Life changing website - check it out!!!!!

Suzybelle

Okay...as most of you know, I use brownies to change my mood.  This is probably wrong, and I probably should feel bad, (but I don't) but I wanted to share what I found with my fave ladies of the LE forum and other lovely friends. 

 Check out www.mybakingaddiction.com - there are like, a gagillion brownie recipes on there!!!!!  First order of business is to make the symphony brownies.  Just reading about them made me soooo soooo soooo ready to climb under my bed with a big, honkin' brownie.

I love this website - too cool. 

And this is LE related, because we need some stuff to make us happy sometimes, yes?????

Leah_S

Suzybelle, of courser it's LE related. How would we get through the day with LE if we didn't have brownies?

Passover is coming up. For a week, we eat no leavened products - no bread, no cakes or cookies made with flour, etc. But, have no fear! I have a recipe for Passover brownies using potato starch that is so yummy you can't get enough.

Leah

P.S. I generally do not weigh myself for at least a month after Passover.

Anonymous

Hi Leah,

Wanted to introduce myself.  I'm also a Jewish gal with BC.  I noticed that you're from Israel.  I've never been there, but hope to visit one day.  I was wondering about treatments there.  Are they free?  I have insurance but had a high deductible, so ended up paying quite a bit.  I know that Israel is considered to be pretty advanced when it comes to medicine.  Wishing you the best.

Binney4

Suzy, I can't believe there's no Brownie Recipe page on the StepUp-SpeakOut website. What an oversight! Going to check out mybakingaddiction right now, and then I'll join you under the bed.

Leah, how can you mention the Passover brownies and not share the recipe?! Please? Good idea on the weighing, too -- we sure don't need stress and negativity, and that's a great way to avoid it!

Yum!
Binney

Suzybelle

Binney, you guys have got to get on that horrible lapse on stepup-speakout pronto.

How can you have an LE website and no brownie recipes????

Leah, I'm dying for that recipe.  Please share with us!

That website has some awesome cupcake recipes too...and those will easily travel under the bed as well as brownies...just sayin'.

BrandyB

I've made brownies with big fat symphony bars baked right into the oh so deliciousness of the brownie!!!! Angels sing when I eat those...

hymil

Hey Suzy, is there something wrong with mood-altering substances? I'm thinking that chocolate must be the substance of choice, when you look at the others and their side effects. Is there a legal charge of Causing death by wreckless chocloate-eating? I don't think so. Do our bodies complain with a hangover? Not at all. Does the state raise a lot of tax out of us when we indulge? Not really. So until the day we are able to alter some of the grim reality of BC & LE,... choc on, sistah! 

BeckySharp

If you don't feel like baking go to www.brownies.com and order some.  Fairytale Brownies.  Gourmet dark belgium chocolate. Yum...... And DO NOT step on the scale after eating one! 

Suzybelle

Hymil, you are a genius.

 I have had a perfect day today - planted flowers all morning and made brownies this afternoon!!!!

Hindsfeet

I would love to check out the browning website...except that my naturalpath put me on a very serious no yeast diet. I would love a good chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream. In three weeks, after this diet is over, I'm going to celebrate and order that brownie!  I am so glad the no yeast or sugar diet I am on comes right before passover. It makes it easier knowing that anyhow, I would be cutting out yeast 14 days before passover.

hymil

lago

Leah_S I have a great chocolate meringue cookie that I make with coconut but can also be made with almonds instead that is perfect for passover. No flour, baking powder or baking soda in these cookies. PM me if interested. They should be great in Israel. They don't come out very well when it's damp out. 

Those of you eating traditional Passover food. Be careful of your salt intake. Bad for the LE.

I started my "no crap food. I'm going to work out every day diet" yesterday so no brownies for me for at least a month.  I really need to get rid of at least 6 of the 8lbs I gained on chemo.

Leah_S

Don't worry, I got out my Passover recipes and here's the brownies:

1 cup oil, 4 eggs , 2 cups sugar, 1 cup cocoa, 1/2 cup potato starch, 1 tsp. vanilla. Beat all ingredients together well. Pour into greased 9X13 pan; bake at 350 degrees 1/2 hr - 45 min.

I have given up counting how many of these I make during Passover. If you know someone who can't tolerate gluten this is great for them. Enjoy!

Iago, you're a lot stronger than I am if you're starting your diet BEFORE Passover! Thank you for the offer of the cookie recipe but I'm allergic to nuts. Have an extra for me instead!

