Flourless Chocolate Brownies

These brownies are completely different from any brownie I've ever made before.

Besides the fact that there's no flour in them.



I first made these last fall, and am not sure why I haven't made them since. Stick everything in a blender (or a food processor, if it's not in the dishwasher already), blend, and put in a greased pan and bake for a half hour. They're very good, for what's in them.



You'll still have to wait until I tell you what's in them.

It's possible I didn't actually make them again because of the stress that ensued while I had them in my possession. Last September I got tickets to U2, one of my most favorite bands (3 times in the same week, but who's counting?). I was so excited to be able to go but I knew that I had better bring snacks, since the traffic to Foxboro was so crazy, especially on game and concert days. This particular day was no exception. I picked up a friend of mine, and we gave ourselves roughly an extra hour or so to get there, knowing the trip took about an hour in the first place. I had the brownies in the backseat.

Fast forward to nearly 3 hours later, when we were still on the road, we could see Foxboro to our left, and if you rolled down the windows and listened, you could barely hear The Edge's guitar. I was so stressed and upset I couldn't do anything, but I did have a brownie or two, and I'm fairly sure I provided some good entertainment for my friend as I slowly melted down in the driver's seat.

We finally made it to the show, and managed to see most of U2's set. This made me much happier, and the excitement definitely returned. That is, until we got back into the car to drive home. And waited in the parking lot for almost 2 hours.

Needless to say, that pan of brownies was nearly polished off by the two of us before we even hit the highway (overall, the return trip took somewhere in the vicinity of 4 hours, in case you were wondering).

I liked them then, and I still like them now, but they will forever be brandished in my mind as "the brownies I took on that horrific drive to Foxboro to see my favorite band play". Here's hoping that they aren't bad luck, and the next time I put them in my car I won't be stuck on the highway for 3 days.



So, still curious about the extra special ingredient? These brownies contain black beans. And you'd never know it unless someone told you. They taste like, well, like flourless brownies. Soft and chocolate-y, and overall, pretty damn good. I love simple recipes that taste good.




Flourless Brownies (recipe from www.wholefoods.com)
1 (15-ounce) can of black beans, drained and rinsed
3 large eggs
1/3 c. melted butter (but let it cool down a bit before adding it to the mixture-adding scalding hot butter to something with cold eggs will scramble it!)
1/4 c. cocoa powder
1/8 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 c. plus 2 tbsp sugar
1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/3 c. finely chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Grease an 8-inch baking pan with some spray butter. Put the black beans, eggs, melted butter, cocoa powder, salt, vanilla extract and sugar in the bowl of a food processor or in a blender and blend until smooth. Remove the blade (if using a food processor) and stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts. Transfer mixture to the pan and bake the brownies for 30 to 35 minutes, or until it is just set in the center. Cool before cutting.

Granola Bars

Okay, I'm now out of granola. When you're out of granola you do the only thing you can.


You make granola bars.

I'm fairly certain that I have had a lot of granola and granola bars over this past month. Not that I'm complaining. It actually took awhile for me to grow into liking granola and granola bars, but I'm really glad I enjoy them now. I don't know why they weren't top on my list before (wait, maybe that's because chocolate is number one on my list-hell, it still is, really. I can't lie.) but they sit pretty high up these days.

About a year and a half back, I was into a different granola bar recipe. That one and the one I'm writing up now are pretty similar except for the boiling honey and the toasted grains. I think the other one had flour in it, which made it much more bar/cake like. This one: no flour. Makes things interesting.





And how. It's very sweet (with honey, a bunch of fruit, and some brown sugar, you'd think it sweet too!) but it's pretty much a home run (did someone say home run? Just 5 days until Opening Day!!). Not to mention it's really not difficult to do. I wish my food processor wasn't dirty-otherwise I might just have chopped the fruit in that to save time and sticky fingers. I managed though.



