A Tale of Two Brownies and Salt and Vinegar Wings

We finally had gorgeous weather this weekend!  It didn’t get stormy until last night, and while it was windy, there was hail – we actually didn’t get the worst of it – tornado warnings were all around us!  While I like a good rain storm, tornados scare the bejesus out of me.

I was lucky enough to get an autographed copy of Rocco DiSpirito’s Now Eat This recipe book and Now Eat this diet book.  I’ve been intrigued with the black bean brownies, even though my friend Veronica thought they tasted like ass.   I decided to buy a box brownie mix to compare, which Tony was all over.  He loves brownies. 😀

I didn’t realize until I was mixing it together that there actual peanut butter chips in the mix.  Let’s just say Tony approved!

Let’s face it – we all know these turned out delicious.  A nice crust on the outside, chewy and moist on the inside.  I knew I had my work cut out for me making black bean brownies.

First off, I changed the recipe.  It called for espresso powder, which I didn’t have, and sugar free chocolate syrup and splenda.  I decided to use regular chocolate syrup since it was only 2 tablespoons, and sugar for the Splenda.  I think those changes made a world of difference – yet the points stayed the same – this recipe makes 12 brownies for 2 points each!

Biz’s Black Bean Brownies

Ingredients:

• 1 can of black beans, drained (15 oz can)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup egg beaters
• 2 tablespoons chocolate syrup
• 2 tablespoons sour cream
• 1 tablespoon melted butter
• 8 tablespoons of sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Heat the oven to 350.  Spray an 8×8 pan with Pam.  I just put all the ingredients into my food processor – I let it run for a few minutes, just to make sure all the black beans were pureed.

Pour the batter into the baking dish – his directions said to bake for 28-30 minutes, mine baked more like 40 minutes.  Let cool.  Cut into 12 squares.  Refrigerate any leftovers.

Here is how the top of the brownies looked – um, not anywhere near what the picture in the cookbook looked like – the ones in the cookbook looked like the peanut butter brownie picture above.

And here is a side view – this shot looks way more appetizing. 😀

The verdict?  We actually liked them!  While the texture is not nearly the same as a regular brownie, the chocolate flavor stood out and these would definitely work if you had a sweet tooth.  The cookbook compares the calories of a regular brown and Rocco’s brownie – um, his original regular brownie is 1500 calories, which I think is BS, unless you have a regular brownie with a gallon of full fat ice cream!  I think next time I’ll add the espresso powder too.

When chicken wings are $.49 cents a pound, I can’t resist.  While they aren’t the healthiest piece of meat, I worked them into my meal plan for the week.  I had the idea of making salt and vinegar wings.  I love, love, love salt and vinegar chips.  So I decided to marinate my wings:

For my three wings, I mixed together: 1/2 cup vinegar, 2 tablespoons Tabasco, 1 tablespoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes.  They marinated for about 4 hours, but next time I will marinate overnight.

OMG, these were so fricken good!  You could really taste the vinegar, and they weren’t too salty either.  And next time I think I’ll add equal parts of vinegar and Tabasco to make them spicier.  I licked my bones clean on this one.  Sorry Jenn and Charlie you don’t like eating meat on the bone – you guys are missing out on this one!  Also, if you have time, check out Charlie’s last post about our favorite childhood restaurant – Shakey’s Pizza!

So what’s on my menu this week?  I haven’t figured out breakfasts yet – so this is just lunch and dinner.

Lunches:

• zucchini meatball sub
• chili stuffed zucchini with melted mozzarella cheese
• grilled chicken caeser with apples and strawberries
• turkey fajita frittata
• spinach salad with grilled shrimp and warm bacon dressing (never made this last week!)

Dinners:

• marinated flank steak with rosemary potatoes and zucchini
• taquitos, refried beans and spanish rice
• shaved asparagus pizza (can’t wait to try this one!)
• grilled chicken cordon blue
• grilled shrimp over fried polenta with sauce and crumbled blue cheese

Goals for this Week:

• 5 days of 30 day shred
• no wine
• in bed by 10:45 at night

Question of the Day:  Can you eat meat off the bone?

Don’t forget its not too late to join my 101 Days of Summer Challenge – It begins on May 31 and runs through Labor Day.   You can check out the info here.

Have a great Monday!