Monday, September 19, 2011

Desserts

Sometime during the summer I had this great idea.  The idea was to spoil my family...well, sort of.  Remember back in "the day" when you'd come home from school and have a snack of warm cookies straight out of the oven dipped in a cold glass of milk?  Mmmmm...I'm salivating just thinking about all that chocolately goodness!  I want my girls to look forward to Mom's desserts.  I want them to grow up appreciating the finer things.  So often today we live by convenience.  I'm guilty of it!  But I want them to know that sometimes the wait is worth it.  The time and energy you put in to things can make a lot of difference if you're patient enough to work for it. 

Two of my favorite things to make from scratch are carrot cake and cheesecake.  We start out by shredding the carrots with a good ol' cheese grater.  It's messy but the texture of the carrots is PERFECT that way.  I've used the food processor in the past when I was in a hurry but they're not a good, and it makes a lot more dishes to wash!

So, back to the great idea I had...I planned on making one dessert every week.  When the dessert runs out, that's it.  We'd have to wait until the following week to enjoy the next dessert.  The plan of having desserts in the house was a good one before yesterday.  Yesterday I started following Weight Watchers again so I have to be more careful with the desserts! I almost didn't make a dessert this week (hubby's out of town so I didn't want to be tempted to eat the whole thing!).  Then I thought more about it and realized the true test of losing weight isn't in deprivation, it's in self control.  I can't live the rest of my life completely avoiding foods that are bad for me.  I can't avoid situations where food is served that doesn't "fit in" to my lifestyle.  I have to exercise self control if I really want the results I'm looking for.

So, baby girl and I headed out for our weekly groceris and I picked up a box brownie mix.  (I know, I know, I cheated!)  To be honest, I've made brownies from scratch before and they never turn out the same for me.  I don't know what I do differently every time, but this time I opted for the box. 

The brownies have been in the oven for exactly 10 minutes and my house smells like a Starbucks!  Starbucks??  you say?  Yes, Starbucks.  I didn't opt for regular brownies, I went with mocha fudge brownies!  OH. MY. GOODNESS.  If this isn't going to be the biggest test in self control, I don't know what is!  Feast your eyes on this:


Ok, I could've done without the family size box, I'll admit it!  I just have this obsession with checking the unit price and this was cheaper than the smaller box.  I need to stop that sometimes, especially when it comes to my weight loss!  It's worth it to pay a little more sometimes for a little less temptation.

So, what's the WWPP value of these babies??  5.  The 9x13 dish will get cut into 20 brownies and each one will have a value of 5 points plus.  YIKES!  Thank God for those flex points being built in every week.  I figure I can eat 2 of these this week.  I'm going to wrap them individually and freeze most of them.  I'll keep out 2 for me, 2 for my big girl and 1 for the baby and the other 15 will get put in the freezer for another week.

*Note.  They're done now (and giving me the stare down from the countertop where they're cooling!!).  The box said bake 28-31 minutes.  Do NOT bake them that long.  The edges are crispy and there's no softness to the center like I prefer.  I did them 28 minutes.  Next time I'll try 25.

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