Smoke and Chocolate

Brownies were always a staple in my house growing up and my mom's recipe is by far the best.

They come out not too fudgy in the center with a crackly, flaky top and the best sturdy but chewy sides.  The kind of brownies that are milk's dream come true.

As with most of my mom's recipes, although she gives me the exact steps complete with footnotes, alterations, and annotations of every sort, they of course never come out exactly the way she makes them.

Thus, I am forced to make them my own.

I started by making reverting them back to the basic recipe, you know, the one that included the original ingredients like butter instead of apple butter.

Then I made several amazingly unhealthy additions, like substituting bacon fat for the butter.

Then I made them approximately seven times to weed out the "bad" variations and make one perfectly unhealthy batch of brownies.

After all the variations I tried, this recipe includes many, many recipe notes to help guide you on your own brownie adventures:

On flour: 

• Use white flour to help the flavors of smoke, chocolate, and sugar stand out.
• Use wheat flour to add some heartiness.
• Use a mix to get the best of both worlds.

On cocoa powder:

• A word for the wise - do not use store brand cocoa powder, it's not chocolaty enough.
• Ghirardelli's 100% unsweetened cocoa powder is one of my favorites for baking.
• Dutch processed cocoa powders are also a great choice.

On bacon: 

• Benton's bacon was, of course, the best for adding a smokey flavor but was, of course, the worse for the wallet.
• Canadian bacon was a huge mistake, it lacked flavor and was too chewy in the actual brownie.
• Turkey bacon is without a doubt out of the question (don't even go there).
• A hickory smoked pork bacon with an even fat to meat distribution is ideal.

On fat:

• 100% bacon fat added the most flavor but tasted a little too.... unhealthy.  It also resulted in a flakier brownie, which is not ideal.
• 100% butter makes a great fudgy brownie but doesn't achieve the same smokey flavor.
• If you are making the bacon and the brownies on the same day, make sure you melt the butter to match the liquid bacon fat - this was the best version.
• If you are making the bacon the day before, use room temperature butter too or re-melt both together.
• If you use room temperature fats, don't over-whisk them otherwise you will end up with an overly-cakey brownie.

The Unhealthiest Brownies

Ingredients

For the dry mix:

• 2/3 c wheat flour
• 1/3 c dark cocoa powder
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 t cinnamon, optional
• 1/2 c dry roasted macadamia nuts, crushed
• 3/4 c white chocolate chunks
• 5 pieces of cooked bacon, chopped

For the wet mix:

• 1/4 c shortening, margarine, or butter
• 1/4 c bacon fat
• 3/4 c dark brown sugar
• 2 medium eggs + 1 egg yolk
• 1 t vanilla
• 2 T water

For the garnish:

• 1 piece of cooked bacon, chopped
• 1/2 c white chocolate chips
• 1 T chopped macadamia nuts

Combine

1. Line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt until uniformly combined.
3. Whisk in the the nuts, chocolate chunks, and bacon and set aside.
4. In another bowl whisk the fats and sugar.
5. Add the eggs and yolk one at a time, whisking well in between.
6. Add the vanilla and water and whisk again.
7. Fold the wet and dry mixes together until well combined and pour into the baking pan.
8. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry but with some small crumbs on it.
9. Remove from the oven, then use the parchment paper to carefully pull the brownies out of the pan and onto a cooling rack.  Let sit for 15 minutes until cooled.
10. Once cooled, melt the white chocolate in a double boiler and drizzle over the top of the brownies.  Sprinkle with bacon pieces and macadamia chunks.
11. Enjoy!

Gazpacho and BLCT

Sometimes it's okay to be a super lazy "cook".

 Aka it's totally alright to eat sandwiches for dinner, especially when it's a thousand degrees in your apartment and especially if the sandwich is a B.L.T. paired with a side of fresh gazpacho like this!

( Bonus points to those of you who also add cheese to your B.L.T.s. )

This summer I was reintroduced to how amazing B.L.T.s and gazpacho are and craved the two together for a lazy, sweaty, summer dinner.

Although my first sandwich used pork bacon, sharp cheddar, and actual lettuce I work with what I have and substituted fresh mozzarella, turkey bacon, and a handful of baby greens on slices of fresh spelt bread.

The first gazpacho recipe I ever tried was from my mom, but had to pull from memory after losing the recipe card - and yes I totally still write my recipes on index cards!

Luckily gazpacho is one of those soups you can literally throw any summer veggie into.  Tomatoes, peppers, onion, and cucumbers usually make up the base.  Feel free to use fresh tomatoes or canned ones in their juices, any color peppers, and more or less jalapenos for spice factor.  Toss everything into your Ninja and voila, dinner is ready!

Gazpacho

Ingredients (large batch)

• 3 cups diced tomatoes
• 1 green pepper
• 1 red pepper
• 3/4 sweet or vidalia onion
• 3/4 seedless cucumber
• 2 tomatillos
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 jalapeno, de-seeded
• 2 T white vinegar
• 4 T balsamic vinegar
• 1 T worcestorshire sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste

Combine

1. Wash and chop your veggies.
2. Put everything into a food processor or high speed blender and blend on high speed until smooth.
3. Enjoy!

B.L.C.T.

Ingredients (serves 1)

• 2 slices bread
• 2 oz mozzarella
• 3 slices bacon, cooked
• 3 slices tomato
• greens of choice
• mayo, as desired

Combine

1. Toast your bread then spread with mayo if using.
2. Lay the cheese, bacon, tomato, and greens on one slice of bread.
3. Top with the other slice of bread and cut in half, diagonally of course.
4. Enjoy!

Something about Hawaii and Bacon

After following a strictly vegetarian diet for 10 years I am slowly reintroducing meat to my life.

My most recent rediscovery is bacon.

For the few weeks that followed my "first" bite of bacon I literally wanted nothing else.

My heart hates me.

Luckily having your bacon with a side of greens and fruit cancels out the unhealthy effects right?

Probably not.

BUT, this slightly adapted salad from The Kitchn is a good enough justification of that theory, and yes, if you get your Tupperware out you can even pack it up to make your co-workers drool!

Hawaiian Salad

(adapted from The Kitchn)

Ingredients (per salad)

• a few chunks of pineapple
• 2 T chopped red peppers
• 1/2 c chickpeas
• 2 T dressing, I used an lemon tahini dressing but ranch will work
• 1-2 slices of bacon
• 1 big handful of greens

Combine

1. Start by cooking your bacon by method of choice then setting it aside to let cool.
2. Toss the greens with your dressing of choice then sprinkle with pineapple, red pepper, and chickpeas,
3. Chop up bacon and sprinkle on top.
4. Note: this is a packable recipe, start by putting your dressing at the bottom of a tupperware, then layer in the chickpeas, pineapple, red pepper, bacon, and greens!