Black Bean Brownies.

These are sweet, chocotaley treat -- with a fudge-like consistency... yet don't taste at ALL like beans... and are gluten/grain-free & fairly healthy!

Ingredients

• 1 (15oz) can organic black beans - rinsed & drained
• 3 eggs
• 3 Tbs oil (I use coconut)
• ¼ cup of cocoa powder
• 1 tsp vanilla
• a pinch of salt
• ¾ cup of sugar (or I've used approx ¼ cup of granulated Stevia for my non-sugar eating kiddo)
• 1 tsp of instant coffee granules (optional)
• ½ cup chocolate chips

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350°

• Put beans. eggs, & oil into blender.... blend until smooth
• Add the rest of the ingredients (excpet for chocolate chips)
• Blend until well combined
• Pour into a greased 8x8 pan
• Fold in the chocolate chips or just sprinkle across the top
• Bake  for 20-30 mins. 
• Let cool before cutting...  Enjoy! 

Deals & Steals: $1 off Green & Blacks Organic Chocolate

Ladies, rejoice! There is a  printable coupon out right now - good for $1 OFF any Green & Blacks Organic, Fair Trade product.... just go to HERE and register (name, birthday and email)....  follow the directions... and you will be on your way to getting some delicious chocolate!! ~ Yumm!

Offer good, while supplies last...  coupon good until 08-29-10

Thanx for the tip, MoneySavingMom!

half-price Frappuccino®!!!

Heavenly word on the street:  Starbucks Happy Hour!!!

Come to a participating Starbucks between 3 and 5 p.m., and enjoy a half-price Frappuccino^® blended beverage. 

Birthday Cake!!!

Finally....my birthday cake - fresh from the oven!!

 

Celebrate 25 years - 25¢ BOGO Blizzards®

Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls

These delectable Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls (or Buckeyes, as some call them) are one of my favorite sweet treats. (esp. for the Christmas season!)

Never again!

As I have mentioned before... we never, and I repeat never let KB have sugar. We believe the over ingestion of sugar in our country is the cause of many of the illnesses, dental issues, behavioral issues, and bad habits, that many children as well as adults struggle with today. Because of that, we strictly limit the sweetness tantalizing KB's taste buds, to natural sources... like fruits, and the occasional items sweetened through honey, maple syrup, stevia, dates, etc.

Naturally Sweet Treats

We're definitely not a sugary, candy-eating kind of family - KB usually never gets the stuff! But in hopes to encourage her in her recently lax endeavors of using the potty... we have taken to offering one Jellybean, per success, as incentive. Up until now, we have been using some Starburst jellybeans, someone gave to us... but despite the mere one or two a day (on an extraordinarily good day)... I have been really been struggling with the fact of how bad corn syrup & artificial coloring are for our bodies, and yet still allowing my daughter to ingest it on a daily basis. - It seriously bothers me!

Free TCBY Cup or Cone for Mother's Day...

The Country's Best Yogurt (TCBY) is giving away free cups and cones to all Mom's on Mother's day - May 10, 2009! (This offer is at participating locations - so you'll probably will want to check before you go)

PLUS! They are currently running a special... $1.99 for their Frappe Chillers!
(limited time only!)

See more, on their site, here

Starbucks: Grande Iced Coffee with Milk for $1.95

Now, through June 29, 2009, you can get a Grande (16 oz.)
Iced Coffee with Milk from Starbucks for only $1.95. More details here.

Thanks for the tip, Money Saving Mom!

Apple Crumble

Well tonight I had one of my first attempts at making a wheat-free dessert.... an warm, Apple Crumble!! Though it's not the healthiest dessert... it was amazingly delicious! And surprisingly, I actually had everything the recipe called for (or was able to adapt).... and was SO pleased with it's results. I will definitely make this one again!! Oh.my.word! Talk about tasty!

APPLE CRUMBLE:

6 large apple - peeled, cored and cubed (I left mine unpeeled)
1. 1 tablespoon white sugar (I substituted rapadura... and used more like 2 Tbs, so it coated the apples well!)
2. 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I wanted a bolder flavor, so I used more like ½ tsp)
   CRUMBLE TOPPING
   
   
   
   
   1. 1/4 cup rice flour (I used oat flour - rolled oats in the coffee grinder. about 1/8 cup whole oats = about ¼ cup flour.)
   2. 3 tablespoons almond meal
   3. 2 tablespoons white sugar (again, I used rapadura)
   4. 2 tablespoons flaked coconut (Omitted this - worked fine!!)
   5. 1 1/2 tablespoons butter, softened or coconut oil
   
   
   
   
   
   DIRECTIONS
   
   
   
   
   1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Arrange apple pieces in baking dish, sprinkle with sugar, and cinnamon; toss well.
   2. In a bowl, combine the rice flour, almond meal, sugar, and coconut. Cut in butter until mixture is fine and crumbly. Sprinkle topping over apples.
   3. Cover, and bake for 40 mins to 1 hour in the preheated oven, until the apples have lost their shape. Uncover, and continue to bake until crumble is crisp and golden in color.

