Gluten-Free Black Bean Brownies

Hello my lovely friends! I know this recipe might sound odd, but I’m begging you – give it a shot. It’s cheap, easy, and much healthier than regular brownies. With no flour, they are extremely fudgey and it’s difficult to eat just one.

It’s the start of a new school year for me. In between preparing lesson plans, attending meetings, and getting ready for my own classes; I attended a potluck on Friday to welcome the new Anthropology graduate students. I brought these black bean brownies and received around 10 compliments (no lies) and they were gone within 15 minutes (again, no lies). Perhaps these flew off the plate so quickly because anthropologists are known to be adventurous and willing to try new dishes. However, I encourage you to put these together and take them to a potluck – I bet you can get a few people to eat them without noticing anything odd before you tell everyone that black beans are in the batter.

S’mores Cookies

I shouldn’t do blog posts when I’m hungry. I want to eat all the cookies. I’ve been gone for quite awhile from blogging because things have been crazy on my end! First of all – I finished up with finals and my first year of graduate school. It seemed nearly impossible at times and I questioned whether it was a mistake often, but I survived and overall, I’m happy. I have an overwhelming amount of work in front of me, but I’ve started, which is something.

Besides finishing up my first two semesters, I found out that I’ll be teaching all next year. HOORAH! FUNDING! No one (minus perhaps my parents) realize what a relief this is for me. I’ve been worrying about it a ton and filling out so many applications and I finally got a position that I think I’m going to be incredibly happy with! It’ll be tons of work, but I’m looking forward to the challenge. After finals and celebrating my new position, I headed out for a week with Kyle. It went crazy quick (like it always does), but I got to spend a lot of time with close friends which was a great destresser from school. I’m at home now for a friends wedding this weekend (first time as a bridesmaid!) before heading to Europe for a couple weekends! I’m starting to get excited, but it honestly hasn’t hit me that I’m going on vacation and not back to school! After that, it’s fieldwork then back to work! It seems like I have so much to do in such a short summer. However, I’m looking forward to cooking and baking in my free time and what says summer more than s’mores?!

Oreo Cookies and Cream Puppy Chow

Do you know what’s good? Chocolate. Do you know what’s also good? Sugar. So let’s just put the two together and call it a day, shall we? I’ve completely mucked up my sleep schedule. I fell asleep at 8:30 (!!!) last night, woke up for an hour at 2, then slept until 6. So, what did I decide to do at 9 pm tonight? I decided it was the perfect time to start whipping together a sugary concoction. This makes a huge, delicious batch of puppy chow. However, I figured since I was visiting Kyle and his roommates this weekend, I’d bring it with me on the road and feed the leftovers to them. Because no one appreciates homemade food like college students. This is quick, easy, and delicious. I made it while watching “Downtown Abbey” (I’m on episode 3 of Season 1 – completely addicted). Make it only if you have a lot of mouths to feed or if you’re down to eat 10 cups of puppy chow (which more power to you – let’s stop feeling shame for enjoying delicious foods, yes?)

Chocolate Protein Bars

it was difficult to patiently take this photo before I got to eat

When I started school, one other girl, Kelsey, was let into the program with the same advisor as me. Although we’re interested in slightly different things, she also started to work in the same archaeology lab as me, so we talk often. One of the awesome things about her is that she’s really into homemade foods and crafts, plus she eats pretty damn healthy. Although I started getting into more nutritious foods last year, as well as working out more, school had started to make wellness eating the last thing on my mind. But Kelsey has really inspired me to focus more on healthy eating and when I saw this recipe on pinterest, I decided to give it a try.