Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies

Wanna know a secret?

I don't usually make homemade brownies. Betty Crocker Fudge is what most often graces my table.

I'm usually disappointed with homemade brownies. They are too dry. Or they just don't have enough chocolate punch. Brownies from the box are always chewy, fudgy and oh-so-chocolatey.

However, I got a recipe from my mom a little while ago that meets all of the necessary brownie qualifications. Strong chocolate flavor is wedded with a chewy texture. A small bite reveals a light, peanut butter mixture that winds its way through your morsel, punctuated by bits of melted chocolate. This is one of those recipes that people will beg for after taking just one piece.

Smoothies

Lunchtime is always hard for me.

Noontime rolls around and my stomach begins to knot itself, sending those hunger signals to my brain.

I put it off a little longer and soon it's one o'clock....two o'clock.....And then I'm rushing around trying to eat lunch at half past two before I rush out the door for work.

Needless to say, my lunchtime routine requires a little revamping.

Hubby Favorite: Chicken Pot Pie

"Snickerdoodle" Muffins

These cinnamony treats aren't technically called snickerdoodle muffins. Technically, they are "coffeecake muffins", but a friend of mine at bible study called them snickerdoodle muffins and I think it is the perfect moniker. The alternate name begs you to take a bite to see if they really do taste like those much beloved cookies.

Garlic Potato Soup

 A few weeks ago, I made the eight-hour trek to my Alma Mater to spend a weekend with my college roommate, Amber. It's a weird thing, you know, stepping back in time. You think it's all going to be like it was before. Memories flood your mind as you walk the sidewalks that you walked thousands of times before, in another life. You see people and hear laughter that isn't there anymore. You attend a lecture, or see a professor and turn to the person next to you with an inside joke, but that person isn't there. You have this vague sense of being so familiar with a place, and yet no longer belonging. Attending a concert, walking through your department's building or making disparaging comments about the cafeteria are lonely affairs when the people that you shared those experiences with are no longer there.

Beef Hand Pies

Pot Roast is one of my favorite meals, but I always struggle with what to do with the leftovers. Redeeming leftovers so that cries of excitement greet your ears rather than groans of dread is always a challenge. Beef Orzo Stew or hash are always good options, but sometimes I get rather tired of reinventing my reinventions.

How To Make Cucumber Sandwiches

My dad grew up with a garden. Not a small patch of summer veggies, but a garden, that was bigger than a lot of the lawns here in Philadelphia. Delicate rows of peas and beans. Monstrous heads of cabbage and cauliflower. Tomatoes. Long, twisting vines of squash, pumpkin and cucumber with bright yellow flowers. The potatoes had a patch all to themselves.

And sweet peas. My Grammy always had sweet peas. 

Blueberry Pie

When I was a kid, going up to Maine to see my grandparents always involved food. Cucumbers straight from the garden doused with vinegar and seasoned with salt and pepper, molasses crinkles that dissolved into aromatic hints of spices in your mouth, dill pickles that Grammy and Grandpa had canned themselves ("146 quarts this year") and pies upon pies upon pies. Apple. Strawberry. Chocolate. Pumpkin. Mincemeat. Pecan. And Blueberry.

Ah, Blueberries. Just the very word makes my mouth water and sends memories flashing into my mind, each crowding the other for a prominent position. I would assume that in most homes blueberries are enjoyed a few times a year and then forgotten as the members move on to other foods and other seasons. But in my family, blueberries have a status equivalent to gold.

Pink Dressing

The air hangs thick in the summer. Cheerful bright mornings quickly dissolve into the oppressiveness of a muggy afternoon. The dog-days of summer sap the energy and strength from you, causing early-morning goals to remain stranded on your to-do list. Especially goals involving standing over a hot stove or leaving the oven on for hours at a time. The heavy humidity and laid-back feel of summer beg for the refreshing ease of a green salad.

Joei's Pasta Salad

Hot, summer days come with their own special fare. Many Americans spend these lazy, dog days grilling stacks of hamburgers, hot dogs or even steak, if they feel like splurging. Tables are laden with large tubs of juicy watermelon slices, piles of sweet corn-on-the-cob and various condiments. Anything cold, easy, or grilled makes the menu to ease the pain of cooking in the sweltering heat. Often a flag cake or other sweet treat graces the end of the table, a promise of something heavenly to top off already-bulging stomachs.