Flourless Brownie Cupcakes!!!

It's been a busy week around here. The kids started school. *sniff*

Jeff and I celebrated our 13th anniversary with a little Focus T25 and Shaun T.

And I made *healthy* flourless brownie cupcakes!!! I found this recipe on Team Beachbody website. Who knew they had dessert recipes?!? Since my last two recipes using beans as a substitute for flour were such a big hit, I just had to make this one as well. And it did not disappoint!

Here's what you'll need.

First, find two cute kids. Let them line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners. You don't have to use cute kids. You could just do this yourself. But it's more fun with cute kids. 

Next, drain and rinse the chickpeas.

Then place the chickpeas in a food processor and process until smooth.

Add all your other ingredients except the chocolate chips. Process again until smooth.

Dispense the batter evenly among the 12 prepared muffin cups.

Here's where the cute kids come in again. Let them top each cupcake with 4 - 5 chocolate chips. They'll love it. And they'll practice counting. Smart kids eating healthy cupcakes?!? You're now the parent of the year.

Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

The instructions say to let them cool completely. Really? Just sit and smell the pretty cupcakes while they cool for 2 hours?!? I think you all know me better than that. As soon as they were cool enough not to blister my tongue, I was ready to eat! 

Have mercy. They were amazing!!!!!

The kids have absolutely gone nuts over these! One of my girls shared part of hers with a friend at lunch. They now have plans to have a sleepover and make these. I can get behind that.

These come in at just 160 calories and 4g of protein each.

Flourless Brownie Cupcakes

• 1 (15 oz.) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 3 Tbsp. virgin/unrefined coconut oil (you could use refined, but you'll miss out on the great coconut flavor!!!)
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips (we didn't use quite this many...probably more like 1/4 cup)

1. Preheat the oven to 350.

2. Prepare 12 muffin cups by lining with cupcake liners or coating with nonstick spray.

3. Placed chickpeas (drained and rinsed) into food processor. Process until smooth. Add all other ingredients except chocolate chips. Process until well-blended.

4. Divide batter among 12 prepared muffin cups.

5. Top each cupcake with 4 - 5 chocolate chips; push the chips into the batter slightly.

6. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes (I probably cooked closer to 15 minutes), or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

7. Cool completely and enjoy!

Question of the Day

Do you wait for your baked goods to cool before sampling?

Fudgy Black Bean Brownies

Hello Friends! It's been awhile. I've been busy trying to soak up every last moment of summer vacation with my kids. Oh, and there was also this.

And this.

Cinderella, evil Stepmother, evil Stepsister and Snow White

And, of course, this.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

We had Vacation Bible School at church last week, and it was amazing! I love being part of a creative church family that brings the Bible to life in new and dynamic ways! As you can see, I played the part of Snow White. And I thoroughly enjoyed my role.

In the midst of VBS, I did try something new. You know, for Try Something New Tuesday. Except I was way too tired by the time I got home Tuesday to actually blog about it. So we'll just have Try Something New Sunday instead.

I don't think I can adequately convey how much I loved this recipe. I stumbled across it on Pinterest, and after the success of my No Flour Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites that were made with chickpeas, I could not resist another flourless dessert.

Here's the ensemble.

First, you're going to drain and rinse the black beans. Yes, you read that correctly. Black beans in a brownie. Trust me on this.

Next, put the black beans in a food processor and process until smooth.

Then add all your remaining ingredients except the chocolate chips, and process until well blended.

Your batter will look something like this.

Add 1/4 cup of mini chocolate chips, and give the food processor a few quick pulses to combine.

Pour this into a greased 8x8 pan.

And sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips on top.

Bake at 350 for 30 - 35 minutes.

Holy. Yum.

These were AMAZING!!! I tried really hard to taste the black beans in these. I mean really hard. But for the life of me I could not taste anything other than delicious, moist, dark-chocolatey goodness. The kids gobbled them up too.

These will definitely be going in lunch boxes this year. A treat I can feel good about feeding my kids?! Yes, please! And if you ever buy those Fiber One low-cal brownies, you must try these! They are a much cheaper alternative!!! I plan to make a batch and freeze them in individual servings for portion control.

Fudgy Black Bean Brownies

• 15-oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 3 large eggs
• 3 Tbsp. canola oil
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease and 8x8-inch baking dish.

2. Place the black beans in a food processor and process until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs, oil, sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla, baking powder and salt, and process until smooth. Add 1/4 cup of the chocolate chips and pulse a few times until the chips are incorporated.

3. Pour the batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips.

4. Bake 30 - 35 minutes, or until the edges start to pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan before slicing into 2-inch squares. 

Makes 16 servings. 

Nutrition info. per serving: 120 calories, 5g fat, 2g fiber, 3g protein, 3 WW points plus.

Happy Baking!

Low-Cal Pasta Dish? Yes, Please!

My kids love Try Something New Tuesday. Seriously. They get so excited about tasting new foods and helping me make the dishes. As such, my 8-year-old got it in her head a couple of weeks ago that I needed to make spaghetti with vegetables. I think this stemmed from the veggie lasagna I made a couple of months ago (that she LOVED).

As luck would have it, my sister pinned this recipe on Pinterest last week. As soon as I saw it, I knew it would be a good option for my girl's vision. I showed it to her, and we decided it was going to be this week's TSNT post. 

Without further ado, here's the ensemble.

First, you're going to cook your ziti according to the package directions.

Next (or while the ziti is cooking), you need to chop some yellow squash, zucchini and onion. I did this in my food processor. My veggies were somewhere between minced and chopped. Smaller veggies are usually a little easier to persuade my children to eat.

