Spinach Brownies Are Okay Unless You Have To Eat Them
My grandma wasn’t going to win any prizes in the gourmet food department but she could cook the crap out of some cream of mushroom soup. She put it in everything except ice cubes–which makes sense, but not for the reasons you’d think. It makes sense because her ice cubes already had stuff in them.
You’d be drinking a glass of ice water and all of a sudden you’d say–
Wow, Grandma. Did you put food coloring in the ice cubes or something? How fancy.
[pause]
Oh.
Wait.
GRANDMA, IS THAT. . . A PEA?
. . . AND A LITTLE CUBE OF CARROT?!?
Because frozen vegetables were always falling out of their bags and into her ice cube tray. When her freezer was particularly crowded, a single ice cube could contain up to 25% of your daily recommended intake of Vitamin A.
But like I was saying–she put cream of mushroom soup in everything else, including her signature holiday concept: the spinach brownie.
I don’t know what went into the spinach brownie, but it was served lukewarm in little squares on Christmas Day. It was neither spinach nor brownie. It was literally larger than the sum of its parts, which is to say that it puffed up like a mofo during baking.
I don’t have her recipe, but I’m sure it’s on the back of a can of cream of mushroom soup somewhere. Instead, I bring you: spinach & brownies.
Separately.
The way the universe intended.
First up: my mom’s spinach. It’s simple, and the small amount of seasoned breadcrumbs give it some great texture.
Buttered Spinach {Download & Print Recipe}
Ingredients: {serves 2 as a side dish}
1 9-0z. bag of spinach
a dash of salt
1 Tbsp. butter
2 tsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. seasoned breadcrumbs
a sprinkle of garlic powder (optional)
Directions:
Dump the spinach into a large pot or skillet with a lid. Sprinkle with a dash of salt and heat, covered, over medium heat a few minutes until the spinach wilts. (You can wilt it to your taste–I like mine completely wilted.)
In a small sauce pan over medium heat, melt the butter with the olive oil. Add the breadcrumbs and a sprinkle of garlic powder, if using. Sauté for a minute or two, just long enough for the bread crumbs to thicken the butter sauce. (You don’t want the bread crumbs to sputter and pop or the sauce to burn, so reduce the heat if you need to.)
The spinach probably gave off some water while it cooked. You don’t want watery spinach, so use a slotted spoon to strain the wilted spinach lightly against the side of the pot before transferring it to the saucepan containing the butter sauce. Stir the spinach in the butter sauce until it’s evenly coated. Taste, add salt and pepper as necessary, and serve.
~~~
As for the brownies: my heroine in funny food websites, movita beaucoup, tipped me off to this recipe in Canadian Living magazine. These brownies are fantastic. I adjusted the recipe to reflect the kind of chocolate I had in the house, and they came out wonderfully dense and semisweet.
Let’s get up in there, shall we?
That’s a damn good brownie.
Semisweet Brownies {Download & Print Recipe}
Adapted from this recipe in Canadian Living’s Holiday 2012 edition
Ingredients:
6 oz. bittersweet chocolate squares
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate squares
1 c. (2 sticks) butter
2 1/2 c. sugar
1 Tbsp. vanilla
4 eggs
1 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
Directions:
In a medium to large saucepan over low heat, melt the two kinds of chocolate with the butter, stirring occasionally. As soon as it’s melted, remove from the heat and let cool for 10 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 13 x 9″ pan or line it with parchment paper.
Whisk the sugar and vanilla into the chocolate mixture. Whisk in the eggs one at a time. Stir in the flour and salt. When the batter is evenly combined, pour it into the pan. Bake 35-40 minutes, or until a tester comes out with a few moist crumbs.
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Sometimes Thunder passes out in inopportune places, like: on your leg, in the middle of the kitchen floor, at noon. It’s kind of like having a drunk college roommate all over again.
