happy halloween!

lieutenant commander nicole hopes everyone had a great halloween*:

*this pic is from my phone, which does a nice job, but is no iphone. as a side-note, i think my photography skills are not as crappy as i think they are. this is because i took a lot of pics with other people's cameras (opc - yeah, you know me?) last night, and they were pretty darn good. this is good news. i think i'll ask for a decent camera for the holidays. but i digress.

mostly i went out on the town with some friends, but there was some pre-partying before-hand at an apartment.

nosh readers, i'm ashamed to admit that i was just too busy/lazy to make fancy treats for this portion of the evening. i resorted to my beloved no-pudge brownies with some reeses pieces thrown in (yes, this is a paradox - with the fat free and the candy mixing - but its best to just let it go).

yet, its fair to say i was preoccupied when i was making them. i opened the box, took out the white bag containing the dry mix, opened it, and dumped it out....back into the box:

about a second after i did it, i paused. i blinked. and stared. and then laughed at myself. until i cried. and then i gave the box a dunce cap...

this is what the final brownies looked like - i actually don't think this mix is meant to have add-ons. i did two batches (and i used the same pan for each, so they were in the oven at different times), and both took way too long to cook, and were a huge pain to get out of the pan. fyi.

**

and, since this is a food blog and so this technically fits, i'll share that two friends and i won $75 worth of free drinks because we had awesome costumes and were fabulous dancers to a really fun band playing last night. never mind the fact that i can't drink alcohol right now for medical reasons and that we gave most of it away. winners drink coke with a cherry in it!

no pudge brownies!

today, i bring you a mix *hangs head in shame. sort of. because she likes this mix.* :

i know what you are thinking: "this is supposed to be a cooking blog. and, isn't the author of this blog someone who has been cooking solo out of cook books - dessert ones at that - since she was age 10?"

the truth is, you would be correct, and i won't even ask how you knew of my very early love for a certain dessert cookbook put out by hershey's (i'm from pennsylvania).

but, the thing is, everyone needs a mix once in a while. and, i do believe this is the only mix that occasionally finds its way into my cart on a semi regular basis. just go with it for a moment. look at the ingredient list:

no, you are not mistaken. that is only eight ingredients. and that includes salt and baking soda. ten if you include the fact that you are only adding yogurt (well, maybe a couple more - if you buy good yogurt, if shouldn't be too much more than milk) and then vanilla. i think that's pretty darn good compared to most stuff out there.

and yes, vegans, should look away, what with the egg whites and all. in fact, go away and (click here) and look at this website. no, its not completely vegan, but its a step in the right direction.

but, continuing on, let me also say that i am happy to give some money to new orleans, because they need it.

but i digress.

here is what i like to do with my no-pudge brownies - step one:

step two:

step three:

or, for those of you afraid of heights, try this:

thank you and please have a nice day.