Greetings, My Beautiful Lovelies: A Welcome Back Video with Emmy

It's great to see you, and welcome back to my channel. Today, I'm excited to share with you some updates and news that I think will be super helpful for all of you out there who love cooking and trying new recipes. Before we dive into the main content, I want to take a moment to thank our amazing sponsor, HelloFresh.

HelloFresh is an incredible food delivery service that brings fresh, pre-portioned ingredients right to your doorstep, allowing you to make a meal in about 30 minutes. I'm so grateful to have them as part of my channel because they truly understand the importance of cooking and trying new recipes. They offer a wide range of delicious meals that cater to various dietary needs and preferences, including low-calorie, smart carb, pescatarian, and vegetarian options.

One of the things I love about HelloFresh is their flexibility. You can change your delivery dates, meal preferences, or even skip a week if you need to. As we're seeing increasing temperatures in the summertime, they've also launched summer-only limited-time recipes that require no oven, so you don't have to heat up your house. This is perfect for those who want to enjoy fresh meals without having to spend hours in the kitchen.

Another benefit of HelloFresh is how much it cuts out stressful meal planning and prepping. You can get a meal on the table in about 30 minutes or even faster with their quick and easy options. And, did you know that HelloFresh uses almost entirely recyclable packaging or makes from recycled content? This is just another example of their commitment to sustainability.

Now, let's talk about what I'm excited to share with you all today. My family has been loving their meals from HelloFresh this week, and I have to say, our favorite meal was the Middle Eastern chickpea bowls. If you're interested in trying out HelloFresh for yourself, be sure to click the link down below or go to hellofresh.com and use my code, emmymade14, to receive 14 free meals, including free shipping. Big thanks to HelloFresh for sponsoring this video and for their continued support.

A Quick Update on My Zucchini Adventure

As I was planning out today's content, I realized that I haven't had a zucchini plant in my garden before, which might seem kind of weird. However, this year, I have two zucchini plants growing, and it's been quite an adventure so far. Look at the size of these zucchinis! They just appear out of nowhere after you've checked on them for a couple of days.

