CHOCOLATE CAKE DAY

Oh yes, today was Chocolate Cake Day or, that is, yesterday was, or I am still on Wednesday time; but the computer knows it is Thursday and so everything gets all confused when I talk about days. Anyway, Wednesday, January 27, was Chocolate Cake Day. And I celebrated with brownies. Well, it made good sense to me.


I didn't set out to eat chocolate cake (or brownies) today. I started out with very good intentions. About 11 in the morning, I ate a very good breakfast with lots of protein, too much fat, and  good carbohydrates. I know that sounds late; but when I woke, I came to the computer and spent entirely too much time here and realized that the morning was over too late for a real breakfast.


Anyway, my plans were to go to the fitness center about two or three and stay for an hour, then come home and get some things done. Because I planned to take my neighbor to the clinic to pick up her medication  and be back home in time to go, I put on jeans and a sweat shirt over my swim suit to facilitate the whole thing. And off we went to accomplish it all this afternoon.




Thus, we arrived at Viola Pitts clinic about1:30 and from there everything went downhill. I have no idea just what all went on down in the pharmacy. All I know is that my friend came back to where I was sitting around 3:30, totally disgusted and promising to write the hospital board  about the situation in the pharmacy. By the time I drove her home, it was four in the afternoon and I gave up the trip to the center. A class takes over the water at 5:15 and I didn't want to fight the crowded time or the crowded pool.


That means that I did not get in my afternoon exercise, did not earn my 350 calorie extension, and didn't follow up on my plans. Instead, I made brownies in order to celebrate Chocolate Cake Day and to give my friend something to compensate for her terrible afternoon. It's OK: I knew that neither of us would eat more than two brownies today. Dieters have to indulge once in a great while. My problem? I indulge altogether too often.


Therefore, I took down a box of Ghiradelli Dark Chocolate Brownie mix and proceeded to mix brownies. But when I use a mix, I never leave it alone. Tonight, I INDULGED with capital letters. I added a cup of pecan pieces. I love pecans with chocolate. I added cappuccino chips and dark chocolate chips and white chocolate chips and even some Heath bar chips. I think that I doubled the amount of the batter in adding all of that. But the result was oh, so good.


I baked those brownies in one of the silicone all edges pans, that is, a pan with dividers, so that every brownie was two inches wide and had an outside edge on two sides. Of course, these brownies needed almost twice as long to cook because they were so packed with goodies; but who cares? When they were finally cool and I removed them from the pan, they were crunchy on the edges and moist and fudgy inside, filled with bits of melted chocolate and crunchy nut and candy bits. Delicious. But even before that, while they were entirely too hot to remove from the pan, I cut out a two inch wide piece about 1/2  an inch in depth (not a 2" X 2" piece) and tried it. Oh ... we all know there is nothing quite as good as hot, thick, runny chocolate. And it was good.


Then, I had to wait so that I could cut them correctly and take them over to my neighbor. You are right. I had to leave the room while they were warm and smelling so of some chocolate Heaven. They are right now sitting on the cabinet calling to me with all of their dark brown chocolaty goodness. And I am resisting with everything I have. In the first place, because I didn't get to the water and earn my 350 extra calories, I went over my chosen calorie count for the day, 200 calories over! Even though those 2"X 2" brownies have a calorie count of 110 calories, the way I made them at least doubled that! Made by the box directions, they are an innocent indulgence; the way I make them is anything but innocent. It is pure INDULGENCE. And I love it.