Updates for Green Phone Booth

Hey there! Check out Green Phone Booth for the yummy black bean burgers we've been eating, musings about Gunilla Norris' idea of stretching your aspirations while you're kind to yourself for your achievements, and a smokin' new blog design courtesy of Melanie from Beanpaste Creative. Read more!

Honey Whole Wheat Spiced Apple Cake

I'm on snack duty for my kid's classroom this week and decided on the spur of the moment this morning to whip up a tasty treat using our CSA apples. Could I just use the muffin mix in the freezer? Nooooooo. I had to get all complicated and try a new recipe, one which I would modify on the fly. Luckily, it all worked out fine and it's actually quite delicious. I'm just sayin', if you only get up at 6:30am and the cakes need to bake for 60-70 minutes? Well, you'd better start peeling the apples. Oh, and TGIF!

This cake is very moist and dense. You can definitely tell it's got cream cheese in it. And it's not too sweet, which is a plus for moi, but if you want a little extra treat, you might want to whip up the Vanilla Glaze that I skipped (recipe at the end). I was shooting for something along the lines of a whole wheat apple bread that I could pass off as a cake for the five year old crowd. Not to get all Jessica Seinfeld on you. I'm not hiding anything besides whole wheat pastry flour in there. Although dramatically altered, this recipe is based on the Spiced Apple Coffee Cake recipe in the Williams-Sonoma Muffins book that my darling SIL gave me some years back.

Honey Whole Wheat Spiced Apple Cake

(recipe adapted to make enough to serve a full kindergarten class, with enough for 2 teachers and the principal, plus a tiny cake pan to reserve for younger sibling)

5 1/4 Cups whole wheat pastry flour
4 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
9 tart cooking apples, such as Granny Smith or Braeburn, 3 lbs. (I used 3 1/4 lbs., to be precise) total weight before peeling, coring, and coarsely chopping said apples
6 TBSP strained fresh orange, lemon, or apple juice (or, in my case, the remnants of a tube of frozen OJ I have had in the freezer for approximately 7 months)
1 Cup honey
2 tsp nutmeg
4 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter at room temp
16 oz cream cheese at room temp
8 oz plain yogurt (notice that I ran out of cream cheese but if I had enough I would probably just use 24 oz cream cheese and omit this yogurt)
Another 1 cup honey
4 tsp vanilla extract
6 large eggs (I used a dozen of the Polyface medium eggs but they are really small)

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease and flour 3 9-inch round cake pans. I used the kind with the little scraper built in that you can run around the bottom to get the pans out but I didn't really need that feature, as it turns out. Original recipe says you can use square baking pans or dishes. You kind of have to keep an eye on the cake to make sure it doesn't burn/the inside is done anyways, so use what you've got.

In a bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In another bowl, toss the apples with the juice. Add 1 cup honey, the nutmeg, and the cinnamon.

In another bowl (a big one), using an electric mixer on medium speed, cream together the butter, cream cheese, yogurt if you're using it, other 1 cup honey, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add the eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in 2 or 3 increments and beat well until smooth. Using a large rubber spatula, fold in the apples gently until evenly distributed, no more than a few strokes. Do not overmix.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pans and spread evenly.

Bake until the top is golden brown, 60-70 minutes. I used a convection oven and it was ready in less than an hour. I was a little worried the edges would burn and I was horribly late for drop-off, dogwalk, and work, so I yanked those puppies out of there at about 52 minutes if my memory serves me correctly. General common sense like a toothpick coming out clean if you insert it into the center of the cake applies. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Like I said, I was worried about my edges, so I actually flipped the cakes out of their pans and cooled them upside down on the racks, giving them a fairly interesting latticework on the top. I'm not sure I'd recommend that strategy. Regardless, I'd get the cakes out after 5 minutes cause like I said, it's a dense little snack.

Vanilla Glaze, as promised, for those of you who'd like to add the refined sugar right on back into the recipe I diligently made all honey and whole wheat-y:

In a small bowl, whisk together 3/4 cup confectioner's sugar, sifted; 2 TBSP condensed skim milk, warmed; and 1/2 tsp vanilla until smooth and pourable. Drizzle over your still-warm cake.

Still good later in the day for an after-school snack!

Read more!