My kiddos had an absolute blast harvesting these zucchinis, and they couldn't wait to show me their handiwork. It was quite amusing to see them running towards me with the camera, saying, "Mom, Mom! Look what we found!" I have to admit, it's been a fun experience trying out my hand at gardening, but I think I might need some more practice before I can claim to be a pro.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en(upbeat music)- Greetings, my beautiful lovelies.It's Emmy. How are you?It's great to see you, and welcome back.Today's video is sponsored by HelloFresh,the food deliveryservice that brings freshpre-portioned ingredientsright to your doorstepso you can make a mealin about 30 minutes.HelloFresh is so great forbreaking out of recipe ruts.They have so many recipes to choose from,and they have lots ofoptions, including low cal,smart carb, pescatarian and vegetarian.HelloFresh is also super flexible.You can change your delivery dates,you can change your meal preferencesor even skip a week.And as we're seeingincreasing temperaturesin the summertime,HelloFresh is now launchingsummer only limited time recipesthat require no oven.So you don't have to heat up your house.HelloFresh cuts out stressfulmeal planning and prepping,and you can get a meal in about 30 minutesright onto the table,or in about 20 minutes usingtheir quick and easy options.And the packaging HelloFreshuses to ship your foodis almost entirely recyclableor made from recycled content.This week, my family's favorite mealwas the Middle Eastern chickpea bowls.So if you'd like to tryHelloFresh for yourself,click the link down below,or go to hellofresh.com anduse my code, emmymade14,to receive 14 free meals,including free shipping.Big thanks to HelloFreshfor sponsoring this videoand for their continued support.Now, today, I need touse up some zucchini.I am growing zucchini forthe first time in my garden,which seems kind of weird.I think I would have hada zucchini plant sometime,but I haven't.This year, I have two.That means I have a lot ofthese. (laughs)Look at the size of the zucchini.It's incredible.You just don't check theplant for a couple of days,and then this suddenly appears.My kiddos had the grandesttime harvesting this oneand this one and camerunning to me saying,\"Mama, look at the sizeof those zucchini!\"Absolutely incredible.Last year, I did a recipeon how to take zucchiniand turn it into pineapple.Very fascinating, kindof old-timey recipe.But I really get it now.Now that I have two zucchini plants,I have a lot of zucchini.So I've been braising it, sauteing it,putting in an omelets,and today I'm going to bemaking brownies with them.Yes, brownies.I adore brownies.I saw this shared King ArthurFlour's Instagram post.And I said, \"Yes.Yes, ma'am, I'm making that.\"So here we are today.So this recipe uses a food processorbecause we're going to begrinding up our zucchiniso it's undetectable in our brownies.The recipe says that you can use a blenderif you do not have a food processor.But definitely need some kind of machine,because we want this really fine.We don't want any little strandsof zucchini, none of that.Because these are brownies first.Cut it in half. Here we go.Ah!Ordinarily, we do not let these zucchinigrow to this size becausethey get a little bit tough.So baking with them is a great option.So a cup and a half is aboutone eight-inch zucchini.Now, the rest of this recipeis super, super simple.We're just gonna essentiallydump everything in.In goes the zucchini.Three...(timer beeping)Oven's ready.Three tablespoons of melted butter.Butter to me is essential in brownies.Essential.Three large eggs.One teaspoon of vanilla extract.Loop!(food processor humming)So that looks pretty liquified.1/2 teaspoon of baking powder.1/2 teaspoon of the espresso powder.This will make the chocolatetastes chocolatier.And I'm using the King Arthur brand.Some salt. Heaping 1/4 teaspoon, bloop.Salt's super important in my opinionwhen it comes to baked goods,because it makes itmore delicious somehow,kind of balances the sugar out.So 1/2 cup of flour.2/3 of a cup of cocoa powder.This is Dutch-processed cocoa powder,which is a little bit differentthan natural cocoa powder.Most cocoa powders thatcan find here in the Statesare natural, like Hershey's, for example.\"Natural\" meaning it's the dried remnantsof squeezing cocoa butterout of the cocoa mass.And then it's finelypulverized into cocoa powder.It's slightly more acidic.It has more of a reddish color to it.A little bit lighter than Dutch-process.Dutch-process orEuropean-style cocoa powderhas been alkalized,meaning that acidity hasbeen tamped down witha little bit of alkalization,so it has a lower pH...Actually, a higher pH!It's less acidic or tart in flavor;it has a darker color and oftena richer chocolate flavor.Now, it's important tolook at your recipe to seewhat your recipe requiresbecause we're dealing with pH here.It's going to affect the leavening.So if you're using baking soda,oftentimes, they ask fora natural cocoa powderthat will react with the baking sodato create those lovely bubbles,which will make your baked product rise.The Dutch-processed cocoa powderwill not react with thebaking soda in the same way,and you probably won't get as much lift.So if a recipe does not say specificallywhat type of cocoa powder,look at the leavening agent.If it's baking powder, youcan probably use either.But if it has baking soda,then I would opt for thenatural cocoa powder.Alrighty, back to this.Sugar: 3/4 of a cup.Gonna pulse this to combine it.We don't want to overmix thisbecause now we've added our flour,we don't want a tough brownie.So just a couple of pulses.(food processor pulses)Now, we're gonna add 3/4 of a cupof semi-sweet chocolate chips --Na na na.- - into the bowl.And we're just gonna givethis a couple of pulsesso we can chop them up just a little bit.So here I have aparchment-lined baking pan:it's lightly greased,and it measures nineinches by nine inches.Into our pan.It's pretty runny.Now, we're going to pop thisinto a 350-degree preheated ovenand bake it for 25 to 30 minutes,or until we poke a toothpick in itand we have a few moistcrumbs, no wet batter.And then we're gonnalet this cool completelybefore we make our frosting.Alrighty, my lovelies,the brownies are finished.So I went ahead and frostedthese with the recipethat was included in the recipe.I took 3/4 of a cup ofsemi-sweet chocolate chips,and then I added 1/4 cup of heavy cream;placed them together ina microwave-safe bowl,and microwaved them atthirty second intervals.For my microwave that was one minute,until the chocolate began to softenand the milk was nice and steamy.I mixed everything together to make sureall the chocolate wasincorporated into the cream.I poured that on topof the cooled brownies,used an offset spatula tosmear everything around.And then I placed it in therefrigerator to sit for one hourjust to get everything to set up a bitbefore I slice into them.So this is where I'm at right now.These look impressive.I mean, look at that luscious yum yum.But will it tastes impressive?Will I taste any zucchini?Will they be rich and gooey?Will they be cakey? I don't know.Let's find out.So this is why I like usingparchment when I make brownies.You can just pull it right out of the pan.So easy. Nothing sticks.So a relatively thin brownie --I would say maybe about 1/2 inch tall.If you wanted a thicker brownie,I would bake this in a smaller pan,maybe an eight-inch pan.But I still think it's gonna taste good.Okay.First in half.Look at that.Here is the finished brownie,and it looks beautiful.The glaze is shiny.The brownie looks decadent. Look at that.Completely forgotten that there's actuallya zucchini in here.Zucchini!(utensils rattle)Does that make it healthy?Does that automatically make it healthybecause there's a vegetable in here?No. I don't think so.But is it delicious?Let's find out.Okay, I'm gonna give this a cut.Look at that.Itadakimasu!Pretty delicious!When you look at the brownie,it looks really fudgy and dense.But when you eat it, it'sactually not that fudgy.It's not sticky or gooey.It's cake-like, but notfluffy at all like a cake.It still remainsrelatively light in flavor.It's not heavy or overly sweet.The butter flavor's in there,which I think is absolutelyessential to brownies.The little bit of chocolate chipsthat come sink to thebottom are delicious.Adds a little bit moretexture to the brownie as welland adds another punch of chocolate.Mm-hmm.And you don't taste a hint, not a lick,at all of the zucchini.None. Zero.That ganache frosting ontop is not overly sweet,and it's not excessive.Sometimes, when I have browniesthat have frostings on them,I have to peel off that layerbecause it's just so tooth-achingly sweet.This one is not.It's just more chocolate,which I think is wonderful.It's not too much chocolate either.Mm-hmm. It's quite nice.I think the only hint tothe presence of the zucchiniwould be the texture.It's dense, but not you fudgy,fudgy, super, super denseas some brownies are.But it's not quite cake-like either.It's sort of this kindof hybrid in between.If you've got zucchinis growing like I doin abundance in your garden,or your neighbor has justgifted you a bunch of zucchini,now you can have anexcuse to make yourselfa batch of scrumdiddlyumptious brownies.If you like a printableversion of this recipe,I'll put a link down below to my website,and thanks so much for watching.And big things to HelloFreshfor sponsoring this video.If you'd like to tryHelloFresh for yourself,click the link down below orhead over to hellofresh.comand use my code emmymade14to receive 14 free meals,including free shipping.Thanks again for watching.I hope you enjoyed that one.I hope you learned something.Please share this video with your friends.Follow me on social media,like this video, subscribe,and I shall see you in the next one.Toodaloo!Take care! Bye!(upbeat music)♪ One look ♪♪ And I breathe ♪(Emmy belches)\n"