I'll Trade You

When Consumer Reports comes out with a rating on restaurants or certain types of foods, I'm generally not interested. If they're assessing the performance of a type of tire or telling me which operating system works best for a computer, I value the research and opinion. But when it comes to who has the best french fries or milkshake, I'd rather find out for myself. So when Consumer Reports revealed that they thought Trader Joe's Truffle Brownies were the best store bought brownie mix, we decided it was time to put this rating to the test.

Sadly, there is not a Trader Joe's in the Roanoke Valley. It's another topic for another day, but it would be AMAZING if Trader Joe's could come to the Roanoke area in the near future. I'm looking at you abandoned Ukrops building. In the meantime, we take advantage of visiting places that have TJ's locations and usually pick up a few items to bring back home. Seeing as how my family takes a trip to the Naval Academy every few weeks to see my brother, we can count on some loot from the Trader Joe's store in Annapolis on a relatively regular basis.

A couple weeks ago, I finally got around to making these highly acclaimed brownies. The ingredients include one full stick of butter, which hurts the waistline but not the tastebuds. And when I poured the mix into a bowl, I noticed large chunks of chocolate that would be mixed in with the batter - hello truffle friends. Making brownies isn't the most complicated baking in the world, so I followed the recipe, put them in the oven, and then eagerly waited for the result. Once the brownies were finished baking, I pulled them out of the oven and again followed the instructions on the box - which included letting the brownies cool for 30 minutes! Agonizing!

After 30 minutes of drooling, I cut into my first piece and took a bite...BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE! These brownies were rich, they were decadent, they were moist, they were heavenly. The chunks of chocolate really put them over the top and provided a fudge-like element. Eating them warm offered an experience similar to enjoying a hot Krispy Kreme doughnut. I quickly realized that it would be a challenge to not enjoy the entire pan of these brownies on my own. I resisted the temptation to hide them from everyone else and offered my family some. Everyone was a huge fan and I don't think the pan lasted much more than 24 hours.

Now, I find myself daydreaming about Trader Joe's brownies. They were delicious, but they could even be taken to another level. With the possibility of adding peanut butter, or caramel, or butterscotch, or coconut...I feel like Willy Wonka. I guess we'll just have to try them all to figure out which way is actually the best. Pardon me, I can hear myself getting fatter.

Best Thing I Ever Ate: Strawberry Shortcake

I have had many strawberry shortcakes in my life. It's a rather popular southern dessert, a dish you see at picnic/potluck meals, and something that most people like - which makes it a dessert that is frequently made or served at restaurants. I wouldn't consider myself a strawberry shortcake connoisseur, but I have tried many different varieties in many different places - some good and some bad. I've had any number of combinations between store bought angel food cake cups, homemade angel food cakes, white cake mix, homemade shortcake, fresh strawberries, prepackaged sweetened strawberries, strawberries in sugary syrup, vanilla ice cream, fresh whipped cream, canned whipped cream, cool whip, and any other ingredient that seems like it would fit. I've sampled strawberry shortcake at church lunches, the famous Beaches & Cream Soda Shop at Walt Disney World, The Cheesecake Factory, and many other places, but I'm pretty sure I've found the best one...the version my wife makes.

Cheesecake Factory Strawberry Shortcake

Since we've been married, my wife has become a very good baker. She practices making all sorts of things - cookies, cakes, breads, cupcakes, muffins, and she appears to have mastered strawberry shortcake. She is always looking at different blogs and websites for recipe ideas and found this version of strawberry shortcake from a site called Vintage Victuals, which is full of awesome and creative recipes. Nicole has made the strawberry shortcake numerous times for different people and everyone loves it, including me. It's a simple list of ingredients and simple to make, but I don't think you can beat the flavors. Put together an amazing shortcake biscuit, fresh strawberries that macerate in sugar, vanilla ice cream, & whipped cream and you have an outstanding dessert, especially when you get the biscuit hot out of the oven. We had it as our dessert for Memorial Day and it was a big hit, even though the Bisquick was a little old. Nicole made another batch the next day with fresh Bisquick and everyone was extremely impressed.

