Chocolate Emergency

We have a delightful neighbor who doesn't like chocolate. I remember the first time he told us. I had to ask him to repeat it. Yep, doesn't like it. Doesn't get the obsession. Doesn't eat it.

I must have blacked out. D said that my mouth dropped open, my eyes blankly stared, and I was unresponsive. I just. Didn't. Get it.

I come from a long line of chocoholics. I remember my mom snitching chocolate chips from the pantry when nothing else was available. I've been known to drive many miles out of my way just to hit a small bakery that makes an exquisite chocolate cookie. My grandma has an odd allergic reaction when she eats it. She sneezes like one of the Seven Dwarfs, but that doesn't stop her. She indulges just like the rest of us.

When we lived out of state I had a fellow Minnesotan drive a chocolate pie from a local bakery across 4 state lines just to bring me my fix.

Yep, I have no shame.

Now, chocolate on Weight Watchers is a challenge. This is an old favorite. My mom used to make it when I was a kid, but it wasn't my favorite. She studded it with walnuts (her favorite and one I hadn't grown into yet), so that was enough to keep me from eating it. This version is sans nuts and I think could be lightened up even more. Obviously, I now love it.

I call it my Chocolate Emergency cake. It whips together quickly and with ingredients I always have on hand. And I know that if I don't have the daily Points to cover it that I can take a fast and furious walk while it's baking and come out even. (I know, this sounds extremely desperate, but if you're chocolate obsessed like me, you totally get this.)


Hot Fudge Pudding Cake
Rich and delicious, this recipe doesn't seem like it could fit into a healthy lifestyle, but it does! Serves 9 at 5 WW Points per serving.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift together:
1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 TB cocoa
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup white sugar

Mix in:
1/2 cup skim milk
2 TB melted butter (NOT margarine)
1 tsp vanilla

Place in a greased 9x9 inch pan.

Mix:
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup cocoa
1 cup very hot water

Pour over batter in pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

The Pie Plant

Everybody I knew as a child had a rhubarb plant or two. It's actually a pretty plant, like Swiss Chard on steroids. Large ruby colored stalks capped with giant dark green leaves, it's one of the first to peek out of the ground in the Spring.

My mom and my grandma always made fabulous cakes, but my very favorite was when my mom would make rhubarb pie. You don't even want to know how much sugar went into that confection. It invariably boiled over in the oven, so mom would throw open the windows to the Spring air, the smoke would roll out of the oven, and we'd know we were in for a great treat for dessert.

Black rolling smoke and the smell of burnt sugar--now those are good memories!

Now, pie, by it's very definition is not Weight Watchers friendly. In fact, I think in the dictionary next to the word pie is a picture of a broken bathroom scale. I'm working on a WW friendly rhubarb pie recipe, but in the meantime, these muffins help get me a pie plant fix.

Rosy Rhubarb Banana Muffins

I replaced most of the fat in these muffins with mashed banana. I think the result is quite good. Sweet banana balances the tart rhubarb. 3 WW Points per muffin.

1 1/2 cup brown sugar

2 large bananas

1/4 cup egg substitute

1 cup low fat buttermilk

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 cup flour

2 cup rhubarb

1/2 cup oatmeal for sprinkling over the top before baking

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place first three ingredients in mixer bowl and blend well. Add the rest of the ingredients, waiting until all are well combined before adding rhubarb. Place in lined muffin tins. Sprinkle with a little oatmeal if desired. Bake until a skewer inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean, approximately 25 minutes. Check every five minutes towards the end of baking.

Flour Dust on My Apron

I loved Barbara Kingsolver's book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I read it last summer and it had a profound impact on how I look at food. You really must read it if you haven't already. Trust me, it's not a boring read and it reads as easily as her novels. One of the things that I admired about her family was that they made their own bread. Well, actually, Kingsolver's husband made the bread. And he used a bread maker.


That got me thinking. Somewhere around here was my old bread maker. I got it at a garage sale that my mom took me to in my teeny, tiny hometown one summer. The lady gave it to me for nothing. Like fifty cents or something like that. She never did get the hang of it, so it was basically brand new. There wasn't a spot on it or a crumb in it.

At the time, I had visions of making our daily bread, well, daily. Surprise, surprise, it didn't happen. Not only did I realize that if you make a one pound loaf of bread every day, you're going to eat that one pound loaf of goodness, every day. And that one pound of bread will equal five pounds on your butt. (I'm sure there's a scientific study out there somewhere to prove this.)


Bread makers were such huge sellers that in their prime, there was one under every Christmas tree in America. Now, they get relegated to garages, basements, or if you're me, in that little cupboard above the refrigerator that you wonder what people fit up there. The Atkins diet killed the bread maker industry. True story.


Now, as we're slowly moving back to the sanity of the "everything in moderation" diet, bread is making a come back. There was a huge Internet explosion when the No Knead Bread recipe hit. Great recipe, but not so great for busy families. I think with the "economic downturn", we're going to see more people going back to the basics. And with that, we just might see homemade bread back on the table. Maybe it's time to dig that bread maker out, huh?


I had a sick kid home today, so I thought this would be the best time to pull down that bread maker and use it. Unfortunately, the bread recipe that I chose was so dense that the motor overheated. My fifty cent investment just might have kicked the bucket! Thankfully, the recipe was well kneaded and ready to hit the oven to rise.


We're having homemade vegetable beef soup fresh from the freezer tonight for dinner. This bread will be delightful with it. (Update: it was amazing! Next time, I would have let it rise longer, but I was crunched for time. Will definitely make it again.)

Bread Maker Oatmeal Molasses Bread


My Aunt Marilyn makes fantastic molasses bread. This is close to her recipe, but lightened up tremendously. In fact, there's no fat in it and very little sugar. It makes a one pound loaf, which serves 8 at 3 WW Points per serving.

1/2 cup oatmeal
3/4 cup skim milk
2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 tsp yeast
2 TB molasses
1 TB white or raw sugar

Place in bread maker, following manufacturer's recommendations. Use light cycle. Or knead by hand (oh my), make on the manual cycle of your bread maker, or use your dough hook in your food processor or mixer. Cover with a damp towel and let rise until double in size. Bake at 350 degrees until it sounds hollow when tapped and is a golden brown, approximately 40 minutes. Check after 25 minutes for doneness.