Surprise! Brownies

Well, I missed last month's Surprise of pasta.  Or, rather, I made the pasta, ate and enjoyed the pasta, then never wrote my post.  Oops.  And I was well on my way to forgetting this month's Surprise, too, but I was reminded this morning, so was saved!  (Thank, Shell!)
This month we were encouraged to make brownies.  Yum.  I am married to a certifies chocoholic, and my girls seem to be following in his footsteps...  Don't get me wrong, I love chocolate.  But I am perfectly happy with non-chocolate.  Hubby?  If there is a choice, chocolate always wins.  Always. 
I found the recipe on the Sourdough Surprises Pinterest board and got to work.
The batter came together really easily.  I loved the way Eve looked going into the chocolaty gooeyness....

As I was putting the batter into the pan I realized that I had forgotten to add the vanilla.  Ummm...  oops?  So I added the vanilla to the pan...  It works, right?

Coming out of the oven things looked and smelled good.  I had thought the brownies would have risen more, but it looked fine.

Holy chocolate, gooey goodness!

These might just have been the best brownies I have ever made.  So yummy.  So rich, so chocolaty, so good.  I think we ate them in two days.  And that was only because I made us put them away before we finished them in one!  The sourdough tang was there, but very subtle.  It did just enough to enhance the chocolate.  So good.
So if you still thought that sourdough was only good for breads, let yourself be Surprised at the amazing things you will create with your starter!!

Daring to do it: en Croute

Another month, another fun challenge from another fun host!

Our lovely Monkey Queen of Don’t Make Me Call My Flying Monkeys, was our May Daring Cooks’ hostess and she challenged us to dive into the world of en Croute! We were encouraged to make Beef Wellington, Stuffed Mushroom en Croute and to bring our kids into the challenge by encouraging them to create their own en Croute recipes!

I love crust.  I am a bread girl, and crust falls into that category for me.  So this challenge was exciting for me.  Crust wrapped yumminess?  Yes, please!
As soon as I read the challenge and the recipes Monkey Queen gave us I remembered something I had made with my mom a year or so ago: Vegetables Wellington.  I knew that would be my contribution to the Challenge this month.  I used the recipe for puff pastry from the Mille Feuille challenge a few months back and made a yummy dinner.
The rolled out dough:

The veggies and beans, ready to fill:

Assembly - not the neatest job, but it worked:

Trying to make a pretty presentation...  trying being the operative word:

Flaky, vegetabley goodness:

Plated and ready to go:

We all loved it.  We all decided that we would love to try other things wrapped in dough.  Big Girl even said she wanted to be wrapped in dough!  While I didn't want to go quite that far, a few days later we did try something different: Veggie Burgers Wellington!
Fun little packages on a plate:

Yummy goodness inside!

Thank you so much, Monkey Queen, for bringing your flying monkeys out to play with us this month.  I loved this challenge, and I am so looking forward to wrapping lots of meals in dough in the future!!
Take a look here to see what my fellow Daring Cooks wrapped up!!