No Flour (Black Bean) Brownies

No Flour (Black Bean) Brownies

No Flour (Black Bean) Brownies Recipe

Do you want to feed your family SUPER healthy, AND REALLY tasty food?  May be I am TOTALLY weird, but when I saw this recipe for Secret Ingredient Brownies, I had to give it a shot.  Even though no one in our family is gluten-free, I love to find recipes that have no flour it them as we are moving away from white flour.  We still occasionally eat food with white flour, but now it is in moderation and doesn’t dominate our lifestyle like it did in the past.

I tried this recipe a few times and modified it a bit.  I had several people try this, and NO ONE could guess the secret ingredient…BLACK BEANS!!!  Some said they were really “moist”, “fluffy”, “had chocolatey goodness”, all like a real brownie.  One did think they might be gluten-free (this person has a mom that is g-f).  If you like brownies, you have got to try these at least once!!!  You just can’t make a fair assessment without first trying these.

No Flour Black Bean Brownie Recipe

The Ingredients:

  • 1-15.5 oz. can black beans, WELL-RINSED and drained
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 T butter (I used the coconut oil, too, and I didn’t like the aftertaste of the coconut oil-if I would have used refined coconut oil, I wouldn’t have tasted it)
  • 1/3 cup cocoa powder
  • 1 dash of salt
  • 2 T vanilla extract
  • 3/4 cup honey (I’ve also used organic sugar)
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, optional
  • 1/4-1/2 cup dark chocolate chips, optional

The Directions:

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 
  • Blend all ingredients except the chocolate chips and nuts in a high powered blender (I don’t know, but I am guessing a food processor would work, too).
  • Grease an 8×8 baking pan.
  • Pour batter in the pan.
  • Top with walnuts and chocolate chips if you wish.
  • Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until a toothpick can come out of the middle clean (if you use chocolate chips, this may not happen since they melt in the oven).

This batch cracked a bit, but still came out together and not crumbly.  I did over mix the batter in the blender, so try to avoid that.

Did you make these?   Did you fool anyone?  What did you think?

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Posted in Desserts, Food, Gluten Free, Healthier Recipes, Healthier Recipes, Healthy Recipes | Leave a comment

Weekly Grocery Deals 2/22/12-2/28/12

Weekly Grocery Deals

Here is Sonja’s Short List of Super Stock Up Sale Prices ending 2/28/12 for healthier living.  Sorry this is late.  Our battery went out in our car and I had to walk our girls to school:

Albertsons:

  • Tomatoes $0.99/lb.
  • Apples $0.99/lb.
  • Pears s $0.99/lb.
  • Strawberries $7.99/4 lb. pck!!
  • Fri.-Sun.: Albertsons or Essential Everyday Beans, Tomatoes, Veggies $0.39/can limit 12!!!!  Make Black Bean Brownies for pennies!!
  • Fri.-Sun.: Homelife Double Roll Bath Tissue $4.77

Continue reading

Posted in Albertsons, Food, Haggen, QFC, Safeway, Store Deals, Weekly Deals, Weekly Grocery Deals, Weekly Grocery Deals | Leave a comment

WinCo Wednesdays 2/21/12

I have listed below some selected “Extra Savings” prices (WinCo’s version of a sale), as seen in their “Wall of Values” and throughout the store along with some mostly healthier commonly consumed grocery items.  Unfortunately these prices are subject to change without notice, so these deals were valid Tuesday morning, 2/21/12, in the Marysville, WA area, and it will, at least, give you an idea of prices there:

Item    Price    “!” Indicates Sonja’s Stock up prices!!

Extra Savings/Seasonal

Beans, Refried, Taco Bell Brand    $0.78/16 oz. can
Cereal, Cheerios     $1.98 box
Cereal, Chex Variety    $2.28/box
Cereal, Kashi     $2.78/box up to 15 oz.
Juice Concentrate, Old Orchard    $1.18/12oz. can
Pasta, Farmhouse All Natural boxed     $0.88/box
Prego Sauce    $1.48/24 oz. jar
Salsa, La Victoria    $3.98/67 oz.! Continue reading

Posted in Food, Store Deals, Weekly Deals, Weekly Grocery Deals, Weekly Grocery Deals, WinCo Wednesdays | Leave a comment

Principles of Stewardship: Personal Discipline Part 2

Last week I posted on personal discipline in the areas of sleep, prayer and Bible reading.  If you missed the post, you can read it here.  Today I want to follow up that discussion by talking about personal discipline in the areas of exercise, diet, family time and work time.  Without further ado…
Continue reading

Posted in Faith, For the Heart | 2 Comments

Kettlebell Snatches and a Simple Pushup/Squat Finisher

“Simple” doesn’t always mean “easy.”  Likewise, “hard” doesn’t necessarily mean “difficult.” Monday’s workout was simple, but not easy.   The snatch practice is starting to push me pretty well as I progress toward my goal of 100 snatches in five minutes or less.  Here’s what I did today…

Workout:

Seven rounds, one round per minute:

8 kettlebell snatches – Left

8 kettlebell snatches – Right

Now the first time I did this same workout was over three months ago, and it’s a fair comparison, but I think I felt stronger doing the same thing this time ’round than I did in November.  That’s good to know, but it doesn’t mean it was a walk in the park this time.  I have to keep getting stronger with more stamina if I’m going to average 10 snatches per minute for five minutes, as will be required to get to my goal.