The girl with the chopped/minced veggies.

Next, chop up a couple of tomatoes.

Then you're going to heat some oil in a large skillet. Add the squash, zucchini and onion, and saute for 5 minutes. 

Then add the tomato and some garlic and saute another 3 minutes.

Remove the skillet from the heat and add your pasta, some mozzarella, herbs, salt and pepper. I failed to get a photo of this. It was pretty though. Take my word for it.

In a small bowl, combine the ricotta, some salt and an egg.

Stir the ricotta mixture into the pasta/veggie mix.

Pour into a greased baking dish, and sprinkle with some more mozzarella.

Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or so.

I'm not sure I can adequately convey how much I loved this dish. The herbs make it. The kids loved it too. They asked if I was going to take photos of them eating it. But since I'm their mother, and even I am sick of photos of them eating and giving a thumbs up, I decided to restrain myself. 

And, although I didn't calculate the nutrition myself, the website said it was 301 calories and 16.5 grams of protein for A QUARTER OF THE PAN!!! I could totally eat a quarter of it. And I did some quick calculations in my head, and that sounds about right.

 Make this. Make it now. With all your summer veggies. You'll thank me later.

Baked Ziti and Summer Veggies

• 4 ounces uncooked ziti (this is about 1/4 of a 16 oz. box)
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 cups chopped yellow squash (I used 1-1/2 very large squash)
• 1 cup chopped zucchini (I used 1 large zucchini)
• 1/2 cup chopped onion (I used 1/2 of an onion)
• 2 cups chopped tomatoes (I used 2 tomatoes)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
• 2 Tbsp. basil
• 2 tsp. oregano (I used Italian seasoning)
• 3/4 tsp. salt, divided
• 1/8 tsp. crushed red pepper
• 1/4 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• cooking spray

1. Cook pasta according to package directions and drain. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil to pan. Add squash, zucchini, and onion; saute 5 minutes. Add tomato and garlic; saute 3 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in pasta, 1/2 cup mozzarella, herbs, 1/2 tsp. salt and pepper.

3. In a small bowl, combine ricotta, remaining salt and egg. Stir into pasta mixture. Spoon into a greased baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until bubbly and brown.

Question of the Day:

What's your favorite summer vegetable?

Try Something New Tuesday: Frozen Yogurt-Covered Blueberries

This week's Try Something New Tuesday needed to be short and sweet. So I decided to try this recipe that I'd recently pinned on Pinterest.

So simple! Two ingredients!

First, wash those blueberries.

Next, pat the blueberries dry.

Then dip those babies in greek yogurt. I used a toothpick to dip them.

Place the dipped berries onto a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. I used another toothpick to assist in removing the berries from the "dipping toothpick."

I had an assistant. She was cute but not particularly helpful.

Put the berries in the freezer for 1 - 2 hours, or until the yogurt is frozen. Then you can remove them from the cookie sheet and store them in a ziplock bag.

We used 2 containers of yogurt (1 blueberry and 1 strawberry). Both were delicious and the kids gobbled them up in less than 24 hours. All in all, they were a fun summer treat!

Question of the Day:

What's your favorite frozen fruit?

Best Ever Brownie Icing

I was on my own today with the kids while Jeff was out of town at a meeting. I knew it would be a long day, so I prepared by going to bed at approximately 9:30 p.m. last night. After a good night's sleep, I was up in time to send off the hubby and then get things going with Asylum 2's Power Legs.

After my workout, I volunteered at school for a couple of hours then headed home to make these.

This icing recipe, friends, is how you take a box of ordinary brownie mix, and make it something extraordinary. It was handed down to me from my grandmother who got it from my great Aunt Evelyn. Anytime a recipe comes from Grandma, you know it's going to be good. And unhealthy. There isn't one redeeming quality in this recipe. So save it for a time when you're going to give most of it away!

Here's the ensemble.

First take your butter and melt it in a medium saucepan.

Next stir in the sugar and evaporated milk.

Bring the butter/sugar/milk mixture to a boil. Boil it for 3 minutes, stirring often or it will scorch. Boil a half minute more if it's humid. I live in the south. It's always humid. As a general rule, I boil it a whole extra minute.

Remove the saucepan from the heat, and add your vanilla and chocolate chips.

Stir until everything is melted together.

Pour the icing over warm cake or brownies.

Now it's time to lick the spoon. And the bowl.

Seriously. Ordinary to extraordinary.

Besides licking the bowl after I made Grandma's icing, I did eat a few other things. I had my Shakeology for breakfast. Lunch included quesadillas on a tomato basil tortilla with my favorite salsa and some grapes.

Dinner was a hodgepodge. When Jeff is out of town, that generally translates to a no-cooking night for me. I had a veggie burger on a whole wheat sandwich thin and some leftover cauliflower poppers.

After dinner, I played a little Just Dance with the kids. Apparently, the Running Man is my signature move. And I destroyed them all.

We concluded the night with studying, reading and prayers. Not necessarily in that order.

All in all, not a bad day. Although I much prefer to have my helpmate here with me!

Grandma's Chocolate Icing

• 1 stick butter, melted
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup evaporated milk
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1 tsp. vanilla

~Combine melted butter, sugar and milk in medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, and cook 3 minutes (1/2 - 1 minute more if humid) and stir almost continuously. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate chips and vanilla. Pour over warm cake or brownies. Let cool for several hours so the icing will "set up." It should be a fudge-like consistency.