Black Bean Brownies

 2 cups black beans, mostly drained
1 1/2 cups cane sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder (dark here)
1 t vanilla
1/2 cup plain flour
3 eggs
1/4 t salt
4 T coconut oil, melted butter, or other fat

Mix well in food processor, blender, or with hand mixer.
Pour into sprayed deep dish pie plate or 9X9.
Bake at 350 for approx. 30 minutes.

Let cool before slicing. The beans are less noticeable when it has cooled.

This slices like a pumpkin pie. You may add a frosting if you like. It is noticeable that these are 'different' but they won't know quite what it is. ;-)

*******************
This post is linked to The Ultimate Beans and Rice Recipe List

Coconut-Pecan Pancakes...

Its important in this recipe, that you mix the ingredients correctly. If you are like me, that'll be tough because I just like to dump everything in and go! ;-)

But with the coconut oil, if you get it to a liquid point and you dump it into cold ingredients, its not going to blend in. It will re-solidify and whatever it touches will be stuck to it- then you may end up biting into a big lump of baking powder and that's YUCKY!

This is a big batch and makes approx. 40 -4inch pancakes.

Mix dry ingredients together:

4 2/3 cup of spelt or whole wheat flour (or a mix)

2 T baking powder

1 t salt
1/4 cup can sugar

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup flaked or shredded coconut

Beat

4 eggs into

4 cups milk

Stir this into dry mixture.

Drizzle, as you stir

1/4 cup gently melted coconut oil

Cook on a buttered griddle.

***

I cool these on a baker's rack and then spread them on a pan and freeze them.

Then I store them into a container for the kiddies, for a quick and good-for-you breakfast.

They are also a good snack, as is, or with a little peanut butter or jelly.

*Can sub part of the flour for ground flax.

What did you do this weekend?

I spent several hours Saturday making several different kinds of bread. DH asked me to 'come up with' a good Breakfast Bread for toast! (No way I'm gonna let that slide! Especially after paying $1.88 for a decent loaf of REAL wheat from the store with no HFCS. :-) "Why dear, I thought you'd never ask!" ..So I happily worked on that and sliced them up and put them in Ziploc bags to store in the fridge!!!

**Update: He was very please and compared my Wheat and Flax Bread to Ezekiel Bread (the texture, when toasted)- mind you a $4 and $5 loaf of bread! Woo hoo! Above is the Wheat and Flax.
These two are Whole Wheat and pretty close to perfect! ;-)

One loaf of the wheat was eaten right away with butter and honey. (You can see the price sticker for $11.89 in the back?? It's on my 5lb bucket of honey from Cash-n-Carry!)


Fresh tea and bread with butter and honey to wind up my baking....but as usual...every time we do this....on a warm day....the next day is cold...I don't know why....80+degrees one morning, the next 56!
:-)

Coffee Grinders....

Coffee grinders are not just for coffee! They have multiple uses!

Can't afford a wheat/grain mill?
Well, I used one of these handy dandy little gadgets for a while before I was able to get a mill.

(Some 13 years ago.)

You can also whirl oats to make oat flour! A nice and sweet flour!
My favorite use is for flax seeds! Oh how I love flax! I smuggle it in wherever I can too. Whirling it in this little gadget makes it quick too! (and the oils in flax are not good for most, if not all, mills)
And these are soooo frugal!

They can be bought in Walmart for around $20 or less. Online, they are around $10 to $15!

A great resource for the frugal kitchen!

FOR MORE KITCHEN TIP TUESDAYS, VISIT TAMMY'S RECIPES!

Nourishing Wheat-n-Flax Crackers

Would you like a sneak peak into my oven? Here's what was in there today.... And then it went in here....

Several of my kids love these types of crackers made in the Nourishing Tradition style. (They really taste similar to a Cheez-It. )This is my second batch in a week, the first I made with rye flour and butter as my fat.

Here's how I made these...

3 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/4 cup yogurt

-soak overnight

*

Blend in food processor and add;

2 1/4 t baking powder

1 1/2 t sea salt

1/4 cup ground flax

1/2 cup melted coconut oil

Roll out using unbleached flour and cut into crackers.

Bake in low temp oven (150 to 170) for about 1 or two hours, then transfer, once set, to food dehydrator until dried through and crisp. So tasty! and easy!

(You could dry the crackers in one or the other, this is just the way that I like to do it. But it would work in just the oven.)

(soaked) Orange-Cranberry Whole Wheat Muffins

These are so yummy and moist.

Soak overnight:
3 cups of whole wheat flour
2cups of plain yogurt
Blend in:
3/4 cup pure cane sugar
zest of one orange
1 cup chopped, fresh cranberries
2 eggs
2 T fresh orange juice
3/4 t salt
2.5 t baking powder
1 T gently melted coconut oil

Bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes.

Peanut Butter Bran Marshallow Treats

I've told you guys about my marshmallow treats and how I experiment with whole grain cereals. I always try to whip them up in such a way that the kids will gobble them up (before I do--remember I'm a sugar-aholic, hee hee).

For these yummy treats:
5 cups of bran flakes
1/2 a stick of light butter
1 package of marshmallows (1o oz?)
2 heaping spoons of crunchy peanut butter
1 t vanilla (opt)
1 handful of peanut butter chips

Spray 9x13 with non-stick spray.
Dump the flakes in the 9x13.
In pot melt butter and marshmallows, then add crunchy peanut butter. Remove from heat and add vanilla(optional).