Protein-Packed Granola Recipe

We lurve granola in our house. Crunchy people, crunchy breakfast, right? But, really, what's a girl to do when Whole Paycheck's bulk bins have stale granola in 'em and I'm too lazy to get myself all the way over to the People's Republic of Takoma Park to their commie co-op nirvana of bulky goodness? Make my own cereal, of course. And, since I am even lazier than that, I had to shake down my interweb friends for recipes. So a huge thanks and shout-out to Jodifur, GreenBeanDreams, and BurbanMom for their amalgamated recipe(s). I also ripped off parts of a granola recipe from my Vegetarian Times Cookbook, btw. Since I grew up in the same house as a man I'll affectionately call Pumpkin Head (not to have gross insensitivity to people who suffer from life-threatening allergies, but, well, to have gross insensitivity in all honesty?), we avoid nuts in our home. Tree nuts, peanuts, you name it. I do, however, love the crunch and protein power packed in those yummy seeds. So consider this doctored recipe my paeon to crunchy, nut-free granola goodness.

MamaBird's Granola

7 cups rolled oats (not quick cook)
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup wheat germ
1 cup millet
1 cup (uncooked) oat bran cereal
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup honey
1 cup olive oil
1 tsp kosher salt
1 cup pumpkin seeds
1 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup flaxseeds (I used toasted ones)
1/4 cup maple syrup
5 egg whites
1 cup apricots + 1 cup diced dried plums OR 1 cup dried cranberries + 1 cup dried blueberries

I know you're not going to believe this from a kid who used to ask her mom if we could find yogurts with no sugar or artificial sweeteners, just fruit in them, but I really don't think this recipe is sweet enough. It's pretty good, but I think I will up the maple syrup and brown sugar to a full cup each.

Stir it all together, and bake at 300F for 30-45 minutes. Till it's as crunchy and golden as you like it! Mmmmmmmmm....

Read more!

Pita Chips

I love salt and garlic and abhor the incessant wasting of food that happens right under my nose. So, although it's not rocket science, I will share how easy it was to save a bag of crumbling whole wheat pita bread from certain mold and composterdom.

Garlicky Whole Wheat Pita Chips

1 bag not so soft and fresh but still edible whole wheat pita bread
olive oil spray
garlic powder
dehydrated chopped garlic bits
salt to taste

Rip up pita into chips and arrange on a cookie sheet that fits inside of your grill. Spray the tops with olive oil. Sprinkle with assorted garlic and salt. Wait until you are done grilling your dinner,
turn grill off, place tray on grill rack, and put the cover on. Eat your dinner. After dinner, remove cookie sheet and let cool while you find a movie and regain your appetite. Snack wantonly on chips while watching movie.

Any other favorite recipes from the 'saving it from inedibility' files?

Read more!

Summer Fruit Galettes

Some people are chocolate lovers; I am a fan of fruit, in particular the succulent stone fruits of summer. Now, for many valid reasons, you may not want to crank your oven up to make this, but imagine the waste of a dozen or so local, farm-fresh peaches just under or past their prime. Then you'll see the beauty of the galette.

I owe this recipe to Alice Waters and her Chez Panisse Fruit cookbook, although I adapted it to be a whole grain crust. I've said this before, but whole wheat pastry flour is magic. It's light enough to make pancakes, waffles, and baked goods both whole-grain-healthy and delicious.

Galette Dough

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp sugar (if you're Alice Waters, if you're me you put in 3 TBSP of organic raw sugar)
1/4 tsp salt
12 TBSP (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
7 TBSP ice water (make more, you will need it)

Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Cut 4 TBSPS of the butter into the flour mixture with a pastry blender (or even a potato masher and a knife if you can't find yours immediately), mixing until the dough resembles coarse cornmeal. (Butter dispersed throughout the flour in tiny pieces makes the dough tender). Cut in the remaining stick of butter with the pastry blender, just until the biggest pieces of butter are the size of large peas--or a little larger. (These bigger pieces of butter in the dough make it flaky).