Chocolate Chipped...

Ok... so, this isn't a normal (health conscious) food related recommendation... but then, even I, with as much as I strive to only serve healthy, well-balanced meal.... have one weakness, that I just CANNOT give up.... and that would be chocolate! (esp dark - hey, it's healthy, right?? Lol). Well, if you anything like me in the choclate-loving arean... then have I got a blog for you!!
 
http://www.chocolatechipped.com. - A daily blog of all things chocolate!! The author is currently taking a breather from posting her daily chocolates... but there are pages upon pages of archives containing wonderful chocolate photos and recipes to keep you busy, until she returns! Enjoy, my fellow Chocolate-lovers!!

Amazingly Delicious Whole-Grain Brownies

I was seriously craving brownies tonight, so I decided to try this recipe (with a few minor changes - denoted in GREEN) ... and OMW! They were*So* delicious!!

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup applesauce (I used homemade, which was already slightly sweetened)
  
• 3/4 cup white sugar (For a healthier alternative, I used 1/3 cup honey + 1½Tbs of sugar)
  
• 2 egg whites (I used flax... 1¾ Tbs + 5 Tbs water)
  
• 1/4 cup butter, melted (this can be interchanged with oil, if you wish)
• 1/4 cup buttermilk (If you don't have buttermilk, you can always use ¼ milk + ¼ tsp vinegar or lemon juice...)
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon coffee flavored extract (I actually used coffee grounds, & it worked fine)
  
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour (I omitted this, and doubled the whole wheat flour)
  
• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
  
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional - I used mini chocolate chips)
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional - I didn't do this!)

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
   
2. Grease an 8x8 inch square pan.
3. In a medium bowl, stir together the applesauce, white sugar (honey/sugar), egg whites (flax), and butter until smooth. Mix in the buttermilk, vanilla extract and coffee.
   
4. In a separate bowl, combine the cocoa, flours, baking powder and salt;
   
5. Combine into the sugar mixture, just until incorporated.
   
6. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.
7. Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the brownies look like they are pulling away from the sides.
   
8. Cool, and cut into squares.

**Note - due to the flax seed and other substitiutions - this recipe makes more of a dense, flat brownie, rather than a fluffy, cake-like brownie... **

Free hot drink at Barnes and Noble!

Barnes & Noble Starbucks Cafe's are offering a coupon for a complimentary tall drink-sized latte, cappuccino, espresso, freshly-brewed coffee, or hot tea (up to $3.20 in value). This coupon can only be redeemed once per customer (per visit)... but I assume each person in your family could print and use one. Good through October 31, 2008.

(Store Locator)

Organic Candy...

I just found out about this company that sell Organic candy! The company is called Pure Fun Organic Candy... it's products are made exclusively in Canada and the US... and have built a fine reputation for what is NOT found in their candy: NO Gluten, NO GMO'S, NO FD&C Colors, NO Casein, NO Dairy, NO artificial flavors, NO dyes, NO Synthetics, NO Pesticides, NO preservatives…nothing but Pure Fun. BUT they do have good stuff IN them to: organic cane juice, organic brown rice syrup, and natural colors derived from great stuff like red beet concentrate, alfalfa extract, red cabbage, annatto, and other yummy fruits and vegetables.They come in many different flavors and candy types….fruit rocks, pure pops, fruit pinwheels, citrus slices, chocolate meltdowns, candy canes, and root beer barrels, to name a few.

I wouldn't give any to KB yet... but it's good to know it exists for if I ever want an alternative, away from all the the high fructose corn syrups, coloring, preservatives, etc.

Recipe for KB's b-day cake....

After mentioning that my mom made KB's birthday cakes completely sugar-free (except for the icing on the one - that was sugar).... I have had a few people ask me for the recipe. So, here it is. It's called Honey Carrot Cake and it's sweetened with honey and pineapple (recipe found on Allrecipes.com). It was very moist & delicious - perfect for what we were looking for! Enjoy!!

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 1/2 cups honey
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil coconut oil!
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups finely grated carrot
• 1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.
3. In a large bowl, stir together the honey, buttermilk, eggs, oil and 2 teaspoons of vanilla until well blended.
4. Add the flour mixture to the buttermilk mixture, and stir until all of the dry ingredients are absorbed.
5. Stir in the carrot, pineapple, and walnuts by hand. Pour into the prepared pan.
6. Bake for 50 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
7. Cool completely before frosting with cream cheese frosting.

• To make the Honey Cream Cheese Frosting... mix together 2 (8 ounce) packages of softened cream cheese, 1/3 cup of honey and 1 teaspoon of vanilla until smooth and well blended. Spread over the cooled cake.

Now I want to try experimenting with other natural sweeteners, as well as cocoa powder, etc... and see if I can't figure out a healthy/sugar-free chocolate cake for next year!