A Couple of Recipes!

So I've been sharing the treats I've made for book club the past couple of months over on the youtube channel (they are quick shorts found on this playlist) and have had a couple a request for recipes both by online viewers and the in real life book club goers! I figured the best way to share them was just right here on the blog, and then everyone interested can have them! (I will link to the Short on youtube on the title of each recipe if you want to see the process and final product.) 

Fudgy Chocolate Chunk Brownies (we used this one for All The Girls I've Been by Tess Sharpe)

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 cups chocolate chunks (I use big dark chocolate chocolate chips)

Instructions: Grease a 9x9 baking dish. Preheat over to 350. Beat together the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Add eggs. Gradually add dry ingredients, then add the chocolate chunks. Spread evenly in pan. It will be very thick! Bake for 25 minutes until they begin to pull away from the side of the pan. 

Note: I double this recipe and bake them in a 9x13 pan!

Big Soft Ginger Cookies (we did this one for The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave)

3/4 cup butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup molasses

2 1/4 cups flour

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp salt

2 Tbsp sugar for rolling 

Beat the butter and sugar together. Add the egg and molasses. Beat well. Stir dry ingredients into the mixture. Shape into balls (1 heaping tablespoon) and roll in the sugar. Bake at 350 for 10 min or until light brown and still puffed. Let stand 2 min before moving to wire rack. 

Note: I double this one usually because we always need MORE!

TV Review: Down to Earth with Zac Efron

 Show: Down To Earth

Genre: Travel, Health, Food

Starring: Zac Efron, Darin Olien

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

I kept seeing this one show up Netflix recommended and finally my husband and I decided to watch it together. And it was really fun!

Zac pairs up with a podcast friend of his (Darin) and they go around to different parts of the world looking for fun and and cool things people are doing to be health and environmentally aware. We learn about apples and water and how to live longer and other such things.

It's a mix of health stuff (we learn that the people in Italy are healthy by... gasp.... EATING CARBS!) and food stuff (we go to tons of quaint restaurants and make pasta and eat weird things... and milk goats as you can see above) and we travel to places like Paris, Italy, in the middle of the Amazon jungle, Puerto Rico, Iceland and etc. 

It's all very fun and interesting and eye opening and informing. Zac is quite fun... and dare I say it... down to earth. For being such a huge star, he seems really quite grounded. I've always been a fan of his, I have no idea why... and so it was fun seeing him in this sort of setting. 

There's just like 8 episodes I think, all about 45 min long.. so it was a pretty fast endeavor. We are glad we finally hit the button and watched!

(It's been awhile since we've watched something together and this made us appreciate that again. Since we've finished this one, we've started in on The Great British Baking Show, which we've seen so many rave about. And now I'm looking for other fun shoes we can watch together.)

Here's a trailer to peak your interest!