Yum yum yum! Have you considered teaching Thunder a lesson by breaking out the permanent pen??
Oh man, I bet Scott is going to read your comment and do exactly that. Will send pictures.
That’s awesome! Great post and yum on both the spinach and brownies – SEPARATELY!
Separately, indeed! Thanks, Tracy.
Not sure I understand what a spinach brownie is…but I think that’s for the best. Your brownies, however, look downright decadent. The exact dense texture I love, YUM!
I’m trying to figure out why your leg was in the middle of the kitchen floor for Thunder to fall asleep on. Were you doing yoga there or something?
You are right: it is best not to understand the spinach brownie, not to ask any questions about the spinach brownie, not to affiliate yourself with the spinach brownie in any way.
As for my leg being in the middle of the floor, well–sometimes she gives me this heart-broken look like “you’re going to stand up there the whole time, cooking, and never once sit down on the floor with me and say hi for a minute?” And that’s when I get trapped in a Thunder nap. But you mention yoga–did you know there’s something called “Doga”? It’s dog yoga. Yoga with your dog. There’s a lady who does videos of it and puts them on youtube. It’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen.
My dog tries to be a part of my yoga by walking under me. A little funny and difficult at times as she is in the way to get out of the pose. I prefer the puppy nap on my legs.
Yes, your brownies look decadent, mmmm
This post is hilarious. I feel like I am looking into a magic crystal ball that is predicting what I will be like when I am a grandma. Every time my friends come to my house and open my freezer or fridge, they are kind of shocked and dismayed at how full it is. Each one says, “You have so much stuff! My freezer is empty.” I have never understood how one maintains an empty freezer. Mine currently contains frozen packets of rice, a whole organic chicken, a piece of birthday cake that my friend made me (whole wheat coconut walnut cake with cream cheese frosting), ice cubes, ice packs, a frozen mushroom pizza from Trader Joe’s, shrimp and pork shumai, frozen bananas for when I make banana ice cream, and two bags of Christmas cookies that I prepared in advance last weekend. Among plenty of other things that I can’t recall at the moment! Anyway, enjoyed this one as always… thanks
Okay, Beth, I have so much to say right now but first: SHRIMP SHUMAI is my favorite thing on the planet. I freaking love that stuff. I ate it at least once a week in NY and sometimes up to 3 times (when I worked late at work and ordered take-out.) Now my problem is I CAN’T GET IT IN ALABAMA. We have a few Japanese restaurants in Huntsville, but none of them make it. I got a large, expensive frozen package of dim sum from Costco that had some pork shumai in it, but it wasn’t very good and already had freezer burn. I wanted to cry at that point.
The birthday cake your friend made sounds insanely good. I love how dense whole wheat cakes are. I’ve recently started making cinnamon cream cheese frosting–I bet it would be great on something like that.
As for your freezer: it sounds like my kind of place. I’ve been working for my friend’s goat cheese company, which means that my freezer is always stocked with goat cheese or goat cheese cheesecakes. Like, stocked to bursting. It drives Scott nuts (in a good-natured way) when he’s trying to grab a hot pocket and 90 lbs. of goat cheese comes tumbling out onto him.
Cheers!
So funny! Gotta love a Grandma like that!
Seriously– she was a very special cook, that’s for sure.
Too funny. Cream of mushroom soup.
Thanks for the recipes.
Hee hee. Cream of mushroom soup or bust!
That’s how mom used to cook. If it didn’t have MS then it wasn’t worth eatin’
OMG – Hilarious! My grandmother did not waste much, especially on the farm. So you know how you peel carrots – well lets say you got a little something something extra in the jello. And no she was not really good at cleaning said carrots that came out of said ground. Love and miss her oh so much:) Have a Great One!
Ha! The cafeteria at my school used to have pieces of fruits (and maybe even vegetables!) in the jello. I haven’t thought about that in years. YIKES. I know what you mean when you say “love and miss her”–I felt the same way when I was writing this post.
