Triple Chocolate Black Bean Brownies (and other things to love)

Beans in brownies. It's a thing...I was ridiculously skeptical about.

Black beans I'm okay with. In places like burritos and even soup. I can totally do black beans in soup! I'm an outside the box thinker. But black beans in brownies? I questioned. And questioned.

Beans in brownies might be trying to call me out on bad habits and guilty pleasures. Like the toothbrush buried in my Halloween loot. An update on the presidential election smack in the middle of the Bachelor. These things...interrupting my otherwise peaceful nonsense. Totally beans in brownies.

I thought this. I thought this a lot and I was wrong.

Homemade (Deep Dish) Pizza Dough

This week...this week is bonkers-town crazy in my world.

There are business competitions to judge. (On a Saturday.) Eighth graders to woo into high school life. (Class of 2016 t-shirts are involved. I am old.old.old.) More small group Bible study. (Love.) And still secret 2012 resolutions to unleash. (They definitely do not involve running shoes...and neither does this week.) Stay tuned. I'm a terrible secret keeper.

In the midst of a hectic schedule I need reliable fall backs. The favorites that never get old.

Dark Chocolate Chip Pancakes with Blood Orange Sauce

In high school, it's entirely possible that I held a part-time job just to shop at Abercrombie. College savings clearly were less important than expensive prep school clothes.

If I could go back and teach my sixteen year old self a lesson...seriously.

Except, I'm fairly certain that the teenage girl who shops at Abercrombie becomes the twenty-something lady who tries (mostly) hard to spend only a reasonable amount of money at Anthropologie and JCrew...but at the end of the day, just has a thing for pretty things (that are slightlllly out of her budget. oops).

365: Week Three

a food related photo everyday until 2013.

fifteen: new measuring cups. simple and pretty...and so not fitting in the overflowing gadget drawer. oops.

Dark Chocolate Blueberry Almond Butter

I know...this isn't really a recipe.

It's more a mess of what's in my kitchen ground up in my food processor. (Sort of. I was prepared to eat a little more than almonds and blueberries in this day.)

In reality, if I actually needed to get out of the kitchen, drive to the grocery store (not Starbucks), mop the floor and brush the dog...this would be the kind of thing I'd create quickly and be pretty dang impressed with.

Let's be real. This is simple. And too often we are busy people with almost empty cupboards. We all need simple.

Cookies and Cream Cheesecake Blossoms

I sneak out of bed to make sure the door is locked more times than I should admit.

I have a real life predator...disguised as a chocolate lab sleeping at the foot of my bed. But when it comes to nighttime safety, I feel like I should do my part anyway.

I make to-do lists like a crazy lady. They're in my planner. On my iPod. Magentized to my fridge. I sometimes interrupt phone conversations to update them. I'm sorry, people I put on hold. It's real life. Things can't be forgotten.

I watch that chocolate lab of mine breathe when he's sleeping. Juuuust to double check. When I have children...check in on me. I'll be in a to-do list making, child sleep watching through the baby monitor funk. I can see it now.

365: Week Two

a food related photo everyday until 2013.

eight: sunday morning pancakes. (lemon poppyseed)