Do these brownies make my butt look big?

Nope.  And you're gonna love 'em...the brownies and what they do for your buns.  You'll love the instant gratification of brownies that are ready to eat in about 10 minutes.  Love turns into lust when you don't have to fire-up the oven.  Yep - they're raw.  Not the raw brownie batter that you scarf down straight out of the bowl while baking traditional brownies; raw like 'unadulterated, pure ingrediented, non-ovenated-nutrient-robbing, chocolate treat goodness.

I will never lie to you.  Especially about food.  :)  Eating raw food is healthful, exciting, adventurous and fun, but it is an acquired taste.  It isn't accurate or fair to compare traditional 'anything' with its raw counterpart.  Many do, but I don't.  It is much better for me to set the expectation that the raw version will be different.  I plug the benefits into my brain before I let the taste buds become judge and jury.  The trade-off in calories alone may be just enough to set the stage.  Read on.

I love chocolate.  Seriously.  Stranded-on-an-island-and-can-only-pick-one-food kind of love.  Okay, maybe some fruit, bread and wine too, all pair well with chocolate...I digress.  The traditional brownie is delicious beyond compare, but packs about 160 calories (give or take, without frosting) per serving.  Okay, so you say, "Big deal.  It's an every-now-and-again treat..."  Definitely.  This recipe offers the option to have a couple of 'bites' that you just pop into your mouth and feel like you've had your 'fix' for about 65 calories each.  Nice.    

Now, make them.

 














Raw Brownie Bites

1 C Raw Pecan Halves

1/2 C (packed) Medjool Dates

3 Tbs Dark Cocoa Powder*

1/4 tsp sea salt

Yield:  16 Bite-Sized Pieces

Place nuts in a food processor and pulse nuts to a very fine powder consistency.  Add the cocoa powder and sea salt to the processed nuts and pulse until blended.  Add the dates and process thoroughly.  The mixture will appear 'crumbly'...don't despair.  This is what you want. 

Test the consistency of the 'brownie' mixture by squeezing about a tablespoon in the palm of your hand.  If mixture holds together, you're there.  If it doesn't hold together, add a few more dates and process again.

Roll a tablespoon portion between your palms to form a ball.  I like to flatten the balls to form a square that more resembles a true brownie.  Garnish and refrigerate!

Garnish Options:  Light cocoa powder, walnut halves, coarse sea salt, powdered sugar, pecan halves, raw unsweetened coconut or goji berries just to name a few.  

Variation Options:  Raw cashews or walnuts as your base instead of pecans or a combination thereof.  I prefer the taste of pecans as the base, by far.  You can add a few drops of pure orange extract for a mandarin fudge-flavored treat.  Wow is this good.  Doubling the recipe has not presented any challenges.

*Hershey makes a Special Dark 100% cacao powder (unsweetened) that is available at most grocery chains.  Remember, the darker the chocolate and the higher percentage of cacao, the better it is for you.

My new KitchenAid food processor is my favorite appliance.  We'll talk more about it another day.  Enjoy your brownies and please come again!

 

Good Will Hunting

Waste not want not.  Who comes up with these sayings?  And in what language?  I interpret that to mean 'don't waste what you don't want.'  I say, please DO waste what you don't want!  If you do, then people like me get to go and BUY it!  I will happily re-purpose your cast-offs.  I'm not talking garage sales here.  I'm talking about air conditioned, carpeted retail space.  Shop at your local Good Will Store or Salvation Army Store.  No kidding.  

Put your pride away and get your keys!  I'm not suggesting that you root through piles of used underwear; stay with me.  This is good stuff.  Just like any other store, 98% of the items for sale are of no interest you.  It's the 2% that you're after.  You just don't know what you're shopping for until you see it.  Go with an open mind, tiny budget and accomplish great things.  Like any other shopping trip you embark on to find treasures for your home, you may leave empty-handed.  You have to leave, go back, leave and go back again.

