Whole Wheat Irish Soda Bread

As part of our family fun in celebrating St. Patrick's Day all week long we made this bread.  I've never made or had Irish soda bread before but my kids and I liked it and felt like it was quite a treat with all the sweet raisins.

Whole Wheat Irish Soda Bread  Rating: 8

This was an easy bread to put together and it is a quick bread so not much waiting.  I made this with my kids and some others that we had welcomed into our home for the the morning.  Everyone enjoyed helping out in some little way, whether turning on the oven, grinding wheat, or kneading the dough.  We went with the molasses option because it is a good source of iron.  It made two loaves so we were able to send the second loaf home with our friends.  Might become one of our St. Patrick Day traditions, who knows?

Kickin' Southwestern Quinoa Salad

Still have lots of pinto beans. 

Kickin' Southwestern Quinoa Salad  Rating: 8

Pretty good salad that came together pretty quick.  Used Anaheim pepper instead of jalapeno, pintos in place of black beans, lemon juice instead of lime juice, and a large Roma tomato in place of the heirloom tomatoes.  The beans and the quinoa made this a protein packed meal.  Would be nice served on a bed of lettuce as well.

Taco Soup

So we were bummed to find that 4 of our 7 quart jars of pinto beans did not seal when we last canned.  And although I am told I can freeze legumes well, we are trying to use up a few of the jars this week on our menu.

Taco Soup  Rating: 7

Neal said this was a 6 but with some pickled jalapenos and hot sauce it became a 7.  The kids ate it fine and I thought a few drops of hot sauce did the trick.

Changes we made were using freshly roasted Anaheim peppers in place of the green chiles.  I also used taco seasoning in place of the cumin and chili powder but kept the oregano.  It was a quick meal I could throw together with stuff I had on hand and it was good enough. 

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip and Bean Cookies (SELF version)

In honor of Chocolate Chip Cookie Week we consented to our four-year-old's request and baked cookies but with a twist.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip and Bean Cookies (SELF version)  Rating: 6

These were not your decadent chocolate chip cookie but they were okay.  A couple of things to consider, they don't change shape when baking.  I had to flatten them with the bottom of a cup measure before placing the second batch in the oven. 

They are best right out of the oven and become drier as time passes. 

They have no weird bean taste but they don't taste buttery sweet like a traditional chocolate chip cookie.  My kids don't know the difference but I do and I still enjoy them but I know there is a better bean cookie out there so I will keep looking.

Pineapple and Ham Stuffed Sweet Potatoes and an Asian Slaw Dressing

The Ham and Pineapple Stuffed Sweet Potatoes (Rating: 7) was a recipe I found in his book Fresh Start: Your Child's Jump Start to Lifelong Healthy Eating which we borrowed from our local library.  The salty sweet combination was great.  We don't eat ham very often but we had some in the freezer to use up.

We served it with an Asian slaw of shredded cabbage and cucumbers and scallions.  I topped it with chopped peanuts and a dressing I got off some Internet message board.  It also earned a Rating: 7 but I don't think it'll make a repeat in our house.  It was good but there is more out there.

Asian Slaw Dressing

for one small head of cabbage 

1 Tbsp. peanut butter

2 Tbsp. mayonnaise

2 Tbsp. sesame oil

1/2 tsp. red chili flakes

2 1/2 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar

2 Tbsp. soy sauce

Mix well and toss with slaw.

Seriously Healthy Ice Cream

Just one ingredient needed.  Don't bother pulling out the ice cream maker.

So creamy, satisfying, and easy!  On rare occasion bananas in our house actually reach that brown spotted stage when they are super ripe and getting almost mushy soft.  That, my friends, is when I contrive to gain my family's adoration by peeling the banana, dividing it into 6ths (so they are easy to process and so I know how much banana I am using), and storing them in a quart size freezer bag in our freezer. 

Then I say, "Do you want ice cream tonight?" --sweet treats being only occasional in our home.  Then they laud me tremendously!  That Bible verse, Proverbs 31:28, "Her children arise up, and call her blessed." --yeah, it's because of this ice cream.

