A New Roasted Vegetable

Old friends are awesome.  Old friends are special, and rare, and sweet.  Old friends take you to big-town grocery stores, where you can find things like this:

What a dear, sweet vegetable (not as dear and sweet as long-lasting friendships, but special nonetheless).  Why in the world has this little green gem gotten such a bad name for decades?  I think it's because of a deep cultural inability to do more than boil it into tasteless mush.  So sad.

I haven't yet told you what it is.  I'm going to hold out a little longer.  It's just so cool-looking and tasty, I don't want to negativize the relationship you're forming with the little guys just yet with any of your preconceived notions.

Here's what Longest-lasting Friend and I did with the grocery store find:

1.  Remove the little sprouts from the stem by snapping them off.  Cut off any tough parts of the stem that stayed on the sprout, and remove any small, yellow leaves.  Wash thoroughly.

2.  Give Little Girl a kitchen cabinet full of tupperware to occupy her, and thank Longest-lasting Friend's Mom for having a child-friendly kitchen.

3.  In a bowl, combine vegetable, 2-3 tablespoons olive oil or melted butter, 1 tsp. coarse kosher salt, 1/2 tsp. black pepper, and 1/2-3/4 tsp. dried rosemary.  Stir with a rubber spatula until fully coated and delicious looking.  Spread onto a baking sheet or roasting pan.  Have you figured it out yet?

4.  Roast in a 400 degree oven for 20-30 minutes or until browned on the outside and soft (but not mushy) on the inside, stirring every 10-15 minutes.

5.  Enjoy the New Kind of Roasted Vegetable.  See, Little Girl likes them too.

Are you ready?  Brussels Sprouts.  There, I said it.  But they are delicous!  Give them a chance.

Furious Chocolate Cake

I dreamed last night that someone told me to update my food blog, at which point I got mad at myself for being "that girl" who starts a blog then fizzles out.

Fits in perfectly with the recipe name, "Furious Chocolate Cake." It's actually "Flourless Chocolate Cake" ... but if you look at the word "flourless" quickly like I did, it looks like "furious" ... I guess.

Serves 12-16 (depends on slice size, obviously ... but it's rich so a small slice is plenty. Or, if you're like me, start with a small slice, love it, get another small slice, comment to husband about tastiness of said small slice, share a third small slice with husband, and wash plate before eating another small slice right off out of the pan. )

4 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped

1/2 c. butter

1/2 c. white sugar

1/2 c. cocoa powder

3 eggs, beaten

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Grease 8-inch round cake pan and dust with cocoa powder.

In top of a double boiler over lightly simmering water, melt chocolate and butter. Remove from heat; stir in sugar, cocoa powder, eggs, and vanilla. Pour into cake pan.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Cool in pan 10 minutes; turn out and cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar if desired.

Alright - this was my Valentine's cake I made for my husband and me. Really, I made it for myself (because yes, I love myself, and yes, I'm crazy about chocolate). I ran into a dilemma though ... I found myself out of both flour and money on that magical day. Luckily, I remembered a Sunday School teacher who was making a (now forgotten) point in a story by saying "Just like you'd never make a chocolate cake without the flour ..." and was corrected by mutterings from a number of participants. Apparently, though not many people know it, flour isn't the staple we assume it to be. Cake with flour? Bah, humbug, I say.

I'd like to now open my blog to my one faithful reader, and invite YOU, dear reader, to challenge me in my bloggership. Give me an ingredient, and I will make something up, try it out, and post it for you. If it turns out that I have more than one reader out there, I'll put all the suggestions in a hat and pick one out. I'll give you a week to suggest ..

Also, I must apologise again for being "that girl" who starts a blog then fizzles out. I have TONS of ideas, my dilemma is that I have no computer because my precious husband is in school and needs it all the time. I'll try to be better about it. Please, don't be furious with me.