You asked for it....CHOCOLATE!

It's a good day!  I spent the morning with all three boys at the Dr.  Chris had a recheck for his toe, Matt had a recheck for his lungs and Aaron had a physical.  Going to the Dr. with three boys is always an adventure.  I try to time my arrival close enough to the appointment time that we don't have to wait in the lobby too long.  This morning Aaron decided that sitting inside the toy box would be a good idea and of course Matt thought closing the lid and holding it down was awesome!  So here we are with the boys being loud and obnoxious and all I can do is just smile at the women who are staring at me now.  I'm just certain that they are thinking, "come on lady, get a grip on your heathen children" but hey, perhaps they would like to volunteer to take them home for a few hours.  I guarantee they would bring them back! 

So after a fairly successful Drs visit I decided it was necessary to go to the grocery store.  What was I thinking?  Two preschoolers and a twelve year old in the store during the day.  The store is crawling with people of a different generation, the one where kids were seen and not heard, if you get my drift.  I park, and luckily one of those carts with the bench attached is sitting right there!  Score one for mom, perhaps I can get them subdued and make this thing work.  NOT!  Kids must have some kind of intuition that mom really wants them to behave because instantly they begin to act up.  Matt decides that he just HAS TO steer this mammoth cart amongst the throngs of people, I wonder if they have defensive driving for carts?  Aaron grabs a package of candy and begins opening it, certain that if he can open it and begin to consume it somehow I won't be upset..please, where is the logic???  So, I limit my list to absolute neccesities and we hit the self check out.  Imagine two preschool boys trying to push each other out of the way so they can scan their item NOW!  It was like a Vera Bradley sale but with little kids!  Thankfully, we made it out of the store without injury and head back to the car.  I need to get gas, now I don't know about you but when I stop at the gas station my kids seem to think that is an instant sign that they should quickly get out of their car seats and crawl around my car being sure to move the seat and all the mirrors.  Seriously, how can two boys do sooo much damage in five minutes?  It amazes me, perhaps I should apply for some disaster relief funds :)

This afternoon I worked on the brownies for Christian's youth retreat this weekend.  We need to be at the church by 6 so I gotta get these done quick.  I decided to make two kinds, a traditional chewy brownie and my zuchinni brownies.  After the first batch was done Chris informs me that I probably should make two brownies for each kid, because they are sooo good.  What a suck up....so that's um, 80 brownies in like 3 hours.  I can do this!  I of course had to make a batch for home too :)  My favorite is the Zuch brownie but David prefers the traditional ones.  I think he secretly nixes the other one just because he knows it has something healthy in it!  I'm not even sure if you can get zuchinni this time of year anywhere.  I froze a bunch this past summer so I can assure you that frozen works just fine.  I thawed mine and then drained it.  Since what I had was cubed, I just threw two cups in my Kitchen aid Immersion blender with it's chopping attachment and just made everything really small.  It worked wonderfully!

Zuchinni Brownies

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups shredded zucchini
 
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup margarine
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Grease and flour a 9x13 inch glass baking pan.


In a large bowl, mix together the oil, sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla until well blended. Combine the flour, 1/2 cup cocoa, baking soda and salt; stir into the sugar mixture. Fold in the zucchini. Spread pan.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until brownies spring back when gently touched. To make the frosting, melt together the 6 tablespoons of cocoa and margarine; set aside to cool. In a medium bowl, blend together the confectioners' sugar, milk and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Stir in the cocoa mixture. Spread over cooled brownies before cutting into squares.

Chewy Brownies

1 2/3 cups sugar
1 1/2 sticks melted butter/margarine
2 T water
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups al-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease 13 x 9 glass baking pan

Combine sugar, butter and water in large bowl.  Stir in eggs and vanilla extract.  Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt in seperate bowl.  Stir into sugar mixture.  Spread into prepared pan. 

Bake 18-25 minutes, until a toothpick in center comes out slightly sticky.

Well, Chris is gone for the weekend and it's just Dave, me and the two little ones.  Hopefully we can have a fun filled weekend of cleaning and movies.  Hope you enjoy your weekend!

Until we eat again,
Simply FAB