You heard me. Healthy! I was extremely leery of making this cake, but I had most of the ingredients, so I gave it a shot. However, the problem of who to make it for came up. I can’t try out a new recipe on company (not a recipe like this anyway). If I make it just for us, we’ll eat the whole cake, and even if it’s healthy, that’s not a good thing.
I was mentioning my dilemma to my homegroup and they offered to be my guinea pigs.
So, without further ado, let me give you the recipe and my comments and snide remarks.

Ingredients:
1-15 ounce can of unseasoned black beans  (yup, you heard me)
OR 1 1/2 cup cooked beans, any color
5 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract  (Bless my mother-in-law and former neighbor, who both buy me vanilla when they are in Mexico on vacation.)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
6 tablespoons unsalted organic butter OR unrefined coconut oil    (I went with coconut oil. I should’ve checked into this a little more. I think you’re supposed to “melt” the oil first. So I may have ended up with more than 6 Tbsps because it was still in a solid form. The cake ended up tasting pretty coconutty, which isn’t a taste my man and I enjoy.)
3/4 cup erythritol + 1/2 teaspoon pure stevia extract

OR 1 1/4 cup Splenda (using Splenda is not recommended)   (Here’s where things got complicated. We only had 1/4 cup of honey. I could’ve substituted some sugar and maple syrup, but we were afraid there would be just too many tastes going on there. We ended up using 1 1/4 cup of regular ol’ white sugar. So it wasn’t completely organic. Oh well. I tried.)
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon water (omit if using honey)

Mint Chocolate variation:
2 teaspoons mint extract (in place of 2 teaspoons vanilla)

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 9″ cake pan with extra virgin olive oil cooking spray, or just grease it with a thin layer of butter. Dust cocoa all over the inside of the pan, tapping to evenly distribute. Cut a round of parchment paper and line the bottom of the pan, then spray the parchment lightly.    (I’m not gonna lie, I was sort of confused by the parchment paper, cocoa powder thing. I did it, but I wasn’t sure why I sprayed, coated it with cocoa powder, and then put the paper on it.)

Drain and rinse beans in a strainer or colander. Shake off excess water. Place beans, 3 of the eggs, vanilla, stevia (if using) and salt into blender. Blend on high until beans are completely liquefied. No lumps! Whisk together cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder. Beat butter with sweetener (erythritol or honey) until light and fluffy. Add remaining two eggs, beating for a minute after each addition. Pour bean batter into egg mixture and mix. Finally, stir in cocoa powder and water (if using), and beat the batter on high for one minute, until smooth. Scrape batter into pan and smooth the top. Grip pan firmly by the edges and rap it on the counter a few times to pop any air bubbles.  (At this point, my man said, “No one wants to lick the beaters, do they?” I didn’t. It smelled like black beans.)

Bake for 40-45 minutes. Cake is done with the top is rounded and firm to the touch. After 10 minutes, turn out cake from pan, and flip over again on to a cooling rack. Let cool until cake reaches room temperature, then cover in plastic wrap or with cake dome (I use an overturned plastic chip bowl). For BEST flavor, let cake sit over night. I promise this cake will not have a hint of beaniness after letting it sit for eight hours! If you are stacking this cake, level the top with a long serrated knife, shaving off layers until it is flat and even. Frost immediately before serving.

I think the key is letting it sit for 8 hours. It did smell like beans when it first came out, but by the time we ate it that night, it didn’t taste like beans at all. Again, my biggest complaint was the coconut oil. It left the cake a little oily and with the taste of coconut.
But I tried it, and that’s saying a lot for me. The site I got the recipe from also has an organic frosting recipe. I’m not gonna lie, I used Pillsbury’s dark chocolate frosting. So sue me.

A few weeks ago when Baby Girl and my man went skiing, Buddy and I stayed home. (More on this story later, but I can’t get the video to upload. So I need my in-house IT genius to help me.) I planned to enjoy the quiet while Buddy napped. Instead, I decided to make corn chowder. It sounded perfect for my two skiers. At that point, I hadn’t really done much baking, cooking, or cleaning since we got back from Florida. So once I started cooking I couldn’t stop! I cleaned, cooked, did laundry, etc. Then I decided to set the table nice for dinner.

That one little thing made dinner so special! I think we should do this more often. It just adds some spice to our ordinary days.

So there’s my two cents. If you’re in a rut, doing something little like setting a nice table makes dinner an occasion.