Granola Bars (recipe from The Barefoot Contessa, at www.foodnetwork.com)

* 2 c. old-fashioned oats
* 1 c. sliced almonds
* 1 c. shredded coconut (I used sweetened coconut though unsweetened could work just as well)
* 1/2 c, toasted wheat germ
* 3 tbsp. unsalted butter
* 2/3 c. honey
* 1/4 c. light brown sugar
* 1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
* 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
* 1/2 c. chopped pitted dates
* 1/2 c. chopped dried apricots
* 1/2 c. dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8 by 12-inch baking dish and line it with parchment paper.

Toss the oatmeal, almonds, and coconut together on a sheet pan and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring and restirring every 5 minutes or so, until lightly browned. Put mixture in a large mixing bowl and stir in the wheat germ.

Bring the oven temperature down to 300 degrees F.

Place the butter, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt in a small pot and bring to a boil over medium heat. Let the mixture continue to cook for a minute or so and then pour over the toasted oatmeal mixture. Add the dried fruit and incorporate everything together well.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Wet your fingers and lightly press the mixture evenly into the pan. If you'd rather not use your fingers you can use the back of a spoon or a spatula. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the top is a light golden color. Cool for at least 2 to 3 hours before cutting into squares.

Sundried Tomato Pesto

This pesto is what I think of when I want some sort of spread that isn't hummus or guacamole or something. Not so much mayo or mustard, but a different spread.



Sundried tomato pesto (well, this recipe, anyway) takes very little time to prepare, so much that it's to the point of laughable easy. Of course, this ease is made easier with the help of my trusty food processor-without one, I'm not sure it would be so simple-though I'm sure a blender could do the job quite nicely. This is not smooth-this particular pesto is pretty grainy and a little more chunky than your typical pesto. It's not runny at all.





It's perfect for using with crackers, and it works well as a sandwich spread. I'd even say it's good for putting over pasta, though I've never tried it. It's got a bit of tang to it, so be prepared-this is not a mellow pesto!



I made this originally on Thursday for my friend's birthday party, and decided that although I left the container half full at her house, I wanted to make some for myself so I'd have something different to snack on this week. I'm not sorry I had to make it again. Forgive the picture quality though-my camera I normally use to take these pictures ran out of battery power, so I used my other one. You get the idea, though.

This whole recipe, from start to finish, takes roughly 5-10 minutes-all you have to do is measure the ingredients in the bowl and start the processor. You have no reason to wait. No lie, this post took me longer to write than making this sundried tomato pesto did. Stop reading this and get up from the couch and go make it for yourself. You will thank me later.

Sundried Tomato Pesto (from www.recipezaar.com)
2 c. sundried tomatoes (if you get the ones packed in oil, make sure you drain first-I have used both-the ones that are in oil and ones that aren't. I don't notice too much of a difference.
1 c. grated parmesan cheese
1/4 c. packed basil (it doesn't need to be chopped)
1/4 c. packed parsley (again, unchopped)
1/4 c. olive oil
2 garlic cloves, whole
ground pepper, to taste

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until blended. Cover well and refrigerate until ready to use.

Chicken with Tomatoes

I needed something for dinner tonight. Weird, I know. You'd think with all the food I had made over the past week I'd have something I could work with.

Sure, I could work with some leftovers. But I needed something I hadn't seen before. I wanted something that was savory, that would taste familiar, that had things in it that I knew and I trusted.

I know I had done that with other dishes and failed miserably. I was putting a lot of weight on making this dinner work.





Chicken with Tomatoes was something I had seen in the Whole Foods website, in their recipes section. The picture looked so good and the recipe seemed really easy and really good tasting that I had to try it.



This time, I was not disappointed by a new dish. This was fantastic. This was filling. It was savory, it was tangy, it definitely came through as a go-to dish. I really could have licked the bowl clean (I actually could have, given that I'm the only one here. But I restrained myself). I loved this. It will go into my regular rotation, I'm pretty sure. I think it should go into yours too.