Seriously Healthy Ice Cream  Rating: 10

I sometimes make this with just the banana and love it.  Her idea for adding nut butter (I use peanut butter) is great!  Depending on what I've eaten that day and where my calorie count lies, I will add or subtract extra ingredients.  I really like it with peanut butter, dark chocolate chips and chopped walnuts best.  You can have fun with this but the calories add up quickly so do behave.  All you need is your food processor!

I love giving my family healthy foods that feel decedent.  I mean who wouldn't hand their kid a banana?!  It's fruit! Win-Win!

Dill Pickle Meatloaf and Garlic and Rosemary Mashed Potatoes

Dill Pickle Meatloaf  Rating: 8

What's a girl to do?!  If you've read our Pickle Soup post, you know I have 5 grieving jars of botched home canned pickles sulking in my pantry.  I must put them out of their misery!

We made several changes to the recipe.  We used 1 cup old fashioned or rolled oats in place of the bread, 1/3 cup chopped pickles in the meatloaf, added one grated medium carrot, 4 finely chopped kale leaves, and ground turkey rather than beef.  For the sauce we doubled it and used demerara sugar in place of brown sugar and cut it by 1/3 (1 Tbsp., and 1 tsp. for the doubled sauce).  I also upped the amount of chopped pickles to a heaping 1/2 cup (for the doubled sauce).

The recipe had us bake it in a 8x8 pan which felt a little weird to Keri.  It sort of lost it's meatloaf appearance and made her think of it more of a meat cake.  Mmmmm...meat cake. 

But after pushing past that it came out really good.

It was tasty.  We liked it and the kids ate it up.  Keri who loves pickles and has tried selling her first born for extra pickles on her burger would have tripled all things pickle in this recipe; however, not everyone is as enthusiastic as she.  But two good things happened here: 1.) a good dinner and 2.) we used up a jar of pickles!

The meatloaf held together well and made plenty more than 4 servings.  So it you like meatloaf sandwiches or love it as leftovers, hooray for you.

What better to serve up meat with than potatoes?

Johnny Garlic's Famous Garlic and Rosemary Mashed Potatoes  Rating: 8

We halved this recipe and have plenty for leftovers.  We did use 2 1/2 tsp. minced rosemary for the halved recipe since our rosemary is not very strong.  It's an old plant and it has been dry this year so the oils are not so pungent.  We also used whole milk in place of skim because that's what we have.  And we did not have Yukon gold potatoes so we used red skin potatoes.

The adults liked the creamy mashed potatoes, although, Keri would reduce the amount of white pepper if she makes it again.  It had kick and she found it overpowered the rosemary.  We did have chives but forgot to add them before taking the photo. 

Mango Gazpacho

Mango Gazpacho  Rating: 8

We wanted something fresh for dinner and this was great.  It was sort of like a big bowl of mango salsa.  In fact, we are pretty sure the recipes are very close if not exactly the same.  It was sweet, spicy, and fresh.  Now if we just had tortilla chips in the house...

Pineapple, Mango, and Meyer Lemon Salad

This recipe came from March 2012 issue of  Whole Living magazine in an article titled Naturally Brilliant.  The article promoted "eat-your-colors" diet which spotlighted a given color per dish.  Here, we enjoyed the bright yellows.

Pineapple, Mango, and Meyer Lemon Salad  Rating: 9

Serves 4

Ingredients
1 pineapple, skin removed, cored, and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 mango, peeled, pitted, cut into 1/2 pieces
1 Meyer lemon, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced, seeds removed, plus 1 Tbsp. lemon juice (rind stays on the lemon and is part of the salad)
1/2 cup toasted unsweetened coconut flakes

Method
Combine fruit and lemon juice in a bowl.  Top with coconut flakes.

177 cal per serving, 30g carbs, 2 g protien.

Beautiful and so good!  Not filling so maybe a good light breakfast or lunch.  Felt like a real treat to eat.

Apple Dutch Baby with Green Chiles -- How Texans Celebrate Pancake Day!

