Brain Dump

Monday, June 30, 2008

So here it is, a little past 1 am and I am wide awake. As in WIDE awake. I am not tired in the least. My brain just won't shut off so I'm going to do a brain dump in the hopes of clearing it all out. Here's what I've been thinking about (don't laugh, well actually you may because it's rather silly):

- I hear the fire alarm from the apartment complex over. It's been going on for THREE hours now. Am I the only one who can hear this? Why does it not stop?

- (Background info: My work email is all forwarded to my gmail account. I also am the contact person for several job openings we have out there at the moment.) When I got on the computer I had an email someone had just sent about a question for a job opening we have at work. Who on earth is at their computer this time of night? Oh wait...

- I can't wait to work at the Bellevue Festival of the Arts again this year. I've worked there for the past 11 years. I wonder what I'm going to buy there this year. Last year I got my square ring. Do I want another ring? But maybe I should get a print for our living room wall. Jess really would prefer for Christina's World to be gone. Maybe I'll do it as a surprise for her.

- Why are the sprinklers so loud? I hate the sound of them. Only at night though. They make me anxious. But why do I hate them? That doesn't make sense. I love the sound of the trains. But I guess trains and sprinklers aren't the same. Combined with that fire alarm, I am about ready to stuff toilet paper in my ears.

- I wish my sweetpeas weren't dying. The heat is too much for them. I just got them at the Farmer's Market yesterday and now they're wilting. Aren't they pretty though? (Pre-wilt)





I do so love those canning jars we use as drinking glasses (and impromptu vases). I love using things for purposes they weren't intended for.

- Is that silence I hear? What happened to the fire alarm? Did someone finally realize the building wasn't burning down and the firetrucks weren't going to come? Wow. Weird.

- Am I spending enough time with God?

- I don't really want to be a professional photographer. It would totally take the fun out of it. And it would mean I would have to learn all that technical stuff about it. I just don't care enough to do that. But I want some new lenses for my camera. Do I have the money or should I wait?

-How tired am I going to be tomorrow? Is staying up like this going to make me sick? When am I going to be able to get to sleep? Why the really odd insomnia? It's not like I'm feeling super hot and sticky or anything. (I swear that's the truth, even though it might have come out sarcastically.)

- The Roomie is leaving in two days for a mission trip to the Ukraine. I get the place to myself for over a month! YIPPEE!

- I really want to make a layer cake. But I don't have anyone or anything to make it for. Would it be weird to make it for myself? But then what on earth do I do with the rest of it when I obviously won't be able to eat it?

- What can I do with the bulgar I have sitting in my cupboard? Is there a salad I can whip up? Hmmm... maybe it's time to foodblogsearch it.

- Maybe I should read something boring to see if I fall asleep. Ok Bible, here I come... (TOTALLY joking with that one)

- Well, actually, maybe I really should go read my Bible.

Peanut Noodle Salad

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Today was a wee bit warmer than normal around these parts. Way too hot to be cooking anything, so I threw together a Soba Noodle Salad. I was inspired by one from 101 Cookbooks and made some adjustments for taste and what I had on hand. It is currently a little after 7pm and our place is still pretty darn warm. I am typing sitting on the floor with the laptop on my ottoman and the fan blowing full speed at me. It's too hot to sit in a chair at the moment and my poor little computer is feeling a bit overheated. Thanks for chugging along with me Lappy. Anyway, here's my version of the salad. Normally I would give you way more pics but the last thing I wanted to be doing was taking the time to arrange and snap the shots. I just wanted this salad to be done and ready to eat.


Peanut Noodle Salad

1 8 ounce package soba noodles
1 handful snow peas, ends trimmed

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
big pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
optional splash of sesame oil (I left it out because I suspect I have a slight food intolerance to sesame)
1/4-1/2 cup hot water

1 small bunch of spring onions or scallions, thinly sliced
1 cup shredded carrot
1/2 cup peanuts


Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Boil the soba noodles per package instructions.In the last 30 seconds of cooking toss in the peas. The point is to blanch them so that they are slightly tender but still crisp. Drain noodles and peas, run under cold water for about a minute to stop cooking, and set aside.

Make the peanut dressing by whisking the peanut butter, rice vinegar, garlic, red pepper flakes, and a big pinch of salt in a medium bowl. Thin with hot water to the consistency of yogurt - the amount you'll need depends on the original consistency of your peanut butter. Taste and season with a bit more salt if needed.