You may not have a Good Will or Salvation Army store in your area, but I'll bet you have a thrift store of some sort.  Some of the more 'colorful' mom and pop thrift stores present more of a shopping challenge and tend to smell a bit like your Grandma's basement, but press on.  

Would you walk away from a brand-new pair of Nine West leather cowboy boots for $17.00 on clearance at Saks or Macy's?  I think not.  I ran (quarterback-style) straight to the cash register at the Salvation Army Store and bought those puppies.  Actually, I was willing to pay $34.00 for them, but it so happened that I was a thrift Rookie and didn't know that Wednesdays are 1/2 off of clothing and shoes at that particular location!  Keep the change.

How about a large piece of furniture for your foyer?  Say, in black, with a storage bench-seat, hooks for coats and stands 5 feet tall?  Sounds pretty, huh?  Have your visual?  Good.  Ballard Design or Pottery Barn calls that 'The Beadboard Entry Cabinet' and would kindly ask that you pay around $800.00 plus S & H; please, and thank you.  If the piece had a French name or something that sounded like an $800.00 treasure, that'd be one thing.  Back on Planet Earth, our Salvation Army Entry Cabinet was $99.00.

If I haven't quite been able to create a convincing visual to drive the point home, I'll leave you with this:  Play along and choose the item in this picture that cost $6.00.

If you chose the lamp, you win. 


The linen-like barrel shade was found at Ross for $12.00 (Target Home Brand, by the way) making the grand total $18.00 for the lamp.  The shopping high?  Priceless.


Good Will and Salvation Army made michelles LIST.  Have yourself a nice little Saturday and make time to go Good Will hunting.


Teaser:  Do these brownies make my butt look big?

How I lost 700.00

I hang my head in shame.  The girl that buys nothing without price-shopping first, broke her own rules and BIG.  

Rarely do I lay awake at night pondering the price of drugs the way I spend sleepless hours reviewing the treasures I left behind at Ross, TJ Maxx, HomeGoods or Marshalls.  It would then make sense that I might walk into a pharmacy month after month and just plunk my money down.  I don't do it happily, but someone has to stimulate the economy.


Even healthy people take medications for life.  That's just how it goes.  Never did I dream that you could feel robbed at gunpoint just by taking your meds.  Well...it went like this:  there became a world-wide shortage of Armour Thyroid.  The last few doses on Planet Plano were at Target, so I transferred my prescription.  While at Target's pharmacy for the first time, I found their customer service to be that of something you'd see in a clip featuring June Cleaver stopping in at the local butcher shop.  I felt like a real, live customer!  No time was wasted in transferring all of my prescriptions at once!  Of course, Target happily did the work with one magic phone call.  By the way, the actual Pharmacist, herself, was doing it all.  Unheard of. 


In doing so, it was revealed that Target's price for one of my other medications would be $38.00 a month as compared to a whopping $150.00 a month from from my Tom Thumb (our local big box grocery chain) pharmacy.  I nearly required resuscitation from the buff pharmacy helper-dude that greets and assists while being oh, so cute.  I digress.


Mind you, these prices are real, left-my-wallet-cash prices.  We're among the growing population of people without prescription drug coverage.  Having taken the medication from Tom Thumb at 150.00 a month, for 6 months or more, our bank account is now missing 700.00 for no good reason.  It was all me.  It only takes a phone call to price-shop for Rx medications.  I sure can find my way to the phone to see if ten different Target locations have the clearance shoes I want.  Should have called 10 different pharmacies...$700.00 will buy a LOT of clearance shoes!


Be well, say no to drugs and feel like June Cleaver at your local Target pharmacy.

Target Pharmacy hit a home-run and landed on michelles LIST.  Tom Thumb Pharmacy earned a spot on my kick-it-to-the-curb LIST.


Teaser:  Good Will Hunting

Chile Verde did NOT disappoint!

Boy, am I a happy girl when a new recipe has a happy ending.  This dish looked and tasted authentic; like Mama Rosa stood in my kitchen and spilled all of her family secrets.  I'm a fruit and vegetable kind of girl, but my husband whom I adore, loves meat and my cooking.  He patiently encourages all of my twigs and berries concoctions, raw food trials and never complains, so he gets what he loves and I'm happy to do it.  This meal definitely made Michelle's LIST!

