Sterling goes to a private school 3 days a week. It's a homeschool partnership school where kids go to school monday, wednesday, friday, and then they do homeschool on tuesday and thursday. So, after we do the school work we try to fit in baking on tuesdays and crafting on thursdays as extra circular activities. They love to do anything in the kitchen...mixing, pouring, measuring. So this is pretty fun for them.
Here we made black bean brownies , which is one of our favorite recipes. Its pretty easy, and they are so yummy. We have been making these for year or two now and I probably would not go back to regular brownies (box mix that is...I might try an awesome homemade recipe). First of all they are gluten free which makes them really light. We are not a strict gluten free family, but we like to do without bread and flours at different meals to give our body a break from too much of it. Second, they do not cause anyone any allergic reactions or sensitivity. Always a plus...my kids, well all of us actually, have some sensitivity to certain foods or preservatives sometimes. I think most people respond to food additives, fillers, preservatives and other garbage in processed foods but some are just more aware of it than others.
We have "taken notes" so to speak on what causes sensitivity to each of us. Like for instance, some of my kids have skin reactions to dairy (mostly cheese). Two of them have had hives from dairy. Since they are getting older they can tolerate a little here and there. Our second child has a sensitive stomach to certain dairy. We've also noticed patterns with my husband and I. He can't eat very much acidic tomato type foods. And he also has a reaction to oatmeal. Once we started paying more attention to how certain foods made us feel we have steered away from the ones that make us not feel so great, and stick with the ones that make us feel good. Also, I have learned with my own body to go with my cravings, within reason that is (like I wouldn't want to indulge a snickers bar everyday if that was my craving). But there have been times that I really craved certain "healthy foods" more during one season of life than another. Like for a couple of months I was wanting red onions on pretty much anything. I found out from reading about it that they are a natural anitfungal and I was dealing with some systemic yeast issues at that same time, and anti fungal is great form fighting yeast overgrowth. Go figure! And at one point after I weaned our fourth child I wanted to eat arugula so much in the place of any other salad. Then after reading about it I found out that arugula had certain properties that help with balancing hormones.
All this to say, if we are going to eat a brownie, these are a winner in our house. No one feels bleh after eating it, and I feel better letting my kids eat this as a treat instead. My thoughts...they have the rest of their adult life to eat whatever they want, so as long as I'm the one making their food choices, I want to give them the best that I can right now. And it's training them to make good choices in the future to feel well and be healthy. I'm really big on listening to our body to know what we need or don't need. The two older girls are now getting it some, where they will have a few bites of something (mostly if we are out somewhere) and they know not to have anymore if it doesn't settle well with them...even cake or sweets. So we are teaching them that just because everyone else is eating something but it doesn't make them feel well it's ok to decline or just have a few bites and let that be it. Moderation and balance is key.
Lillian's test kitchen is a blog that I like. She has some great recipes and she actually tries them to tell you what she thinks.
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