Gently toss the noodles, snow peas, spring onions, carrots, and peanuts with a big splash of the dressing. Add more dressing a bit at a time, until the salad is dressed to your liking, reserving any extra for another use. Taste, sprinkle with more salt if needed.

Squishy Baby

Yesterday I got to meet my friend Annie's new baby, Samuel. The story of how he was brought to them by God is amazing! It's not my story to tell, but trust me when I say that God's work was evident during the entire process. Truly a great testimony of how much he cares for us. You can click on the picture above to see more photos of the cute boy.

I Lied

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Apparently I lied when I said that I didn't cut myself in The Fall yesterday. Just this morning I happened to look down at my pinkie toe and noticed dried blood all over it. Not sure if I randomly somehow cut myself in my sleep (it wouldn't have been surprising with my track record) or if it did indeed happen during the incident, I went back to the carpet to check for evidence. Sure enough, I found blood spots in a couple of places. I guess all the pain from my behind was overwhelming any auxiliary pain from the extremities. I checked the toe out further and found that some carpet fuzzies had stuck to it. I'm just glad that I didn't end up cutting the whole toe off because I'm not sure I would have noticed until today. Because yes, the pain was and is that bad. At least this time I didn't have to improvise a bandage...

Ciabatta Summer Sandwich

Friday, June 27, 2008

Ciabatta Summer Sandwich, originally uploaded by simple and glorious.

Friends, I took one for the team today. I cut the sandwich in half to take pictures of the inside for you. Mind you, this was all for you. I then backed up to sit on a chair to get a good angle to take the photo from. Much to my surprise, instead of sitting I found myself falling. As in I forgot that I had just moved that chair two feet further back. Um, oops. I landed on the floor and discovered my rather large knife still in my hand. First thought was that surely I had just stabbed myself multiple times with the acrobatics I displayed. I did a body check and to my relief no blood was in sight. However, that is when the pain coming from my butt hit me. Big time. As in I rolled to my hands and knees to prevent any of my backside from coming into contact with even the air around the floor. I am not a moaner people, but this was a special circumstance. I think I might have even whimpered. I lay on the floor for a good 10 minutes and fought waves of nausea from the pain. I am still feeling the ache and just took a couple ibuprofen to hopefully make it abate. Needless to say, I didn't get those shots of the cut sandwich. You're just going to have to imagine the prettiness.

This sandwich is one that I just threw together one day last summer. Jess and I loved it so much that it has become a summer staple in our place. No recipe really for you, just a listing of ingredients for you to assemble as you see fit. Ciabatta rolls, a jar of roasted red peppers, red onions, basil, and chevre (goat cheese). Side note: Even though I am a very much a "word person", I still don't get how to pronounce chevre. I've never been able to do it. For some reason, cheeses just trip me up. I still get tongue tied with Gruyere, and Mascarpone just sounds slightly naughty. Anyway, the following is a photo essay for the ingredients that I used. Here's to hoping my butt doesn't swell up...

Title Change

You may notice that the title of the blog changed. I did this because I adore the word 'glorious' and feel that if it is in my title I can't use it as much as I would like. So, you get just me. Simply me.

Sauteed Veggies & Brown Rice

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Sauteed Veggies & Brown Rice, originally uploaded by simple and glorious.

I still can't say much about yesterday, other than it involved work, crying, and frustration. However, I have a great friend who is wonderful to me and made my day better. He came over bearing ice cream because he knew I was too upset to think about eating dinner. After a soothing talk with bowl and spoon in hand, I was already starting to feel better. A game of Settlers of Catan later, I emerged as the victor FOR THE FIRST TIME! I never ever win games, especially against this friend, because my brain does not like to think strategy. I know it sounds ridiculous and small, but I have no doubt that God was orchestrating that win. From the beginning to the end of my night, God did little things to calm me down and lift me up. Most of it due to this friend. Who rocks.

Today has been better. Less tension, less angst, no crying. Always a plus for me. This week has been oddly taxing, so I turned to my standby meal tonight. I make this probably once a week when I don't even want to begin to think of a recipe. I grab whatever veggies I have in the fridge, chop them up, saute, and serve with brown rice. Simple, easy, and always changing with the produce we get from The Farm.



This week I used a plump zucchini that just called to me when I opened the crisper. When I lifted it up, I found a yellow squash that looked like it was on its last legs so I had to put it out of its misery. I found a baby bok choy just chillin' next to some spring onions and decided to throw those in too.