Chicken with Tomatoes (recipe from Whole Foods Market)

2 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 cup flour (I used spelt flour-trying to get rid of it! and didn't actually notice any difference! I hate to say it but I'm starting to get used to spelt!)
sprinkling of salt, to taste
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces (get the raw chicken tenders-you'll save time chopping them)
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
3 to 4 cloves garlic, crushed (I used a spoonful of minced garlic)
1 (15-oz) can crushed tomatoes, drained
1 c. low-sodium chicken broth
2 tbsp butter (or a bit of spray)
1 large portobello mushroom (about 1/2 pound), diced
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4 c. basil leaves, torn
3 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
Method

Heat oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Mix together flour, salt and red pepper flakes in a medium bowl then coat chicken with flour mixture. Make sure to shake off any extra flour. Transfer chicken to pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned (don't do something like I did and crowd the pan-it will take much longer to cook!); transfer to a large plate and return pot to the stove. Reduce heat to medium, add onion and garlic and cook until soft and opaque. Add tomatoes, broth and browned chicken back to the pot and simmer, covered, for 45 minutes.

While chicken mixture is cooking, melt butter (or spray butter spray) in a large pan over medium high heat, add mushrooms and cook until tender, about 5-10 minutes. Sprinkle with lemon juice and set aside.

Add cooked mushrooms, basil and parsley to pot with chicken mixture a few minutes before the mixture is done cooking and continue simmering just until heated through. Serve.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I stumbled on this recipe several months ago, back when I was trying to decide what to put in my Christmas baked good goody bags. I couldn't remember if I'd ever had them, and I certainly knew I'd never baked them before, so I decided to give them a shot.

How glad I was that I did. The cookies that came from this recipe were outstanding. They were crunchy, which is unlike a lot of chocolate chip cookie varieties I'd made, and they had a lot of chocolate in them, which is very much like a lot of chocolate chip cookie varieties I'd made. Plus, there was oatmeal in it, and whole wheat flour, so I could pretend that they were good for you.

Although the cookie didn't make the Christmas baked good cut, I did get compliments from friends that tried it then. One friend in particular asked me last week if I'd make them again for her. I love requests, as we all know, so this morning, bright and early, I put the dough together, baked it off, and had one fantastic cookie on my hands.




And then the cookies traveled to her house, where I conveniently left without them-because if I took them home, they would very likely have been eaten all at once. And three dozen cookies is a lot to eat at once!

...but if I had to, I would have done it. :)



"Mom’s oatmeal cookies" (recipe discovered from the Homesick Texan)

3/4 c. of butter, softened (I melted it, per usual)
3/4 c. of brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
3 c. oats (not quick cooking)
1 c. whole wheat flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 cups of chocolate chips (or, if you like chocolate as much as I do, one entire 12 oz. bag of semisweet)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Cream together the butter, sugar and egg (if you can use a hand mixer, please do and save yourself some time!). Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
Place small balls of dough on a greased or parchment-paper lined cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes. Let cool and enjoy.

Lemon Cake with Chocolate Frosting

Settle in, friends. This is one long, picture heavy post (thanks to my guest photographer that documented while I was decorating this cake-it makes things so much easier to get things done and documented when someone else is holding the camera!)

Let's talk birthday cake. I do love me a good birthday cake. Not only do I love eating cake, I love making it as well. A good friend of mine (and former roommate)is celebrating the day of her birth next week, and we are all commemorating with a big party tonight at her place. A few weeks ago, I asked if I might be able to help with the food, and her boyfriend came back with a very specific request (actually, specific requests are helpful because then I don't second guess myself in the creativity department): A cat shaped cake, in her favorite flavor combination, lemon with chocolate frosting.

Let me say that again: A cat shaped cake, in her favorite flavor combination, lemon with chocolate frosting.

Well, okay.