To finish off the workout, I did 20/15/10/5  reps of pushups and squats.  Felt great.

Oh, then I chased that with a waffle breakfast with my family.  Yum!

Posted in Fitness, Kettlebell, MetCon, My Workouts, Uncategorized, Workouts | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Bartell Drugs Grocery Deals Ending 2/26/12

Here is Sonja’s Short List of Super Stock-Up Sale Prices from this week’s ad, ending-2/26/12.
  • O.N.E. Coconut Water $1/8.5 oz. carton
  • All Natural Farmhouse Rice or Pasta $0.79/4-6 oz. box (I keep for times I’m in a pinch)
Did you see any GREAT Bartell’s deals we missed?  We would love to hear from you!  Feel free to comment.  Get free e-mail updates by subscribing here.  Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Check out this week’s other grocery deals here.

Posted in Bartell Drugs, Store Deals, Weekly Deals, Weekly Grocery Deals, Weekly Grocery Deals | Leave a comment

Ellie’s Lemon Lime Smoothie Recipe

Ellie’s Lemon Lime Smoothie Recipe

Ellie's Lemon Lime Smoothie

Ellie's Lemon Lime Smoothie

Our Ellie girl used to love smoothies.  Since we’ve been going crazy making them all of the time, she has become a bit less excited about them, so we asked her to come up with something.   Ellie has a sour tooth.  Her favorite food is grapefruit, and she has a weakness for all things citrus, especially lemons and limes.  Thus, this creation was born!  Needless to say, she loved it!  The rest of the family liked it, too, but this one’s probably Ellie’s favorite!  Go here to get the recipe: Continue reading

Posted in Beverages, Breakfast, Desserts, Food, Gluten Free, Healthier Recipes, Healthier Recipes, Healthy Recipes, Lactose Free, Snacks | Leave a comment

My Personal 2 Week Eating Challenge Recap

My Personal 2 Week Eating Challenge Recap

In the 2 week eating challenge I wrote about eating until I was satisfied, and for the most part, that is how I eat.  This challenge, though, has caused me to think about my relationship to food.  Through it I realized that I really enjoy texture and crunch, and even though I ate to the point of satisfaction, if it was dinnertime, I would often want just a bit more.  I didn’t usually eat more, but I wanted more.  Especially good chocolate.  I almost always have to end the day with something chocolate, or at least sweet.  I somehow don’t feel the day is complete until I’ve ingested some form of hard chocolate.  Moderation, right.  Enjoying life, right? Right? Continue reading

Posted in Fitness, Fitness Philosophy, Food, Food Philosophy | Leave a comment

Kettlebell Snatches and Turkish Get-ups

On Friday I continued to plug away toward my goal of completing 100 kettlebell snatches in 5 minutes with a 53# bell.  This time ’round I did seven snatches per side every minute for 8 minutes.  That’s 112 snatches in 8 minutes, and it felt pretty good.

I chased the snatches with some Turkish get-ups.  Here’s what it looked like:

Workout:

A) 8 minute countdown:

Kettlebell Snatches – 7 reps Left

Kettlebell Snatches – 7 reps Right

B) 7 minutes of Turkish get-ups, alternating left and right.

I was pretty tired on the TGU’s, but that’s fine. Variety is good, and I like following the ballistic exercise (snatches) with the grind (TGU’s), but reversing that works, too.

Posted in Fitness, Kettlebell, MetCon, My Workouts, Strength, Workouts | Leave a comment

Fred Meyer Grocery Deals Ending 2/25/12

These are the best grocery deals at Fred Meyer this week for healthier living. “!” Indicates Sonja’s super stock-up prices. This Fred Meyer ad starts Sunday, 2/19/12 and is valid until Saturday 2/25/12.
  • Red or Green Grapes $1.28/lb.!!
  • On-the-Vine Tomatoes $1.28/lb.
  • Eggplant $1 ea.
  • Green Beans $1.49/lb.
  • Organic Apples, Fuji, Braeburn, Gala $1.28/lb.
  • Frozen NW Shrimp Meat $3.99/1 lb. bag
  • 80% Lean Ground Beef $1.99/lb.
  • Simple Truth Cage Free White Eggs $2.29/dozen
  • Annie’s Macaroni & Cheese $1/6 oz. box
  • Country Oven Bread Loaf 3/$4 limit 6 w/store coupon
  • Bumble Bee Chunk Light Tuna $0.59/5 oz. can limit 4 w/store coupon
  • FM Milk and OJ $1.25/half gallon limit 8 (no coupon needed)!!
  • Apparel Clearance is an ADDITIONAL 70% off!!
Did you see any other great deals at Fred Meyer this week?  We would love to hear from you!  Feel free to comment.  Get free e-mail updates by subscribing here.  Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Check out other weekly grocery deals here.

Posted in Food, Fred Meyer, Weekly Grocery Deals, Weekly Grocery Deals | Leave a comment