Today is Pancake Day and I decided to make a Apple Dutch Baby, also known as a German pancake, for the first time.  It's good to shake things up every now and then.  I even went with a spiced up version to push my boundaries on spiciness since I often fear it.

Apple Dutch Baby with Green Chiles  Rating: 10

Why hasn't anyone told me about Dutch Babies?!  It's times like these I realize my mother never loved me. (Just kidding, Mom!--if you ever read this, which is unlikely...sniff, sniff)  Before I go and set up that counseling appointment, let me finish...

It was so yum!  Rich, warm heat, apple cinnamon syrupiness (I just made that word), like a giant pancake of love.  The sweet and spicy combo was great. I was so pleased with myself for using the jalapeno (and not obsessively cutting out the hot membranes).  Would do it again in a jiffy (except for the part when I touched my face even hours after handling the peppers -- yikes! Lesson learned).  I even forgot to give it a squeeze of lemon before shoveling it into my mouth.  I know that would have been a nice touch but it will have to wait for next time.

It was beautiful coming out of the oven but started to fall even as I was sprinkling (pouring?) on the powdered sugar, which was expected.  This was an easy recipe that had a good showman factor for company. 

My kids even ate it happily but they both mentioned the heat from the chile.  Sophie upon almost finishing her second serving said, "It's a little bit spicy." and Rhys at the end of his second serving, touched his mouth and announced, "Ow."

I did make changes: 3 Tbsp. instead of 4 Tbsp. of butter, 3 Tbsp. demerara sugar instead of 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon instead of 1/4 tsp., whole wheat flour instead of all purpose.  I used the Granny Smith apples and they were perfect for this.  You could use Rome or any firm-tart apple though.

I hear you can refrigerate the pancake and reheat it in the oven for 10-15 minutes but haven't tried it.  Now that I know about Dutch Babies, it would be hard not to gobble it up as soon as it left the oven anyway.

Can't wait to see what other variations I can try in the future.

Waste Not, Want Not -- Orange Zest

Orange peels aren't orange, they are gold!  That peels is loaded with amazing oil that will bring many of your recipes to the next level.  Don't throw it in the trash or compost!  Use it!

We do our best to zest our oranges and lemons before peeling or squeezing these fruits.  We love our microplane for this purpose.  It zests easily and beautifully.  It also grates ginger, garlic, and whole nutmeg like a dream.

The zest does not seem to keep well in the fridge - maybe 2 days.  We use a little air tight container to put the zest in the FREEZER.  You can put it in your recipes straight from the freezer. 

What to do with that zest?  Here are some recipes that use it.  Enjoy!

Bircher Muesli with Prunes

Citrus Broccoli Stir-Fry with Brown Sauce

Lemon Poppy Seed Pancakes

Orange Rosemary Focaccia

Carrot Cake Pancakes

Dark Chocolate Bark with Pistachios and Dried Cranberries

Cashew Orange Spread

Cashew Orange Spread and Apple Wrap

Neal and I are trying to slip a few more raw meals into our diet when we find something that's inviting and not to much prep work.  This one fit the bill.  It looks iffy but it tastes great.

Cashew Orange Spread and Apple Wrap  Rating: 9

So the original recipe uses Swiss chard and I thought I have kale growing in the back, I'll just use that.  The taste was right but the size of my leaves was wrong.  I had to do a "taco" if you will instead of a wrap.  Still yummy though.

The Cashew Orange Spread is to die for and it made this a real treat.  I would slice the apples into thinner slices next time just for easier handling when eating.  For the kids, I knew this was not going to be difficult to handle so I just threw theirs into a food processor and hit the chop switch a few times.  It was a chapped salad for them and I just served it in a bow with a spoon.  They ate it up.

This is pretty light so I'd keep it as a lunch.  We added more bulk to our meal by offering raw carrot and celery sticks and cauliflower florets.  I put the bowl of veggies in the middle of the table and threatened that they could not have any of them until they ate what was in the bowl first.  Inject evil laugh here.  They liked the salad version of the recipe and were downing the cru de te as their special treat in no time.  I love freaky child raising moments like this.  I feel like such a genius!