I'm not going to give you a recipe because I don't feel like figuring out measurements tonight. It's pretty basic. Chop veggies. Sautee longer cooking ones in pan with a wee bit of olive oil. At last minute, add greens, in my case bok choy (could also use chard, spinach, etc.). Pour in some Tamari & Sweet Chili Sauce. Turn off heat when wilted, add spring onions. Serve with brown rice.



Bok choy, especially the baby variety, has to be one of my favorite vegetables. So earthy, green and sexy. Yes, I am calling bok choy sexy. There is no way to not agree with me here. Smoothly supple stalks that lead to fragile leaves of deep velvet green. And then when you cook it, oh my word, what you thought could not be improved only gets better. Dense, dark, and brooding flavors mixed with a bright crunch. It gets me every time.







Tamari, a dark soy sauce, likes to hide in the background. Somewhat like the bass player in a band, you don't really hear it but you notice if it is missing. I use it in so many dishes, even ones you would never ever think to put normal soy sauce in.



If Tamari plays in the background, Sweet Chili Sauce is our lead guitarist. Melodious flavor (is it spicy? is it sweet?) with zings of heat, it plays a major role in this dish's flavor palette.


P.S. I grabbed a carton of mushrooms and chopped those as well. I added them to the pan with the squashes and immediately smelled something fishy. Literally. I put my nose to the pan and discovered it was the 'shrooms. Deciding they were obviously not a good thing to eat, I started pulling them out of the pan with my hands. Bare hands here people. That's how far I will go to make my food good. I managed to get them out before they infected the entire dish. But really, since when to mushrooms smell like fish?

Smile

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

On a day so awful I can't even write about it, this helped.

Buy Now: Modish

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

I am sad to report that one of my favorite online stores is closing. Modish has been a great source of eye candy for me and at the end of this month they will be no more. However, they are having a great sale so you can go get some of the stuff before it's gone.

I simply adore the painting above, "I'll Put You Back Together"

I LOVE these hairpins. I might just become the type of person who could pull off wearing them because they are that cool.

Great photo prints on blocks of wood.

I SO SO SO SO wish that this wasn't sold out. I would buy it in a heartbeat. Probably not most people's thing, but I'm super into huge rings lately. The gaudier the better!

P.S. I apologize for any excessive gushing on this post. I really can't help it.

Letter to the Fondue Pot

Monday, June 23, 2008

Dear Wisconsin Trio Fondue Pot,

Oh how you must have loved us last night. And boy, did we love you! We're sorry that we abused you and cheated on you with two other type of fondue. We just couldn't help it though. We tried to be loyal but the siren song coming from the Artichoke Spinach Fondue was too loud to ignore. And then there was the Dark Chocolate Fondue. Who, if we're going to be honest, far outweighed you in pure sultriness. Granted, sometimes the sexy isn't always the best, but last night it was really the perfect ending. I'm sorry Wisconsin Trio. You're still our go-to cheese. I promise. So strong and sturdy and full of flavor. If you'll remember, we did eat you the fastest. Which means that we must love you the most. Right?

And then there were the drinks. We truly didn't mean to ignore you and your friends altogether, but sometimes those drinks really took precedence. And maybe we downed the drinks just a wee bit too fast, I do admit. But how could we help it with the glorious Yin & Yang and the refreshing Blueberry Mojito? I don't think it was you, Wisconsin Trio, who was making us loud and silly. Sometimes a girl just wants to cause a ruckus, you know?

But all is not lost Wisconsin Trio. We'll be back. We'll bring more friends. We'll most likely try more of your friends. But we'll stay loyal to you. We could never forget your bold support of us. We may be drawn to the flashy ones, but in the end we'll always come back to you. I swear.

Forever yours,
Angie

Mexican Chicken Salad with Black Bean Salsa

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Jess and I just finished watching one of our guilty pleasures-- a Mormon movie. Yes, us two Christian girls love our Mormon movies. I'm not sure if it's the cheesiness or the bad acting that does it, but we just can't get enough of them. And I'm not joking here. It all started when one of my youth group girls told me last year that I had to see Pride & Prejudice, the Pink Bible version. Jess and I sat down to what we thought was going to be a good modern-day adaptation of our beloved story. Little did we know what we were in for. Of course we fell in love with the absolute awfulness of Mormon movies and have been Netflixing them ever since. If you've never seen one, you should start with Baptists At Our Barbeque. It shows that Christians and Mormons can all get along. Wow, really?

