Black bean brownies-gluten free

These low-fat, lower sugar, gluten free brownies are a delicious way to get your chocolate fix! I played around with a recipe I found at Chocolate Covered Katie and I love the result!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups black beans (1 15-oz can, drained and rinsed very well)
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup quick oats (be sure the oats are certified gluten free if gluten is a problem for you)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup sugar or sugar substitute (honey, maple syrup, etc...)
• 1/3 cup applesauce
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2 eggs
•  2/3 cup chocolate chips. Do not leave these out!

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add all ingredients to a food processor or high-quality blender and blend until very smooth. I did 3 "batters" cycles on my BlendTec. Add batter to greased 8" or 9" pan and bake 20-25 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Do not over bake. Enjoy!

Adapted from a recipe at Chocolate Covered Katie.

Multigrain bread

The ladies over at Our Best Bites shared a fabulous multi-grain bread recipe. I am in H-E-A-V-E-N! And I pretty much subbed out all the white flour for whole-wheat. Because that's how I roll. Happy Bread making!

Wonderflour

I found a great recipe that I am anxious to try...as soon as I buy me some Spelt (I have barley and brown rice).

Apparently this makes great flour that is a superb substitute for white flour...even in desserts! I'll let you know the results when I try it!

Smoothie pops

Here is a healthy alternative to sugar/water pops. The Girl LOVES these!

Smoothie Pops
2 cups fruit (frozen or fresh, depending on what you have and what your blender can handle, I have to slightly thaw my froze fruit.
1 C milk (Almond milk is really yummy here, but we always need more fat and protein, so I use whole milk. Any kind will do, really.)
1 small container yogurt

Blend together.

Pour smoothie into ice cube trays, and secure plastic wrap on top. Cut slits with a sharp knife and have the kids insert the popsicle sticks.

Eat whatever leftover smoothie you have, and freeze the pops for about 4-6 hours, until froze. Yum!

*You can always add spinach. But, I realized you shouldn't mix dairy, or calcium with spinach because you probably won't absorb the iron. So use juice instead, and forgo the yogurt. There are lots of ways to mix these up!

This week's activities

An inspiring message I found on a friend's blog:
"If I had my child to raise all over again, I'd build self-esteem first and the house later. I'd finger paint more and point the finger less. I would do less correcting and more connecting. I'd take my eyes off my wathc and watch with my eyes. I'd take more hikes and fly more kites. I'd stop playing serious and seriously play. I would run through more fields and gaze at more stars. I'd do more hugging and less tugging." ~Diane Loomans

Five things to do with my girlies this week:
1.Play dress-up and act out a book
2. Memorize the 4th Article of Faith
3. Make up silly rhymes and illustrate them together. The more absurd, the better. ("The fat cat ate the hat. Then the rat ate the fat cat who ate the hat...") This activity will teach your child to listen for words that sound the same and to identify rhyming patterns.
4. Make pumpkin wheat honey muffins together. (Recipe below)
5. Go on a Spring Time scavenger Hunt.

PUMPKIN HONEY WHEAT MUFFINS

1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
1 ½ cups white flour
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. (heaping) all spice
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
4 eggs
15 oz. can pumpkin puree
1 cup vegetable oil
½ cup honey
Chocolate chips (optional)


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place muffin liners or grease and flour muffin pan(s) (makes between 24 and 30 muffins).

2. In a large bowl, stir together the flours, sugar, spices, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Make a well in the center of dry ingredients, and put in eggs, pumpkin, oil, and honey. Mix until dry ingredients are absorbed. Fold in chocolate chips if desired (1-2 cups). Fill muffin cups about 2/3 full.

3. Bake for 18-22 minutes in preheated oven, or until the tops of muffins spring back when lightly touched.

Spinach Smoothie

Ingredients:1 cup frozen fruit, thawed a little
1 cup packed fresh spinach
3/4 Cup vanilla almond milk or apple juice
1 TBSP chia seeds (optional, they get kind of gelatinous in water, but I like the texture. Plus, this adds omega 3's and some great nutrients to your smoothie!
1 heaping teaspoon soy protein powder (you can use whey protein powder, but then it wouldn't be vegan.)

Blend it all together. You'll want your fruit slightly thawed so you can blend it easier. The more frozen they are, the thicker your smoothie will be.

