Found you all a decadent and good-for-you black bean and peanut butter swirl brownie off of a new foodie/health site called DAMY.

Black Bean Brownies with Peanut Butter Swirl

Prep time: 10 Minutes – Cook time: 30 Minutes – Total time: 40 Minutes
Yield: Makes 12-16 Brownies

Black Bean Brownie Ingredients:
•1 Can Black Beans (540 mL)
•1 Egg
•1/4 Cup Eggwhites (or 3 Eggs in total)
•1/3 Cup Pumpkin Puree (or unsweetened apple sauce)
•1/2 Cup Natural Cocoa Powder
•1/4 Tsp Sea Salt
•2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
•1/4 Cup All Natural Pure Coconut Sap Sugar (or 1/4 Cup Agave, Honey or Maple Syrup)
•2 Tbsp Maple Syrup
•1 1/2 Tsp Instant Coffee
•1 Tsp Baking Powder
•1/4 Cup Dark Chocolate Chips (more if you wish)

Peanut Butter Swirl Ingredients:
•1/3 Cup Peanut Butter
•1 Tbsp Agave (Maple Syrup, Stevia or Honey)
•Pinch of Salt
•Dash of Vanilla Extract

Directions:
1.Pre-heat your oven to 350 F.
2.Place all black bean brownie ingredients into your food processor and blend until smooth.
3.Spray an 8×8 baking dish with a healthy, non-stick cooking spray.
4.Evenly spread batter into baking dish.
5.On your stove-top melt peanut butter swirl ingredients and mix.
6.Dollop peanut butter swirl mixture with a spoon spaced out about an inch from each other onto the brownie batter.
7.Pull a knife back and forth through the batter creating your swirls.
8.Place in the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes.
9.*Ovens vary so your discretion is needed. You will know your brownies are baked when the top becomes firm and the brownies pull away from the sides of the dish.
10.Sticking a tooth pick in the middle and pulling it out clean will ensure your brownies are baked fully.
11.Remove from oven when baked and let set in the baking dish for about 10 minutes.
12.Gently cut brownies, serve and enjoy!
13.To store brownies it is best to first let them cool completely and then store them in a sealed tight container in the refrigerator.

DAMY Members - Two brownies are a perfect treat.

This week is all about how to enjoy family and friends.  Yes, I’ve said friends!  Our daughter is working in Colorado for a month and we‘re doing what we can to help out our son-in-law with the boys.  Which includes trying to have them over for dinner.

We’ve also made some friends!  Yeah!  A lovely couple that’s exactly our age, they live just down the street, the husband is retired and the wife works part-time-so we have an easy time working “dates” out for the four of us.

This week though-well, I’ve got a fun colonoscopy and another doctor’s appointment.  Dylan will be here most of the week and they’ll be eating here on Thursday.  

Friday, our new found friends will be joining us on Friday night.  

As you might have guessed-Steve and I are going to make these nights as easy and fun as possible.  After all, what good is having family and friends over if you can’t enjoy them?

For family night-Dyl is going through a very “picky” phase.  He no longer likes:  bacon, peanut butter, turkey and whole wheat bread.  Aidan is still our little champ of trying and enjoying.  The weather’s been topping 110, so there’s no way I’m going to be baking anything.

Both Steve and Alex will be working that day so I’m thinking I’ll take Dyl with me to the market and have him help me pick out some good ideas.

The boys will eat steamed broccoli (woo hoo!), so that’s definitely on the menu.  They love pasta-so I’ll have my older grandson choose the shape.  As for the protein, I think some pork chops would be a nice change.  I’ll just use some salt and pepper on the boys’ chops, but the 3 adults -I’m going to do a marinade of some ginger, garlic and soy.

Now when it comes to having our friends over-they’ve offered to bring a salad.  Again, since it’s too hot to eat on the patio or use the oven, I’m thinking the men will enjoy grilling up some steaks that I’ll marinate in some soy, steak seasoning and evoo.  To round out the entrée, I’m thinking it might be nice to pre-make a clean pasta and vegetable salad with whatever produce looks best when I go to the market with Dyl.

Dessert?  These boiling hot days are made for something cold and refreshing like sorbet and fresh berries.  Even the boys will love it.  Just have some whipped topping and some chocolate sauce on hand to make it extra special.

One thing-if you decide to do what I’m thinking of and making a pasta (or other grain and veggie salad)try making it with a nice lemon and garlic dressing.  Or perhaps a spicy Sesame and ginger.  Think about trying a nice Greek vinaigrette and add some feta cheese.  These are all lighter and better for you than a mayo dressing and make for a great lunch if there are any leftovers the next day.

