The Cookbook Experiment: Raspberry Brownies

Tonight's round was dessert. I was too tired to make dinner as my right shoulder is in agony from my doctor's appointment today. I looked through the cookbook for something sweet and yummy to make. So many choices! From pies to cakes to brownies to cookies, I looked through them all.

The winning recipe comes from one of the sweetest ladies at church, Mrs. Lenedia Paschal. She is darling. Her recipe is called Raspberry Brownies. I was totally intrigued by the use of raspberry tea bags and chocolate! I was excited that I had all of the ingredients on hand. I just happen to be a Celestial Seasoning Raspberry Zinger tea addict.

Raspberry Brownies by Lenedia Paschal

(1/2) cup water
(6) raspberry tea bags
(10) ounces chocolate chips
(1 1/2) sticks of margarine
(4) eggs
(1/2) cup brown sugar
(1/2) cup white sugar
(1/2) cup flour
(1/2) cup walnut pieces

Grease and flour a 9 x 15 baking pan. Place water in saucepan, heat to simmer and add tea bags and let cool.  Remove bags squeezing out liquid, reserve liquid.  Melt chocolate chips and margarine in a double boiler.  Mix eggs and sugar together until well blended.  Add tea mixture, then chocolate mixture and flour mixing until smooth.  Pour in pan and bake at 350 degrees about 25 minutes. Center will feel firm but still moist.

My take-a-ways for this recipe for your consideration:

• (1) stick of margarine is equal to approximately 4 ounces. I decided to use Kerrygold Irish butter in lieu of margarine. I am a butter snob, I admit it. There is no better butter than the perfectly fine Kerrygold. (must be my Irish genes coming out!)
• I used Ghiradelli chocolate because well...Ghiradelli!
• Please keep in mind when you add the hot melted butter that you temper it with the eggs so you don't scramble your eggs. (Just add a small amount of the hot chocolate mixture to combine to bring it up to temperature and then slowly add the rest)
• Mrs. Paschal, you are a genius! I was worried that with only (1/2) cup of flour that there was NO WAY this was going to work. I am happy to report I was wrong and you are amazing.
• MAKE THESE BROWNIES!!! They are incredibly delicious.

Pasta, Salad and stuff

Today was a long day.  We had an Evangelism Tea at our church.  It was a lot of fun. My big sissy came all the way down from Richmond and sat with me.  It was a good time.  Unfortunately, I was rather melancholy when I got home.  I think it was because the speaker's message really struck a chord with me topped off by the fact that I guess I am worried about my husband's test results and my current job status.  WHEW....that is a lot!

This morning while lounging in bed before hitting the shower, I watched the new episode of Trisha Yearwood's cooking show on Food Network.  I love her cooking show but I was especially interested in it today because she was having her husband, Garth in the kitchen.  I really like him and I love Trisha because she is so REAL.  Her recipes on the show today were very diverse.  I have to admit I will never try her black bean & tofu lasagna.  My family would probably run me out of Dodge if I served tofu!  The Ty's Thai Salad sounded lovely.  The peanut butter balls looked delicious and deadly!

After the tea today, I headed to the grocery store alone with my melancholy self to buy milk and eggs.  After hugging my favorite cashier  Oshaine ( and trying to remember to only call him Shaine) I meandered through the produce department.  I suddenly found myself craving the salad I saw Trisha make.  I started throwing things in my cart and trying very hard to keep a count on the amount of money I was spending.

Here is the link to the original Trisha Yearwood recipe:

Trisha Yearwood's Ty's Thai Salad

So I started out by chopping up my cilantro.

There is something earthy and luscious about the smell of cilantro.  It speaks to my heart somehow and I truly love it.  Lately I have been trying to find different ways to use it.  Next I smashed three cloves of garlic. I confess, the Italian in me had me adding more garlic.  Her recipe only calls for two but I added one more.  I love it when I get the smell of garlic on my hands.  I know I am weird.

The dressing for the salad is the strangest I have ever tried.  Two cups of olive oil and one whole cup of sugar!  It was actually very tasty, not to mention a vibrant green!

Here it is in all of its green glory!  It was very, very sweet.  The ingredients were few and basic, olive oil, sugar, cilantro and garlic.  Quite the dressing!

After making the dressing I began to chop up my red cabbage, Napa cabbage and cucumber.  Now I have to make a confession:  as I chopped away (at the same time making my main dish of chicken and pasta) I completely forgot about the edamame. I also had neglected to buy a green onion while at the store, although I am proud of myself as I bought all the ingredients from memory with the green onion the only thing I forgot.  But alas, I forgot to include the edamame in my salad.

I threw some fresh, ripe avocado on top of my salad and three tablespoons of the cilantro lime dressing.  It was a yummy salad.  This was my very first experience with Napa cabbage.  I did not like it very much.  It was kind of curly and weird.  I am not sure what I should substitute it with? Any ideas?  I did like the red cabbage and the addition of the avocado.

I guess I am off to clean up my disaster I left in the kitchen from trying a new recipe.  Sometimes I turn into a tornado of disaster when trying a new recipe!  Don't forget to set your alarm to get up in time for church tomorrow!