Beanie Brownies

     Hey all! I have a confession. Too often my food choices (or lack there of) parallel my life. Thus the break for too many extra days. What can you do though?! I had much on the plate with the kiddos, and an almost complete fall out of our offer on the house. Long story really. Plus I am not one of those that have really been able to configure regular let alone daily entries into the racket of my life. Perhaps I will be able to work it when I have a back yard to throw kids in. Then again, I will have just had #4 for, so maybe not. Either way, this is one of my ultimate favorite uses of beans. This is basically like one of the recipes that Weight Watchers recommends. So easy, and  GREAT way to cut calories, increase fiber etc.


  
     Beanie Brownies
     
     1 box Brownie Mix (for the 9 x13 inch pans)
     1 14 - 15 oz can Black Beans


Open the can of beans, drain them (and rinse if you can) Return beans to can, cover to top with water and then place in a blender (like Gary!) and puree all the heck out of 'em. Mix puree with brownie mix and place in a lightly sprayed baking dish. The baking time and temp are pretty much the same. 
Viole! Brownies with only about 2.5 grams of fat, 130 calories, and even 1 gram of fiber!





Tip 8 billion 27 thousand 3 hundred and 2;
Replace just 3 meals a week with beans or other high protein no meat dishes and save about $25 a week! (according to MSN's 20 Basic Ways to Save on a Shoestring) 


P.S. That's $1200 a year!!!

In Light of Last Monday's Sweet "Agave" Article

     So I didn't get enough new info on agave posted for you, here are a couple really quick tid-bits (before todays fabulous fresh ingredient!)    First off, here is a quick link for substituting agave in recipes  Agave Substitution, great info for any of you who want to experiment on adding agave to your baking recipes instead of any other sweetener. And here is a GREAT reason or two that you might want to substitute Agave a little more in your cooking, a little phrase called "Glycemic Index". Basically Glycemic Index has to do with how your body is affected by the food we eat in terms of blood sugar. Anything with a high glycemic index is basically a food with carbohydrates that your body can quickly convert to sugar, meaning blood sugar spike. 100 is the median for glycemic index, anything above would be high and anything below or more close to zero would be a low glycemic index. The long and beautiful short of this, is Agave Nectar has a low glycemic index, meaning it is safer for diets like the Atkins and the South Beach Diet (which are both base on the glycemic index) and is great for those with diabetes or other blood sugar problems. Again, http://www.allaboutagave.com/ then clicking on the "Agave Nectar and the Glycemic Index" tab is a great place to start with some basic information on agave for all of you interested in the science behind it all.

     NOW for the more interesting part of agave, a few more recipe selections, courtesy of moi. I included the following because first off, buttermilk pancakes are HUGE in my family and this recipe is pretty close, but with agave instead. The cookies, well I obsess over a good chocolate chip cookie and I am determined to try these. And lastly, the brownie recipe is because it is a great prelude to my fresh ingredient of the week...black beans!