Are you looking for a low fat dessert to serve over the holidays? These Chocolate Mint Brownies are just the thing. No one will ever know they are low fat!
Chocolate Mint Brownies
Ingredients:
1 cup sifted cake flour
1 cup cocoa
¼ tsp salt
1 cup egg substitute
1 cup brown sugar
¾ cup dark corn syrup
¾ cup apple butter
2 Tbsp oil
1 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted
36 frozen (about 6 small boxes) Junior Mint candies, chopped (I did not shop them)
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350. Spray a 9×13 pan with Pam.
Combine the cake flour, cocoa and salt in one bowl.
In a second bowl combine egg substitute, brown sugar, corn syrup, apple butter, oil and melted chocolate. Mix the two mixtures together. Pour into your prepared pan and sprinkle with candies.
Bake until firm about 30-35 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting.
These brownies are perfect to serve during the holidays with their peppermint kick. Everyone will enjoy them and have no idea that they are a healthy version of a brownie!
In case the brownies are not consumed immediately they can also be frozen to enjoy at a later date.
Do you have a favorite holiday dessert that is less fatting? If not I’m sure you’ll be adding this recipe to your repertoire!
The warning signs you see on the west coast are not at all what we see on the east coast!
We spent the day building sandcastles and exploring the tidal pools.
My granddaughter is fascinated by the hermit crabs she found hiding in the pools.
After enjoying our lunch we decided to drive up the coast a bit and do some more exploring. 
After a short walk through the pines we were on the beach.
Very few people, just wide flat beaches as far as you could see. Riley had such fun chasing her stick, except when she lost it in the water!
Mix up a batch of 
We have even made homemade 
As you are coming up with gift ideas that you can make don’t forget your four legged friends, a gift of homemade 
I appreciate homemade gifts and I also enjoy giving them. Hopefully my friends and family appreciate the heart behind the gift.
Add baby onions and cook for ten more minutes, stirring occasionally. 
Mix in 2 cups of whipping cream. Boil until cream is thickened to sauce consistency, about ten minutes. Transfer vegetable-cream mixture to a 6 cup shallow baking dish. (Can be prepared one day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Return mixture to room temperature before continuing)
Peel off the top piece of wax paper and cut out shapes with cookie cutters. Add a small hole at the top of each shape with a straw or skewer and let them dry over night, or until they are completely hard. You could also put them in a 150-degree oven to speed up the drying process. Place them in the oven for about 20-25 minutes.
Directions:
Cover with the top crust, trim and flute the edges. Cut a few vents in the top.
Our daughter and her family had purchased a membership pass so we didn’t have to wait long to get in. With our two grandchildren, ages 2 and 4 there was more to see than we could take in during one visit. OMSI contains three auditoriums, including a large-screen theatre, planetarium, and exhibition halls with a variety of hands-on permanent exhibits focused on natural sciences, industry, and technology.
The hands on exhibits were the most fun for our grandchildren. There were cranes to drive.
Even an earthquake house in which you could experience an earthquake! I think our grandchildren have been instructed as to what to do in an earthquake! They both ducked under the benches!
Another fun exhibit involved balls and air! As you can see in the background our grandchildren had great fun shooting balls up into the air. There were balls everywhere!
It was the perfect place to spend a rainy Saturday and there was so much that we didn’t get to see. I hope we can go back again!
Nancy on the Home Front 