Brownies and Butts

Tomorrow we have a Lenten meal at our church. This is something that I truly enjoy. Not just the eating part, which IS fun - but the gathering together with my church family to chat and simply enjoy one another's company.

The Senior High is responsible for preparing and serving the meal this week. What that means in our house is that Doug is smoking some meat. The menu is "smoked pork sandwiches, desserts, and all the fix in's". Yesterday I went shopping for what we needed.

Actually, before I went I called a few of the area grocery stores to ask the prices for their "Boston Butt". Kind of made myself giggle when I would ask the butcher for the price of his butt. Sam's Club had the cheapest price, so I went there first. Then I went to our local Fareway to get one, too. Why? Because we really like the quality of the meat from Fareway. When I was headed home, I had three ten-pound butts traveling along in my van.

I carried them into the house - and it struck me. Here I was, groaning over carrying in 30 pounds of meat - and I had lost more weight than that! I used to carry that around, plus 50 more pounds! Every day. Everywhere. Wow. I had my middle child carry all three of them downstairs, and then when she complained I pointed it all out to her, too. She was a little taken aback. It IS pretty shocking to think about. Darling Husband even got a shot at it since he had lost 80 plus pounds, too. It really sinks it at weird moments. Learning to live within my calorie budget is an ongoing process.

So, TODAY - what did I do? I baked all afternoon. The desserts part of tomorrow night. I love to bake. LOVE IT! It makes me tired, and I don't like the messy dishes, but the experimenting in the kitchen and creating something edible is very satisfying for me. Probably part of the reason I had all the weight to lose. I made four different kinds of bars today. My high school students each signed up to bring a pan of brownies for the supper. To me that means a 9x13 pan since it is to feed a large number of people. Well, the recipes that I was finding (hooray for Pintrest!) was for an 8x8 or a 9x9 pan. I figured if that was the case, then I could just make four different things. Yippee Skippy!

We now have 1) Slutty Brownies; 2) Gooey Butter Bars; 3) Red Velvet Brownies; and 4) S'mores Bars. AND - I get to take them to church, taste them and walk away! BONUS!! :-)

But, what about the butts? Well, they have been seasoned and smoking away all day. We are on a learning curve around here for this smoking process. It is still pretty new for us. We asked for help - got some great advice, rubbed seasoning on, set the temp, create smoke, and watch the process happen. Tomorrow I will create a crock of baked beans, and we'll be set. I do hope everything turns out ok. It sure smells good around here!