Never Get Angry

One of my favorite quotes is "Never get angry at stupid people...". I like it because I feel it has a lot of wisdom to it. I don't like who I am when I get angry and it's usually stupid people that make me upset. Although, I do have to admit that sometimes I fall into stupid modes, so I'm not exempt from getting mad at myself. I start feeling irrational and it really effects the way I deal with people, which is not fair to them. It's not healthy to be angry. I just need to calm down and accept that people don't always see things the way I do.

Saucy Chocolate Pudding

This has a rich chocolaty taste that is very filling. It isn't very sweet since it's make with dark chocolate and unsweetened cocoa.

Saucy Chocolate Pudding

1 ¼ cup milk
2 ¾ ounces dark chocolate
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 cup 1 tbsp superfine sugar
½ cup butter
1 ¼ cup self rising flour
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
Confectioners’ sugar, to dust

For the Sauce:
3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
4 tbsp light brown sugar
1 ¼ cup boiling water

Lightly grease a 3 ¾ cup ovenproof dish. Place the milk in a small pan. Break the chocolate into pieces and add to the milk. Heat gently, stirring until the chocolate melts. Let cool slightly. Sir in the vanilla extract.

Beat together the superfine sugar and butter in a bowl until light and fluffy. Sift the flour and unsweetened cocoa together. Add to the bowl with the chocolate milk and beat until smooth, using an electric beater if you have one. Pour the mixture into the prepared dish.

To make the sauce, mix together the unsweetened cocoa and sugar. Add a little boiling water and mix to a smooth paste, then stir in the remaining water. Pour the sauce over the pudding, but do not mix in.

Place the dish on a cookie sheet and bake in a preheated oven at 350°F for 40 minutes, or until dry on top and springy to the touch. Let stand for about 5 minutes, then dust with a little confectioners’ sugar just before serving.

So I don’t have superfine sugar. I don’t think it made too much of a difference. At least I’d like to say I couldn’t tell, but since I have never baked with superfine sugar I really don’t have any comparison. This recipe came from my Chocolate cookbook (not the same one as the last recipe posted). Try not to over bake. I think I should have chosen a different dish to bake the pudding so the top took a little longer to cook. The sauce is supposed to be a little more runny.

Also, I really need to invest in a new mixer. The one-beater beater is threatening to die on me. It was probably never meant to last for 15 years, but I’m trying to get all the life out of it I can. The next dessert I want to make is a chocolate soufflé. However, I know that I can’t do it with the poor one-beater beater. So everyone will just have to wait for the soufflé.

Happy Earth Day!

Carmel Chip Bars

These bars are not as hard to make as you may imagine. They look scrumptious and I believe everyone at work that had the opportunity to try one would agree.

Carmel Chip Bars

1/2 c butter (no substitutes)
32 caramels
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1 yellow cake mix
1/2 c oil
2 eggs
2 c miniature semisweet chocolate chips
1 c white chips
1 Heath candy bar, chopped

In large sauce pan combine butter, caramels and milk. Cook and stir over medium-low heat till smooth. Cool.

In mixing bowl, combine cake mix, oil and eggs. Mix well. Stir in chips and chopped candy bar. Press 3/4 of mixture into 9x13 greased pan. Bake 15 minutes at 350°, cool for 10 minutes. Poor caramel mixture over crust. Drop remaining dough by spoonfuls onto the caramel layer. Bake 25 minutes until edges are brown. Cool completely.

I got this recipe from Kima. :-) It is definitely a work favorite. So, like almost every recipe I've added, I did make a few alterations to these bars. First of all, I used half of the butter, caramels and sweetened condensed milk. The caramel layer wasn't very thick, but it was sufficient to get stuck in your teeth. Then I only had about a cup of the miniature chocolate chips, I substituted nuts for the white chips and my Heath candy bar was a cup of Heath chips. I almost considered adding cranberries instead of the nuts...maybe another time.

Fortune Cookie

Your wisdom will be respected in later years.

...till then I am a person who lacks good judgment and must make foolish mistakes to gain wisdom.

Sunshine

"Sunshine is the best disinfectant." It cleanses. It dissipates the shadows. It casts out the darkness. It enables people to see. It gives them a sense of comfort and confidence because they know there's nothing being hidden. - The Speed of Trust

Chocolate Chip Macaroons

These are very easy and fast to make.

Chocolate Chip Macaroons

2 1/2 cups flaked coconut
2/3 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease cookie sheets. Combine coconut, chocolate chips, milk and vanilla in medium bowl; mix until well blended. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto greased cookie sheets. Press dough gently with back of spoon to flatten slightly. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until light golden brown. Let cookies stand on cookie sheets 1 minute. Remove cookies to wire racks; cool completely.

This recipe comes from my Chocolate Lover's Collection cookbook. Sometimes I just have to turn to this book when I need chocolate.

Mexican Flowers

I volunteered to be in charge of decorations for our RS Birthday Celebration in March. We were going to have Mexican food served, so it was determined that we needed Mexican decorations. Thankfully, Mom and Dad were coming for Audrey's baby blessing and I was able to enlist Mom's help to make some of these flowers. It was fun layering the tissue paper and deciding what colors would look good together. Mom helped out by cutting most of the petal shapes. I made a little over 100 flowers.


The Jarritos's were purchased at the Mercado Latino in Provo. I took the bottle to work and had my co-workers drink up the sodas so that I could have the bottles. The flowers looked really cute in their bottles. The sisters at our activity last night really enjoyed the decorations and it made me happy that it was appreciated.

Now, I have tons of the flowers and I think that they would be great Cinco de Mayo decorations. So if anyone needs some decor, let me know.

I was able to put a few to good use today, though.

PAYBACK

It was a good day to get back at a co-worker for this joke.