I get a big bag of frozen fruit smoothie mix from Walmart that has strawberries, pineapple, peaches, and mango. I think it tastes great. I also get a huge bag of frozen blueberries, they are about $8 each and last me 2+ weeks. I drink these, or similar smoothies about 5 times a week.

You can get soy protein powder from any health food store. It is expensive per pound, but you only need like 1/4 pound to last you a long time. 1 TBSP has 88 grams of protein!

The wagon keeps on rolling

Remember how I was supposed to not eat meat for a month? Self-imposed goal. Well, I ate meat a few times last week. I didn't really enjoy it, but it wasn't bad. And I'm not beating myself up. I think I'm trying to look at the larger picture of my overall health. So I'll keep trying to focus on whole foods and not eating heavily processed things and I'm sure I'll still feel great!

The main goal of this post is to share this:



Oh yes! Homemade bread. That's what I'm talking about. I took some to share with my Sunday School class today (12 and 13 year old kids) and the Bishop's son said "oh, whole grain," in a sarcastic voice. He's a great kid. He's 13...
ANYWAY...
To make this delicious stuff, follow this basic recipe, but in the beginning substitue a cup of wheat flour for a cup of rolled oats, 1/4 cup quinoa, and 1/8 cup chia seeds. Or, you can add whatever seeds or quick cooking grains you like (I wouldn't use whole wheat kernals or rice, they'll be hard in the bread.) Let the soupy mixture sit for 20 minutes before you add the yeast mixture, to absorb some of the moisture. Add an extra tsp of salt. I also added two teaspoons of soy protein powder (88 grams of protein per TBSP!)

If you would like free bread-making lessons, come on over! Or come for a free sample. If you live close, that is. And if you know where I live.

num nums

No, that is not a euphemism for anything. It's what my niece called anything tasty for a while.
And you can bet I'll be trying this pumpkin nutella cake this Thanksgiving!! Thanks Two Peas and Their Pod!

Yummy stir-fry

I decided that instead of trying crazy new recipes all the time, I would just modify recipes I already like. So here is my Vegan veggie/lentil stir fry. (I would have used edamame, but I didn't have any.)

3 cups fresh veggies (your favorites, I used brocolli, cauliflower, and carrots, 1/2 onion).
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1/4 C soy sauce
1/2 C vegetable broth
1/4 C water
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
dash black pepper
1/2 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 C cooked lentils

Start rice cooking. When it has 15 minutes left, start stir-fry

Heat oil in skillet and stir fry veggies for 4 minutes. While veggies are cooking, stir together the rest of the ingredients, except the lentils, dissolving sugar and mixing well. Stir sauce and lentils into the veggies and cook for 2-3 minutes. Stir in a little thickener (cornstarch dissolved in water) and simmer until veggies are as tender as you want them and sauce thickens.

YUM!

Progress

Do you think eating 12 pumpking chocolate chip cookies cancels out any good I've done from not eating meat the last two days? And would you believe how tempted I was by a sausage McMuffin from McDonalds this morning?

This not eating meat thing is hard!

My motivation right now is really curiosity. I'm curious how I'll feel at the end of the month by not eating meat.

Here are the recipes from this week's meals so far:

Broccoli Cheese Calzones:
1 container ricotta cheese
1 box (9oz) frozen broccoli, thawed (I used 1 raw bunch, chopped)
1/3 cup grated parm cheese
2 egg whites
1 tsp dried Basil
1/4 tsp garlic powder
pizza bread dough
1 can pizza sauce (or make your own)

Mix all but the last 2 ingredients together. Spread onto rolled out dough, fold over, and seal edges. Bake at 400 F for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown.
Verdict: Good. Not great. DH liked them, except the bread part. I probably could have just baked the filling with noodles or something for him. Or put it into a veggie lasagna.

Mediterranean Minestrone Casserole:
3 Medium carrots, sliced
1 medium onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 cups water
1 cup vegetable broth
2 6 oz cans tomato paste
2 TBSP Italian seasoing
1 TBSP sugar
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
2 cloves minced garlic
1 1/2 cups cut green beans
1 Cup uncooked elbow noodles

Mix everything except the noodles and green beans into a crockpot and cook on low for 6-8 hours. 30 minutes before serving, turn crock pot to high and stir in noodles and beans. Top with parmesan cheese.

