Gonna Bake Brownies Today...

Dare I?
Oh yeah.

For the last two months I've been on a self-imposed sugar-free diet that was scared into me through the watching of a youtube lecture by an obscure nutritionist. He warned of the dangers of high fructose corn syrup and fearlessly exposed the hidden agendas of coke companies who have plotted to turn the world into little gaseous blimps of obesity with arms and legs.

I figured that since school had started with a crazy rush of activity, and I only had time and energy to exercise once or twice a week, I had to do something or I would gain back the hard fought two pounds (four if I took off my shoes) I had managed to lose over the spring and summer by sticking to a grueling schedule of exercise:  walking, working out, climbing stairs, and even swimming with the ancient "water walkers" up at the city pool.
Sad, isn't it.
So, barring the very occasional relapse into a donut sin, I've kept my resolve, and I plan to keep it up. (Except for Thanksgiving Day...because I figure I daren't disdain all the God-given deserts after I've been so thankful for them.) And I've managed to lose another four pounds.
(And don't you dare make the obvious comment that my muscle turning to flab would account for that or I'll mark your comment as spam and report it to the blog police!)

Brownies are calling my name.
And I have no fear,  for they are sugar-free brownies, and there is sugar-free frosting to put on them.
We found them at the end of the well-stocked cake mix aisle at the supermarket. See for yourself: There are now sugar free vanilla and chocolate mixes. True, there is no great variety yet--no cream cheese icing for pumpkin-spice cake, nor gingerbread or pineapple--but I'm dreaming of the day when they will all be there.

Meanwhile, we've experimented a little over the past few weeks. The chocolate cake is a little dry, but it moistens nicely with applesauce in the mix. The vanilla cake--turned into cupcakes and made with applesauce instead of oil--is palatable, but problematic in the gastro-intestinal side effect domain. (In short, if you eat five or six of them, you need to seek out a lonely island instead of company, and you will understand how a volcano feels.)

But the brownies...well...they are nearly perfect. Today, I'm baking brownies!