Dribble 7 TBSP of ice water (that's 1/2 Cup less 1 TBSP, Waters helpfully notes) into the flour mixture in several stages, tossing and mixing between additions, until the dough just holds together. Toss the mixture with your hands, letting it fall through your fingers. Do not pinch or squeeze the dough together or you will overwork it, making it tough. Keep tossing the mixture until it starts to pull together; it will look rather ropy, with some dry patches. If it looks like there are more dry patches than ropy patches, add another TBSP of water and toss the mixture until it comes together. Divide the dough in half, firmly press each half into a ball, and wrap tightly in plastic wrap, pressing down to flatten each ball into a 4-inch disk. (Anyone know if you could substitute a damp kitchen towel here?) Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before rolling out. (The dough will keep in the freezer for a few weeks).

When you are ready to roll out the dough, take one disk from the refrigerator at a time. Let it soften slightly so that it is malleable but still cold. Unwrap the dough and press the edges of the disk so that there are no cracks). On a lightly floured surface (I actually like to use cornmeal), roll out the disk into a 14-inch circle about 1/8 inch thick. Brush off excess flour from both sides with a dry pastry brush (a step I most definitely skipped). Transfer dough to a parchment-lined baking sheet and refrigerate at least 1/2 hour before using (also skipped this step). The rolled-out circles can also be frozen and used the next day.

Makes about 20 oz of dough, enough for 2 open galettes or tarts or one covered tart.

I made a peach galette (we're overflowing in them from our CSA) that roughly followed the proportions for Waters' apricot galette. I left the skins on, and, per her instructions, put the skin side down, touching my galette dough. I followed her tip to use a pizza stone and baked for 45 minutes at 400F (make sure you put the pizza stone in while the oven's warming up). I love her instructions: "Arrange the fruit, skin side down, in concentric circles on the...dough, making a single layer of snugly touching (peaches, in my case) pieces and leaving the border bare. Evenly sprinkle 1/4 cup sugar (raw organic) over the fruit. While rotating the tart, fold the border of exposed dough up and over itself at regular intervals." You're basically making an edge to stem the flood of luscious, lava-like fruit juice that will come rushing from your peaches. Don't forget to dot your tart with unsalted butter before you bake it.

Also? It's unbeatable the next morning for breakfast.

Read more!

Healthy Summer Treat: Frozen Banana Milk

So, this really should be an organic, local, sustainable treat like this strawberry milk I made the second I heard about it (milk + strawberries+ice). But EGirl decided it was inedible (ok, I confess, I substituted ice for the sugar). So, instead of sustainably harvested berry milk, we went for frozen banana milk. Good way to keep from chucking out food you buy, though!

When your bananas are a little too soft and brown to eat (in my case, my organic bananas, even if they're not on the top 10 list of most-pesticide-ridden fruits, since it's my only saving grace -- we all know I don't have a banana tree down in my community garden plot), peel 'em and chuck 'em in the freezer.

Now? When your kid is hot and bothered? Grab a couple bananas from the freezer, 8 oz of milk (whole, organic, local, grassfed, the whole 9 yards) and sock it through your blender. Mmmmmmmm. And if you can convince your kid to use local fruits, I'll toast to you! If they're fresh you can just add ice to make your slushy. No sugar needed, but cinnamon and vanilla are nice in the banana milk.



*Image courtesy of sxc.
Read more!

Twice-Baked Potatoes

Mmmmm, carbs and fat! OK, I threw some veggies in but I had to lure you down the path. I've been trying hard lately not to throw away perfectly edible food since I am probably personally responsible for about 95 billion pounds of foodwaste each year. Sure, I have a composter but it's full right now. Boo! And I am trying to consume (heh heh) more carefully. So are you, I bet! Here's a recipe that helped me out of a glut of food about to peak: twice-baked potatoes.

Let's just say you had a dozen baking potatoes in your cupboard that are, er, not in a root cellar. Eyes are sprouting (cut 'em off, kids, they're dangerous!). And your dear aunt went on vacation so you have her cauliflower and broccoli and spinach (thanks, L!)? And kind of wilty dill that was only half-eaten by your dill-nibbling child? What to do? Why, fill up the freezer with easy-to-nuke meals, of course.