Verdict: make sure you cook your green beans all the way. Ours were too crunchy. This was good. It would have tasted better with some italian sausage... And it kind of looked like throw-up. Not to deter you from making this. It was good. Just not THAT good. If I make it again I will probably use kidney beans.

Anyway, things are going well. I'm determined. And my grocery bill was ON budget this week, WAHOO! So that is a major motivation to not eat meat. And I got cage-free eggs on sale, so I'm excited to try those tomorrow. We'll see if I can taste a difference. It's ok if you think I'm nuts. I probably am.

Apple Carrot muffins

Or what I like to call: Carrot cake for Breakfast!

If you even remotely like carrot cake, you'll love this recipe! (adapted from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups raisin bran cereal
1 1/4 cups wheat flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup canola oil
3/4 cup finely chopped peeled tart apple
3/4 cup grated carrots
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Directions
1.In a bowl, combine the first six ingredients. In a small bowl, beat the egg, buttermilk and oil. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in apple, carrots and walnuts. Fill paper-lined muffin cups or cups coated with nonstick cooking spray three-fourths full. Bake at 400 degrees F for 20-23 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Serve warm.

My 2 year old loves everything about these, except the walnuts, which you can omit. In a brilliant move, I shredded a bunch a carrots I bought in bulk and froze them. There's my pat on the back for the day! (wink!)

Oh, and if you don't have buttermilk, no worries. 1 cup regular milk + 1 tsp apple cider vinegar is a substitue for a cup of buttermilk. For this recipe I use 3/4 cup milk and almost a tsp of vinegar. Happy baking!!

Homemade Taco Seasoning

I love tacos! Taco salad, taco soup, anything with taco seasoning is just delicious. But I hate store-bought taco seasoning. I haven't found many that don't have MSG, and the seasoning packets can be expensive. Not to mention high in sodium. So I found a recipe from allrecipes and tweaked it a little. It was delicious in my taco salad topping! Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients
4 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoon paprika
6 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoon black pepper

Directions
In a small bowl, mix together chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper flakes, oregano, paprika, cumin, salt and pepper. Store in an airtight container.

*Image courtesy grubtank.com

Things to cook Tuesday

Here is a recipe I can't wait to try, courtesy one of my favorite cooking blogs, Our Best Bites:

Sweet and Spicy Cucumber Slices

1-1/2 lbs cucumber (about 3 medium), peeled, halved lengthwise & thinly sliced
2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 c rice vinegar, seasoned or regular
1/2 c water
3 Tbs sugar*
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
2 Tbs minced red onion

Place cucumber slices in a colander sitting over a bowl, sprinkle with salt and toss well. Let sit for 1 hour refrigerated. It doesn't hurt to toss the cukes a few times while they drain as well. While cucumber slices are draining, prepare marinade below.

Combine vinegar, water, sugar and red pepper in a small saucepan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cook until reduced to a 1/3 cup (about 10 minutes). If for some reason you boil for too long, just add a little water until you have 1/3 C. Remove reduction from heat and add onion. Let mixture cool to room temp.

When cucumbers are done resting, combine with the vinegar reduction. This can be served immediately, but for best results refrigerate until well chilled.

Two for one!

Here is a super easy recipe for 2 quick meals:

Day one: Easy Parmesan Chicken, rice, and steamed veggies.

Make twice as much as you need to feed your family. (for me and DD1, it was 1 piece of chicken and 1 cup of rice)

Chicken:
Coat boneless skinless breasts in parmesan cheese, and saute over medium high heat in 2 TBSP Olive Oil. about 2 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. You don't need to cook it all the way through. Place chicken in 9X13 pan and cover with foil. Cook on 375 for 15 min or until juices are clear: DON'T overcook. Let sit 5 minutes before serving. (This lets the juices redistribute so the chicken is tender and juicy!)
Rice: I used brown rice. It's healthier.
Serve your chicken, rice, and veggies however you like! Cut up your leftover chicken into cubes, and store with the leftover rice.

Day Two: Easy chicken fried rice
Heat 3TBSP oil in pan. Dump in your leftovers with some onion powder (or onions) and a little garlic powder. Saute. Add in 1-2 cups frozen peas and carrots (defrosted). Stir fry for 2 minutes. Push to side and cook a scrambled egg. Add 1-2 TBSP soy sauce and 1 tsp sesame oil.
Mix, and serve. (You can add green onions, or spice this up any way you like! Very versatile!)