Now that we’ve been in the triple digits for several weeks here in our neck of AZ-our already well used grill is in even more constant use!

This week alone, I think only Friday night was it left to rest!  I had an epidural and dh was told dinner was on him.  He made us salmon and tomato frittatas and chips.

Fine by me in the state I was in. Plus, we were meeting our new friends for the last outdoor concert in the park for the year.

Tuesday-we had our ds/dil over and I made some turkey/pork burgers that I stuffed with some goat cheese.  We were near a Fuddruckers and bought some nice fresh whole wheat buns.

I mixed the meat very simply with some worscheshire sauce, an egg white and some bread crumbs.  Setting up our burger/salad bar on the patio made the evening complete.  I’d made some high fiber, low fat oatmeal raisin and chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

We also grilled some lemon garlic chicken with some grilled mini-bells.

I recently subscribed (free, can’t get better than that!) to Cooking Light-I’ve always liked this publication.  I’m going to try one of their Mediterranean recipes this evening.

It’s an eggplant dish.  I, of course, won’t follow it to the letter-besides the fact that our 3 nearby markets do not have pomegranates and my husband gets the hiccups from jalapenos-I will do a similar version!

Here’s my take:

Hands on:  20 minutes  Total time:  50
Serves 4

2 Med. eggplants (2 lbs.)
1/4 C goat cheese
2 tsps. p-nut butter or tahini
1/2 tsp kosher salt, divided
2 tbsp. evoo
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tsps. fresh lemon juice
2 C kale (original recipe has arugula or watercress)
(here’s where, if you can find it: 1/4 C pomegranate seeds)
1/4 C toasted and chopped nuts (I’m using pecans since I have them in the freezer)

(for the pickled jalapenos-1/4 C white wine vinegar, 1/4 C water, 2 tsp. sugar and 20 jalapenos thinly sliced.  bring all but the peppers to a boil, remove from heat, add the peppers and let stand for 15 minutes.  Drain)

Pre-heat your grill (I’m using the outdoors, but if you don’t-use an indoor version)to medium high.

Place the WHOLE eggplant on the grill for 15 minutes, turning as the skin gets charred.  Remove when all the skin is black and it proves tender when using the “knife” test.

Cool slightly.  If desired, gently scrape off the skin-not necessary if you like the smoked flavor the way we do though.  Cut in half and score the open flesh.

Combine the goat cheese (oh, original recipe calls for greek yogurt, but alas, I’m allergic to dairy from cow), nut butter, 1/4 tsp salt, combine thoroughly.  Drizzle 4 tsps. of evoo and lemon juice over the flesh. Top w/ cheese mixture.  

combine your bitter greens with the remaining evoo and salt in a medium bowl.  top each eggplant half with about 1/2 cup of the salad, jalapenos if you‘re using them, 1 tbsp. of pomegranate (if you can find them) and 1 tbsp. of your toasted nuts.

Sounds really yummy!  Calories with all the goodies:  205.  This has 4.5 protein grams, 19.5 carbs, 9.3 fiber grams (woo hoo!) and even a bit of calcium and iron.

I’m going to hope that this is a keeper my way.  Let me know if any of you try it the original version and how you liked it.

Keep cool!

I know a lot of you are still having weather issues.  Sorry, so sorry.

Here in AZ, we’ve been in the triple digits for weeks.  I’m not bragging, just stating the facts.  Most nights I put stuff on the grill and we eat on the patio.  It’s not cool, but at least the sun is at the front of the house, not the yard.

This weekend, as with all weekends, my husband is working.  I’m done for the month, just a few little things here and there to set up for the start of another thankfully busy couple of weeks in June.  

Tonight though, no grill.  I’m putting a rack of pork loin in the oven.  While looking for tonight’s feast I found this small roast on the shelf wrapped in paper!  Of course it was in plastic underneath, but my best guess-dh was putting a lot of  proteins away and didn’t think about re-wrapping it one little second.

It was dated 12/13/12.  In short, I was pretty incapacitated and didn’t care what he bought or how he put it away.

No matter.  Our daughter-in-law is working, so our son will be coming over to enjoy the dinner with us.  He asked for noodle pudding, so I’ve got that ready to go into the lower oven while the roast and veggies are in the upper one.