Twice-Baked Potatoes

a dozen baking potatoes
lots of spinach (2 lbs-ish)
2 heads broccoli
1 head cauliflower
bunch dill
small handful chives (ours was from our herb planter out back)
splooshes of milk
goat cheese
shredded mild cheddar cheese
butter

Bake the potatoes. 350F oven (I threw them all in next to my Nourishing Traditions Roasted Chicken) for about an hour or until fork tender. And actually that's not the exact recipe, although it's close. You have to take a couple cloves of garlic, chop off the tops and flip em over into your roasting pan to end up with oozing delight. Also? You have to quadruple the amount of onions 'cause nothing's better than caramelized, crispy baked onions. But I digress. To bake a potato, by the way, you need to poke some holes in it so the steam can escape and your potato doesn't explode. Just jab it with a fork. Also, it's nicer if it's got some fat on the outside to keep the skin supple -- I used olive oil mixed with a bit of melted butter I had left over from my bird.

(In our case, I had other stuff to do so I threw all the potatoes in the fridge overnight but I'd say optimal potato treatment would be to immediately go to the mashing step. Well, after about 10 minutes so the potatoes aren't complete molten lava.)

Prepare your veggies. Spinach: saute in olive oil and garlic (I used about 6 cloves and maybe 1/2 cup of olive oil but I am not a big measurer). Broccoli and cauliflower: steam for about 15 min. Chop your dill and garlic.

Make your delicious tater guts. Scoop out all but about 1/4" of the potato into a bowl. Mash with a potato ricer (flat round circle with holes? or an electric mixer but I like hand mashed taters much better). Don't go too crazy or your potatoes will get all gluey. Add sour cream or splooshes of milk, butter, and sea salt to taste. If serving adults, ground pepper would be nice. Stir in your finely chopped cauliflower.

Divide your remaining ingredients into smaller bowls -- ie chives plus spinach and goat cheese, broccoli plus dill and cheddar. Then throw in a proportional amount of potato-cauliflower mash. Note also that I made this up. Any veggie + cheese combo would probably work, and I was daydreaming as I made them about vegan options since I used to avoid dairy. I bet that tofutti-type cream cheese and rice milk would give you a nice consistency. Also, not like I need to tell you this, but potatoes, spinach, and broccoli should all be organic. I actually went organic on all the produce and dairy except the goat cheese. Nothing was from my CSA or particularly local except the chives and some leftover broccoli I threw into the mix.

Personally, I stuck all of my potatoes in the freezer 'cause I am just that lazy (dinners I can nuke in a minute? sign me UP!). We ate the extra filling as a side with our bird tonight.

Food leftovers are the single largest component of the waste stream by weight in the United States. Americans throw away more than 25 percent of the food we prepare. We throw away 96 billion pounds of food a year. (No Impact Man in July of 2007).

Phew! Outta the bin, into our bellies.



*Photo courtesy of sxc - my camera is a goner....
Read more!

Homemade Pizza

Mmmmm...quick homemade pizza dough. I used to have a recipe for whole wheat dough that doesn't need to rise, but I lost it! Arrrrgh. Luckily, I found another one that's pretty quick and is definitely tasty (thanks to Andrea's Recipes). Thought I'd pass it along because it's a great staple to rely on when you're short on dinner ingredients and time.

Our pizzas are both green and red because (dreaded foodwaste!) our pizza sauce in the fridge was moldy. We had to go with leftover pasta sauce for the kiddoes and a quickly-whipped-up cilantro-parsley-pesto for the adults. Anything with garlic, salt, and olive oil is edible in my book. With gooey cheese and portobellos from the farmer's market (sauteed in olive oil with a little sea salt), we had num nums in no time.

With deference to Andrea's greater wisdom, I actually used all whole wheat flour, subbed honey for sugar, and mixed by hand since I don't have a stand mixer. The crust still turned out great! I am a huge fan of the pizza stone. My brother got me hooked on them. It's critical to heat up the pizza stone before you use it, leaving you with the unwieldy proposition of moving your unstable pies into the oven, but it's worth navigating those dripping, soft-centered waters for the even cooking. Totally heads off the scorched bottom-top still raw syndrome.

I'm still searching for the no rise whole wheat crust, but this is the best I've seen so far (let me know if you've got my elusive recipe!!).


*photo of actual MamaBird food! originally uploaded to SurelyYouNest
Read more!

Mrs. G, She Completes Me

Awww, I love me some Derfwad Manor. Check out today's Slow Cook Thursday to read a MamaBird guest post with a sweet potato recipe and a puppy poem. Also? If you've never read it, you've got to check out her Women's Colony post. Or really, anything that Mrs. Gggggggggg ever writes.

xoxo
Read more!

