This week, he gave me a brownie mix.  Fat-free brownies.  Hmm… is he trying to tell me something or is he being sweet?

I hate to doubt Joe, but my first thought was, “A pan of brownies could be good, but if they’re fat free they’re going to suck.”  And while there’s no fat in these, carb counters beware — these do pack 26g of carbs per serving.   But that’s not my first concern these days, and I was intrigued.  I wanted them to be good, to live up to the promise.

You mix these little guys up with just yogurt.  The instructions on the side suggest you can make a whole pan in the oven like all normal people, and run the extreme risk of inhaling an entire pan of brownies as well.  Or, you can microwave a single serving.

So I set my doubt aside and decided to make a single serving in the microwave.  That way I figured I wouldn’t waste so much yogurt when they did indeed, suck, and I tossed it all in the trash.  Ok I didn’t set ALL my doubt aside.  Because to my mind, the only thing that sounds less appetizing than a fat-free brownie is one cooked up in the microwave.

I mixed the brownie with the yogurt in a custard cup skeptically, and was disheartened when it didn’t look like it was going to come together at all.  It was just this weird mix of crumb-covered yogurt bits and powder.  But eventually it did combine to make a brownie-batter-like paste.  Hmm, we’ll see.

I chucked the cup into the microwave and gave it :45.  Licked the spoon I used to mix it, and amazingly that did taste like brownie batter.  But I’ve had those rubbery “baked” goods that come from the microwave before.  This is still going to be bad news – it’s just too good to be true.

As it turned out, I was right about not mixing the whole box.  But only because they would have all jumped out of the pan, into my mouth.  These things are amazing.  I need to have more faith in my new relationship with that intrepid adventurer Trader Joe.  He hasn’t steered me wrong yet.

The brownie came out of the microwave looking legit – not a super cakey brownie, but also not rubbery.  It was just the way I like a brownie – moist and chocolaty and the only thing that would have made it better would be all the things that would make it baaad – ice cream, hot fudge, cashews…  I didn’t even miss all those toppings, and thoroughly enjoyed the warm chocolaty goodness of that delicious little 130 calorie, fat free treat.

You’ll never catch me messin’ round town with another man, Joe.  Just keep those brownies coming.

–In the interest of clarity, I paid full price for this mix and am not receiving any compensation for this review.  I just love the brownies and wanted to let people know about them.

Craving pancakes but think you can’t spare the points?

Mmmmmmmmpancakes.  They are one of our downfalls, so we decided we needed to find a nutritious, lower calorie and healthier alternative to these Saturday morning favorites.  We like ours covered in syrup, butter and because we’re creative (though some may think we’re weird), we like to add peanut butter and sometimes even cinnamon on top of that.

The cooks at MagicallyDelicious took our demands to the test kitchen and whipped up these taste-alikes that we flipped over.  Here is the ultra-complicated recipe so you can indulge in these lower-calorie pancakes for a hearty breakfast that is full of fiber.

Ok I hope your culinary skills are up to snuff for this super complicated recipe.  Ready?  Here we go.

MagicalMakeover Buttermilk Peanut Butter Pancakes

1 cup Krusteaz Fat Free Buttermilk complete pancake mix

2 T PB2 powdered peanut butter

1 t vanilla extract

3/4 cup plus 1 T water

Preheat skillet or griddle on medium-low heat.  Combine dry ingredients.  Add water and vanilla; stir to just combine (overmixing will make the pancakes less fluffy).  Test heat of skillet by dropping a little water on the skillet.  It should dance and sizzle on the surface but not instantly evaporate.  Make those pancakes.  Recipe makes 2 servings of two pancakes each.

Now here’s the magic part.  We ran these through our points analyzer and compared them against their full fat frere (that’s brother in French–we’re feeling continental today and it alliterated well) as we would normally eat them both, with butter (1 tablespoon) and syrup (1/8 cup).  Here’s how they stack up:

Dad:  Do you want me to make you a grilled cheese sandwich?

Kids (giggling, already in on the joke):  Yeah!  Make me a grilled cheese!

Dad:  Poof!  You’re a grilled cheese sandwich!

So we loved our grilled cheese.  It was both comfort food and a delicious treat Dad made for us.  Grilled cheese and funny-shaped pancakes were his specialties…probably still are.  I look forward to my nephew giggling over the same corny joke.

Grilled cheese isn’t something I’m likely to give up; it tastes like home to me.  So, I needed to find a healthier way to enjoy the warm gooey crunchy taste of home.  Here is a comparison of my version vs. good old Dad’s version of this classic.  I refuse to give up the taste, so this isn’t as healthy as it could be.  But I’ll throw in a note at the end of how to shave off even more points.  But the version I outline for you here tastes just like the real thing.

This MagicallyDelicious version will save you 28 g of fat and 9 points over Dad’s version and it’s just as creamy delicious.   If we really are what we eat, you’ll be a skinny grilled cheese in no time.