When Worlds Collide

"How Not to Measure" and "Call Me 'Yo Miss'" are vastly different -- one is full of adventures in the kitchen that just get thrown together and the other analyzes aspects of the world of education. But... somehow... they combined forces last night.

For my Human Growth & Development I, and my classmate Abby, presented to our class about the importance of nutrition. We actually had to fight other groups to be able to present on this topic, so we knew we had to make it good... Which was easy, because it's something we're both very interested in.

Only last month, the USDA passed new regulations for school lunches -- including the first financial increase in 30 years!! (An extra 6 cents per lunch.) But in the next 3 years school lunches will begin to include more fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and decrease the amounts of sodium, trans fat, and sugar. All great changes. During our presentation, our main point was that students need to be educated about nutrition in order for changes to be really effective. They need to know what to choose and why they should choose it.

And, of course, we had to bring some treats in for the class! We both chose to make desserts using healthier ingredients just to prove that small changes can be made and they're not drastic or gross! Abby made delicious, fudgy, dense, chocolatey brownies using black beans instead of flour. (Once I get the recipe from her, I'll definitely post it.) And my treat was just regular chocolate chip cookies -- the same recipe from the back of the bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips. The only difference was all whole wheat flour instead of white flour and brown sugar instead of white sugar. (Oh, and my secret ingredient: a big drizzle of honey during the last few stirs.)

So yes to nutrition education and yes to healthy changes!

Healthy Brownies Turned Naughty

My following brownie recipe (yes, it includes measurements!) is adapted from this clone recipe of No Pudge brownies (which I've actually never tried). I originally wanted to make s'mores brownies, but I had a strange adventure with graham cracker products and somehow ended up leaving the store with a box of crackers I mistook for grahams. So the grahams got substituted for peanuts and the rocky road brownie was born in my kitchen:

What You'll Need:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 2 tsp. cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2/3 cup low fat vanilla yogurt
• 2-3 tablespoons fat free half & half (this I didn't measure -- just splashed it in because the batter was wwaayyy too thick)
• 1 block of unsweetened baking chocolate, chopped/shaved
• Fluff (about half a jar)
• Peanuts (I dipped into the cocktail peanuts jar, but toasted or dry roasted would be great)
• 1 bar of chocolate of your choice -- this was my choice

Put it All Together:

• Mix dry ingredients.
• Stir in yogurt, half & half and baking chocolate.
• Spread half the batter into small greased baking dish.
• Spread Fluff over batter and sprinkle peanuts over it.
• Spread the last of the batter on top. (It's okay if Fluff and peanuts show through!! Better, actually.)
• Break up your chocolate bar and place sporadically on top.
• Bake at 350 for about 35 minutes. 
• Try to let them cool for at least 10 minutes before you dig in. 

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