Children Are Greener than Green

Don’t you just love your little leprechauns? All zero-population-growth qualms aside, I have to say that the little people I know are awfully green. Why, may you ask?

Well, most kids I know are water conservationists: they passionately hate showers and baths. Because of their heightened awareness of the shortage of potable water worldwide, of course. Most kids I know go even further and help their parents to conserve water. By shrieking in horror when you disappear behind the non-vinyl hemp shower curtain, toddlers keep your shower time to a mere 17 seconds -- one or two times a week.

The little green ones are also food politicos who’ve been keeping tabs on the news: they want to eat PB&Js 24-7 as a vegan, lower-their-food miles statement (I swear I heard my 4 year old asking if that was local jam…).

The baby enviros also want to wear the same clothes every day and they don't care if they are dirty. Reuse, baby! They can run around in 20 below wind chill in a t shirt (so don't blame them if your thermostat's high) and they would really rather walk than barf in that car while you burn fossil fuels, mom. They really can't get their mouths around those disposable plastic water bottles anyways so you'd better bring a refillable metal sippy for your Baby Greens. They fuel the hand me down chain (everything once worn by an older cousin has indisputable cachet) and finally, our little leprechauns would be happy playing in the recycling (toilet paper trumpet, anyone?) if we'd just let them.

If you’re not ready to just sit and bask in the reflected green glory of your offspring, here are some resources for environmentally friendly St. Patrick’s Day celebrations:

Lucky fruit salad and other natural green food ideas (homemade spinach pasta, anyone?)...

Not-fake-chemical green dye (for the cupcake frosting!)...

Slow food alternatives to corned beef and cabbage (like Shepherd’s Pie, mmm)... and a

Wiki for "Organic local solar powered booze"!

Happy St. Patty's Day! I’d love to know the ways in which your kids kick your enviro arse!


*Photo courtesy of Michal Zacharzewski, SXC

Original DC Metro Moms post.
Read more!

scritch scratch

These recipes completely fit my worldview. We should be able to eat comfort food, delicious, not-particularly nutritionally admirable food (ok, not plants), without worrying about evil ingredients far worse than a little sugar or fat (what, really, is Velveeta? cheese food? and why did anyone create partially hydrogenated vegetable oil when sticks of butter are there for the melting? c'mon...PHVO! faux!). I so totally am going to make the following...

via A Mighty Appetite, a recipe for queso without the Velveeta

via not martha, recipe for homemade samoas at baking bites (you know, the most universally beloved of the Girl Scout Cookies? and depending on the caramels you choose to bake with, you can avoid trans fats despite the worthless Girl Scout cookie vendors who decided to stick with the original scary-ass artery clogging ingredients)

Just to rant, altho the Samoas cookie box may say "trans-fat free" that's just a loophole; anything under half a gram of trans fats doesn't count for labeling purposes. CSPI captures my dilemma nicely (emphasis mine):

That's something for cookie fans to keep in mind as they open a box, said Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

"If it says zero grams, but contains partially hydrogenated oil, people should know it does contain a little bit of trans fat," Jacobson said. "If somebody ate several servings of those foods a day, someone could consume 2 or 3 grams of trans fat, which is significant."

If someone ate, say, a row of Samoas at a time? Because a serving of Samoas is only two measly cookies. If someone tended to purchase, oh, a case of Samoas at a time, much to the delight of the local Brownie troop? That someone should make their own Samoas! I hear that unlike PHVO! faux! untouchables, butter-laden cookies are best eaten in multiples. Ahem.

And since really I am just a hair away from Little House on the Prairie myself, here are a couple utilitarian recipes I want to share that I've used for the past five years (read: since kids) to save time, $, and stay whole-grain. I may love the (organic) Fatty McFat cheese dip (fats are good for brain development!) but I avoid the White Flour like the plague. Inconsistent, yes, I know.

I originally got these bulk recipes during a short-lived Flylady fascination, but the titles are links to the original recipes, which belong to Leanne Ely over at Saving Dinner. I've adapted them but they are pretty close to hers, which teach you how to make your own breakfast mixes. In general, I am indebted to Leanne for introducing me to whole wheat pastry flour -- substituting it for white flour in pretty much any recipe gives you the whole grains without the heaviness of plain whole wheat flour. I might even try to use it in the Samoas recipe....