(Maybe this doesn’t look fancy to you, but we usually eat with paper napkins and the table is being set as we sit down.)

I’ve made some yummy treats in the last few weeks, if I do say so myself! I went outside my recipe box to find new things. And it was a blast to make new recipes (and to have a reason to do so). My man and I decided to give boxes of goodies to his coworkers. He only has six full-time coworkers, but when you buy gift cards for everyone, it can really add up. I got boxes at Christmas Tree Shops and went to town baking!

Here’s what I’ve made so far:

• peanut butter balls
  My mom made these every Christmas for as long as I can remember. It’s only fitting that I make them every year for my family. My man grew up calling them buckeyes, but those ones aren’t completely covered in chocolate…seems silly to me. So, we completely dip ours; why wouldn’t you?
• Creme de menthe cookies
  I planned to make a recipe with the Andes peppermint baking chips. When I went to buy the chips, everyone was sold out. So, I bought a bag of their Creme de menthe chips and tried the recipe on the back of the package. They were pretty good.
  
  
• Gingersnaps
  Remember the story behind these ones?
• Snickerdoodles
• Brownies
  I thought brownies would add some “substance” to the boxes. I found brownie mixes for $.99, which is pretty good. I wanted to do something to make them more festive. While at Walmart last week I saw a tub of peppermint frosting. I didn’t want to spend the money, so I searched for a recipe to make my own. I found this very easy and delicious recipe. Four ingredients mixed together. Can’t get much easier than that. And it tasted very good. I added some mini candy cane sprinkles that my mother-in-law bought for me. They look festive and tasted better than I thought they would be. This might be something we make again! I had more than I needed for the boxes, and we have to bring something to a party on Friday night. I’m just not sure they’ll last that long around here!
  
  
  Of course, my little helper was on hand for the decorating.

Here are the finished boxes, ready to go to work with my man! (And please notice the extra cookies in the bags; who wants to come help me eat them?)

I plan to make a few more things this week. I need a birthday cake for my mother-in-law’s birthday (Christmas day). I’m trying out a new peanut butter frosting recipe on a chocolate cake. We’re also going to continue our tradition of making Pioneer Woman’s cinnamon rolls for Christmas breakfast.
I won’t be posting pictures of myself for awhile…you might not fit all of me into the camera’s lens. But I’m going to enjoy every minute!

What are you baking this week?

One day a few weeks ago I was looking for something different to make for supper. I went to allrecipes.com and typed in “chicken breast” as the ingredient I had. I went through some of them and then found the winner: Cheez-it chicken! I think I’ve mentioned my love for Cheez-its before. This had to be a winner!

So, here it is. Enjoy!

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/4 cup butter, melted
3 cups Cheez-its, crushed

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease 9×13 baking dish. Roll chicken in melted butter, then in cracker crumbs. Bake for 50-60 minutes.

I know it sounds a little funny, but it was delicious! I should have taken a picture, but it was so good we ate it up pretty quickly!

I mentioned that I had to make 5-6 dozen cookies for last Friday night. I was supposed to make Christmas cookies. I don’t really have a go-to Christmas cookie, though. I just make cookies…cookies that could be eaten any time of year. So I searched Pinterest and found these candy cane snowballs. They looked pretty good and VERY festive. I figured I’d give them a try.

• 3 c. powdered sugar, divided
• 1 1/4 c butter, softened
• 1 t. vanilla
• 1 t. peppermint extract (you could do 2 t. vanilla, but I wanted the extra flavor)
• 1 egg
• 3 c. flour
• 1 T. baking powder
• 1/2 t. salt
• 3/4 c. finely crushed candy canes, divided
• 1/2 c. granulated sugar
• 2-3 T. milk

  1. In a mixing bowl, beat 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar and butter until fluffy. Add vanilla and egg and beat until combined.
  2. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Stir to combine. Slowly add to mixing bowl, beating until combined, about 1 minute. Stir 1/2 cup finely crushed candy canes in by hand.
  3. Roll dough into small balls using just under a teaspoon of dough. Rolls balls through granulated sugar to coat and place on baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Cool.
  4. While cookies bake, stir together remaining 1 1/2 c. powdered sugar with 2-3 T. of milk. Add just enough milk to form a thick glaze. Drizzle over cooled cookies and top with remaining crushed candy canes immediately.