Ginger-Poached Soba Noodles with Broccoli and Tofu

Ginger-Poached Soba Noodles with Broccoli and Tofu  Rating: 8

This was light and the flavors were nice--a little heat, freshness of the mint and basil, and if you like ginger, it runs throughout the dish, not just the noodles.  I added cauliflower as well because I had some to use up and it went well with in the dish.  This didn't take long to make either.

Whole Wheat Biscuits with Sausage Gravy and Heather's Vegetarian Chili

Our family had fun giving our own salute to the annual Texas Cowboy Poetry Gathering and Sam Bass Days this weekend.  As part of the celebration we started the day with a chuck wagon breakfast.

Whole Wheat Biscuits  Rating: 7

Sausage Gravy  Rating: 8

It was not as rich feeling as the fattier version with white flour and pork sausage but it was a good substitution.

That evening we continued the cowboy theme with Heather's Vegetarian Chili.  This comes from our friend, Heather Lindeman, and we use it often. 

Heather's Vegetarian Chili  Rating: 10

Ingredients
1 tsp. vegetable oil (we use grapeseed)
1 med. onoin, chopped (1/2 cup) (we have also used rehydrated onion flakes successfully)
1/2 bell pepper, chopped
1 sm. zucchini, jullieaned (we just chop it)
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 15oz. cans chili beans with liquid
1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes
2 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 cup water (may not be necessary, check consistency before adding)

We also add 2 finely chopped kale leaves

Method
1. Heat oil and saute all veggies.
2. Stir in beans, tomatoes, and seasonings.
3. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low.
4. Simmer 20 minutes.

It's easy, quick, and just the right spiciness for Keri and the kids. Neal likes to add a little more heat to his individual bowl.  We sometimes top ours with a dallop of sour cream.

Waste Not, Want Not -- Roasting Squash Seeds

As you may have observed we eat a plentiful amount a squash around here.  We try to use as much as the produce as we can so we like to roast our squash seeds for a healthy, crunchy snack.  People seem to do this with their jack-o-lantern seeds during Halloween but we do it as long as we have squash to be eaten. 

We used seeds from butternut, acorn, and spaghetti squash.  We even mix them up when we are eating a lot of squash in one week.  We just store them in the fridge until we have enough or until we think they can't be stored much longer.

I find it easier to pinch the seeds out of the lovely, slimy strands while it is all still attached to the squash.  I don't have to deal with as much muck that way and then when they are all out, I scrape the strands out of the squash. As I said, we store the seeds in a air tight container in the fridge until we have enough to make ourselves happy. 

To roast approximately 1 cup of seeds, I add 1 Tbsp. of melted butter and whatever seasoning or spice blend we want and give it a stir to coat.  Then we spread them out on a baking sheet.

 Slide them in to the oven, preheated to 350 degrees F and roast them 10-14 minutes, checking them until they are crunchy and browned.

Seasoning blends we enjoy here are creole and a cinnamon/sugar blend.  Garlic is always a welcomed choice in our home as well.

Cranberry Orange Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash

Cranberry Orange Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash  Rating: 8

We had some acorn squash that was screaming "use me!" so we finally did.  We did make a few changes in that I used panko crumbs (Japanese coarse bread crumbs) instead of unseasoned croutons, walnuts instead of pecans, and I used a self-made mixture of sage, marjoram, and herbs de Provence for my poultry seasoning.  I also omitted the celery salt.  Finally, we doubled this and added 10 minutes to the baking time while tenting with foil those last ten.

It was good and it was sweet.  If it had sausage, it would be a 9 or 10 but it's a vegetarian recipe and fine on it's own.  I think it would be great with 1/2 dried apricots and 1/2 dried cranberries.  This would be a fitting vegetarian main for a holiday meal. 

Baked Beans - The Healthy Foodie Version

Baked Beans - The Healthy Foodie Version  Rating: 8

These baked beans interested me because they had no lard or bacon and were sweetened with apple and what the creator claims is a reduced amount of molasses.  I have very little experience making baked beans.  Except for the past year, they have always come from a can in our house.

