Cooks.com with a few tweaks (like using only one stick of butter, not two), and makes 3 one-pound bags of awesome.

Spicy Snack Mix Called "Texas Trash"

2 c. Rice Chex
2 c. Corn Chex
2 c. Wheat Chex
2 c. Cheerios
2 c. Snyders Lattice Pretzels
1 c. Cheezits
1 lb. Mixed Nuts
2 c. Fritos corn chips
2 c. pecan halves
1 stick butter or margarine
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1 Tbsp. seasoning salt (or to taste)
4 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce (or to taste)
cayenne pepper, to your desired heat level (1 level teaspoon gives it medium heat)

Mix all cereal, nuts and chips in a large foil pan. Melt butter in a small saucepan and add seasonings, except use only half the salt (you can put in more later, to taste).

Pour seasoning mixture over the dry mixture a little at a time and stir in between, until all of the dry mixture is coated fairly evenly. Taste and adjust salt.

Put pan in a 250°F oven stirring every 15 minutes for 2 hours. Spread entire pan over 6-9 paper towels and if desired sprinkle more cayenne pepper to your personal heat level (a little goes a long way) and let cool completely. Store in ziplock bags.

A Three-Pound Rump Roast: Recipe

Cook's Illustrated called its recipe The Best Recipe and I decided for my first rump roast -- organic beef -- to give it a chance to impress me. I impressed myself! Tasty! My meat thermometer came from an estate sale.

1. Heat oven to 250 degrees. No, that is not a typo. Sprinkle roast with salt and ground black pepper as you like. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large, heavy pot or pan. Add the roast and sear until it's brown on every side, about 4 minutes per side.

2. Place roast in pan and roast uncovered 45 minutes to 1 hour or until the meat's internal temperature is 110 degrees.

3. Increase the oven temperature to 500 degrees and roast 15 minutes longer, until internal temperature reaches 130 degrees. (Because I like beef rare, I roasted only 10 minutes at 500 degrees.)

4. Remove from the baking pan and let the roast stand 20 minutes before carving it.

Recipe: Black Bean/White Bean Stew with Shredded Pork

Open three cans, shred one fist-sized hunk of cooked pork shoulder or loin, and dinner is ready. Meat goes in at the end. Serves 4.

1 can white beans, such as navy beans
1 can black beans
1 can tomatoes
1 can water
1/2 pound cooked pork
1 teaspoon cayenne (red) pepper
1 teaspoon salt

Open the cans; pour tomatoes with their juice into a pot or into a 2-quart or 3-quart slow cooker. Open, drain and rinse the white beans and the black beans; place in the pot with tomatoes and water. Stir in salt and pepper. Cook gently and allow to simmer for 20 minutes or more on stovetop or all day on low in slow cooker. Add chopped pieces of cooked pork, heat through, and serve. Good with rice.

Pasta with Caper Sauce

No-cook, tangy sauce I made in a Pyrex cup. Good for when there's nothing but capers and mustard in the fridge. Serves 4 to 6.

Pasta with Caper Sauce

1/4 cup basil pesto or 1 cup packed fresh basil
1 to 2 garlic cloves
3 tablespoons capers
3 tablespoons prepared mustard
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup olive oil
1 pound pasta

Start the pasta.

Make all the ingredients except the olive oil into a paste however you can. Stir in the olive oil until it's all incorporated. Cook and drain the pasta. Pour the sauce over it and serve.

Southwestern Cream of Pumpkin Soup Recipe

I substitute evaporated milk for the cream; fewer calories and tastes just as good.

Southwestern Cream of Pumpkin Soup (6 servings)

3 cups cooked pumpkin, fresh or canned

4 cups water
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 cups minced onion
1 large red bell pepper, minced
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
2 teaspoons of salt
1 Tablespoon of mild chile powder (do NOT use hot chile powder.)
2 to 3 Tablespoons of fresh lime juice
freshly ground black pepper
1 12-oz. can of evaporated milk

1. Combine the pumpkin and water in a soup pot. Stir until uniform. Partially cover and heat gently, stirring often.
2. Heat the oil in a medium skillet. Add the onion and bell pepper and saute over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add garlic, salt, and chile powder; stir and cover. Cook over low heat for about 10 more minutes, stirring often, until the vegetables are tender.
3. Add the saute and lime juice to the soup. Stir well, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes. Season with black pepper and salt to taste.
4. Pour in the evaporated milk and heat gently until ready to serve.