I'll be totally honest-I like lemon cake, and I love chocolate frosting, but combined together? Not really my favorite. To each their own though. and a cat cake-well, I'd never made a cat cake before (once for my family's Easter celebration my dish assignment was the bunny cake, but for some reason it didn't go very well-and my sister makes the best bunny cake anyway). I love me a good challenge though, so I got to work.

Here's the way to get yourself a cute cat cake, in many fun steps.

1. Make Lemon Cake (see recipe at end). The original recipe told me it would yield one 10 inch cake, so I doubled the recipe. This turned out to be a huge downfall.

The bowl was too small, the measurements were too big, and my kitchenaid mixer totally freaked out. That machine is easily 35 years old, as a guess, and still runs quite well, but the grooves holding the bowl into place have become a little loose over the years. There was enough butter in there that wasn't soft enough that the bowl came loose and I wound up having to stand at the mixer with both hands firmly planted on the bowl so it wouldn't fly across the room.
After I got everything into the bowl, I realized I couldn't get everything incorporated with my little kitchenaid, so I had to ditch it and try my hand held mixer to get everything set. Until it became too much for that too, and then I had to use a regular wooden spoon. I could have gotten my workout that day from making this cake batter alone-there was no need for the gym with this task!

(I wish I still had pictures of this. I know I took them but I may have accidentally deleted them. So sad. If I find them I will repost them here)
2. If making this cake several days in advance, as I was, let cool and then wrap very well in plastic (I also used tin foil, which I'm sure is a big no-no, but I wanted to be sure).

3. Prepare cake for transport to my sister's house, where a chest freezer is in existence (because my own is filled with stuff already).

4. Bring treat for sister and family to bribe with bringing said cake to store in said chest freezer for a few days.

5. Make fudge frosting (see recipe below). This can be done a few days in advance (or for me, the morning before I frosted the cake. I doubled the frosting recipe, just in case. This had much better results than the cake doubling process from the day before. Except that I was short one unsweetened chocolate square. Later taste testing proved that the missing square made absolutely no difference. Cover frosting, and do not refrigerate (yes, really).

6. Get cake back from sister's house when ready to frost.


7. Invite a friend over. Drink lots of wine and get her to take pictures of you decorating the cake. (Decorating is much better and way more entertaining on a buzz!)

8. Said friend is able to give advice on things you should try and opinions of how cake is looking, but mostly will laugh as you work with frosting, marshmallow, cake, and licorice.

9. Cut second cake a little smaller than the first (this will be the head). If you do this right you will have a nice border left that you can split-to serve as the cat tail and cat ears.

10. Frost cake with a thin chocolate layer (I used canned frosting to do this, gasp!). This will help to hide holes between the piped frosting that should look like fur. Then pipe cake using a flower tip to simulate fur using the homemade frosting. Cut marshmallows in half and stack down the cake to simulate legs and cover with frosting.


11. Decorate face with a flattened, stretched marshmallow, black licorice, and pink fondant.







11. Make a cat collar in the birthday girl's favorite color using fondant, and proceed to write the Happy Birthday message there, preferably using a food pen (yup, those actually exist. Try any craft store).

12. Refrigerate cake for the next day. Pray it doesn't fall apart or something doesn't fall on it. When it does (and it did), fix in the morning with more piped fur frosting.



13. Bring to birthday party. Hope the birthday girl likes the cake (I will have to get back to you on this one).


14. Bring backup dessert as well for those of us who don't care much for the lemon/chocolate combination.

I did get to try some of the scraps of the lemon cake, and I have to admit that I liked the cake very much. It was really dense, but had a very distinct lemon flavor. It also holds up quite well, which helps, especially if you're carving it into a shape. The fudge frosting is one of my favorites-I got it from a coworker at Tufts, and it's from Rosie's Bakery. It's really easy and very rich. My friend who was over giving me moral support while I prepared this cake told me that she quite enjoyed the fudge frosting, and over time, grew to like the lemon/chocolate combo. I thought it was decent too, though I don't think it will ever be my first (or second, for that matter) choice for cake. Overall, I was very happy with the way this tasted and the way this turned out! If it's not your choice for flavor combo either, make 'em separate. They're both quite good, if I do say so myself.

