Perfect Brownies

I searched for a perfect brownie recipe and found one worth trying on a site called "How to Cook Like Your Grandmother."I made two batches and after taking the first made a few tweaks to the recipe.  Enjoy!  

Original taken from: http://cooklikeyourgrandmother.com/2009/07/how-to-make-perfect-brownies/

Ingredients

1½ cups sugar
¾ cup flour
¾ cup cocoa powder (see note below)
3 eggs
¾ cup butter, melted
½ teaspoon salt (if using unsalted butter)
1 tsp vanilla
¼ tsp baking soda 
¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (see note below)½ cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions

A NOTE ON CHOCOLATE: You’ll notice the list of ingredients is very short. That means the quality of the chocolate makes a huge difference. The chocolate flavor is front-and-center — not the sugar, not the richness, the chocolate. 

The assembly is about as easy as you can get. Combine the sugar, flour, baking soda, salt (if using unsalted butter), cocoa, eggs, vanilla and melted butter and mix.

 
 
 

Do this by hand, until the dry ingredients are just incorporated into the wet, and stop. You don’t need to beat it, and in fact want to avoid producing gluten from the flour. (Kneading flour produces gluten, the springy protein that makes bread chewy.)

Stir in the chocolate chips.

Line a 9×13 baking dish with parchment or spray well with cooking spray. 

Pour the batter and spread it out. Don’t try to spread it like mayo on bread, or you’ll move the parchment around. Poke at it with the tip of a rubber spatula.

Bake at 350° for 20-30 minutes. It’s done when a toothpick inserted in the thickest part comes out clean. Keep in mind you’ve got chips in there. If you hit one with the toothpick it will have melted chocolate on it. You might need to poke a couple of spots to make sure you aren’t hitting a chip. Let cool for a few minutes before slicing.

Winter Festival

Alex got to participate in Metro Deaf School's Winter Festival.  He had a raging ear infection at the time, but still he got up on stage and looked cute.  :-) 

School

 Alex has a great time at school.  It was a really big decision for all of us, and I was really worried about how he'd do a whole day away from me, but it seems like he's loving it and really learning.  We are so impressed with how kind the kids are and how they really have accepted Alex.  The other day his teacher was telling me how Alex finally started signing "hello" the right way and the other kids were so excited about it that it became a game of them going up to Alex, tapping him on the shoulder, and trying to get him to say hello.  It's every parent's dream that their kid has friends and is loved when they are away from home.  It warms my heart to see the smile he gets when he interacts with the other kids and they with him.

 Field Trip to Pumpkin Patch

 This is one of Alex's favorite teachers, Glashaunda.

  

 This is one of his favorite friends.

  

  Signing fever with some of the boys (he doesnt' look to happy)  :-)

 YUM!  Pinecone....

  

 He makes so many faces

November

 It started getting chilly in November so it was time to bundle up when we went outside.  Alex is so cute in his "marshmallow" clothes.

 He's such a big boy!  He LOVES carrying his lunch box to and from school.

  Alex has started playing with us at the park.  He thinks it's hilarious to watch us throw the football back and forth.  He wanted to get in the action. Our little tank carried the football back and forth.

 Steve tried to teach him about baseball . . . Alex thought the dugout—especially the chain link door—was the coolest.

  My happy boys!

 Thanksgiving was at home again this year. I got brave and tried a turkey again.  I brined it for the first time and it was delicious.  Happy Thanksgiving! 

Black Friday!!!  WOOOO WHOOOO!  I was a little ambitious this year and hit Toys R' Us and Walmart.  The line at Toys R' Us was like something from Disneyland . . . unfortunately there wasn't a great reward at the end of the line. The last copy of the toy I waited an hour and a half for was snatched by the person right in front of me. Lame . . . Walmart was exciting.  It was a mad house—women fighting over bed sheets, ripping comforters, etc.  I waited for the electronics displays to open.  Below is a picture of the hovering vultures. It was crazy to watch how people loose all inhibitions and rational thinking when they want to save a few bucks. People were diving out of their shopping carts. There was a little girl that slipped in front of me just before the displays were opened who nearly got crushed in the madness.  Me and another gentleman managed to block like line backers for her and another person lifted her out to safety.

 The day after Thanksgiving we got out our Christmas stuff and started setting up the tree.  Our little musical boy loved all the music boxes.  Even after the ornaments were on the tree, he would find the ones that made music, take it off, and chase me around the house until I turned it on.