Thursday, June 15, 2006

Things I LOVE Thursday....

(Yeah I know last week it was Tuesday but....I'm getting ready for Girls Camp....need I say more?)

1. Flip N Fold - This may seem unnecessary but I got mine on a whim at Wal-mart over a year ago when they had them marked down to $4. I have an extremely narrow cabinet that I store towels in and I thought this might make it easier to fold the (MOUNTAINOUS) load of towels I do every day in a way they'd actually fit on the shelves. What I didn't expect was how GREAT it is for folding T-Shirts. My dear HH has TONS of T-Shirts. Being a wildland firefighter means you amass a boatload of T-Shirts which are emblazoned with the name of each and every fire. I can fold and stack 30 in the space of half that many when I use this little thing and they're perfect! Just like in the store! I love it!

2. Can "Things I love" be food? Sure....it's my blog and my list!!! These brownies are my cure for any sad day, the treat for any celebration and the basis for my reputation as a good cook (only in small geographic circles of course!).

The great thing about them is you make them in one pan....not a bowl, a pan.....no mixer, no mess and they're the perfect texture between cakelike brownies and fudgy brownies........mmmmmmm Now I'm hungry!

Indiana Brownies
1 cup butter (or margarine)
2 cups white sugar
4 Eggs
2 Tsp real vanilla (Mexican Vanilla is the BEST!)
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder

Preheat Oven to 350. Grease and flour a 13 X 9 inch pan (I like glass the best). In a large saucepan melt butter then remove from heat. Stir in sugar, vanilla, and cocoa powder. By now it will be cool enough to stir in the eggs one at a time till well blended. Then just add the flour, salt and baking powder and spread in the pan. Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes (I always get perfect brownies at 25 minutes but every oven is different) DO NOT OVERBAKE! If you want to frost these (totally unnecessary!) do it while they are warm because they're very tender. We use these to make a Death by Chocolate Trifle that's to die for!

3. One more thing I LOVE for this week.....my most visited website? ..... www.usps.com! Did you KNOW you can create a password protected account there and store payment information, create an address book of your most used addresses, and then just print AND PAY FOR postage right from your computer?!!! It's great. I ship things all the time (care packages to two far away girls that I miss) and this means absolutely NO standing in line at the post office. I just print out the pre-paid, pre-addressed label, stick it on the box and drop it at the post office (you can even request package pickup on-line and not go to the post office at all!). The other great thing is that I can get the priority mail boxes for free (either at the post office or order them dropped at my house....also free!) and pay only $8.10 for ANY WEIGHT that I can fit in the box! This is a great site.....there are lots of things you can order on-line there and just have your postman drop it off with the mail. I also just sign on and have my mail held when we're on vacation ....You gotta LOVE IT!!!!

11 comments:

Sarah said...

The flip-n-fold is the coolest thing I have ever seen! How do you find such amazing gadgets?

Blackeyedsue said...

I have got to make those brownies. I am drooling all over my keyboard.

I wonder if they still carry the flip-n-folds.

We recently discovered the pre-paid boxes at the P.O. LOVE them.

This is such a cute idea for Thursdays.

Bright One said...

Believe it or not you can actually order the Flip n fold online at the flipfold store!!! www.flipfold.com! (quite a bit more than the $4 I paid though) :(

utmommy said...

I love brownies!! Chocolate is my favorite. I'll definitly have to try those ones.

sweet mama entropy said...

Oh, those brownies look SOOOO good. I posted a brownie recipe today. Probably not as good as yours but they're low-fat and taste really yummy. Check out the recipe if you're interested and let me know what you think :)

Grammy said...

I'm all about the brownies - can hardly wait to try out the recipe. And I MUST learn more about the USPS. That sounds very efficient & cost effective. Thanks for the tips.

Unknown said...

I'm with you on the USPS.gov site. I sell on eBay and it makes it 500 times easier to pay and ship. Love it love it.

Gabriela said...

What a great post! So many cool things. I MUST have a flip-n-fold. And the brownies! Printing that recipe out Right.Now. :)

Grammy said...

Girls' camp is over. You've had a day to rest. So when are you coming back? I miss you

Patti said...

The brownies are the best in the world. The best. Everyone who makes them will love them. I grew up on these things and believe me, there is no better brownie. :)

momofalltrades said...

I adore click and ship too! Did you know they'll even deliver a whole box of boxes, right to your door...FOR FREE? ROCK.ON.

And I wonder if owning a flip and fold would actually mean I would FOLD all that laundry I wash?....