Pancake/waffle mix:

8 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 cups buckwheat flour
1/2 cup cornmeal (stone ground)
1 1/2 cups oatmeal (blend in your blender till powdered)
5 tablespoons baking powder
2 tablespoons baking soda
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons salt

This will make four quarts. Mix all together in a very large bowl and divvy up into gallon sized freezer storage bags. Mark the date with a Sharpie pen and keep it in the freezer. Write the following instructions right on the bag.

To make pancakes or waffles:

1 cup pancake mix
1 egg
1/2 to 2/3 cup milk (start with the lesser amount first and add if you need to)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

In a medium bowl, stir mix with milk, egg and vegetable oil. Heat your griddle and make your pancakes as usual! To make waffles, double the batter. We are pretty big fans of adding a cup of frozen blueberries to the batter.

***
Basic Muffin Mix
Makes 11 cups

8 cups whole wheat pastry flour
3 cups sugar
3 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons nutmeg

Combine everything in a large bowl and divide into freezer zipper topped bags. Mark date with a Sharpie pen and store in the freezer or cool dry place. Write following directions on the bag:

To make muffins:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a bowl, mix together 3 cups baking mix, 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, 2 eggs, 3/4 cup milk and 3/4 cup berries, raisins, chocolate chips or whatever else you'd like.

Bake in a prepared muffin pan-that means lightly greased, filling cups 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes or until nicely browned. Cool for five minutes in the pan then turn out on to a rack to cool. Makes about 12 muffins, depending on the size of your muffin tin. Read more!

Bodacious, Bad-Ass Brownies

I've been loving browsing through my favorite blogs via my steady supply of RSS feeds while expressing CBoy's milk for a couple weeks now and this link is all-time proof of the worthiness of that particular time investment. It's to The Perfect Recipe brownies by Pamela Anderson (the Cooks Illustrated one, not the giant boob mama). GoodyBlog talks chocolate specifics so I will admit that I deviated from their recommendations to cater to our particular brand of sweet toothiness. I used 2 oz unsweetened Ghirardelli's and 4 oz good ol' Nestle semisweet chocolate chips. With a couple more handfuls of chocolate chips thrown in just to be on the safe side.

These are seriously the best brownies I have ever had, chewy, moist, and delightful and you all know I am pretty disdainful of the cacao bean products. More importantly, the CandyMan himself loves them. This recipe is a total keeper.

Fudgy, Chewy, Cakey Brownies

2/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
Vegetable cooking spray
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate
4 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
10 Tbsp. (1 stick plus 2 Tbsp.) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 large eggs
3/4 cup toasted walnuts, pecans, macadamia nuts or peanuts (optional)

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 325°F

2. Whisk flour, salt and baking powder in a small bowl; set aside. Spray an 8-inch baking pan with vegetable cooking spray. Fit a 16-by-8-inch sheet of foil in pan and up two sides, so you can use foil overhang as a handle to pull cooked brownies from pan. Spray sheet of foil with vegetable cooking spray.

3. Melt chocolates and butter in a medium bowl over a pan of simmering water. Remove from heat; whisk in sugar and vanilla. Whisk in eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each one before adding the next. Continue to whisk mixture until completely smooth. Add dry ingredients; whisk until just incorporated. Stir in nuts, if desired.

4. Pour batter into prepared pan; bake until a toothpick or cake tester inserted into center comes out with wet crumbs, 35 to 45 minutes. (Do not wait until the toothpick comes out clean!)

5. Cool brownies in pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Use foil handles to pull brownies from pan. Completely cool brownies on rack, at least 3 hours. Cut into squares and serve. If not serving immediately, do not cut brownies. (Whole brownie cake can be wrapped in plastic wrap, then foil, and refrigerated for up to 5 days.)

I'd like to credit GoodyBlog, one of my new parent-fluff reads, for many of my favorite tidbits lately (gumdrop trees, towel animals, mama spine curvage, baby Samaritans). Don't really know the netiquette for citing pass-through sources, hmmm, but I guess this is it? And next time I will just say "link via GoodyBlog" as I belatedly realized some other bloggers do. Thinking this over inspired me to update my links (so check them out for other good reads).

Read more!