Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Low Fat Delicious Brownies, A Great New Website/Blog and A BIG Boy Bed!

Let's start with the bed.  Taylor is almost 5 1/2 years old.  Up until today, he's still been sleeping in a toddler bed.  Yes, the ones that use a crib mattress.  Oh, don't feel bad for him.  He's wanted to keep that bed.  I would feel bad putting him to bed at night with his BIG, little body almost being oversized for the mattress.  I recently asked him if he wanted a big bed yet like his brothers.  He finally said yes, but only if he could get one just like theirs with shelves (their shelves are full of junk!).  We tried to call Nebraska Furniture Mart (love this place!) to order a bed just like the others, but they no longer carry that bed.  So we all made the trek to Kansas City last week to look at beds for Taylor.  We found one that we agreed on and bought it for delivery today.  Taylor was so excited that when he got home from school today his new bed would be here!

He went from this---

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TO THIS!

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Pretty cool!

Mom, when you said in an email recently--

"That's special that T gets his own big bed!  More places to hide stuff under....hmmmmmmm."

Oh, if you only knew what he'll now be able to hide under this bed!

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See the little door down there on the left?

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Peek-a-boo!  His very own hiding place/cubby hole/junk storage under the whole bed!  He loves this and I love this and the brothers all think it's pretty cool, too!  Now THAT'S a bed!

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___________________

Low Fat Brownies (with black beans)

Combine dry ingredients in medium size bowl:

1 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup cocoa powder

2/3 cup brown sugar

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips (can omit for even less fat)

1/2 cup toasted, chopped walnuts (can omit for even less fat)

Whisk together.  Add:

3 eggs (or as I did, 4 teaspoons meringue powder egg whites to the dry ingredients, equals 2 egg whites plus 1/4 cup water plus one large egg)  Could also use 3/4 cup Egg Beaters

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Put 2 tablespoons canola oil in liquid measuring cup, to it add black bean puree to equal 2/3 cup   (Black bean puree is so easy.  Take 1 can of black beans, including the liquid and puree in food processor or blender until smooth and creamy!) *or you could use all bean puree or half oil half beans, I wanted a little oil

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry until combined.  Spread batter in a 9x13 baking dish lined with foil and sprayed with cooking spray.  Bake in 350 degree oven for about 22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out mostly clean.  Cool brownies on wire rack until completely cool.  Remove from pan using foil edges and cut to desired sizes.  I did 24 brownies.

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These are just slightly cakey, but still fudgy and really good.  You cannot taste the beans AT ALL!  You can omit the chocolate chips and/or walnuts for less fat, or add whatever add-ins you want.  You can also make brownies with a boxed mix and just use bean puree in place of the oil as well as egg powders or Egg Beaters.  Above are my brownies from scratch.  Here is a brownie from the  boxed mix.

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They are both good.  You can get the boxed brownies video demo on the link above from Crystal at Everyday Food Storage.  Check out her great blog for all kinds of recipes and ideas and ways to use up things in your pantry and food storage.  She is linked up with some other great gals to make another great blog Fun With Food Storage.  Together they share ways to plan your food storage, how to get the best deals buying things you'll need and use and what to do with it (recipes!) once you have it.  Check it out this week, they are having a great giveaway, too.

**Some of my blog readers may be wondering what "food storage" I'm talking about.  I am a member of the LDS Church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) and we believe we should and have been asked by leaders to have at least a 3 month food supply in our homes.  The goal is to really have a one year supply for your family.  With all that is going on in the world, you just never know when you may be in need of food for your family (natural disaster, power outages, etc.) as well as to help others.  I am FAR from having all the necessities and food storage our family needs, but am working on it.  Do you have enough food and water storage in your home if you were to be out of power or have other needs (job loss, etc.) to support your family?  If you do, GREAT!  This is more just a reminder to myself to work on it more!  You can find out more information about our church and/or food storage on the links I've provided above.  Check out that Fun With Food Storage site for great, fun ideas! 

Make ya some brownies with black beans.  I am most excited that my kids have NO idea there are black beans in them and they like them as much as any brownies I've made.  Taylor especially is my picky eater and I know doesn't get enough protein and fiber in his diet.  He even helped me make the brownies and because I already had the beans pureed, probably thought the puree was some kind of chocolate or something.   He didn't even question it.  Now I just need to figure out how to cut some of the sugar a bit!  

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those look rich and fudgey, I have been wanting to try using beans in my brownie recipes. Yours look great!

Lisa Ernst said...

My husband and I recently set ourselves up to have at least a 3 month supply of food and water. Probably what we have will last much longer. We went to Costco and got lots of bulk food items that have a long shelf life. It was kind of fun actually. Brownies look interesting with the bean puree! Never would have thought of that.

Clumbsy Cookie said...

Now that's a bed!
I saw your comment on Anna's blog yesterday and was curious to see them. I believe you they're good, on of my favourite tarts is made with beans (white ones), so I'mm all for the beans in sweets!

Anonymous said...

You did well on your quest for a great bed! Maybe you should buy another one like it for Sam...but not put it up until he is ready for it! Then they will have matching ones.

Glad to see you plugged funwithfoodstorage.net. I love their site!

Par said...

Nice bed, looks like it have lots of storage.

Leslie said...

OH MY WORD..I cant believe he still wanted to sleep in that little bed!! I bet he feels like a king now!

The Peanut Butter Boy said...

I've been looking for a homemade black bean brownie recipe, how well does this really stack up to normal brownies? Are they really close enough in texture so as to not notice?

And that bed is awesome, I want a secret compartment under my bed! I could store a lifetime supply of peanut butter in there and it could be my happy/safe place

Jennifer said...

I have been wanting to try this, too, and since I just got a new work bowl for my food processor, I'll have to give it a shot. I love black beans! I must admit, though, that the gunk in the can (the liquid-y stuff around the beans) has always creeped me out, so usually I rinse the beans really well before using them in recipes.

Becky said...

You brave person, hard boiled eggs in your cookies, beans in your brownies, what a sport. I'm so glad you're brave, keep paving the way for the rest of us chickens. They look yummy!

Anonymous said...

Very cute bed with all the frogs and the brownies wow...they look so perfectly moist!

Randi said...

I love the idea of using bean puree, but I dont want to use the liquid from the can. Its very high in sodium and I worry about that in my diet.

Tiffany Winters said...

Love the bed with all the storage space... brilliant really!

Megan said...

Katrina,
I actually read this earlier, but didn't leave a comment. I also saw Anna's posts about similar recipes. I suppose if I could just get past the idea of black beans - they give me the heebee-jeebees. I'm sure these are super healthy, but you know..... I'm such a wimp with certain things.

Jersey Girl Cooks said...

Cute bed! I am going to try black bean brownies soon

Pamela said...

That bed is awesome!! And apparently, someone likes frogs! :o)

Max and Deborah said...

I want a bed like that!!! How fun and cool that is!

HangryPants said...

Hi! I am so glad you found my blog from Tina's blog because now I have a new wonderful blog to read! I had an "incident" with bean brownies once, but these look fabulous. I think you've inspired me to try again.

Heather

P.S. Enjoy the Barney Butter and let me know if you ever make the cookies. :D

Valerie said...

I have to try those brownies soon! I have never tried anything like it so it's good to have your review along with the recipe.

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