Take care!
hahaha hilarious! my grandma was really frugal too, I guess it’s because they grew up in that sort of era. anyway I love veggies. I love beetroot brownies and courgette cakes. not sure about spinach though. yikes.
Hi there! I had a beetroot chocolate cake a few months ago and I absolutely loved it–my first experience with beetroot sweets! Have you tried Amelia’s rendition of Nigel Slater’s beet cake on Bon Appetempt? I’ve been meaning to try it.
Here’s the link: http://www.bonappetempt.com/2011/11/chocolate-beet-cake.html
I’m glad my grandma upgraded her freezer to include an electric ice cube maker; I don’t want any vegetables in my ice! Your brownies look so rich and decadent; it’d be really hard to just eat one!
Ahhh… that’s what my grandma needed! A built-in ice cream maker! That would have been, by far, the more sanitary option.
Don’t you just love modern technology sometimes? :]
My mom used to put cottage cheese in everything. Things that just shouldn’t have it. Ever. But she left her brownies alone. Like normal people. Your Grandma, though, she’s avant-garde. Hardcore! =) Black bean brownies are awesome, but so last week. Spinach, that’s a whole new texture sensation!
So true. If there were a tagline for spinach brownies, it’s got to be “A WHOLE NEW TEXTURE SENSATION!!!”
Ugh.
Hahah! You continue to crack me up.
Let’s just say that spinach brownies did not look or taste like they were prepared on the same planet as those pumpkin pie crumb squares you’ve got over there.
I’m with the second serving. You crack me up! And I totally love your dog. So darn cute!
Thanks Karista! Isn’t she cute? She’s a cross between a french and english bulldog. Such an awesome mix.
Your grandma was ahead of her time–hiding vegetables to force them upon children is all the rage now!
Hee hee. I never thought of her as a food innovator but you’re so right!
I eat dem spinach brownies…ZZZZ…wha?…mmm…de cream o’shrooms…ZZZZZZZ…
Bwahaha! This is one of your best, I think.
Haha, this post is hilarious! I couldn’t stop laughing. How many eggs are there in the brownies? I keep searching for that perfect brownie recipe!
Thank you so much for letting me know that I forgot the damn eggs again. 4 eggs. That’s what it calls for. Thanks to you, I changed the recipe to reflect the proper ingredients. Cheers! Katherine
I freaking love me some spinach – I make mine with tons of garlic and bacon bits (pancetta if I am being fancy – but regular bacon bits in a bag work just fine too) but I would draw the line at a spinach brownie – that just sounds like all kinds of wrong!
I am also a dim sum addict – fortunately I have found a couple places in orlando that serve it otherwise I would have had to move back to Seattle within a week
Yum! I haven’t tried bacon in spinach but Scott is going to loooooove that idea when I tell him!
bacon makes everything better LOL
Love what you’ve done with the spinach – I fry onions, tumeric and garlic throw in the spinach and some freshly grated coconut – great with a curry. I’ll be making your version tonight.
Peta, that sounds awesome. I talked to a woman at the farmer’s market last week who puts dried mango in hers–she puts slivers in olive oil and plumps them up and then tosses in the spinach and eventually toasted pecans. It sounded pretty awesome. I’ll try your recipe because I accidentally bought two jars of turmeric a while back and want to find different ways to use it.
Your brownies look great! So glad to see you’ve discovered Canadian Living magazine. Just one of many good things we’ve got up here. Years ago, I got most of my recipes from that magazine. I used to tear them out and keep them in binders. This was in the pre-internet era. And no, I’m not ancient. The internet really hasn’t been around all that long, you know! Anyhoo, these days I consult Canadian Living online, although I still use my cherished Canadian Living Christmas Book every year for the holidays. Wow, I just managed to use the word Canadian three times in one comment; oops, now it’s four! Not bad, eh?