We had this salad for dinner while we were watching Picadilly Cowboy. My only real problem with this movie is that the guy from Montana had a Southern accent. And a bad one at that. This salad made it worth it though. It is really healthy and full of flavor. It featured my beloved combo of lime & cilantro. You can be sure that you'll be seeing more recipes with them in it.


I cooked 4 skinless boneless chicken breasts at 350 for approx. 25 minutes and let it cool. I then just shredded it with my hands.


The most time consuming part of it was the chopping of all the veggies. It is very easy to put together, but it isn't quick with all the prep that goes into it.


My notes:

• I made the salsa first so that the flavor could develop as it sat.
• I used a small can of mild green chilies instead of the pickled jalapenos because I have never been fond of jalapenos.
• I would probably add some corn to the salsa next time to add some additional nutrients and variety of flavor.
• I used fat free sour cream for the dressing to make it healthier.
• I also put the garlic through a garlic press before putting it in the blender because I wanted to make sure there were no big chunks.
• I don't enjoy jicama much, so I subsituted a red bell pepper instead.
  
• Served with a side of organic blue corn chips.
  

Mexican Chicken Salad with Black Bean Salsa

- serves 4 to 6 -
Adapted from Nigella Express, by Nigella Lawson.

Ingredients

For the dressing:
1 ripe avocado
1/2 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons lime juice
1 clove garlic, peeled
1 teaspoon kosher salt or 1/2 teaspoon table salt
A good grinding of black pepper

For the salad:
2 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken
1 pound jicama, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch matchsticks (or 2 eight-ounce cans water chestnuts sliced into strips)
2 scallions, finely shredded
1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro
3 cups shredded romaine lettuce

Procedure

1. Spoon the flesh out of the avocado; put flesh into blender with all other dressing ingredients. Process dressing till smooth.

2. Place all the salad ingredients into a large bowl, pour dressing over and toss to coat.

Tomato and Black Bean Salsa

- serves 4 to 6 as part of salad above -
Adapted from Nigella Express, by Nigella Lawson.

Ingredients

1 fifteen-ounce can black beans
2 tomatoes, seeded and roughly chopped
1/3 cup roughly chopped pickled jalapeños
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 teaspoon sea salt

1. Drain and rinse the beans; mix beans in a bowl with the tomatoes, jalapeños, lime juice, and salt.

2. Check seasoning, then serve with the salad above, either separately in a small bowl or on top of the salad itself.

Big Sur Power Bars

I have been seeing a lot of recipes lately for breakfast bars that I would love to try but they include stewed dried dates. I have a hard time stomaching dates, so I stewed on it for a while (I am the MASTER at bad puns) and realized I just couldn't do it. There are very few foods I won't eat, but the thought of something even vaguely prune-like makes me want to toss my cookies. So I searched a bit more and found this recipe from Heidi at 101 Cookbooks. I absolutely adore her site and have been reading it for a couple of years now. She has wonderful recipes and has authored a few cookbooks about cooking with natural foods. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to find brown rice syrup, but Fred Meyer came through for me. I was able to get everything but the crispy brown rice cereal. Pretty good though for Puyallup! Normally I can't find the more unusual items in the town so I am always thankful when Freddy's has them in stock.

My Notes:

• I only used 1 tablespoon of ground coffee beans instead of the 2 tablespoons of ground espresso beans. And I did decaf at that because I hate the feeling I get after drinking caffeine. It affects me A LOT. You can taste the coffee in these bars, but I maybe should have done the full 2 tablespoons for even better flavor.
• These are really sweet so I might cut back a bit on the amount of sugar used next time. I will definitely have to experiment.
• If I make these again, I will substitute some other seeds and/or nuts. They would be great with pepitas, sunflower seeds, chopped walnuts, etc.
  

  

Big Sur Power Bar Recipe

If you can't find the crisp brown rice cereal, no worries - just use regular rice cereal for ex: Rice Crispies - just stay clear of "puffed" rice cereal, it will throw the recipe off. Feel free to substitute other types of nuts, seeds, or whatever little goodies you can dream up.

