Almond Brownies

While poking around in Mom’s basement, I found a fun little book called “Make a Treat with Wheat” by Hazel Richards. It is a little spiral bound, well used, book that I have enjoyed. I am trying as many of the recipes as I can, since I don’t know when Mom will find it missing and I will have to return it. However, given my son’s condition and the fact that whole grains are just good for all of us, I thought I would post a recipe that we enjoy, courtesy of Mrs. Hazel Richards.

Almond Brownies
1 cup sugar
¼ cup margarine or butter
2 eggs
¼ cup milk
2/3 cup less 2 tbsp whole wheat flour
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/8 tsp salt
2 squares melted unsweetened chocolate
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond extract
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Cream together sugar and butter. Add eggs and milk. Sift together flour, cornstarch and salt. Add to sugar mixture. Mix in chocolate, vanilla, almond extract and nuts. Bake in a greased 9 X 9 inch pan at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes.

Monday Family Home Evening

Tonight, we had a lesson on Easter. I told the story of Jesus Christ's suffering in the garden of Gethsemane, His crucifixion, burial, and Resurrection. I came across a wonderful activity that suggested gathering an empty egg, an empty envelope, and empty box with a lid and other "empty" things. I asked my kids what was in the objects, and they responded that they were empty. Not bad for nearly 4 and 2 years old. I then explained that Easter was to celebrate the empty tomb. Jesus no longer was in the tomb, he was resurrected and that if we followed His teachings, we would be resurrected too.

Monday Family Home Evening

Our lesson this week was "I am Thankful for Water." My wonderful MIL sent a letter with pictures to the kids, discussing water and showing pictures of the desert. They are moving to Tuscon soon, so she included pictures of saguaro cacti. She also sent a video she made for her Sunbeam class. Her letters are meant to be instant family home evenings. Afterwards, TJ wanted to go "swimming in the river." It was 8 pm, somewhat cold, and dark. Brent and I had to run errands after the kids went to bed, so I told them if they got their jammies on they could go to the river. There is a pond by Brent's office with lights and a bridge, a few geese and a fountain. We spent almost an hour walking around the pond, watching the geese and throwing pine cones off the bridge. What fun.

Monday Family Home Evening

Tonight we told the story of Samuel the Lamanite. I got the gospel art pack out and used the picture to tell the story to my kids. They liked the picture, kind of sat through the story, but they loved the activity. I "dressed" TJ up with a towel and he stood on the couch and preached to us. We wadded up newspapers and threw our "stones and arrows" at him, purposefully missing. He had great fun. M ran to get another towel and joined her older brother up on the couch. It eventually turned into a big newspaper fight, but I think they understood the point somewhat.