BTW, your spinach looks good, too, but did I mention how appealing those brownies are?
What ELSE do you have up there that I should know about?! Any other amazing publications I might be able to get online? I love the way the holiday edition is organized, with the thumbnail photos of each treat at the front with the page numbers for where the recipe is. Genius! Why don’t Bon Appetit and Food and Wine do that?!
Your grandma? A TRENDSETTER. Peas and carrots in ice cubes is the epitome of chic. I mean, who needs ice-encased rose petals in their drink when they could be drinking their recommended daily allowance of vitamins? A true ice cube pioneer, that one.
Um, Canadian Living Holiday Issue: where have you BEEN all my life. Obviously, you’ve been in Canada and i didn’t realize you existed. Does it make you retroactively upset? it does me.
You are so right: when food blogs started blowing up with fancy ice cubes I had a good laugh. Have you made anything from the Canadian Living magazine yet?
i haven’t yet, due to two factors. One: i’m baking my face off this weekend to get my Cookie Swap cookies done and out by Tuesday. Two: after reading the entire magazine, i am unable to pick something because i want to make EVERY SINGLE THING. So hopefully i get over those two obstacles by later this week and focus.
I agree with all points made by Shannon up there. (Especially loving me.) (I read between the lines.)
Did you read the part (between the lines) where Shannon admitted that *I* was going to win Ginger 2012?
honestly, you’re right on both counts in re: things you read between the lines. i can’t deny either insight.
Hahaha…I bet my kids are going to make the same comments when they are older…yes I am one of ‘those’ mothers who feed their children treats with hidden ingredients (although they do actually know they are in there lol). My brownies dont just have spinach – they also have carrot too!!! And I even do a version of brownie with black beans in them….yep I am one of ‘those’ mothers lol. We love them but my kids get even more of a kick out of them – they take extra to school to freak out the other kids by giving them a taste and saying ‘ha ha you just ate spinach’ lol. Looooved your post!
Oh I love the idea of brownies with black beans in them–I saw something like that on Joy the Baker last year and was intrigued. I am also glad to hear that the noble spinach brownie (carrots included) is living on somewhere.
Your kids are sure to be healthy little ones–my mom tried to get us to eat carob instead of chocolate when I was little, and we were a 100% fruit juice type of family (no juicy juice or cranberry juice “cocktail,” sadly) and we eventually forgave her for it. 
LOL…they already thank me (bless their loyalty hahaha), but you should see their faces if I let them have anything that comes in a packet! Kinda makes Christmas seem lame lol – just give them something in a packet and they think they have hit jackpot lol
…Oh and if you want a good black bean brownie recipe check out my “yummm” section on my page – complete with tofu icing (no really it is delicious! lol)
They look wonderful! Such a pretty picture of them with the coconut on top.
My organic effort lol
Yummy! And no nuts in the brownies, horray! Simplicity always is best with them. I remember using split pea flour to make brownies once (my mother is coeliac) and they came out velvet red which was a bit of a shock. What colour are spinach brownies?
Ella, it’s funny that you ask what color the brownies were because when I drafted this I tried to describe it several times and kept deleting it because I didn’t know how to convey the shade of FOREST GREEN they basically were. Dark forest green bordering on brown/black. OY.
It’s cool you used split pea flour. I’ve been wanting to branch out in the kind of flours I use. I use brown rice flour for dog biscuits, but I want to try to cook with almond flour more often–I hear good things. Take care and thanks for writing in!
It was way back when and my mother felt like experimenting. LOL. These days I always use cornflour because they come out really fudgy and are gluten-free.
Love the story…very funny. Can’t wait to make these brownies. They look delish!
Thanks, Kerry! If you make them, I hope they turn out great!
Do you think Thunder ate too much brownies or something else maybe?
It’s funny you say that because at this very moment, our other dog is at the vet because he ate the chocolate off the gingerbread house. (He’ll be fine.) So it’s entirely possible that Thunder has a tummy ache related to something similar in that picture. The holidays are crazy when it comes to pet safety threats, you know?