Pour over bran flakes and toss until all flakes are coated.
Top with peanut butter chips and press lightly into the treats!
Cool and cut into squares! Yummy! (And good fiber source!)

Smuggling in the Grains & Upping the Fiber

SMUGGLING IN GRAINS? SHHHHHHHHHHH! If you don't tell them, they won't know!

This is one area where I have a lot fun! Sometimes when I am making out menus, I take time to see where I can smuggle in extra grains, especially if I have ran out of wheat for bread or simply know that I won't have time to make it.

*OATS- oh the places you can smuggle these in! You can put quick oats in just about anything! Meatloaves, meat patties(including turkey and beef), muffins, cookies, and you can even grind them into flour and use them with white flour for almost anything and no one will ever know! (Or you can use them in the place of white flour on some occasions if ground very fine.) Oat groats can be cooked and put in soups, tossed in salads, used in casseroles, blah blah.

*BARLEY- a great fiber grain! One serving has like 7 grams! Barley can be cooked and tossed

into soups, over salads, in casseroles, or sweetened just like rice for breakfast. It can be ground and used as flour in breads, biscuits, muffins, etc. (Warning: this grain is so high in fiber that it can cause some tummy trouble, go easy!)

*BROWN RICE- can be used as the 2 above. I used some the other day in my Sloppy Jo Biscuit Cups and called it Sloppy Jo Hash. I never purchase white rice, brown is now always used in every dish. It does have to cook longer so I cook a big batch and freeze extras for the next round. I also use it to make Spanish Rice, by simply tossing in a cup of salsa!

*Rye- I have not had much luck in being able to find fresh rye around here and have bought the flour a couple of times at the Mennonite General Store when I could. I have found it to make wonderful bread and you don't have to use caraway seeds if you don't like them! And dark rye homemade bread...mmm, just the thought makes me smile!

*FLAX- I know its a seed but since this also deals with fiber, I included this jewel! I have grown very fond of this little seed over the past year or so. I have found a place to buy them very cheap. I grind them in my little coffee bean grinder and keep them in a Ziploc in the fridge and put them in almost everything that I can. I make marshmallow treats with Cheerios or a Bran cereal and I sprinkle in a tablespoon or two ( I recommend using a heaping spoon of peanut butter in the butter and marshmallows to help you hide it when you use it!). I have put a few sprinkles in the meatloaf, a few sprinkles on oatmeal, some use it in smoothies, in every muffin that I make, in my homemade granola, in my fruit crisp topping, etc. It does have a strong taste and it is high in fiber so go easy or you won't get by with this one! Also, I have read that it needs to be ground for the most nutritional benefits!

*MILLET- probably a little favored around here. This grain is not very high in fiber, but from what I have read, is a great source for other goodies that we need. I have found it to be a great starter cereal for babies as it can be cooked up soft and fruit such as applesauce and bananas can be easily added. It has a mild flavor and can be found for a great price. I have found it for .50 a pound! I highly recommend it! My kids love it flavored like rice with butter and sugar or sweetened with honey with a little vanilla added.

******I'll post more on this when I can!

GRAINS AND BEANS- tips

Frugal tips!:::: Grains and beans are a great, healthy, and inexpensive food source to work into your menu. You can buy bulk beans(20lbs or so) for about as much as you can buy a sack of burgers, if you check around for a good source. You folks back home can probably order things like this from one of the markets down in Collegedale. That town is a 7th Day Adventists community and their grocery store is really a health food store. A wonderful place to go!..... Many grains can be bought for pennies even at your local grocery store. (Sometimes you can make requests!-Look at the store's web site. Kroger has a place on their site where you can request certain items.) The trick to buying at a good price at a local store is to be careful which department you buy it from. For example, in the health food section of the store, you can buy a one pound bag of organic, name brand barley for about $5 or $6, HOWEVER, if you look where the rice and beans are sold and/or oriental items -you can find it for .59 cents for a one pound bag! YEAH! .... Millet is sold at a high price in the local store too. ($5-$6 a pound) BUT- I found it at Muddy Pond (Mennonite Community) for about a dollar a pound. Millet is a wonderful grain! Many health food experts recommend it because of the high nutritional value. It is also a mild grain for kids too-- by that I mean that it doesn't have a real high fiber content so it's easy on the tummy for even babies. ....Brown rice is another inexpensive grain that can be easily worked into your menu. It's great to add to casseroles and soups as a 'filler'. (Fills you up, stretches the dish even further, etc.)Beans are also a great addition to your soups and main dishes. Examples: add leftover pinto beans (or chili beans)to your Mexican dishes or your taco meat. Add your leftover beans to hamburger soup or vegetable soups. Several times I have snuck leftover refried beans into meatloaf! (shhh!!!) Gather recipes to incorporate more beans and make big batches and use them in dishes for days. Example: white beans and cornbread and potatoes etc. one night, make baked beans the next night, and white chicken chili the next. Freeze any leftovers for a quick side dish for lunch. ...There are many websites with frugal recipes and recipes with simple ingredients. Be creative- and healthy!