Leah 

lago

Leah the diet is easy. I don't like Passover food except for the chicken soup. I never make my chicken soup with noodles anyway. When I do make it it's more like a chicken vegetable. If I need starch I put red potatoes in it. Of course this won't work with matzo balls:

------------------------------------------------
  Lagos Chicken Vegetable soup
------------------------------------------------

Ingredients
• 1 chicken (or chicken parts. Dark meat more flavor but white me less a calories)
• 1 large onion
• 1" chunk cut carrots
• 1 inch parsnip
• lots of white mushrooms (adds lots of flavor-very important)
• a few red potatoes (already cooked)
• bok choy (not the baby kind)
• a little tomato powder to taste (optional purchase at Spice House)
• leeks
• broccoli
• salt & pepper to taste

Directions
1. Cook the chicken in water for about 10 minutes skimming off the crap that floats to the top.
2. Simmer for about 30 minutes or till chicken is cooked
3. removed chicken
4. Put the veggies in based on how long they would take to cook. So the carrots would go in first. The potatoes and green part of the bok choy are last in the pot.
5. While veggies are cooking debone and remove skin from  chicken and cut up into bite sized pieces.
6.Toss chicken back in the pot when done.

* Taste better the next day. Be sure to skim off the fat the next day once it has been chilled.

** When storing separate the veggies/chicken form stock or they will get mushy. Don't freeze the carrots or potatoes.

*** Best diet food if you don't use too many potatoes and have twice as much vegetable than chicken.

_______________________________________________________

Forgot to mention if you eat this before eating brownies the brownie calories don't count.

Binney4

Leah, thank you! I was afraid it was a secret family recipe and we'd never be able to try it, so I'm tickled that you shared it. Can't wait to try it.

Lago, Calorie Neutralizer Soup? Bring it on!

Yum!
Binney

Claire_in_Seattle

Hi Ladies,

Thought I would share my grandmother's chocolate brownie recipe.  I have eaten a lot of brownies, and these are the only ones I think are worth the calories.  I don't make very often as not a good idea to eat 8 at one sitting. - Claire

Chocolate Brownies

2/3 c flour

1/2 teaspon baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup butter, 2 squares Baker's chocolate, 1/2 cup milk

1 cup sugar

2 eggs, beaten

Sift flour and dry ingredients into a bowl.  Melt butter and chocolate squares (my grandmother said over boiling water, but I use the microwave and do it in Pyrex measuring cups to speed up cleaning).  Gradually beat in milk, sugar and beaten egg.  Add vanilla.  Stir in melted chocolate.  Add flour mixture, and beat well.  Add nuts last.

Bake in a greased 8x8 pan at 350 for half an hour.

Cool, taste, and then hide from self after tasting.  These are yummy, and nothing else comes even close for the right balance of chocolate, moistness, and yumminess.

kira66715

Leah--my daughter with celiac disease is hosting the seder this year, so I'll bring the brownies! Thank you.

We're working on gluten free matzo balls...

And may I add: Hymil your post is brilliant!

Kira

hymil

Wow ladies, so much for the diets! I'm definitely going to try these recipes at least twice each (i never get it right first time....) Now you know I'm in the UK and over here we have dainty teacups, after-dinner expresso coffee cups, and huge builders' mugs and everything inbetween, so I have to ask the seemingly stoopid question, how much is a cup please?. It wouldn't matter only that the egg isn't in a cup! You could tell me a cup of oil is [250?] mls or a cup of sugar is [170?] grams; either way I can then find the right size cup. My pyrex measuring jug has 2 cups equals one pint (not sure that helps or adds to the issues) which also equals 500mls or half a litre. See now, i always thought one of our pints was 568mls that's what it says on the milkbottles. Maybe I have somehow got a US jug and never knew,.. it might explain why my UK recipes come out wrong... Does 250mls for a cup sound about right?

Will be licking my fingers with you when i've bought the chocolate: It doesn't keep.

kira66715

Hmm, a liquid cup is 8oz but I wonder about a dry cup of ingredients:

Found a conversion website, does it help?

http://www.jsward.com/cooking/conversion.shtml

Kira

hymil

Thankyou Kira, Yes it certainly does. Now whatever happened to that chocolate...??