I guess that is why they have 24 hr vets! Have a nice holiday and be careful. http://www.segmation.com
Ugh, the thought of spinach brownies makes me feel somewhat…nauseated. I like spinach and brownies, but not together! Also, your grandmother must be…an expert at cooking. I’ll try to remember to pass on any opportunity to try anything similar…
It makes me feel exactly the same way!
Very funny post, indeed! And both the spinach and the brownies look amazing…
There is something about grandmothers and adding inappropriate items to baking/cooking. Mine was actually my great-grandmother–we called her Moo Moo. She had this huge garden and grew everything under the sun. Well, one summer while visiting, she cooked some of the butter beans from the garden. They were really good, but I couldn’t figure out what the small white, rice looking seasoning was she had added. I asked her and she said, “Oh, that’s just a few of the little worms that get inside the beans each year.”
Of course, I spit out my mouthful of beans and gagged a bit. “Wait–you knew there were worms in the beans and yet you still cooked them? Yuck!”
“It’s just protein, child. I’ve been eating them for years.”
Needless to say, I never ate her beans again and inspected everything she made before eating. Oh, grandmothers. Will we one day ever be as crazy?
Congrats on being Freshly Pressed!
Ha! First of all, Moo Moo is such an awesome name for a grandma or great grandma, and yours sounds like a particularly cool lady. I took a bite of some worms that were living inside a mushroom that I ate in France once. Ugh YUCK!
All of this reminds me of my friend movita beaucoup, who ate moth eggs by accident and wrote a hilarious post about it–here’s the link: http://movitabeaucoup.com/2012/05/12/coconut-lime-cupcakes-with-white-chocolate-frosting-and-also-i-ate-moths/
I love the name of your website, by the way. Just wonderful! Thanks for the kind note.
Spinach brownies, that’s funny! I did find a recipe for avocado brownies, thought it seemed pretty weird, but I made them and they excellent!! They are pretty dense but in a good way.
I’ve always wondered about avocado cake–it makes sense that they’d be good to cook with because they’ve got fats in them, you know? Glad to know avocado-baking turned out well for you–perhaps I’ll work up the courage sometime soon!
I loved that you used the word “MOFO” xD
Hee hee. Every once in a while, you’ve got to drop some good language, you know?
Yeap xD
The brownies look wonderful – can’t wait to try them. I made spinach yesterday – spent $5 for a tub of organic spinach that cooked down to about 3 servings. I always sautee a few slices of garlic gently in olive oil, then plop the spinach in. I also like mine wilted thoroughly.
I don’t know about spinach brownies, but my grandma made the best zucchini brownies. She also had those metal ice cube trays with the little lever you had to pull up to loosen the cubes – there was always stuff falling in hers, too.
Ugh, I feel you on the spinach issue–making more than just a little cooked spinach can really add up! I like kale and it really holds its shape pretty well, so when I’m able to get local kale from the farmer’s market, I’m glad.
I don’t think I’ve ever had a zucchini baked good that wasn’t banana bread, but I love the idea of zucchini brownies. Thanks for the kind comment–take care!
Best brownie ever is in Maison Blanc in South Kensington.
Duly noted! Someday maybe I’ll be able to go there and see for myself.
Thanks!
That looks like an amazing brownie! Have downloaded the recipe
thank you!
I hope you enjoy them, Celia!
Congrats on the Freshly Pressed my dear!!!
Thank you so much, and I do apologize for the delay, but. . .
A belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!
Thanks
Your grandmother sounds awesome! Both recipes look great too. Glad I found your site!
You know who sounds awesome, too? Your son. It must be hilarious living with someone who sings everything. I tried that when I was a kid and my parents eventually made a “no singing at the dinner table” rule because I wasn’t stopping long enough to eat (also, it was driving them nuts.) Good luck over there! Thanks for the kind comment.