On my virgin quest to ALDI on grand opening day, I was drawn to a package of picture-perfect tomatillos.  What to do?  Buy them because their pretty.  Admire them for a few days, quit using them as kitchen decor and then get to experimenting.  

When I cook, it is typically for two people unless noted, so the quantities will reflect two portions.  Most meals for the two of us yield an extra serving for leftovers.


Chile Verde

2 lb center-cut, lean pork roast
2 lb fresh tomatillos
2 large jalapeno peppers
1 yellow onion, medium chop, not diced
1 Tbs minced garlic
2 c chicken stock

Preheat oven to broil
Cut each tomatillo in half and place, skins-up, on a foil-lined cookie sheet.
Place sheet near the top of the oven, close the door and let 'em roast!
This will take about 15-20 minutes.  Remove when skins are blackened and set aside.

Cut the pork roast into 1" cubes and salt/pepper generously
Brown the meat in a lightly olive-oiled non-stick skillet on med heat
Cook the meat until it is dark, not just a flash in the pan
Transfer cooked port to a large, shallow saucepan that has a lid, place on low

 Cook your onion in the non-stick pan from cooking the pork.  It only takes about 5 minutes on medium heat to get them good and caramelized and aromatic.  Scrape all of the burnt goodies from the pork along with the onion into the pan with the awaiting meat.

Place your roasted tomatillos, skins and all, into a food processor or blender.  Throw in your two whole jalapeno peppers (seeds and all if you're a Texan...no seeds if, well, you know who you are).  Add the garlic and process until it is a smooth, even consistency.

Pour your tomatillo sauce over the meat and onion.  Cover with 2 cups of chicken broth (or enough to cover the meat).  Simmer your Chile Verde, covered for 2-3 hours.  Once it is time to set the table and heat some tortillas, uncover the pan and turn up the heat to almost medium so that it can reduce and thicken.  Voila.  Dinner is served.

I warmed organic sprouted corn tortillas from SPROUTS (brand is Food for Life) to serve rolled up with the 'stew' accompanied by fresh guacamole, homemade salsa and organic blue corn and flax seed tortilla chips.  You could certainly stuff it into a burrito, taco or over a bed of rice.

You could absolutely make this dish with chicken.  The next time, I will make a bigger batch and freeze it in meal-sized portions.  It was easy to prepare, but how lovely would it be to have this meal whenever your heart desires?

I purchase my center-cut pork loin roast at SAM's.  We eat pork roast about once every 6-8 weeks, so that's a year's worth.  I spend between 13.00 and 18.00 for a piece that barely fits in your trunk.  I portion that slab of delicious goodness into at least 8 portions and freeze them individually.  I'm not a math whiz, but we're knocking on the door of about a buck or less per serving for the entree...nice. 

Happy eating!  

Teaser:  How I lost 700.00

Welcome!

Welcome to my Blog!

I'm a simple girl. I’m curious about many things and an expert at nothing. I’ll dabble in just about anything from food to furniture. I experiment with the methods by which I do it all until it works or begs for mercy. Mostly, I’ve adopted a mindset about getting what I want minus the guilt. 

Eating right (for the right price), having lovely things (for the right price or free) and having fun on the journey are at the core of my madness. The thrill of the hunt, the high of creating something from nothing and the DEALS out there to be had...well, enough said!

Like most of us, I tend to get easily overwhelmed and intimidated with the choices out there from recipes to tools to retail. I get a charge out of making things simple and inexpensive, so there’s the bonus for you! There’s a lot to be said for breaking choices down into manageable pieces, so tune-in from time to time and see who or what is on my LIST for that day!

Come again!

Michelle

Tease: What’s for dinner tonight? Chile Verde…smells good, but you’ll have to check back to see how it turned out and if it makes the ‘what’s for dinner’ LIST.