These were very good and I'd make them again.  The maker of this recipe suggest adding water as needed and I would add water a little more frequently than she suggested so the beans stay moist and the skins a touch more tender.  They were still super sweet which is what I want when I eat baked beans. 

We cooked them in a Dutch oven in the oven as directed but I'm sure this can be moved into the slow cooker as well.  While they were cooking, visitors continued to comment on the wonderful scent.

We teamed them up with green salad and corn on the cob and called it dinner.

Chicken Tagine

Chicken Tagine  Rating: 8

Hurray!  I totally got to use my food processor for this recipe.  It doesn't matter if it chops or slices every peice uniformly because it's a slow cooker recipe and all slow cooker recipes come out looking like slop anyway.  And it did.  It came out looking like slop and tasting really good!

Changes we made were using 1 lb. of chicken breasts instead of thighs, 3 cloves of minced fresh garlic for the garlic salt, and vegetable stock instead of chicken.  Okay, and we used brown rice instead of couscous and it was great but I do prefer it over couscous.  Wonderful, sweet aromas fill your home while this cooks all day.  Easy, tasty, makes enough for left overs.

Orange, Strawberry and Navy Bean Salad

Orange, Strawberry and Navy Bean Salad  Rating: 6

Fresh, fruity, and a lot of different flavors going on.  Loved the toasted sesame seeds in this. Beans didn't really do anything but add substance to the salad. Wouldn't necessarily make it again. 

We used romaine lettuce instead of bok choy and the next day for lunch I used shredded cabbage instead of lettuce.  Both were good but the finely shredded cabbage was better.  Used canned great northern beans instead of navy because I had it on hand.

Basil Chocolate Chip Pancakes

It is National Pancake Week!  How about a more sophisticated pancake to celebrate?  These sound odd to some but the flavor combination is delicious and a happy wake up call for the mouth.  Herbs such as lavendar, rosemary, mint, and here, basil, are often paired with sweets.  These pancakes should be a safe place to start if you are unsure about venturing out.

I first saw the idea at Simply Scratch.  But I am much to lazy to make her pancakes so I just do my thing.

Basil Chocolate Chip Pancakes  Rating: 10

2 cups Go-To Whole Wheat Pancake Mix
1 egg, beaten
1 Tbsp. oil (I usually use grape seed or coconut)
1 1/2-2 cups milk, depending on the consistency you like
2 Tbsp.(or more) fresh basil, chopped
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips, less even

Cook them up on the griddle over medium heat and enjoy with pure maple syrup.  Makes about 10 pancakes depending on the size.  Two 4 inch pancakes are a hearty serving in my book.

Other possible choices to celebrate National Pancake Week:
Aloha Panckes
Carrot Cake Pancakes
Fresh Corn Pancakes
Lemon Poppy Seed Pancakes

Enjoy!

Apple Nachos

February is National Snack Food Month and I'd like to counter all the junk food options with a quick, easy, and fun snack that is a treat to eat.

Apple Nachos  Rating: 10

I make single servings with one apple sliced in 16ths and drizzle it with 1 Tbsp. of microwaved creamy natural peanut butter.  Then I sprinkle on the goodness but sparingly, as the calories can add up quick.  These apple nachos really don't need much to make my tastebuds happy.  I usually add 2-3 toppings on top of the peanut butter drizzle.

Topping options I usually add in 1-1 1/2 Tbsps. are:
chopped walnuts, almonds, or peanuts
shredded unsweetened coconut
raisins
dried cranberries
granola
dark chocolate chips (it really doesn't take much)
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of cinnamon

Have fun creating your favorite combo.

Pineapple Cream Cheese Spread

Pineapple Cream Cheese Spread  Rating: 6

This sounded good and it was okay but three things didn't quite hit the spot.  1.) It needed way more pineapple or pineapple taste to hold its title.  2.) It was runny for a spread, even when the pineapple was squeezed to reduce it's juiciness as suggested by the creator.  3.) The spread had a bitterness to it.  I don't know if the celery I used in the recipe was bitter or what but it was noticable.