You have no idea. I wish I could walk around with a video camera. I have got to write more of this stuff down.
Congrats on being Freshly Pressed! Isn’t it a lovely feeling? As for those brownies of your grandma’s, that’s hilarious that she served them every Christmas as if they were marvelous treats! I made chocolate cupcakes with beets in them once. Once. That was enough. My husband said they tasted like dirt…oh, well, I tried.
Thank you, Gretchen! I had a chocolate beet cake on vacation in Scotland this year. Scott tried it and actually managed to swallow it–I think because we were on a bike trip on a remote island with one little cafe, and he knew if he didn’t eat the cake, there would be no other food until we got back to the mainland. Whatever works, right?
God bless grannie for trying to slip some nutrition into that holiday dessert!
Hear, hear!
I am all over those spinach brownies! Definitely know what I’m cooking tomorrow!
Hee hee.
I laughed, OK? My husband’s parents have it way over your grandma. I haven’t checked out their ice cubes though. My son always makes sure he eats well before going up to help out around the house so he won’t have to eat any mystery food. But I’m not convinced that spinach brownies couldn’t go over well–in the hands of the right cook.
I agree that spinach brownies COULD be decent–I made Bobby Flay’s chili last night and it called for chocolate, so I’m not against some savory-meets-sweet action, as long as it’s done properly.
I can tell you with total certainty that my grandma did not, in fact, do it properly.
lol. I have to admit, before we bought a new fridge/freezer, our ice cubes were known to have things in them. Never peas or carrots, but ground coffee and one time, squid rings. That was pretty bad. Nothing ruins a cold drink quite like a raw, defrosting squid ring.
Boy, did this make me laugh. Thank you for writing in because the squid ring game me a really good chuckle.
When I grew up and moved away from home to the Napa Valley where I subsequently learned to cook (really cook), I confounded the family when I practiced my culinary arts on them. The first time I made a spinach salad with homemade garlic croutons et al, my dad ate quietly for a minute then said, “I’ve never eaten raw spinach before.” His mother boiled the life out of it then served it with vinegar. My own mother never served spinach of any kind. Our veggies were pea and carrots. . .frozen or canned. Thanks for the foodie memories!
Gosh, your story makes me glad I’ve had my fair share of spinach in this world. I love it!
And I am jealous that you learned to cook in Napa. What a nice place to have molded your tastes in the kitchen!
Yes, I’m pretty lucky that way!
Spinach brownies, interesting. Thank you for introducing them to me. I’ll have to try them sometime
Hee hee. Do let me know how they turn out!
My grandmother must have been related to your grandmother because I always found things in her ice….Weird…
Oh geez. I am sorry to hear that.
Okay, I feel the elephant in the room needs to be addressed: what did the spinach brownies taste like? Did Nana’s dinner plate have a little stockpile of them
Congrats on being Freshly Pressed. Was wondering when those guys would figure out how freaking hilarious you are. My husband thinks I’m insane cackling and wheezing away while reading your posts until I started reading them to him. Now he’s chuckling away too
Thanks for the kind words, Cam!
So, let’s see. The spinach brownies tasted like burned spinach if you packed it and packed it really tightly, with a bunch of onions. Sometimes it totally dried out in the oven, and sometimes it didn’t. They did not taste good, I’ll tell you that.
Hmmm… they (food pics) look so yummy, especially the brownie! It is making me crave one.
Pet-friends do the most funny things!
Ah yes, the pets definitely keep me entertained. This very moment, one of them is at the vet because he ate a gingerbread house with chocolate on it. And maybe some glue. He’ll be fine, but. . . oy.
