My name is Lindsay Frucci and I am a brownieholic. I love thick, fudgy, chewy brownies. I hate fat. In my food or on my hips, fat is something I like to live without. Since most thick, fudgy, chewy brownies are loaded with fat this created quite a problem. Were brownies without guilt a possibility? In January of 1995, I decided to try and find out. Since my family and I had already tried and rejected several commercially available fat free brownies (they either tasted like fruit or had no taste at all), I decided to see if I could come up with my own fat free brownie recipe. During the next few weeks, I made and threw away more pans of brownies than most people make in a lifetime. Fortunately, we were having some remodeling done on our home at the time and the two builders who were doing the work were only too happy to be my "official" taste testers. They took their mission very seriously, carefully evaluating every batch of fat free brownies for taste and texture. By the time the remodeling was done, I had a recipe for fat free brownies that were chewy, very rich and fudgy, and, best of all, FAT FREE I knew that I wanted to turn the recipe into a company, but with a background that included pediatric nursing and being a Mom, I had absolutely no idea how... Enter my local SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) office. There, I was incredibly lucky to be connected with two wonderful gentlemen who had had extensive experience in the food industry. With their expertise and guidance, No Pudge! Foods was begun. FAT FREE Original Fudge Brownie Mix first appeared on the shelves of a few New Hampshire stores in August of 1995.