We used full fat cream cheese and sour cream and that did not add to any thickness.  Ate it with crackers and celery sticks.  This was okay--a good idea that didn't fully pan out.

Carrot Cake Pancakes

Carrot Cake Pancakes  Rating: 9

Ingredients
2 cups Go-To Whole Wheat Pancake Mix
1 1/2 - 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ginger powder
1/4 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs, beaten
1 Tbsp. oil (I've used coconut or grapeseed)
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 Tbsp. orange zest
2 cups carrots, grated, finer is better

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Combine wet ingredients in medium bowl and pour into dry ingredient.  Stir until just combined.  This will make a thick batter.  Get your griddle ready on medium heat and grease it with yummy coconut oil.  Use 1/4 cup scoop to pour on pan and sort of spread it out thin so they will cook evenly in the middle.  The batter will need your help to spread out.  I just use the bottom of the 1/4 cup measure.  They take a bit longer to cook than most pancakes I've made so flip when you see the right signs--bubbling, dry edge, proper browning on the bottom, and adjust your heat as needed.  They make dense, fat pancakes and are completely gratifying with just pure maple syrup.  Makes 10-12 pancakes.

Two is a perfect serving to me and you can pop the leftovers in the toaster when you are ready for them.  They're dessert for breakfast and a great way to sneak some veggies in before you even start the day.

Kung Pao Tofu on Rice

I have been on a Chinese food take-out kick lately.  I even told Neal I was interested in buying those dried red chiles they put in some of the spicier dishes.  Next time we were at the grocery store he suddenly appear next to me with a container of them and a big smile.  If you follow our blog, you know he prefers his meals spicier.

For the Kung Pao Tofu, I really combined two recipes, said a quick prayer, and started cooking hoping all would go well.

I wanted all the flavors and feel of Helen Chen's Kung Pao Chicken but I wanted to use tofu in our attempt to eat soy about once a week, and really up the veggies.  Thus, I took a peek at Eating Well's recipe too.

I used the sauce from Helen Chen's recipe and it all came together except it was a total and complete YAWN.  The heat was just right with two chiles but we kept waiting for flavor to appear and it never happened.  Thank goodness for the occasional yum added by a peanut here and there.

Kung Pao Tofu Minus the Pow  Rating: 5

Waste Not, Want Not --Vegetable Stock

Make your own vegetable stock from all the veggie tidbits you usually dump.  I keep a freezer bag labeled Veg. Stock in the freezer and whenever I finish prepping veggies for a meal I take the unloved parts and toss them in the freezer bag until it's full.  I make sure the tidbits are well washed and in decent shape beforehand.  You can use mushroom stems, carrot peels and stem ends, leafy tops of celery, onion skins, garlic skins, woody asparagus ends, herb stems, wilted lettuce or greens, coarse stalks from kale and chard, and so on. 

When the bag is full I separate the once unloved goods into three large pots and fill them with filtered water.  Bring it to a boil and let it simmer for 20 minutes without stirring.  Once it has cooled, we strain it in a colander and then a fine mesh sieve.  Then we bag 4 cups in quart freezer bags and lie them flat in the freezer or use our pressure canner and put them in our pantry. 

It's free vegetable stock, people, and we use it nearly every time a recipe calls for chicken stock.  Yeah us!

Asparagus Salad with Egg and Orange Rosemary Focaccia

Asparagus Salad with Egg  Rating: 8

Asparagus is super cheap right now and I love it.  The recipe that I used was originally for string beans but it worked great with the asparagus.  I just blanched it in boiling water for a couple minutes, drained it and ran cold water over it before tossing in the rest of the ingredients and dressing.  It was a simple, fresh salad with good flavor and paired well with the focaccia.

Orange Rosemary Focaccia  Rating: 8

This was so much easier to make than I thought it would be.  I used this whole wheat focaccia recipe as the bread base and mixed 2 Tbsp. of chopped fresh rosemary into the dough instead of jalapenos and cilantro.  After letting it rise for an hour, I slathered 1-1 1/2 Tbsp.olive oil and the toppings from this recipe on the dough before popping it in the oven.  I decided to look into focaccia done with oranges when we received an incredible amount of citrus with our co-op produce order this week. 