Very funny article. The most ribbing I ever received was for putting creamed corn into chocolate cake. MY reasoning at the time was that if creamed corn made great creamed corn pudding and carrots or zucchini made cake moister, then creamed corn would be especially good for moistening up my chocolate cake. It was moist, do’t get me wrong. The corn kernels didn’t melt away like zucchini and carrots seem to. It just looked bad having chunks of corn in brown cake.
I can totally see why you thought to do that! Makes sense to me. (But I can also imagine how it looked. . . perhaps not the best presentation)
haha That was an understatement!!
Oh my goodness. I am trying to imagine how that would taste, or how it would be to suddenly have a couple of peas floating in your water glass.
Ugh. Let’s just say it doesn’t feel. . . classy. No, no.
don’t be too hard on your grandma, I put lemon balm and mint and basil in my ice cubes, on purpose. Try my black bean brownies-no spinach-but super good! http://enchantedseashells.com/2012/11/06/black-bean-brownies-and-lentil-cookies/
Yum, yum! Thanks for the link.
A spinach brownie?! I’ve heard horror stories about my grandmothers cooking. Fortunately, by the time I came around she had discovered Costco and served up defrosted Holiday meals. I might have to go attempt to make a spinach brownie…
Ah, good old Costco. At a recent party, I tried one of their puff pastries filled with pastry cream–like a profiterole? And it was amazing. Apparently they come in a big frozen box. I am really tempted to get some for the holidays.
okay – now I really wanna have some brownies!! Looked really good
Hee hee. I know. I finally sent the brownies to work with Scott because if they stay in the house I’m going to be on chocolate overload.
Good stuff! I’m I invited?
Is your baby a French bulldog? So precious!
Hi there! She’s a cross between a French bulldog and an English bulldog. Her mom was the English one. I LOVE the breed. She is (knock on wood) so much healthier than an English. Craaaaazy athletic. Just the best!
Your story about your grandma was really funny. Thanks for the laughs.
Thank YOU for the kind words. Cheers!
This reminded me of the first spinach lasagna my new sister-in-law sprung on me. You expect to see a lot of diverse things in lasagna, but spinach is not on my list. I prefer it uncooked on salads. Perhaps Thunder can be trained as a kitchen ambassador and sent around to supervise the new recipes!
Kitchen ambassador! I love it! I also love spinach salads–I like mine with dried cherries and goat cheese or pecans or honey mustard dressing.
I love your banner photo of the bowl of eggs! And of course the brownie pics. (Not so much the spinach ones though!) Happiness is a full refrigerator AND freezer!
Thank you so much! I took that banner photo in the back yard by the shed and edited it in plain-old Picassa!
The cream of mushroom soup makes me think of the notorious green bean casserole! It was a staple for much of my childhood at family gatherings (that I quickly revamped as an adult into a much healthier, less…thick…version). Thank God they never thought to use the soup or spinach in any desserts!
Brownies should be just as you made them…dark, chewy, fudgy, chocolate goodness. I don’t even like nuts or anything like that in them. Just give me the chocolate.
Did they actually put the fried onions on top of the green bean casserole? The kind that came in the can? Ugh. My grandma tossed those things into just about anything!
I saw the title – came here with the expectation of leaving a ???? comment, but separate is great.
My mom’s mom is an excellent cook. My dad’s late mom, however… I could see her having bits of vegetable in her ice cubes. Her pumpkin pie was made from frozen jack-o-lantern left overs, include the stringy-innards. Her other specialty was macaroni with tomatoes and onions. No spices. No sauce. Just pasta, onion, and tomatoes.
For some reason, we ate Thanksgiving at my mom’s parents, and then just visited my dad’s parents.
Eeeeew, pumpkin pie including the stringy innards, eh? That sounds. . . intense. I do hope you were given loads of whipped cream to cover it all up!
We always happened to be too full from Thanksgiving dinner at my other grandparents.
Oh my gosh, your grandma’s ice is hilarious. Too funny.
I´d add some nutmeg to the brownie. I find that it complements spinach so well.