1 tablespoon coconut oil (or regular butter)
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 cup slivered almonds
2/3 cup (unsweetened) shredded coconut
1 1/4 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups unsweetened crisp brown rice cereal
1 cup brown rice syrup
1/4 cup natural cane sugar
1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
2 tablespoons ground espresso beans
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a baking pan with the coconut oil. If you like thick power bars, opt for an 8 by 8-inch pan; for thinner bars, use a 9 by 13-inch pan.

On a rimmed baking sheet toast the pecans, almonds, and coconut for about 7 minutes, or until the coconut is deeply golden. Toss once or twice along the way. Mix the oats, toasted nuts, coconut, and the cereal, together in a large bowl and set aside.

Combine the rice syrup, sugar, salt, espresso, and vanilla in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir constantly as it comes to a boil and thickens just a bit, about 4 minutes. Pour the syrup over the oat mixture and stir until it is evenly incorporated.

Spread into the prepared pan and cool to room temperature before cutting into whatever size bars you desire.

Makes 16 to 24 bars.

Artist Spotlight: Laura George

One of my goals for this blog is to share with you different artists that I really enjoy. I love design and art and want to pass on some of my loves to you. This particular artist, Laura George, has beautiful prints that you can purchase through Etsy. Etsy is basically an online market where anyone can sell their homemade goods. I am totally addicted to it. I love these particular prints because they are so simple and yet so meaningful.

Check these out:

Let's Just Sit Here For Awhile Just makes me sigh inside.

Bookish Red I so need to get this for above my reading chair.

Sing With Me Yes please!

Chocolate Haystacks

Friday, June 20, 2008

Tonight I was just checking my Google Reader feeds (I will post about those in the future) and came across this recipe. It reminded me that I still have a couple bags of coconut in the fridge to use up. Why I have 2 bags I couldn't tell you. Honestly. No clue. After doing a mental inventory of the ingredients in this recipe, I realized that I could make this right then and there. So rare are the times that I can cook mere seconds after finding recipes that I nearly leaped out of my chair with excitement. I hurriedly gathered ingredients and started stirring away. I of course love the process of cooking, but it is always so pleasant to get the end result. Unfortunately this recipe was a minor dud. The taste was good but the look was not.

Heed my word of warning: DO NOT BOIL FOR 5 MINUTES! I knew that it seemed like a rather long time so I cut it down to only 4 minutes. Still too long. Basically what happens is that the longer the boiling time, the harder the haystack is going to be. You really do have to boil for a few minutes or else you will end up with gooey puddles. It might be tasty, but a mud puddle is no haystack. On the other side of the spectrum, if you boil for too long you end up with crumbilies.

To illustrate the problem, I have included pictures. The first haystack at the top is the quintessential form and presentation. This is how all haystacks should look. I managed to get 3 of those out before the mixture hardened in mere seconds and turned into a dry mix that wouldn't allow me to do anything but smaller clumps (2nd picture). The oats then decided that they all wanted their space so essentially chocolate granola was born (3rd picture). What I am going to do with it has yet to be determined, but it is tasty.



Chocolate Haystacks

• ¼ cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• ¼ cup cocoa
• ¼ cup milk
• 1½ cup oats
• ½ cup coconut
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Melt the butter, and then add the sugar, cocoa and milk in a small pot.
2. Bring to a boil over medium-low to medium heat and boil for 1-2 minutes, stirring frequently.
   
3. Add the oats, coconut and vanilla to the mixture.
   
4. Make sure to stir the concoction thoroughly.
5. Drop spoonfuls onto a baking sheet lined with plastic wrap or parchment paper, working extremely quickly. Leave to cool.

Another note of caution: Make sure you get all of the mixture out of your pot before it hardens or else it is like cement. I practically had to jackhammer it out of my pot.

Dear Diary

Dear Diary,

Warehouse Boy just asked me to marry him. I said no. Did I make the right choice? I'm kinda second guessing myself now. I don't love him or anything but maybe we could have had a marriage of convenience. But I'm not really sure how convenient it would be to have to live with someone besides Jess. I mean, I really do have a good thing going there. And it would be hard to have to move in with him and his parents. That might not be fun. And the fact that the majority of his money is spent on alcohol. I might not like that either. So maybe I did really make the right choice. Phew. I'm so glad that we had this talk Diary.