By the way zest your well washed, fungal free lemons and oranges before peeling to eat.  The zest stores well in your freezer and can be thrown directly into recipes from the freezer.  Use it in stir fries, pancakes, muffins, muesli, dressings, or whatever else sounds good to you.

It looked lovely, had good texture and flavor, and smelled great.

I will certainly be using the whole wheat focaccia recipe as our Go-To Foccacia (Rating: 8) and continue to play with mix-ins and toppings.

Black Bean Brownies

I love sneaking healthy foods into meals, snacks, and treats for my family.  When my son glugs down a berry smoothie, I want to throw my head back and produce one of those evil laughs (much like Ursula does in Disney's The Little Mermaid), knowing I have slipped in some kale or spinach or whatever!

I do it all the time--kale in muffins, squash in oatmeal, flax in yogurt, spinach in smoothies, tofu on pizza, and too many to list in spaghetti sauce.  I feel like a freakin' evil genius!

Anyway, you've seen me slip protien packed beans into desserts and smoothies before, so of course I would make these brownies!

Black Bean Brownies  Rating: 3

We actually shared these with four other adults and the ratings were all over the place but never above 7.  It's chocolatey but you can taste beans and the texture is wierd.  The texture is what really bothered most people and none of them finished the brownie which, might I add, was small to begin with.

I did use raw sugar and instead of 3 eggs, I used 2 with a chia egg.  A chia egg is 1 Tbsp. chia seeds mixed with 3 Tbsp. water, give it 10-15 minutes to do it's thing and you have a omega-high gelatinus goop that serves as an egg. 

The kids ate these up but that, my friends, is inexperience at its best.  And until they gain more culinary experience, I will continue to slip healthy foods in any way I can.  Bwahahaha!

California Almonds' Veggie Pasta

California Almonds' Veggie Pasta  Rating: 6

I thought this might be a 7 but the more I got through it I was sure it was just a 6.  It's from the Almond Board of California and the almond part of this recipe added nothing to it.  Nothing! That was a bummer.  Loved the mushrooms though.  I made this with one Tbsp. less of olive oil.  Used an open package of linguini  noodles we had in the pantry, which by weight was only two thirds of the pasta called for and it was plenty.  Won't make it again.  Might do something similar but with plenty of tweaks.

Dark Chocolate Bark with Pistachios and Dried Cranberries

This was very well received by a group of friends we had over for tapas and dessert.  I can only make this to share with others so I do not binge on the entire recipe.  I came pretty close to that when I made this around Thanksgiving.  Thanks for helping me out this time pals!

Dark Chocolate Bark with Pistachios and Dried Cranberries  Rating: 10

We use dark chocolate chips for this sweet.  Use salted pistachios if you like the salty/sweet combo.  Go ahead and double the orange zest.  You will not be sorry you did.  We use dried cranberries instead of cherries.  I love fresh cherries but anything else just makes me think of cough syrup.  I have a friend that feels the same way about black licorice, apparently.  She eats Twizzlers!  But she is a good person so I will try to look past that little foible, if she will try to see past my judgmental nature.

Also, we line the baking sheet with parchment paper instead of foil.  It turns out well without worrying about wrinkles and cleans up easy.

White Bean Spread with Rosemary and Toasted Almonds

This is a rich, high calorie spread with healthy fats.  It is divine. 

White Bean Spread with Rosemary and Toasted Almonds  Rating: 9

I double the rosemary when making the oil because I love that herb.  I've used chickpeas and navy beans and prefer it with chickpeas for the body it provided.  I like it consistency thick so I add the least amount of water.

I've served it with cucumber slices to not obliterate my calorie intake for the day but the pita chips or crackers would be easy and certainly my preference.

I've also stuffed mushrooms with it but I felt it detracted from the lovely tastes and creaminess of the spread.