Weekend of Disasters

Oh dear - I'm afraid I don't really have any successes to report this week! Tried making spinach stromboli with pizza dough from Wegmans. I rolled it up too much and it turned out quite unglamorous. Then I tried to modify the oatmeal bars from a couple weeks ago. Decided I'd substitute some brown sugar for all the white sugar in there. The new version turned out chewy - yus, very chewy.

If you need proof of my thickheadedness, read on. Never one to give in gracefully, I kept going. Tried to make brownies using a recipe from Cooking Light. The thing to remember about recipes from Cooking Light is that everything that can be done to lighten the end product has ALREADY been done. Never improvise! The recipe is teetering on the edge, that dollop of yoghurt will send it over. Nevertheless, with cheerful insouciance, I ran my finger down the recipe, recklessly substituting yoghurt for honey, apple sauce, oil and whatever else I did not have handy. Rest assured, I wll be eating strangely grainy bownies for a long time. On the bright side, they may be a good beauty product - all that yoghurt should speed the exfoliation right along!! On second thoughts, perhaps they'd make good insulation. I should save my good looks :-)

I couln't bring myself to take pictures of the not-so-successful cooking, and so I'm going to distract you with my latest finds from the grocery aisle: Cider Chai adnd Chai Nog!!! Chai purists may wrinkle their noses at me but I am excited! For one thing, Oregon Chai has some nice flavors. I've quite enjoyed some of their flavors. I can never remember which one I like, and so I keep buying them all. Those devils in marketing know how to confuse the consumer and keep us shopping recklessly, but I digress. The point is Oregon Chai is exotic and flavorful - but sometimes a little over-budget. Now that Wegman's is full of seasonal cheer (the store is stuffed to the gills with Turkey and Christmas paraphernalia, it looks like the elves are on meth, but again, I digress), they have Cider Chai and Cider Nog on sale ($2.99 instead of the usual $3.99 or $4.99). So naturally, I bought two, saving a total of -$ 5.98! Anyhoo, so I'm dunking my grainy brownies and chewy oatmeal bars in Chai and hoping the cooking gods look upon me favorably next week!