The Brownie "recipe"

Brownie mix is a great thing to hide veggie purees and stuff in. Mainly because it is SO dark and very rich. So while brownies aren't health food, they can be a conduit for getting veggies into kids. So not health food, but not a total food villian.

Since there are so many different mixes out there, it is not a cut-and-dried thing. The beans/egg and oil substitution is not a 1:1 thing. If you try that, the brownies will be too dry. But the normal-sized box in the store is about the ticket to making it easy, since it is 1 can beans to 1 box mix. (I like the Hershey's one, because they add little Hershey's kisses in the mix and it jumbled the texture even more, all the better to disguise the purees!)

For the beans, put the beans and the liquid into the blender or food processor and pulse them until they are smooth.

Now, seriously, you will love this. Just plop the can of beans into the dry brownie mix and mix it up. And that is IT! No eggs. No oil. No water. Beans and brownies. They are a little more cakey than original brownies, but hey, we're working with BEANS, so you have to cut them some slack.

I use black beans, because they tend to be the superbeans of the bean family and they LOOK chocolatey. So if I ever get caught in my trickery...I could try to look innocent.

Now you WILL have to cook them for about 10 minutes longer, or they will be a little bit too wet to cut easily.

I will do another post on purees in general. But here is a quick teaser. If you want to make your kids mac and cheese from the box more healthy, here's a tip. You can steam some cauliflower and blend that and a bit of the steaming water and plop the mixture into an ice cube tray. Freeze the mixure and put them in freezer bags. Now when you mix up a box of mac and cheese, just pop one or two of the cauliflower cubes into the mix. It really changes nothing, in terms of texture and taste. Cauliflower is very mild.

And if you are tight on time...organic baby food in the baby food aisle are a good sub in a pinch.