Vintage Brownies

I'd passed this old Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook many a time while thumbing through our bookshelf looking for recipes, but never had I opened it, less made one of its recipes. Needless to say, it was long overdue and I had such a fun time looking through it! It's very 1950's housewifey (it was given to my grandmother as a wedding gift in 1952!), containing tips about how to remove odd stains from clothing, style tips, etc... 

{note the reinforcers keeping it from falling apart}

Brownies seemed like a good, simple recipe to try the cookbook out with! They contain shortening instead of butter, which you don't see too often anymore, so I was a bit skeptical at first, but all of that disappeared when I took my first bite! They are the perfect blend of cakey and fudgey with a delicate eggshell kind of crust on top. 

Brownies

1/2 cup of vegetable shortening

2 oz. bittersweet chocolate

3/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350º. Melt the shortening and chocolate in a bowl over simmering water and let cool. Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. Beat eggs until light, then add in sugar, whisking lightly until mostly dissolved. Add the chocolate mixture and beat. Add flour mixture and vanilla, beat again. Spread batter in an 8x8 foil covered and buttered pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

{hi, I'm Grace and I like putting things in mason jars}

yours truly,
grace

Vacation Snapshots

My family took a recent trip to one of my favorite places, Colorado! We spent a relaxing two weeks in Steamboat Springs and I wanted to share some of my favorite moments. (Not pictured: the accidental 6 hour hike) 

{day on the lake//sunrise balloon ride//hike to the summit//view from the balcony: via instagram}

{fresh peach danish at the farmer's market}

{the most beautiful pies and jams I wanted to devour in a less than ladylike fashion}

{the local gas station/landmark}

{an evening at the rodeo...}

{...complete with bucking broncos and hunky cowboys}

yours truly,

grace

The Best $10 I Ever Spent

Ok, so let me appropriately set the scene... I consider myself to be quite the ice cream connoisseur. I make it and I eat it (and I mean a lot of it). And I had seen the very seductive and intriguing Jeni's Ice Cream featured on many of my favorite blogs (read: Cupcakes and Cashmere) and was anxious to try it out for myself. I stalked my local Whole Foods and found out they had a mere two pints left. Being the OCD maniac that I am, I feared it would both be gone if I didn't get there within the next ten minutes.. so naturally, I did just that.

{don't you just loooooove the hand-written label?!}

I raced to the frozen foods aisle to find the two pints, in two different flavors, staring at me from behind the frosted glass. There was Queen City Cayenne and Ugandan Vanilla Bean. Now, some may call me boring, but I'll take vanilla over chocolate any day, and I figured it'd be a good base to try the product out with. When I got to the register and saw the price of my single pint, I practically ran out of the store. I mean who charges $10 for a pint of ice cream?!

{naturally, I couldn't even wait to photograph it before I dug my grubby little paws in there}

But, after getting home and eagerly shoving a spoonful in my mouth, I can without a doubt say this ice cream is the best $10 I've ever spent. It was rich and creamy and the flavor was delicious and sooooo not one-dimensional as some vanilla ice cream can be. Long story short, I recommend this stuff 100% and can't wait to try new flavors! It would also make a fantastic gift! They have a retail locator on their website and you can also order it online!

{so.. is it a problem that I've been eating ice cream for breakfast lunch and dinner? good, I didn't think so either}

yours truly, 

grace