Healthier Homemade Chicken Nugget

One thing I don't enjoy about a lot of quick meal plans is the use of frozen, processed foods. Not that those foods are tasty, but they are expensive (and I'm not a couponer) and exceedingly unhealthy! Unfortunately, the toddler LOVES chicken Nuggets. I bought some on sale once, and she ate them everyday for lunch for an entire week. Right then I decided that frozen processed foods are not going to be a regular occurence on my menu, so I came up with an alternative I'd love to share:

Homemade, extremely yummy, and much more healthy Chicken Nuggets. You need about 20 minutes, depending on how big a batch you want to make. You can make a ton and freeze, or keep in your fridge, or just make enough for lunch/dinner. The recipe would make enough for 4 people at least!

Ingredient:
4 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed into 1-2 inch pieces.
1 cup (ish) Italian bread crumbs (You can use regular, but I like the seasonings.)
1/2 cup parmesan cheese.
1/3 cup Olive oil (or canola, still pretty healthy.

Directions:

Mix bread crumbs and Parm cheese in a tupperware container (with lid. Sometimes I soak my chicken pieces in milk before adding it to the mixture, but you don't have to. Add the chicken and shake shake shake.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a skillet. You want it to be about 1/8 inch covering the bottom of the pan. Make sure the oil is hot before adding the chicken, or the chicken will soak up too much oil. I use a little lower than medium-high temperature. If it's too hot, the outsides of the chicken will burn and the inside will be raw.

Once the oil is hot, drop your chicken in one piece at a time. Cook 1-2, minutes, turn and cook 2 more minutes. Really, you want each side to be golden brown.

Remove chicken from pan and place on paper-towel lined plate (to absorb extra oil).

You may have to fry the chicken in separate batches, depending on how big your skillet is.

I think these taste great with no sauce, or even on a salad! YUM! DD dips hers in ranch!

My new favorite blog.

Ok, I'll admit it. I LOVE to cook. Making good food for the people I love, or even just for myself, is a delightful experience. So imagine my joy at finding THIS blog. I mean, how awesome is this? In fact, she is my hero. I had tried doing this before, categorizing meals, writing lists and prices and recipes. But I haven't. I'm almost glad I didn't because Let Me Plan Dinner is AMAZING! Check it out!

Bread

Heather recently posted what she has learned about great homemade bread. Read it.

I wanted to share my recipe as well as what I do. I think good bread only has a few ingredient. But you need all of them or it won't work out!

warm water
yeast
sugar/honey
salt
oil (I like to use Olive Oil)
flour. (This recipe is for wheat-based flour, I should try it with oat or other flour!)


As Heather mentioned, you should activate your yeast first. I use Fleishman's yeast and it works fine, but I do keep it in the freezer.

I don't really have exact measurements, but I'll give approximations:

2 Cups warm water
1 Tbsp yeast
1 Tbsp sugar/honey (you can add more if you are making dough for something like cinnamon rolls)
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp oil
4-5 cups flour (I use 1-2 cups whole wheat, and the rest white flour)

First, mix your water, yeast, and sugar. Make sure your water isn't too hot, it will kill the yeast. If it burns you it's too hot, otherwise it's fine. If it isn't warm it won't activate the yeast as well. Dissolve the yeast and sugar, and let this sit for 5 minutes or so.

Add Salt and oil. Then, if you are using partial wheat flour, add that, mix well, and let it sit. 5 minutes should do the trick (the whole wheat flour needs more time to absorb the moisture, this will prevent you from adding too much flour).

Add the rest of your flour, one cup at a time. I don't have a mixer, so I knead my dough by hand. I don't think it's too inconvenient. My sister doesn't like having to clean her mixer, but cleaning your hands is no treat either. Make sure you take your rings off before you knead.

This is especially where Heather's post helped me. I would knead the dough for 1 whole minute, then if you need more flour, add 1/2 cup at a time until the dough isn't too sticky. You want to make sure you knead it enough. It's hard to explain how you know you've kneaded it enough. If you're using a mixer, it will pull away from the bowl. If not, just practice a few times and you'll get the hang of it.