I will no longer complain about my late grandma putting everything in the oven…no seriously, EVERYTHING. Poptarts, toaster waffles, burgers and fries from McDonald’s (even though we just bought and came straight home to eat it), chicken from Jim Dandy, bacon, sausage, toast, box macaroni and cheese, the list goes on. She never tried the spinach brownie. She did however make brownies with no eggs once. It was a slight mishap on her part and a detriment to our teeth.
My wife made avocado brownies once. Not suitable for discerning palates.
I think if I gave Scott an avocado brownie and didn’t tell him what it was, he would put lotion in my shampoo bottle and sugar in the salt shaker to get even with me.
What a delightful blog and what a relief that the spinach and the brownies go separately! I was once served a flourless chickpea fake chocolate cake at a friend’s kid’s birthday party. I forgive but I don’t forget. Or forgive.
Oh Katia, a flourless chickpea fake chocolate cake sounds over-the-top-terrible! My mom used to try to get me to like carob-covered “candy” bars as a kid that tasted like cardboard dunked in yogurt. Thank God she never handed them out at any of my birthday parties!
I am convinced “healthy” desserts are just not do-able. I have tried, and experimented on my parents. Needless to say none of them turned out, and my parents tend to be a bit skeptical when they try my baked goods at times
. If you want to indulge, you just gotta do it, and run an extra mile or walk an extra block to work it off!
Those brownies look great!! And your dog is adorable. Nothing beats a good fudgey brownie. Thank goodness I exercise, because I certainly have a sweet tooth, and don’t know what I would do if I had to cut some of these sweet indulgences out of my life
The first part of this made me chuckle. It reminded me strangely of Bill Bryson’s style of writing and humour. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Haha, it’s a hilarious post! Love the creativity.
Perfect combination.
We ate mayo on spinach at my grandma’s house. Actually not too bad. Try it sometime
The brownies and spinach I meant of course!
very funny post. my mum once baked me a sugarless birthday cake. I said, mum, can I have a bought cake next year?
I had to put down my piece of run-of-the-mill sponge cake because I found this so ridiculously funny. (grandmas get me every time). Then, when I started eating it again I felt slightly sad that there was no vegetable mashed into the icing. Really good blog post, enjoyed it a lot.
That is such a hilarious post! a simpler time and age when you could blame an over crowded refrigerator for feeding kids veggies in ice cubes!
Love it!
So, you’re Freshly Pressed. Again. I’m proud to know you. ‘Nuf said. (I actually like spinach.)
Aroooo! Stuart
These recipes sound (separately) delicious. And those brownies look GOOD.
Hilarious post. I laughed out loud. On my own. With my laptop on my erm, strangely enough, lap. Hmmmm, moving swiftly on…I’m not liking the picture that I’m painting of myself. Anyway, well done for making the girl who rarely laughs…laugh!!
This is a very entertaining post. I aspire to be as good of a food writer as yourself. Check out my blog if you have time! Thanks.
Pushing like button. Congrats on another Fresh Press! I’m going to travel more often since 3 of my favorite blogs have been Pressed in my absence. (Hmmm. That could be a big “uh oh” for me.) I’ve made some ice cubes out of various liquids but didn’t label them. Now I don’t know what I might be putting in a glass of vodka.
Funny stuff. Will make recipes next week!
Totally laughed out loud about the pea in ice cube comment!! Your grandma sounds hilarious!!
Aw man. Another recipe I found myself fervently hoping you’d post, only to find I’d been thwarted – again!
Yummy brownies !
I try to avoid veg, don’t go putting in my brownies!
Although come to think of it, I reckon it may work – will make it moist anyway – I shan’t be giving it a try however!
That brownie…..(drool)
Funny post and I’ll definitely try those brownies since I’m a huuuge cookiemonster (without spinach ofcourse).
Oh those spinachless brownies were awesome!
Now that was FUNNY!
Thank you kindly, Susan T!