  

  They were pretty good! I prefer chocolate over peppermint (or with peppermint), but these were good Christmas cookies. My man took them to work with him and said they were a hit!
  Try them. Let me know what you think!

I need to make 5 dozen cookies for tomorrow night. I made some Tuesday and my man liked them so much that he took two dozen to work. (Stay tuned; I’ll post about those cookies soon.) So I decided to bake another batch of cookies.
Let me preface this by explaining that Buddy has been fussy today. He wants to be held and expects to be able to see me at all times. I decided to attempt cookies anyway. Smart, right?

The plan was to bake my grandma’s gingersnaps. And really gingersnap isn’t really the right name, because they don’t snap. They are soft and chewy. Every bite reminds me of my grandma! I love them!
Things were going okay, slowly, but okay. I had to stop often to remind Buddy that he was okay and he should be happy. We stopped for lunch. Baby Girl and I sat on the kitchen floor eating our lunch while I fed Buddy some carrots. After a few bites he got sick. I was wondering if he wasn’t feeling well; I guess he told me. (This story is taking forever, isn’t it?)

I cleaned him up and put him on a blanket on the kitchen floor and got back to my cookies. When it was time to put them in the oven I was so careful that Buddy wasn’t anywhere near the oven door. Apparently I was too careful because my cookies rolled right off the pan and into the oven. One of them landed on the heating element and started smoking. Remember my toaster oven incident? The smoke and little bit of red scared me quite a bit! I quickly moved the cookies away from the heating element and let them “bake” on the bottom of the oven. Baby Girl was very curious to see what I was doing. I told her I had made a boo-boo. A few minutes later I was trying to get the cookies out. I knew I should’ve put an oven mitt on, but that sounded like too much work (an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure … or at least that’s what my man told me when he heard my excuse). You know what happened next…I burnt my hand. I might have shed a few tears; it hurt! Baby Girl told me I needed ice. She got her Hello Kitty ice pack out and brought it to me. Then she hugged me and said, “It’s okay, Mama. It’s okay that you made a boo-boo.”

I finished my cookies eventually. I only lost 5 or so. I have my 5 dozen for tomorrow evening. But my hand hurts. My heart, however? It feels good. My Baby Girl took care of that for me.

Don’t they look delicious? They are!

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house this year. It was just us and my parents, but we had a great time! I didn’t plan my meal quite like I should have. My man has been extremely busy at work so we’ve all been just making it through the last few weeks. Needless to say, I was thrilled to have my parents here last week! My dad and I went to pick up last-minute stuff Tuesday night around 8:45. I was planning to go early Wednesday morning, but they were predicting our first winter storm. The store was surprisingly empty, which was why I went at 8:45!
I had thought about running a 5K Thanksgiving morning, but in the end I wanted to stay around the house. I was able to go on a long run that morning…longest run I’ve ever done. It felt so good to run, even though it was spitting snow the whole time.
I always use an oven bag when making a turkey. We just put it in and leave it. I don’t have to worry about basting it and it stays pretty juicy. We had green beans (not the casserole…not my favorite), butternut squash, and corn casserole for veggies. I made applesauce and rolls (first time making rolls from scratch). I bought the cranberry sauce from a can; it’s the preferred kind in my family. I also bought a box of stuffing mix. However, I forgot to make it! Major Thanksgiving fail! My man and my dad thought of it but didn’t want to make me feel badly, so they kept quiet. I thought of it halfway through the meal. Oh well. We made it later to add it to our turkey soup and for leftovers. All in all, the food was good, and we have some yummy leftovers now!

Okay, on to the pictures!

The apple pie and corn casserole baking away.

My rolls, whole wheat. Next time I’ll make regular rolls instead of the pull-aparts, but they were good.

My dad carving our turkey. My man was on childcare duty.

Our table settings on our Thanksgiving tablecloth. Each year we write what we’re thankful for on the tablecloth. We’ve only used it three years, but it’s so fun to reread the other “thanks”. This year Baby Girl got her hand traced. She loved that!

I made these mini apple pies Tuesday night. We had family friends over. I used a crumb topping instead of a dough topping. They were so yummy! They made a pretty good breakfast, too. I found them on Pinterest…another winner!

We had a great Thanksgiving. I miss my parents so much already. Now I’m thinking ahead to what I’ll make for Christmas Eve dinner. Hmm…. any ideas? I’m making a ham, but what sides should I have? Help me out!