The ingredients list is pretty small and consists of things we normally have sitting around the house:
 -Strawberries

Nicole's Strawberry Shortcake

 -Sugar
 -Bisquick
 -Milk
 -Butter
 -Vanilla Ice Cream & Whipped Cream

Here's the link for the rest of the recipe: strawberry shortcake and I encourage you to check out the other things on the site. Major props to Ellie at Vintage Victuals and to Nicole for making the best strawberry shortcake I've ever had.

Life of Chai

I have never been a big fan of coffee or tea. There have been multiple times when I tried to like coffee, but I couldn't get used to the taste or the way it would make my stomach feel so I gave up. And I've always liked sweet tea, but hot tea wasn't something I was able to get in to because I didn't think it had much flavor. But, as we've traveled around the world over the past year, I've been introduced to a number of different flavors of tea (I'm looking at you South African Rooibos) that I've started to like.

Milk Frother = The Difference-Maker

So once we returned home and went to a normal grocery store, I was intrigued to find the Tazo Chai Latte in a concentrate where it is already made and you mix it with milk. I tried some of it and really liked it. There is a great combination of cinnamon, vanilla, and other spices that remind me of pumpkin pie. Then, once we purchased our insanely cool Nespresso Milk Frother, I figured I could become a master Chai Tea Latte maker. I must say, I think I've perfected it. I put about 3/4 cup of skim milk in the milk frother and heat up about 1/2 cup of the Tazo Tea in the microwave for one minute. The milk frother heats the milk and I pour it into the glass first when it is ready, which takes about 45 seconds. Then, I pour in the hot tea, which gives it the cool look and allows the milk foam to stay on the top of the drink. I'm still working on creating designs in the foam as I pour in the tea.

Starbucks' Tazo Chai Latte

My Tazo Chai Latte

I noticed Starbucks offers their own Tazo Chai Tea Latte and I tried it this past Sunday when we were there to watch church. It was very good - hot, nice foam, sweet, blend of spices - tasted just like mine. They probably use the same ingredients, but don't have the same milk frother and use less of the tea concentrate, and they happen to charge $3 - for a small! I think it would cost me $5 (we won't talk about how much I paid for the frother) to have the ingredients to make 10 mediums of my own. This allows me to save money in hopes of getting a camera that can take pictures to make my drinks look as good as theirs.

My Chai Latte's have now become a regular drink and it's a great post-breakfast beverage to have throughout the morning. I would become a fan of hot tea by picking a high maintenance drink that requires a spiced tea concentrate and frothed milk. Keeping it simple.

Fried & Healthy?

Thursday - Nicole made something for dinner tonight I don't think I've ever had - a healthy version of fried rice. She used brown rice and then loaded it up with vegetables and it actually ended up being very good, and colorful too. We used a bell pepper, broccoli, peas, carrots, onions, egg whites, pineapple, & soy sauce and had a very healthy dinner. I was impressed and full and didn't feel gross afterwards.

Fired Chicken

Friday - So....I misread the instructions and cooking times for microwaving the frozen chicken nuggets. I thought the directions said: For 6 nuggets, cook 5 1/2 minutes. What the directions really said were: For 6 nuggets, cook 1 1/2 minutes. Whoops! The plate was smoking when the timer went off and my grandparents said they could smell something burning when they got off the elevator. Ironically, I had this fiasco while we were watching Chopped, a cooking competition on Food Network.

Eat Your Heart Out

Saturday - At our church picnic, Nicole signed up to participate in the pie eating contest. She was competing for a gift certificate to The Cheesecake Factory and the two ladies she was sitting between were no joke. They were racing to see who could finish a giant slice of chocolate cream pie in the fastest time. Nicole gave it her all but fell just short to a big black girl who basically ate her entire slice in one bite. It was impressive and rather frightening. I'm also really impressed with the kid in this picture who was throwing down some italian ice.

By the way, we brought home the title for the bake-off! We threw away our Pink Lemonade Cake and made a Brownie Layered Cake with Brownies, Peanut Butter, Chocolate, Cream Cheese Icing, and Chow Mein Noodles. It was quite a hit and Nicole deserves all the credit for pulling it together.

Lemonade Stand

Friday - We're entering a bake-off for a picnic on Saturday and we decided to try out a new recipe. We found a recipe for a Pink Lemonade Cake in the Deen Brothers cookbook and it looked like it'd be a winner. I don't know if we used the wrong ingredients or if something happened with the oven but it turned out to be a total flop. Instead of rising into two nice layers, they looked more like pancakes. So much for that idea!