Chocolate Chip Raspberry Cookies - 578 Washington St #3, Brighton
Chocolate and peanut butter. Chocolate and mint. Chocolate and raspberries. The latter was intriguing. Karl and I decided to make cookies with fruit... after I found out I did not, in fact, have a weigh in the next morning. What fruit to choose? Raspberries. Chocolate chips? Definitely. In fact, let's double the amount of chocolate chips. I wanted to me mildly healthy, so I replaced half of the butter with applesauce and cut the amount of sugar used in half. Averaging about 106 calories per cookie, these kind of turned out like chocolate raspberry scones... but still cookies. But the combination of raspberries and chocolate was prime. SO GOOD. How have I not made these before? How have others not made these before? Seriously... here is the recipe. I looked at a recipe online but changed a lot. Replaced half the butter, didn't melt the chocolate chips, didn't puree the raspberries, didn't use vanilla chips and used half the sugar... so I'm basically just making most of this up.
Chocolate Chip Raspberry HEALTHY Cookies
- 1 cup butter, softened (like I said, I used a half cup butter, half cup applesauce)
- 3/4 cup sugar (I used 1/2 cup)
- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar (I used 1/4 cup)
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I used a cup and a half)
- 1/2 cup raspberries (no idea how much I used)
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup vanilla chips
- 1) In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in melted chocolate and raspberries. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture. Stir in vanilla chips.
- 2) Drop by teaspoonfuls 2 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 375 degrees F for 10-12 minutes or until edges begin to brown. Remove to wire racks to cool.
Brown Sugar Cafe - 1033 Commonwealth Ave, Boston
http://www.brownsugarcafe.com/
I'm so glad I have friends that like to do things. Sometimes I get so caught up in my busy life, that I forget to make time to share with them. Kena and I decided to try out Brown Sugar. Upon entering the building, I was taken back. First of all, the room was much larger than I expected and it was much nicer. Fancy almost... and I was in spandex. Whatever. Brown Sugar is a Thai restaurant on Comm Ave right next to City Sports. Everyone and their mother recommends it and even though I worked right next door for months, I had never been. This place was the Thai version of The Cheesecake Factory. I swear, the menu was like 10 pages long. Kena was right. I just had to pick something and stop reading everything, otherwise I would never decide.
Chicken lollipops. How could I not order chicken lollipops. So picture a lollipop, and then pretend it's chicken. There you go. The chicken lollipops were "battered and deep fried deboned chicken wings with stuffing of seasoned ground shrimp, chicken and vegetables. Served with sweet and sour sauce" (but I'm pretty sure it was plum sauce). Oh ... my gosh. These were amazing. In order to make these shrimp stuffed chicken balls look like lollipops, they shoved what I think was a chicken leg bone into it, and battered and fried that part too. The batter had some what of a subtle sweetness to it and was really light. It seemed like a really crumb-y batter and crisped up perfectly. The mix of chicken, shrimp and vegetables was delicious too. Seasoned perfectly. Savory with a thai twang. The lollipops were served on top of a bed of kale chips (perfect and delicious) and a few slivers of red pepper. The ultimate bite consisted of a chunk of the chicken/shrimp/veggie mix, topped with a few little kale chips, a sliver of pepper and a spoon of the plum sauce. MMMM mmm! I could've eaten a million.
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| My pictures do this this meal terrible justice |
After the three thousand years it took me to decide on what I wanted to eat, I finally decided to go with the Brown Sugar Mango Curry. "Ripe fresh diced mangoes and tender chicken slices, simmereed in a yellow curry base brightened with tomatoes, red and green peppers, onions, and crispy summer squash." Curry and I have been apart for far too long. The vegetables were perfectly tender, the chicken felt clean and fresh, and the smooth curry sauce had some decent heat but wasn't overwhelming. I have never had cooked mangoes before but they were fantastic. Their flavor changed slightly and they were nice and tender as well. I never would've guessed that mangoes and curry would go well together, but... they do! The combination of all of the parts were flawless. Mix it all wish some rice, and go home happy. Yummy!
Kena got a really fun dish too. She got some dish with shrimp, pineapple, veggies, and mushrooms in a mildly spicy chili sauce. The cool part was that the whole dish was served inside a hallowed out pineapple. It was so neat. I had a bite of her dish too and it had some serious flavor. Spice from the chilis but sweetness from the pineapple.
I'm not ashamed to say that I got a to-go box. But I was full. And I didn't even get dessert! My first introduction to Thai food was so worth it, as was the company :]
Curry Onion Apple Soup - 578 Washington St #3, Brighton
All this Thai food got me in the mood for curry. I always aim to make soup on the weekends, so I decided to experiment. I had some apples to use too. You can find anything online. Including an onion apple curry soup recipe. This was an adventure. A delicious adventure. I debated whether or not to blend it, but I'm glad I did. The soup was so smooth with a hint of spice and sweetness. I altered the recipe a little and didn't peel the apples. I'm glad I didn't because the apple skin bits added a cool texture to the soup.
Curry Onion Apple Soup
2 tablespoons butter
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1 1/2 heaped tablespoons all purpose flour
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 1/2 pints chicken bouillon
6 medium cooking apples, peeled, cored and sliced (I used Empire apples and didn't peel them)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
seasoning to taste
6 tablespoons unflavored yogurt
1) Melt the butter and fry the onion until soft but not browned.
2) Stir in the flour and curry powder and cook for 1 minute, stirring frequently.
3) Add the bouillon, apples and lemon juice.
4) Bring to the boil, stirring continuously.
5) Simmer for 10 minutes until the apples are soft.
6) Blend in a blender and serve with a swirl of yogurt.
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