Kim's Brownies

Whoever has the best mom out there, please stand up.  Well, she's probably wonderful but she probably won't hold a candle to mine.  I could list out all of her amazing qualities, but this is my food blog and I'd never get to the food!  Let me just tell you, if you don't know her - you're missing out.  If you do know her, you know exactly what I mean... She's the best.

We talk every day (sometimes several times) and our conversation almost always leads to food.  She tells me about a new recipe she tried or I ask her about something she used to make and how in the world to get mine to taste like hers.  She's the absolute best cook I know and most of the recipes I post will come directly from her box.

One thing she makes that she gets MANY requests for is her brownies.  She got the recipe from her friend Kim and her recipe card calls them "Kim's Brownies."  These brownies have a wonderful dense cake-y texture with the most wonderful fudge topping.  The best way to eat them is to pop one in the microwave for about 10 seconds to loosen up the fudge topping and let it drizzle down the sides with a big glass of milk on the side.  Goodness.  

First, gather your ingredients... Then find a super cute, blue-eyed assistant.

Get that cute assistant to help mix first four ingredients.

Slowly incorporate flour/cocoa into the buttery, sugar mix.

As you guessed, have the assistant help you pour the batter in a greased pan.

Throw it in the oven and wait a bit to start the icing on the stove.  When brownies are almost ready, melt butter in a saucepan and add milk and cocoa. Boil for one minute, remove from the heat and add powdered sugar.  Mix this until powdered sugar has dissolved.

Pour the icing on the hot brownies and let icing set up a bit before cutting into the pan (I know... the wait is excruciating!)  Once the icing has glazed over, cut yourself a square and ENJOY!

Don't forget to share with your assistant!  (Here's his wink to you.)

Kim's Brownies

2 c. butter, melted

2 c. sugar

2 t. vanilla

4 eggs

2 c. flout

5 T. cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cream melted butter, sugar, vanilla, and eggs.  Combine flour and cocoa in a separate bowl and slowly fold into the sugar/butter mixture until well combined.  Pour in a greased 9 x 13 pan and bake 35 mins.

Icing:

1 c. butter

3 T. milk

2 T. cocoa

2 c. powdered sugar

Melt butter in a saucepan and add milk and cocoa.  Bring to a boil for 1 min, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat and add powdered sugar.  Whisk until powdered sugar is dissolved and pour over brownies while still hot. 

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

I love soup.  It's really that simple.  I don't remember ever meeting a soup I didn't like.  I have tasted some soups that I didn't LOVE, but for the most part... it's pretty hard to mess up soup.  I wanted my first recipe to share to be one of my very favorites and just the name of it makes my mouth water.  Creamy chicken and wild rice soup.  Mm.

I'll start by saying that one of the reasons I love this soup is that I also love the perfect blending of carrots, onion and celery.  It's a great base for many dishes but it really creates that first layer of flavor in this soup.

When I first found this recipe, it was a little different.  It wanted you to throw raw chicken in the chicken broth with the cooked veggies to poach.  I got very sick in high school from food so anytime a recipe says raw, I do whatever I can to make that NOT raw.  Egh.  I have this adorable mini crockpot that a sweet lady from my church home gave me when I went off to college.  I can't tell you have many chicken breasts this little crock has cooked, but she's one of my favorite friends in the kitchen.  I can throw a few breasts or tenderloins in there in the morning with some water and by the afternoon, I can shred the chicken with the tiniest poke of a fork.  Gosh, she's handy.  I've never tried it but I'm sure you could use canned chicken if you like that, but I have also used rotisserie chicken before and that works great.  (I don't usually leave the grocery store without a rotisserie chicken!)

Anyway, here it is!  I love to serve this with cornbread (we love to add jalapenos and cheese to ours!) , crackers or bread for dipping.  This is also super good leftover or even works well to freeze.  Enjoy!

(I am also not going to claim to be a photographer...  My kitchen has terrible lighting so hopefully I will be thinking next time I cook this and take better pictures.)

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

2 T butter
2 T olive oil
1 c. onion, diced
4 ribs of celery, chopped
4 large carrots, cubed
6 c. chicken broth
3/4 lb chicken breast, cooked
6 oz box Uncle Ben's Long Grain Wild Rice, Original
1 1/2 c. half and half
1/3 c. flour
salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, heat oil and butter.  Stir in onion, celery and carrots on med heat for 10 mins until soft.  Season with salt and pepper.  Pour in broth, chicken, and rice with seasoning packet.  Cover and let simmer for 20 mins to cook rice, stirring occasionally.  In small bowl, whisk half and half with flour until smooth.  Pour into soup and reduce to low heat.  Cook until rice is soft and soup is lightly thickened.  Serve with crackers, cornbread or sourdough bread for dipping.