.:: Fire The Housewife ::.

So, in a recent excursion to the Elliott Bay Book Store (which is moving far, far from Elliott Bay due to the poor economy and I just needed to go back there again before they left that amazing location) I discovered this book:

Let’s talk about this book.  Basically, this is a wonderful little guide to making sustainable living more manageable and easy.  Lots of recipes and tips and ideas (we’ll be using a few of the slug deterrents in our garden this year.).  Here’s the problem.  I have always loved harsh cleaners, bleach, anything that says “KEEP AWAY FROM CHILDREN”.  But I also know that those things are bad for the environment and that if I’m going to do my part in every other way (The Boyfriend frequently uses the phrase “YOU’RE RECYCLING TOO MUCH!”), I should be doing my part with my cleaning products.  We started out small, we purchased the Clorox Green Works products, I switched a few things to Seventh Generation, then I found this book.

THIS BOOK.  This book is probably the bane of The Boyfriend’s existence.  But this book.  I love it.  Not only does it have some excellent recipes for cleaning products, but there is a myriad of  tinctures, salves, and tonics for health problems and first aid.  I love homeopathic type medicines, I frequent our local PCC so I can wander through the aisles of health products.  I am really excited to try a few of these things out.  I’ve made lists of plants and herbs I can grow in our garden that can be used for all sorts of other good things.

The book covers Health and First Aid, Non-Toxic Cleaning and Body care, and Gardening.  The author, Raleigh Briggs, made this interesting and not so harsh and scary.  I imagine if we sat down for a conversation and I told her of my secret love of makeup products and bleach she wouldn’t be mad at me, but would just give me some other options and send me merrily on my way.  She also lives in Seattle so a little part of me feels like I’m supporting someone local.  Oh! and the book is published through a smaller company in Bloomington, IN, so a part of me feels like I’m supporting the Midwest too. GO MIDWEST!  Plus at the grand cost of $7, even if you’re just mildly interested or looking for something to read it’s a pretty affordable way to go.  What I’m saying is. Go buy this book.  Read it, it’s really interesting.  Go out and buy some borax and some spray bottles and start being better for the environment.

You can buy Make Your Place via Amazon HERE

I seriously mean OH BOY.  I set out on this little adventure just wanting a stinking brownie.  I love brownies.  But these brownies.  Oh boy…these brownies.  Let’s just hope these brownies make it until The Boyfriend gets home from work.  These brownies are the reason I ran an extra mile today.  The reason I did a whole extra workout on top of running.  These brownies are a real problem.

On the other hand these brownies are ridiculously easy to make.  You can dedicate about an hour of your life to them from beginning to end and then you’ll have a lot of new friends.  Trust me.

What you’ll need:

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter

1 cup sugar

1 Tbsp vanilla

2 eggs

1/2 c. flour

1/3 c. cocoa

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

3/4 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup toffee pieces

Those last two items are totally optional, I had them in my freezer and decided to throw them in, I think your brownies will probably be just as delicious if you decide to leave them out.  Just not as delicious as mine, sucker.

Start out by melting the butter. Here are my rules for melting butter.  Do not melt it all the way.  We have a pretty high powered microwave and I melt the butter for 30 seconds, there are still some pretty large chunks of butter left in there, just stir it up until it all melts.  If your butter is too hot when you add your eggs you’re in for a world of hurt. TRUST ME.  It’s a wise lesson to remember for everything you cook.

Okay, put your NOT OVERLY MELTED butter and your sugar and vanilla in a mixing bowl and mix on a very low speed (1 on my stand-up kitchen aid) until it’s pretty well combined and cooled off (especially if you overheated your butter). It’s going to look a whole lot like this:

It looks like it’s being mixed really fast, but it’s not.  Speed 1, people, speed 1.

Then add your eggs one at a time mixing well between each addition.