I use this bread dough for a variety of things. Pizza, rolls, cinnamon rolls, breadsticks. It's pretty yummy! I should probably start making loaves for sandwiches and such.

Favorite Recipes

I've been meaning to post some of the yummy dinner recipes I've made over the last 2 months. I'm finally getting around to it. All of these dishes are yummy, inexpensive, healthy, and EASY!!! Hope you enjoy them, we sure have!!

Tortellini Primavera (5 stars from DH=Amazing!)
1 package cheese tortellini, 20 ounces
1 bag frozen sugar snap stir-fry peas
1/2 pound sugar snap peas, halved if desired
1/2 cup Diced tomatoes
1 jar Alfredo sauce, 16 ounces

Cook tortellini as per package instructions. Add vegetables two minutes before pasta is done. Cook until tender. Drain. Pour sauce into pasta pot and cook over low heat until hot. Remove from heat, add pasta and vegetables and toss to mix and coat.

Pasta Faglioli (thick soup, crock pot)

--1 pound lean ground beef, browned and drained
--1/2 large red onion, chopped
--1 cup carrots, chopped
--2 celery stalks, sliced
--2 cans (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes (and juice)
--1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
--1 can white beans, drained and rinsed
--4 cups beef broth (check label for gluten!)
--1 jar (16.5 oz) pasta sauce
--2 tsp oregano
--1 T Tabasco sauce
--1/2 tsp salt
--1/4 tsp black pepper
--1/2 cup dry pasta, to add at end of cooking time (I used TJ's brown rice fusilli)

The Directions.

Use a 6 quart or larger crockpot, or cut the recipe in half. This makes a lot.

Brown the meat on the stovetop, and drain well. Let it cool a bit.

Chop up the carrots, onion, and celery. Add it to the empty crockpot.
Drain and rinse the beans, and add them. Add the whole cans of tomatoes, and the pasta sauce. Add the beef broth. Add the salt, pepper, oregano, and Tobasco sauce. Stir in your meat.

Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or high for 4. When the vegetables are tender, stir in the 1/2 cup of dry pasta.

Favorite White Bean Chicken Soup
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and chopped
1 package frozen white corn, 9 ounces
2 cans Great Northern beans, undrained
7 ounces green chilies, diced
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon Oregano
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, optional
3 cups Chicken broth
3 tablespoons lime juice

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil. Add cooked and chopped chicken, corn, beans, green chilies, spices, broth, and lime juice. Stir until well blended. Bring to a boil, then turn heat to low and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. Garnish with sour cream, corn chips, and grated cheddar cheese.

Apricot Chicken
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 bottle Russian salad dressing
1 cup Apricot jam
1 package onion soup mix

Place chicken in a greased casserole dish. Combine dressing, jam and soup mix. Pour sauce mixture over chicken. Bake uncovered at 350 for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Pretty Chocolate Chip Cookies
1/2 c. butter, softened
1/2 c margarine, slightly melted
1 c. white sugar
1 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3-3 1/2 c flour (not too sticky, but be sure dough isn't dry, I always use 3 1/2 cups)
1 pkg of your favorite baking chips, and nuts if desired (semisweet, butterscotch, whatever!)

Mix all and bake at 350 for 11-12 minutes. (don't overcook!)
Enjoy! These are seriously amazing. I got the recipe from a ward cookbook, and I always get compliments on them!! And SO easy to make!

Chicken Slow cooker week!

Next week is Chicken Slow Cooker week! I've posted some recipes on the google calendar (scroll to the bottom of my blog to view). On Saturday I will add a linky thingy for you to blog about your favorite slow cooker chicken recipes and link up! It will be a Chicken slow cooker McLinky party! Yeah!

*Image from Foodnetwork.com*

Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies

Here is my favorite twist on traditional brownies!

What you need:
1 box brownie mix (or prepared brownie if you do it from scratch)
1 pkg cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup white sugar
1 egg

Prepare brownie mix and put in greased 9x13 inch pan

mix together cream cheese, sugar, and egg. Mix WELL. Drop dollops of cream cheese over brownie batter. Use a butter knife to swirl.

Cook about 15 minutes longer than the brownie package instructions, or until toothpick comes out clean (it WILL take longer than the instructions.)

Cool and enjoy. These are SO divine!