Luxury Lemon Cake (recipe obtained from Boston.com)
(This recipe claims it makes one 10 inch cake, so I doubled it and found myself with 4 9 inch rounds. I'd say if you are making a layer cake with this recipe, keep it the single version. If you're making a cat cake like above, you might want to double just in case you make a mistake and you need backup cake)


Finely grated rind of 3 lemons
2 teaspoons lemon extract
3 1/4 c. all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 sticks unsalted butter, softened
2 3/4 c. sugar
5 eggs
1 c. buttermilk

1. Set the oven at 325 degrees. Grease and flour your cake pan(s) and set aside to be ready.

2. In a small bowl, mix together the lemon rind and extract.

3. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into another medium bowl.

4. In an electric mixer, beat the butter at medium speed for 3 minutes or until smooth and creamy. Add the sugar in three portions, beating for 1 minute after each one. Add in the eggs, one at a time, mixing for 30 seconds after each one. Make sure you scrape down the sides of the bowl to keep everything fully mixed together.

5. Blend in the lemon mixture. On low speed, add the flour mixture and the buttermilk in 3 separate additions, alternating the wet and dry ingredients, beginning and ending with flour.

6. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan(s) and smooth the surface with a rubber spatula.

7. Bake the cake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake is clean (it took me about an hour for this to be done).

8. Let cool in pans for about 10 minutes, then take out and let cool fully on wire rack. Either frost once cooled or wrap well in plastic and freeze until ready to use (can be frozen for about a week).

Fudge Frosting (recipe from Rosie's Bakery)

* 6 OZ. Unsweetened chocolate (use the Baker's brand-they come in handy 1 oz. squares!)
* 1 c. plus 2 tbsp evaporated milk
* 1 1/2 c. sugar

1. Melt chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave, checking every 30 seconds or so. Cool.
2. Blend the evaporated mild and sugar in a blender at medium speed for 30 seconds. You really need to use a blender for this, do not use a hand-held mixer or a spoon.
3. Add the chocolate to the sugar mixture in the blender and blend on high speed until the frosting thickens, Approximately 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. You will notice the mixer's sound will change when the frosting has thickened.
4. Spoon the frosting into a bowl and let it set at room temperature for 30 minutes. Cover the bowl and let the frosting to set for at least 1 more hour before frosting your cake. Do not refrigerate the frosting. Just make sure it is covered well.

Spring Salad

I'm trying to like salad again. I swear.

With this dish, I think I'm getting there. I found this again in the Whole Foods website, and as the weather is fighting to be in spring mode in the Northeast, I had to try to make this.

I was pleasantly surprised by the way it turned out. It was really easy to throw together, it was much more tasty than I expected, and it reminded me of spring. Just really fresh tasting, and a little bit sweet as well.





I really liked how simple this salad looked to make, and I loved that it actually tasted like something I could have more than once!

It's a good reminder of spring, and the good weather that's supposed to accompany it.

I think if I eat more salads like this, I could get used to liking salads again. :)


Spring Salad (recipe from Whole Foods Market)
3 green onions, sliced
1/2 avocado
1/2 c. orange juice
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
3 ounces spring greens or mesclun mix (I used a 9 ounce bag of spinach-it was quite tasty)
1 cup sliced fresh strawberries
1/2 pound raw asparagus, trimmed and sliced into strips with a vegetable peeler (I used about 9 stalks of asparagus)
Method

Puree green onions, avocado, juice, salt and pepper in a blender or food processor until smooth to make a dressing. In a large bowl, toss greens, strawberries and asparagus together. Mix dressing together with the salad and serve. Serves about 4.