THEN COMES THE DRY STUFF!  I don’t know if you know this about me, but man, I love sifting stuff.  I could sift all day long, except for when it comes to brown sugar, I hate trying to get that stuff not to be lumpy, you can’t sift it because it gets all stuck in the sifter, but you can’t just use it because you get those crazy lumps.  Ugh.  Brown sugar.  End of rant.  Anyway, sift together that dry stuff and then use your whisk to mix it all together really well, I’ve never quite had the luck of sifting things together properly, if you’re more awesome than I am, just sift them together, but they need to be well mixed, the whole mixture will be brown.

Mix that into your buttery mixture by the tablespoon, otherwise you’re going to have a minor cocoa explosion.  I know all about the cocoa explosion and it isn’t pleasant.  There will be enough of a mess with this recipe later, save the trouble here and don’t cause a cocoa explosion.  Consider yourself warned.

Mix that well and then the next part you have to do by hand. With a spoon. I know, sorry.  Just throw in your chocolate chips and toffee pieces and mix it really well, I had to do some scraping to get some of the cocoa from my purely hypothetical explosion, but you won’t have that trouble, WILL YOU?!

Mmmmmmmm.

Grease your 9×9 pan and add the batter to it.  spread it out and put it in a 350 degree oven for about 20-30 minutes.  Just wait until it starts to pull away from the sides and then test it with a toothpick and see if the center is done.  Mine pulled away from the sides about 5 minutes before it was actually done, so just keep an eye on it.

Now, you can be done there if you want. Not me, though.  Ohhh, my favorite part of a brownie is when you frost it.  So frost it we must.   I definitely stole the recipe for the icing from a Hershey’s cookbook (and I’ll admit it, I adapted the brownies from a recipe in there too.) and it is just so darn good I decided to tell you about it.

You will need:

3 Tbsp. butter (softened)

3 Tbsp cocoa

1 Tbsp light corn syrup

1/2 tsp. vanilla (I used a full tsp, I like to live dangerously like that)

1 cup powdered sugar

2 Tbsp milk

You’d think I would have learned my lesson the first time around and stirred the cocoa and butter before using the mixer…but no, I didn’t. BE YE NOT SO STUPID. Stir that with a spoon and save the mixer for later.  Once you get that a little mixed add the corn syrup and vanilla and use your mixer to mix it really well.  It looks really appetizing at that point. Trust me. Add your powdered sugar and milk and mix with that spoon again to get it wet, then use your mixer for about 2 minutes to get it all ready to go.  It only makes about a cup of frosting, but that is more than enough for your brownies.

Here is where I made the ultimate mistake.  I just couldn’t wait.  I tried.  I thought I had let the brownies cool long enough (like 30 minutes, I swear!) But I didn’t  I frosted those things and I pulled one out and ate it and OH MY GOD WAS IT EVER DELICIOUS.  The real problem here is this…

This mangled, disheveled, crazy looking mound is the most delicious brownie you’ll eat this week.  You’ll have more sense than me, you’ll let it cool for more than 30 minutes, or at least you’ll put it in the freezer for 30 minutes so you can cut it and take it out appropriately.  Or you can be like me and eat a delicious mound of brownie and frosting 30 minutes after it came out of the oven so it’s still all warm and delicious.  You know, whatever you see fit.

I’m the queen of NEEDING THAT FOOD RIGHT NOW.  Last night it was scotcheroos.  You know, those rice crispy-like treats with the chocolate on top.  I NEEDED them.  So after a quick trip to QFC I had them.  The boyfriend understood, he NEEDED no bake cookies just as bad.

Heres how to make a scotcheroo in case you’re in desperate need.

1 cup Karo syrup

1 cup sugar

1 cup peanut butter

6 cups rice crispies

1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 bag butterscotch chips

Bring syrup and sugar to boil in medium saucepan. Remove from heat, add peanut butter, mix well.  pour over rice crispies in large bowl and mix well, press into 9×13 pan.  In double boiler melt chips together, pour over crispies, let cool as long as you possibly can, THEN EAT THE ENTIRE PAN IN ONE SITTING.