And I’ll get to that in a minute. Right now I’m listening to Richard Branson—whom I actually kinda think is cool—elaborate on a three-day fast for Darfur from his own freaking private island in the Caribbean. I’m thinking, “Uh…what? Three days of no food and suddenly you’ve done something important for humanity, dude?”

Never mind. I’ll not let this blog become a soapbox but I will say it is annoying. Donate tons of your money to aid or something, but three days fasting is not quite the humanitarian gesture you’d like to be. Moving on…

This week’s batch of granola included pine nuts and cashews. I used a little more maple syrup this time, plus I added some vanilla extract and a little cinnamon for variation and depth.

This week was the last of my brownie recipes/experiments (for the forseeable future). It didn’t require the use of a stand mixer, the excessive use of butter, so putting it together was easy.

Unfortunately, I reversed oven usage for the granola and the brownies. The granola went on the low rack—thus taking longer to bake—and the brownie went on a later higher rack thus—you guessed it—FREAKING BURNING.

They weren’t as burnt as the first batch a couple of weeks ago, but still I was disappointed. At least out of three,  I got one of them right, yeah? The LSC said he liked the middle batch best of all but these had a chewiness gooeyness that he really liked despite their glaring flaws.

New Classic Brownies

adapted from “Alice Medrich’s Cookies And Brownies” (Warner Books, 1999)

8 tbl. unsalted butter

4 oz. unsweetened chocolate

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. salt

2 eggs

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2/3 cup lightly toasted walnuts or pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line an 8-inch-square metal baking pan with foil. In top of a double boiler set over barely simmering water, or on low power in a microwave, melt butter and chocolate together. Stir often, and remove from heat when a few lumps remain. Stir until smooth.

Stir in sugar, vanilla and salt. Stir in eggs one at a time, followed by flour. Stir until very smooth, about 1 minute, until mixture pulls away from sides of bowl. Add nuts, if using. Scrape batter into prepared pan and bake 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare a water bath: Pour ice water into a large roasting pan or kitchen sink to a depth of about 1 inch. Remove pan from oven and place in water bath, being careful not to splash water on brownies. Let cool completely, then lift out and cut into 1-inch squares or wrap in foil.

As a treat for last night’s dinner, I made Orangette’s Caramelized Cauliflower in addition to the Chicken Paprika.

According to nutritionists, the serving size of a piece of chicken—or any meat, really—should be equal to a playing card. So, instead of using a large piece of chicken apiece for the LSC and I, I just used two. I had the LSC pound them out as they were required to be and then split them in twain.

Admittedly I didn’t have any nice warm bread to mop the tomato-ey  sauce, but I felt it was pretty good. The LSC felt the cauliflower outshined the chicken but I think the complements worked fairly well. I wouldn’t place this recipe in my immediate Go-To file but it made for a nice dinner nonetheless.

Chicken Paprika

4 (4- to 5-oz.) boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 1/2 tsp. paprika, divided

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1/8 tsp. ground black pepper

1 tbl. olive oil

1 cup chopped onion

1 (14 1/2-oz) can no-salt-added undrained diced tomatoes

1/3 cup coffee creamer or light cream

chopped parsley for garnish

Flatten chicken between 2 pieces of wax paper until an even thickness (1/2 inch). Season with 1/2 tsp. paprika and the salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet on medium-high. Add chicken; cook 3 minutes per side or until browned. Remove from skillet; cover to keep warm. Add onion to skillet; cook and stir 4 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and remaining paprika. Bring to boil. Return chicken to skillet. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 8 to 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Stir in cream until well-blended. Garnish with parsley as desired.