I’ve made a base of the usual suspects:  celery, carrots, onions and garlic with sea salt and cracked pepper.  I coated the roast in the salt, pepper and garlic as well.  For extra flavoring, I put about a cup of white wine in the bottom of the roaster.

In case you‘re wondering-we have realized that through the years we’ve brought back a lot of wine/champagne from our cruises.  I don’t know why-we don’t drink!

Figured that I better start cooking with them before I go from several bottles of wine to several bottles of vinegar.  That really wouldn’t be so bad-I do make a lot of my own salad dressings.  And the bottles will make a great acid for marinades as well.

I know our daughter-in-law will be upset about missing the noodle pudding-so I’m going to put a big note on the fridge to send home enough for her to enjoy for a couple of meals.

For dessert-made some low-fat, healthy oatmeal and goody cookies. Those two were created by seeing the tidbits in my pantry.

Now I can start fresh and eat well at the same time.

May all of you be able to spend the day honoring our troops from yesteryear,the present and the future.

It’s hard to fathom, but here it is almost the end of the first half of the year.  Memorial Day is a holiday that everyone should celebrate-our armed forces deserve the honoring.

BBQ is the traditional.  Nothing wrong with that at all.  We love our grill.  And yes, by now everyone knows the difference between BBQ and grill, right?

BBQ-low and slow and sometimes preceded with being in a smoker.  Got a day to work on that brine, dry rub and stoke the briquettes?

Grill-hot and fast.  You can also do any of the above prep work-you just get to eat faster!

We grill.  That’s what born and bred Californians do.  What I love about grilling is that it keeps the mess out of my kitchen.  

I love cooking, but I really don’t want to have the grease from any protein spattering my oven walls and spending 4 hours waiting for it to be “useful” again until the darned thing is cool enough to unlock itself.  

My motto:  If God had intended us to broil in the oven/range-Grills would NEVER have been invented.

My rules:  When in doubt, grill it.  Also, unless we are in the middle of a monsoon (which we are about to start the season)or a “haboob“-I don’t want to hear about broiling a steak, chicken, pork in the house.

Now for Memorial Day-I’ll be hosting our dd’s American Eskimo and going every other day to check up on their cats.  As usual in a house with 2 people who work in the retail trade (one doesn’t live here, but they come over often) and one who is in hospitality-it’s hard to plan a meal that takes a lot of time.

Our dd and family will be in Hawaii-they’ll have to provide themselves with some papaya and pineapple and maybe a luau.

Those of us remaining in the desert?  I’m thinking of grilling some chicken-I think I’ll try a new brine!

Equal parts of kosher salt and brown sugar, rosemary and lemon zest.  I’ll cover it with water and bring it to a boil until the salt/sugar dissolve.  Then add enough ice to make a gallon.  With the chicken in a gallon Ziploc and the bag in a large bowl, I’ll pour the brine over until the pieces are covered.  Close it up and let it do its thing for 24 hours.

Drain  and pat dry.  Grill as usual.  Make sure you’ve tested the meat at 160.  We‘re extra careful of this since Sam is pregnant!!!

Fresh corn is looking pretty good.  I prefer the white ears.

Open the husks, but leave on as much as possible, clean off the silk and cover back up-soak in ice water for about 30 minutes.  Make you favorite spread.  I love to use EVOO, minced garlic, salt and some smoked paprika.  Carefully open the husks and brush the corn with your mixture.  Those wanting to use butter-go for it!

Grill approximately 10 minutes a side.

As for our vegetable?  I’m thinking of using some of the green beans I blanched and making little foil packages with some garlic and some lemon infused EVOO and roasting them for about 20 minutes.

As you can see-the chicken will take the longest, but dinner (with some earlier prep work)is easy and delicious and on the table in 30 minutes.

Dessert?  Too hot for anything other than some nice sorbet.

Rachel Ray could not do better.

Happy Mother’s Day to all of us who should be being pampered today.

Alas, it appears I am not.

My fur babies woke me up at 6 to go potty.  My husband, who did get me a huge bouquet of roses and a card, left me with his popcorn maker to clean and requested waffles for breakfast.

Really?

If that isn’t enough pampering, our kids called and wished me a happy Mother’s Day with no mention of even bringing me a card-but one asked me to watch the grandkids tomorrow night.

So this special day-could be it will improve, at least I’m hoping it does.  But if not, when dh comes home from work, I’ll make a kale salad-but he can grill the protein and put some tater tots in the oven and serve me.

Thank you and have a great day.