Black Bean Brownies

CHOCOLATE BEAN BROWNIES

1 CAN RINSED & DRAINED BLACK BEANS
3 EGGS
3 TBS. OIL
4 TBS COCOA POWDER
A PINCH OF SALT
1 TSP. VANILLA
3/4 CUP SUGAR

MIX INGREDIENTS TOGETHER IN A BLENDER/ FOOD PROCESSOR UNTIL PUREE. POUR INTO A GREASED 8x8 CAKE PAN.
STIR IN SOME CHOCOLATE CHIPS AND NUTS
BAKE 350 APPX. 30 MIN
VERY DENSE CHOCOLATELY BROWNIE…

Currently they are still in the oven, so I'll post a review of the brownies later. If they are tasty I will be delighted, sense they are so easy to make and really cheap compared to most gluten free brownie mixes.

Secret Family Recipe

So I haven't had any interesting recipes to post for awhile. So I thought I would share with you about my baking experience this morning. We made Blueberry muffins according to our "secret family recipe". Here it is:

1 box Duncan Hines Bakery Style Blueberry muffin mix
3/4 cup milk (approximately)
3-4 spoons
2 chairs

Throw box into trash. Retrieve box from trash. Preheat oven to 400. Dump mix into large bowl. Help screaming children to pull chairs over to counter to stand on. Give middle child a time-out for knocking over baby brother. Add milk. Distribute spoons. Add egg. Help children stir. Put muffin cups in muffin pan. Realize that there are only four muffin cups, and grease rest of pan. Stop children from eating batter. Search for can opener. Drain and rinse blueberries. Add berries. Let each child eat batter on spoon. Spoon batter into muffin pan. Place muffin pan in oven. Remove muffin pan immediately. Sprinkle topping mix over muffins. Place pan back in oven. Set timer for eighteen seconds. When it beeps, reset for eighteen minutes. Remove all clothing and scrub self and children to remove muffin batter. Wipe down counters. When muffins are done baking, remove pan and set out of reach of children. No not there, they can reach it there. When muffins are barely cool enough not to burn children, let them have muffins. Realize it is time to leave to pick oldest child up from day camp, and hope she isn't to upset to learn that there are no Abigail muffins.

Oh yes, and apologize to husband when he gets home from work that the muffins are all gone. I think that Sammy ate at least six of them.

Fresh Tomatoes

My parents have given me a bunch of tomatoes from their garden. They are absolutely scrumptious. However, I was wondering if anyone had any recipes that incorporate fresh tomatoes, since there are more than we will possibly eat plain.

Jello Slush

Recipe from my mom:
boil 1 cup water
stir in Jello (according to the package, it takes about 2 minutes for the Jello to dissolve)
Remove from heat
Allow liquid time to cool, but make sure it remains liquid
(if the liquid is too hot it will melt the ice)
Put ice into blender
Add liquid Jello -- for one tray of ice cubes we put in half of the liquid Jello.
Blend until mixture resembles a smoothie more than a bunch of ice cubes (figuring out when the ice cubes are broken up enough is the hardest part in my opinion)

Grilled Stuffed Peppers

Take peppers, clean and slice in half long ways. Remove stems, seeds etc.
Chop a variety of vegetables in very small pieces (e.g onions, carrots, celery, zuchini)
Mix together: grated mozzerella, grated cheddar, crumbled feta, and ricotta cheeses, and one egg.
Select a variety of spices (e.g. garlic, chili powder, basil, oregano, black pepper)
Nuke veggies for about one minute.
Mix cheese, veggies and spices.
Fill pepper halves with mixture.
Place peppers on heated grill.
Cook until soft (should take about the same amount of time it takes to grill chicken).

Cake Suggestions?

Abigail's Birthday (4) is Sunday. I need to decide what kind of cake (shape/decorations) to make. It will probably be chocolate, because that is what kind of mix I have. Any ideas?

Recipes?

We seem to minimize the use of that word around here. For some crazy reason it is too much associated with work.

For the Confirmation/Graduation party last Sunday, Mom cooked enough food to last us for quite awhile. And enough bakery to last for an extra day or two.

Most of it however, runs along the lines of Shae's post for brownies. In fact, we used that same recipe. Also Rice Crispie Treats (see directions on either cereal box or marshmellow bag), & no-bake cheesecake (read box... I think this was the one thing I actually made). There were also 2 apple pies from Perkins (courtesy of gift certificates from blood drives). We picked the pies up Saturday before going out running (we were going to do it the other way, but the rain rearranged our schedule). The rest of the trip, everytime we got into the car, I would comment on how good the pies smelled. When we got home I was talking about something else and used the phrase "easy as pie" without realizing the pun.

The warm weather causes my dad to run the AC. Mom is loathe to use the oven during the summer, she tries to keep baking to the slow cooker and toaster oven. Or has dad grill hamburgers outside.

The one thing we made that I can guess a recipe for would be stuffed peppers. These were made in the slow cooker, which in our household is a rectangular-shaped container. A vague approximation of the recipe is as follows:
Cut green peppers in half.
Peppers will be stuffed with a mixture of rice and ground beef.
Cook enough rice for the # of peppers you wish to make.
Mix rice and uncooked (or cooked) beef.
Place mixture into peppers.
Cover base of cooking container in sauce.
Place peppers in container.
Cook until done. If beef was not originally cooked, make sure it is cooked.

Mom usually does not cook the ground beef. However, when I asked if she needed it cooked, I heard a response of "yes." The problem was, she heard the question as "should I leave this out?" as opposed to "should I cook this?" Luckily for me, she decided that since the meat was still frozen, it was just as well to cook it in advance so she wouldn't have to worry about whether or not it was done.

Well, I think that's all the talking about food I'll do for the time being. I see leftovers for dinner for the next few nights, but that was one idea while it was all being cooked for the party.