We bought a bag of mixed candy for Halloween. (it included Reese’s peanut butter cups…my favorite!) The bag also had Whoppers–lots and lots of Whoppers. I can handle a Whopper every once in a while, but I would rather have Hershey’s, Reese’s, and Kit-Kats. I gave some away to a friend, but we still had a lot of Whoppers. I wasn’t sure what to do with them. So, I went to one of my new favorite sites – allrecipes.com. I realize that I might be a little late in coming to this site, but it’s been great. I typed “malted milk balls” into the “ingredients I have” list and wha-la, up popped a malted milk chip cookie. I figured I’d make them and send them to work with my man. I didn’t think I’d like them since they were made with Whoppers.
Well, I did like them…very much! I still sent them to work with my man, though. Thankfully for me (but not for my post-baby gut) his coworkers weren’t all in the office on Friday, so he brought the rest home. Yay!
Here’s the recipe. It was the perfect way to use up our Halloween candy!

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/4 cups chopped chocolate covered malted milk balls  (I only had about 2 cups. Some were crushed into power and some were still chunks of milk balls.)

Tuesday I accomplished a few notable “firsts” and thought I would share.

On Monday I read this post about getting the seeds out of a pomegranate. I thought, “hmm…I’d like to try that one of these days.” The next day we were at the grocery store and Baby Girl picked out a pomegranate. (I’m trying to let her pick one thing from the produce section on our trips. She has to try what she picks.) I was excited to give it a try! We opened it together and tried a seed. She wasn’t in love, but I was proud of her for trying it. And I was proud of me for getting the seeds out and doing something new. So, now I can eat a pomegranate.

I also made homemade macaroni and cheese. Gasp! I know. Doesn’t everyone do this? Well, I have always used Kraft (or worse, the store brand). I add vegetables to it, but still, it’s a box. We have friends that make a delicious mac & cheese, but I haven’t gotten the recipe yet. So, I got out my handy-dandy Better Homes & Gardens cookbook. The recipe was just a basic mac & cheese, and I decided to add to it. Which, actually, would be another first. I always follow the recipe exactly as it’s written. Look at me being all adventurous and stuff. I added bacon (because everything is better with bacon) and bread crumbs. It was delicious! The bacon made the dish, so I’m glad I added that. I will probably make it again, but I’ll have to tweak it a little bit more. It needed a little more flavor (cheese probably).

So, two firsts in one day. Not too bad for a tired, busy Mama.

My man loves Pinterest! Let me clarify, my man loves that I am now on Pinterest. I am not spending too much time on it, but I’ve found several great recipes already! And since I’m such a nice person, I’m going to share them!
Now I am not one to make detailed, several-step meals for weekday nights. I just don’t have it in me after being home with two little ones all day. So my meals have to be easy to make and delicious (for both my plain taste buds and my man’s flavor-loving taste buds).
Crockpot Italian Chicken:

4 chicken breasts,
1 packet Zesty Italian dressing seasoning,
1 8 oz. cream cheese (softened),
2 cans cream of chicken soup;
Cook on low for 4 hours. If sauce is too thick, add a little milk. Serve over pasta.

This was so easy! I found some other recipes that had water instead of the 2nd can of soup. One recipe said to serve it over wild rice, which sounded delicious.
This made enough for several meals. We served ours over egg noodles. And it was delicious!!!
I am not a food photographer, but this was the best I could do.

While I was making the above, I cooked one chicken breast separately for the following recipe.

Crispy Southwest Chicken Wraps:

1 cup cooked rice, warm or at room temperature  (I had a 1-minute brown rice bowl. It was delicious!)
1 cup cooked, shredded chicken
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 green onion, finely sliced (white and green parts) (didn’t have it)
1/2 red or green pepper, diced  (I wish I had this on hand, because it would’ve added color and flavor.)
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
juice of 1 lime
1/2 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
2 cups shredded cheese
sour cream (optional)
6 burrito-sized flour tortillas

Mix the rice and seasonings. Then add all of the other ingredients except the cheese and sour cream. Put cheese and drops of sour cream on the tortillas. Put chicken mixture on top. Roll the tortillas, leaving the ends untucked. Spray cooking spray on tortillas, then cook each side in a pan on oven.
Serve with salsa, guac, sour cream, whatever suits your fancy.
Here’s how my man had his:

So, Pinterest, thank you for making dinner easier for me!