A baking day

I decided I wanted brownies today.  I didn't happen to have any brownie mix in the pantry so I decided to make my own from scratch.  Its not the first time I've done brownies, but this time I wanted to make them a little more healthy with whole wheat flour and less sugar.  I found a yummy sounding recipe online and set about my baking.

The originally recipe called for:

• 1 cup butter, melted
• 3 cups white sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

I made a few changes.  I used whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose flour.  I also did not use 3 cups of sugar, instead I used 1/2 cup of white sugar, 1/2 cup of brown sugar, and 1 cup of Splenda.  These brownies are thick and fudge-like, and they aren't toothache inducing sweet either.  I will definitely make them again!

Whole Wheat Brownies

After the brownies came out of the oven I decided to try my hand at bread making. Apparently I was in a baking mood!  I found this recipe for a honey wheat bread.  In the comments section someone had posted that they only used whole wheat flour and it was still a wonderful texture and taste.  The original recipe looked like this:

• 3 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
• 1/3 cup honey
• 5 cups bread flour
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

I also only used whole wheat flour.  I set my Kitchen Aid mixer to work with the dough hook.  I don't think my beloved mixer has ever worked so hard!  It took me over 3 hours but what I pulled out of the oven was well worth the wait!

Whole Wheat Bread

As you may notice, this loaf isn't your typical shape.  As this was my very first attempt at bread making I didn't have a loaf pan so I just used a regular pan.  But look at that wonderful texture!  Tony took a bite and declared that it tasted like bread.  I threatened to throw something at him and he elaborated and gave my bread attempt two thumbs up.  I froze one of the loaves for use later.  I will let you know how it keeps.

We each had a slice of this with our dinner.  Remember when I made that yummy chicken parmesan with spinach?  I made this again but with broccoli instead of spinach.  Tony had yet to have tried this but he approves.  After one bite I got a "the chicken is tasty."

In other news, Frankie is on the next step in his toilet training process.  There is only two steps left after this, the last one being the complete removal of the CitiKitty!  Of course, every time we remove a ring, the cat flips out.  He does not like water and the sight of it beneath him scares him.  But we aren't giving up, it just takes a lot of patience and repeatedly showing him where his bathroom is.

He has had a few set backs.  His bed has been washed a few times thanks to his accidents.  It seems like once he goes for the first time in the toilet, he's fine from that point on.  But starting a new step is difficult for him.  According to the directions, we are only supposed to stay one each step a week, but we've been giving Frankie two to three weeks on each step.  Otherwise he gets stressed. And we don't want to stress out this sleepy kitty! 

I hope everyone had a nice weekend.  I'm sad to see it end.  Next weekend I'm heading to Wisconsin to visit the family.  I'm looking forward to it, not to mention how nice it is to have a four day weekend!

PS.  The metformin is still kicking my stomach's ass.  I'm giving it until Wednesday to improve.  If it doesn't I'm going to let Dr. C know that maybe this high dose isn't for me.