Postcards and Brownies

I went overboard with Shabbat dinner last week. I NEVER make a dairy dinner but I made an exception this week to allow for a dairy dessert and to switch things up. On the menu was stuffed shells, eggplant caponata, gnocchi marsala, minestrone soup, buttered pasta for the kids, and of course challah. Everything was a new recipe that I made for the first time. It all turned out delicious, but the eggplant caponata and minestrone soup were extra special because they were very low in Weight Watchers points. Tons of flavor, filling, and Weight Watcher friendly, I will be making those recipes again.

I received some cranberries from our neighbor in the fall. At the time I didn’t have time to do anything with them as we were about to leave town. They have been in a freezer since then, and not our freezer, thanks Yelena 🙂 I finally retrieved them last week and made Jam. Spiced Cranberry Jam! It tastes like Thanksgiving. Some mid-winter canning was a fabulous mood booster.

My little bakers, aren’t they cute?!

The girls were really excited about this weeks baking adventure, BROWNIES!!! We made Salty Nougat Fudge Brownies and like the name says, they were a delicious combo of brownie and fudge. The crushed peanuts and Snickers bar gave them a salty kick. It was really hard to not eat them all. So far we have had great success cooking our way through the dessert cookbook and everything has come out perfect.

Have you heard of postcrossing? I started participating years ago and have been sending and receiving postcards through them off and on. It’s a site that enables strangers to exchange postcards internationally. It gave me a love affair with postcards. Even if I am not in the middle of a sending streak I will purchase postcards if I am out of town. I have a ton of cards, always hoping that I will have the perfect card for every one of my recipients. Check out postcrossing.com

This batch went out last week.