KS1

In many US recipes, ingredients are measured in terms of volume rather than weight.  Unless it clearly indicates otherwise, when a US recipe says to use a cup of something, you add the amount that fits into an 8 ounce cup (US ounces, not UK ounces).  Eight US ounces is the same volume as approximately 250 ml (237 ml).  KS

KS1

My favorite Passover dessert is a flour-less chocolate almond cake. Here's the recipe:

6 ounces 70% cacao Bitter sweet chocolate
¼ cup espresso or double strength coffee
1 tablespoon vanilla
10 tablespoons butter (or parve margarine)
¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar (2 T. is for egg whites)
6 large eggs, separated
¼ teaspoon salt
2 cups almonds, toasted and finely ground

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Stick the almonds into the over and toast for a few minutes. Grind cooled in food processor until almonds are very fine.
Lightly grease and flour a 9-inch springform pan. Line the bottom with parchment. (Can flour with potato starch)
Microwave chocolate with water. Add vanilla after microwaved chocolate cools.
Separate the eggs into two large bowls, one for egg whites & one for yolks
Beat the egg whites with the salt until they form stiff peaks. With the beater running, add two tablespoons sugar and beat until glossy. Fold the ground almonds into the whites.
Using the same beaters you used for the egg whites (without washing), beat the butter and sugar until ivory colored. Add the egg yolks, two at a time. Continue to beat until the mixture is light and airy. Fold in the cooled melted chocolate.
Fold the chocolate mixture into the egg white mixture
Pour into the prepared pan

Baking:
1. Place in the 375 degree oven and immediately turn the heat down to 350 degrees F. Bake 15 minutes.
2. Turn the oven down to 325 degrees F. Bake an additional 45 minutes.
3. Turn the oven down to 300 degrees and bake 15 to 20 minutes.
4. Turn the oven off and leave in the oven, with the door ajar, for another 30 minutes.

Cool on a rack. Run knife along the side of the pan, and remove the sides of the springform pan. Serve sprinkled with confectioners' sugar. Whipped cream is optional.

hymil

For the benefit of anyone else who struggles with cups and what's in them..[or not:  (@) ( - ) !!] ..  here are the two recipe ingredients as translated using the Metric Kitchen guide. No guarantees.

Leah's brownies:

240 ml oil,

4 eggs ,

400g  sugar,

110g  cocoa,

60g potato starch,

1 tsp. vanilla.

Claire's brownies:

80g flour

1/2 teaspon baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt

80g chopped walnuts

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

60g butter,

2 squares Baker's chocolate,

120 ml milk

200g sugar

2 eggs, beaten

and 350*F is about 180*C or gas mark 6-ish.

Jelson

Iago,

can someone who is supposed to avoid tomatoes due to reflux, substitute the tomato powder? or is this just wishful thinking on my part?

Julie E

Leah_S

Kira, since your daughter has celiac, now is the time for her to stock up on potato starch, There are loads of Passover cake recipes that she can use all year. Tell her to google "Passover cake recipes" and she'll have a great time!

Leah

kira66715

Leah, she called a special gluten free bakery near her house--in a Boston suburb--and they have gluten free matzo! She's a great cook, and I'll grab a bunch of potato starch--I already sent her the recipe, and KS1's looks great also.

She was always complaining about her stomach, and after a bad asthma attack in college, they figured out she's IgA deficient, which goes with celiac. So, we got the testing, and sure enough...We have a special shelf for gluten free stuff in the kitchen and our freezer is full of alternative baking mixes.

The brownie recipe looks amazing.

Kira

lago

Jelson it might be wishful thinking. I'm sure it's still acidic. That's the problem with reflux. Yes I've had reflux and tomatoes were the worst. But you can always try. I'm not sure you will be getting the same nutritional value that a tomato has.

KS1 I think I love you.FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE CAKE. OMG. I think I'm going to have to buy a spring pan just of this recipe. BTW skip the confectioners' sugar and Whipped cream. Just garnish with raspberries. Antioxidants make it healthy right 

Suzybelle

I love this thread so much I want to marry it.

I had already planned to make vanilla bean cupcakes this weekend...now I have to make chicken soup, brownies, and flourless choc. almond cake. 

Then I'll have to work in the yard for 48 hours straight to burn off all the calories.

lilylady

I don't have LE but boy am I glad I found this thread. Not Jewish either but the food sounds wonderful. I have already added this to my Favorites.

I did just join a gym this morning but not starting til Monday. I have been  eating as clean as possible all week and having a splurge day on Sundays. Looks like i have a menu already set up

Binney4

Clair, grandma knows best -- thank you!

KS, since when is whipped cream optional? One should never stint on something this life-changing.

Lilylady, welcome! You don't have to have lymphedema to profit from mood-altering recipes. Congrats on all the clean living during the week, and we'll all be right there with you on splunge day!

(Okay, being me I just have to add that you might want to look over the lymphedema risk reduction guidelines so your new gym experience will be all positive:
http://www.lymphnet.org   See their Position Papers on Exercise, Air Travel, and Risk Reduction)

Now back to our regular programming...

Be well!
Binney

lago

Lilylady this thread is not just for the "chosen people" (both LE or Jewish. Damn Why did I get chosen twice. "once in awhile, can't You choose someone else?" ).

Chocolate is for everyone to enjoy.