A Different Kind of Brownie

It's Sunday and my family wanted dessert with their dinner. In an attempt to appease their sugar tooths (teeth? tooth?) and my desire to eat healthier I tried a new brownie recipe. These brownies are low fat,  high in fiber, high in protein and they are made from a box and can. Hmm... What in the world is this dessert made of? The ingredients are simple: 1 box of brownie mix and 1 can of black beans. That's all. No eggs or oil. Are these going to taste good? The verdict: everyone enjoyed these moist and fudge-like treats. The beans do make for a denser brownie similar to fudge but the cocoa covers any residual bean flavor. My husband is a purest when it comes to dessert and especially chocolate. After a wicked glance from me to forgo questions in front of the children he said he honestly enjoyed the brownie's taste and texture. I know I haven't converted him to black bean brownies every time but with his gourmet taste pallet he still can't figure out what ingredient I substituted in the recipe.

Now I know that if I'm stranded with only a brownie mix and a can of black beans (and a way to cook) then I can make brownies! This is great practice for me as an island resident who is trying to build up her food storage and plan for a day when the docks are closed due to either worker strike or natural disaster. When that day comes at least we'll be enjoying a plate of fudgey brownies!

Black Bean Brownies

• 15 oz can black beans
• 19.5 oz box chocolate brownie mix

Open a can of beans then drain and rinse well*. Put beans back in the can and fill can with water. Put beans and water in blender until smooth. Mix pureed beans with brownie package mix. DO NOT add eggs or oil. Spray baking dish with Pam. Cook brownies according to package directions. Cool and serve.

*My notes: I usually soak and cook my lentils and beans ahead of time instead of purchasing them canned since it's cheaper and has less sodium. I usually cook a large amount of beans in the crock-pot and then drain and freeze them for later use. I'm assuming if I was using home cooked beans that I would weigh 15 ounces of beans and add enough water (not too much!) to fill in the spaces between the beans. Recently I purchased more canned items because if I'm without electricity (as unfortunately I OFTEN am) then I'll have beans ready to eat.

Apple Pie Filling

I have been busy with food but not how you would think. We moved to California earlier this year and I have been attempting to learn the art of gardening. In fact, today I planted my fourth round of veggie plants including romaine lettuce, collard greens, cauliflower, cabbage, carrots and celery. I've never grown collards, carrots or celery so we'll see how those turn out. I don't think I've ever eaten collards before but I've been told that they are loaded with even more vitamins than spinach are are great in a shake masked with fruit. My broccoli, peas and green beans that I planted 3 weeks ago are really thriving and I think I'll be harvesting some beans/peas soon. My summer  bell peppers plants are still happily producing and I've taken to eating slices of bell pepper with my favorite homemade hummus for lunch. It's surprisingly filling and of course helps my diet! Two weeks ago I picked 72 bell peppers from my five pepper plants. Seventy-two!!! These are great sliced and then frozen for later use. (See bottom part of picture below.)

I think I could talk about the ups and downs of my gardening efforts forever but here is the even bigger reason for my lack of posts. I have been drying, fruit leathering and saucing apples like it's going out of style! To date I have about 140 quarts of apple sauce, 2 gallon bags of dried apples (more to come of these since hubby likes to take them to work as a snack), 15 pints of apple pie filling and a handful of fruit leather rolls.

In this picture you can see some apple sauce to the left because we ran out of time on sauce day and had to freeze a couple batches. In the center is some of my pie filling and on the lower side of the photo is some of my frozen bell peppers.

I really liked the taste of the pie filling and wanted to share this easy recipe with you. It's loaded with sugar so there isn't much NOT to like. Mmmm!

Apple Pie Filling

Recipe from Ball's Blue Book of Preserving

Yield: about 6 pints

6 lbs apples

2 c sugar

1/4 c flour

1 1/2 t cinnamon

1/4 t nutmeg

2 T lemon juice

Wash, peel, core and [thinly] slice apples. Treat to prevent darkening. (Place in large bowl with 2 quarts of water and 2 T Fruit Fresh or I used additional lemon juice in place of the Fruit Fresh. Don't let set in mixture for more than 10 minutes.)

Combine sugar, flour and spices. Rinse and drain apples; stir into sugar mixture. Let stand until juices begin to flow, about 30 minutes. Stir in lemon juice. Cook over medium heat until mixture begins to thicken. Ladle pie filling into can-or-freeze jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Cool at room temperature, not to exceed 2 hours. Seal, label and freeze.

My mother-in-law gave this Ball book to me a couple years ago. It is a great resource for food preservation.