Hello, everyone! How has your day been?? I am a little grumpy today due to lack of sleep. Both of the kiddos took turns getting sick over the weekend (yep, we are down this road yet again...Did I mention before that I'm ready for spring? I thought it might just be the 100th time I said it!), so lots of cuddles here between multiple loads of laundry and never ending dishes. The Kid was sick on Saturday but it seemed like a 24-hour flu but the Baby (should I start calling him the Toddler? He's almost 3 after all :) started feeling yucky last night and was feverish and miserable most of the day today.
So I didn't really have time to look through our fridge and make a menu until kids got in bed. But we didn't have any food waste last week other than a failed Pinterest challenge:
Remember that one of my goals this year was to try something I pinned on Pinterest (recipe, project, DIY idea - anything) every month and share it with you. In January I decided to try a simple recipe for brownies from Weight Watchers. Why? Because this recipe only has two ingredients - a store-bought box of brownies and a can of pumpkin puree. Easy enough! And it had rave reviews.
Well, it tasted disgusting! But let me explain. I didn't have canned pumpkin, so I used homemade frozen puree that I always try to have on hand. I don't know if that's the reason why my recipe didn't turn out good. Maybe, it had a little more liquid in it than canned stuff. I don't know. But the brownies tasted mushy and felt spongy. More like jell-o than a cake. I actually baked it for an extra 20 minutes and it didn't change a thing. I use homemade pumpkin puree all the time for my Pumpkin cream cheese roll, and it always works. Unfortunately, not this time:
You can see the dents my fingers made on it. It doesn't look too bad but I definitely will not make it again. So this was my only food waste this week.
And this week we are eating (if everyone will get better and not worse)
Mon.- broccoli-beef, rice (bumped from last week)
Tues.- cheese quesadillas, salad
Wed.- salmon, couscous, corn
Thurs.- meatballs, mashed potatoes, chopped salad
Fr.- out for pizza (a new local place is opening in town, and they sent us a free coupon
Sat.- vegetable soup/ leftovers
Sun.- pork roast, parmesan potatoes, whatever veggies I can find in a fridge.
What are you eating this week? Have you ever tried Weight Watchers brownies?
Baking is a tricky thing, sometimes the smallest change will make a huge difference. Hope the kiddo's start feeling better soon, a worn out Mommy is not a good thing
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm not much of a baker :) That's why I really try new baking recipes :) Thank you, Debby!
Deleteour daughter is a huge pinterest fan and is always trying recipes from there. I will follow you on pinterest and then you will see her "pages" her name is Corinne.
ReplyDeleteGill in Canada
Found you both :)
DeleteAll the little finger print marks are so funny. Have you ever tried canned pumpkin with a spice cake mix? We make them into muffins often. Very moist and the spice cake and pumpkin go together perfectly.
ReplyDeleteNo, I've never tried it before. I need to though. It sounds really good!
DeleteToo bad about the brownies. I bet you were looking forward to them.
ReplyDeleteI was :( I hate when things like that happen.
DeleteThat's what I think was the problem :( Spice cake cookies sound yummy!
ReplyDeleteFingers crossed for health to return to your house. We are in the middle of cold front (both weather and illness) around here. No fun!
ReplyDeleteSorry about the brownies, they look good at least! :)
Oh, I'm sorry! I hope you guys all feel better too!
DeleteI'm in the mood for soups this week so tonight we are having creamy chicken noodle soup. Can't wait.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds good! We try to have soups at least once a week with leftovers for lunches right now.
DeleteWhat matters is that you tried! That's half the battle sometimes... Awesome on the free Friday pizza!
ReplyDeleteI know, I'm excited! I really like no-cook Fridays :)
DeleteAww.. hope your little ones are feeling better soon!! I'm praying we don't go down that path anytime soon again!! :( Too bad about your recipe, we all do that at one time or another I think! ;)
ReplyDeleteThank you Carla!
DeleteI can truthfully say that we have Never thrown out a brownie here. I don't think one of those could be that vile that somebody wouldn't eat it......yes, we have very low standards. lolol
ReplyDeleteI hope your next baking adventure turns out better....
Believe me, it was our first ever :) But nobody could stomach a brownie with jellied consistency :)
DeleteI am a very experienced baker but I made that same recipe about a year ago, except baked mine in muffin cups- they were TERRIBLE and went in the trash. I have no idea why that recipe is so popular on Pinterest.
ReplyDeleteOK, I'm glad I'm not the only one!! I was surprised how gross they tasted when so many people like them. I guess, I'm a true brownie kind of girl :)
Deletehaha..this must be verified on snopes because I too tried this recipe and it was not good. I used canned pumpkin. I do use applesauce in place of oil for boxed brownies and they taste good.
ReplyDeletehope your house is well soon!
Thanks for doing the trial run on the brownies and thanks for the warning! So sorry to hear your little ones are not well. Hang in there, but so hard when it's wintery and cold. :)
ReplyDelete