Love Always,
Angie

Sweet Potato & Chutney Salad

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Today was one of those days. The days where I just feel defeated. The days where I don't talk for most of the afternoon because I have no fight left in me. The days where my boss says bye to me on my way out the door and all I can do is raise a hand back. We're in a huge transition at work and the stress is catching up to me. I can't stand the negativity, the arguments, the pissing contests. Today especially I just wanted to tell some of my coworkers to unzip their pants, pull them out, and find out just once and for all who really won. AND THEN BE DONE WITH IT! Sad that that would never happen in real life.

On these types of days, I am soothed by a few things. Reading in my reading chair, drinking Smirnoff without waiting to close the refrigerator door, listening to Coldplay at high volumes, feeling the sun on my face, and cooking. Our office decided to have an impromptu BBQ tomorrow, so I volunteered to make this yummy dish. It was just the recipe for relaxation that I needed (I know, really lame pun). My mama makes this salad and I have been waiting for the chance to pull it out of my "to make" list.

Sweet Potato and Chutney Salad

Cube and boil until just tender:
1 pound sweet potatoes (about 2 large)

1 pound waxy yellow or white potatoes

Drain potatoes well and let cool (or run under cold water if in a hurry)

Toss with:

4 scallions (green onions), sliced

3 T chopped fresh parsley

Mix together and fold into potatoes:

1/2 cup chutney - any variety

2 T lemon juice

1 T fresh lime juice

1 1/2 T curry powder

1/2 to 1 t kosher salt

2 T reduced-fat mayonnaise

Pepper to taste

Notes on changes I made:

• I couldn't find a chutney that I thought would be good, so I used a 100% fruit mango jelly (see picture). You can find it in the jam aisle of the grocery store. I put it in a bowl and softened it just slightly in the microwave first so that it would be easier to whisk into the dressing.
• Safeway shockingly didn't have sweet potatoes, so I used all yellow potatoes instead. I definitely recommend using sweet potatoes if you can get them because they really add a great flavor.
• Make sure you don't overcook the potatoes. Otherwise you'll have a mushy salad.
  
• Taste the dressing BEFORE putting it on the potatoes and make changes as necessary.
  

McCain's Lost Brain

I PROMISE that I won't keep posting political things, but this one was just too good to pass up. I am not one to really argue my side, however, this video is funny and is good for my support of Obama. It's reminiscent of the countless videos of my absolute favorite Prez Bush. Please go back and read that last sentence with sarcasm in your mind if you missed it the first time.

Office Wars

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

This makes me smile. A lot.

Obama For Your Mama

What you may not know about me is that I live with a caucus-going-real-life-delegate for Obama. While I agree with her, I am not much into sitting for hours listening to people argue for him. However, the promises on this site of grand things happening if he were to win are enough motivation for anyone to get on his side. I mean really, who wouldn't want unicorns to crap ice cream and pastries?

Hint: Click on the promises to get new ones to pop up

Chipotle Chocolate Flourless Cake

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Friends, for my first post I HAVE to tell you about this cake. So rich, so flavorful, with a gentle heat that almost makes you moan out loud. The kind of moan that would embarrass you unless you were in When Harry Met Sally. Yes friends, THAT good!

I made this for our Father's Day celebration and the entire fam loved it. The bonus is that it is about as simple and quick to make as you can possibly imagine!


I found the recipe on Simply Recipes. Check the site out for more great things to make.

Notes on changes I made:

• You definitely want to use a good chocolate for this. I used Ghiradelli but a better one would be Scharffen Berger.
  
• Chipotle powder is nowhere to be found in P-town, so I used a New Mexico chili powder. You can find it in the Mexican section of your grocery store. DO NOT use regular chili powder because often there are other spices besides chilies in there.
• A big pile of fresh raspberries was a wonderful addition. I served this with ice cream.
  

Chipotle Flourless Chocolate Cake Recipe

Ingredients

• 10 oz. of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
• 7 tablespoons of unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 5 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon of chipotle chili powder
• Dash of cayenne pepper
• Pinch of salt
• Powdered sugar for dusting (optional)

Method

1 Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line the bottom of a 9 ½ inch springform pan with a circle of parchment paper. Grease the sides and the parchment with butter or non-stick cooking spray (I love Pam for Baking cooking spray, myself).

2 Melt the chocolate and butter together over a double boiler or in the microwave, stirring occasionally until smooth.

3 Whisk together the eggs and the sugar in a large bowl, and then slowly, a bit at a time, whisk in the melted chocolate. Add the salt and spices and taste, adjusting the spices if needed.

4 Pour into the springform pan and bake for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let it cool completely on a wire rack. Dust with powdered sugar and serve.