Yes, We Are Really Making That

Today's homeschool co-op recipe.

Black Bean Brownies

1 (15.5oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
3 eggs
3 T vegetable oil
1/4 c cocoa powder
1 pinch salt
1 t vanilla extract
3/4 c white sugar (do not decrease this amount for any reason!)
1 t instant coffee (optional, i don't, since i don't use the stuff and won't buy it for one lousy teaspoon)
1/2 c milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350*F and lightly grease an 8x8 baking dish.

Combine black beans, eggs, oil, cocoa powder, salt, vanilla, sugar, and instant coffee (if using) in a blender. Blend until smooth and pour into baking dish.

Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top.

Bake until the top is dry and the edges just start to pull away from the sides of the pan, usually about 30 minutes.

These are good the first day, better the second, and if you can hold out the last of it until the 3rd day, they are best of all.



Today is:

Anniversary of the Abolition of Slavery -- Mauritius

Be An Encourager Day/Inspire Your Employees to Excellence Day

Candlemas Eve

Cross-Quarter Day of Imbolc

Feast of Our Lady of the Purification -- Santo Amaro, Brazil

Federal Territory Day -- Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya, Malaysia

G.I. Joe Day

Hula in The Coola Day (A day to laugh at winter doldrums and escape the cold for a bit -- warm up the house, put on your shorts and have a luau!)

Kalends of February -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Lesser Eleusinian Mysteries -- Ancient Greek Calendar, through the 3rd

National Baked Alaska Day

National Enrolled Agent's Day

National Freedom Day -- US

Robinson Crusoe Day

Spunky Old Broads' Day (also all month -- I hope I live long enough to qualify as one of these someday!)

St. Brigid's Day (aka St. Bridget; patron of dairy workers, dairy maids, poultry raisers, Ireland, Wales, Australia, New Zealand)

Women's Heart Health Day

Working Naked Day (Not me, I don't want to scare the natives!)

Ya-Ya Matsuri -- Owase, Mie Prefecture, Japan (parades, street festivals, and boys diving into the sea for purification)


Birthdays Today:

Lisa Marie Presley, 1968
Pauly Shore, 1968
Sherilyn Fenn, 1965
Brandon Lee, 1965
Princess Stephanie of Monaco, 1965
Bill Mumy, 1954
Rick James, 1948
Sherman Helmsley, 1938
Don Everly, 1937
Garrett Morris, 1937
Boris Yeltsin, 1931
S.J. Perelman, 1904
Langston Hughes, 1902
Clark Gable, 1901
John Ford, 1894


Today in History:

Teenaged Edward III is crowned King of England, but the country is ruled by his mother Isabella of France and her lover Roger Mortimer, 1327
The Colony of Roanoke Island is established by the landing of Sir Walter Raleigh, 1587
Alexander Selkirk, the inspiration for Robinson Crusoe, is rescued from the uninhabited archipelago of Juan Fernandez, 1709
The Ottoman sultan orders the capture of his unwelcome guest, King Charles XII, resulting in the Kalabalik i Bender (Tumult in Bender), 1713
The first US steamboat patent is issued, by Georgia, to Briggs & Longstreet, 1788
The capital of Upper Canada is moved from Newark to York, 1796
The American Insurance Company of Philadelphia opens, the first such company managed by blacks, 1810
Volcano Mayon on Luzon, Philippines erupts killing 1,200, 1814
Slavery is abolished in Mauritius, 1835
The first US dental school, the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, is incorporated, 1840
Auburn University is chartered as the East Alabama Male College, 1856
Morris Raphall of NYC becomes the first rabbi to open the House of Representatives, 1860
Julia Howe publishes the "Battle Hymn of the Republic," 1862
Jefferson Long of Georgia is the first black to make an official speech in the House of Representatives (opposing leniency to former Confederates), 1871
The first volume of A New English Dictionary, A to Ant,later called the Oxford English Dictionary, A-Ant, is published, 1888
Thomas Edison completes the world's first movie studio, in West Orange, N.J., 1893
The first auto insurance policy is issued, by The Travelers Insurace Co., 1898
China's empress Tzu-hsi forbids binding woman's feet, 1902
The first US federal penitentiary is completed, at Leavenworth, Kansas, 1906
Russia adopts the Gregorian Calendar, 1918
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police forms as Royal Northwest Mounted Police merge with Dominion Police, 1920
The United States Army launches Explorer 1, 1958
Four black students stage the first of the Greensboro sit-ins at a lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, 1960
The Hamilton River in Labrador, Canada is renamed the Churchill River in honour of Winston Churchill, 1965
Canada's three military services, the Royal Canadian Navy, the Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force, are unified into the Canadian Forces, 1968
Director Roman Polanski skips bail and flees the United States to France after pleading guilty to charges of engaging in sex with a 13-year-old girl, 1978
The Ayatollah Khomeini is welcomed back to Tehran, Iran after nearly 15 years of exile, 1979
Lillian E. Fishburne becomes the first female African American to be promoted to rear admiral, 1998
Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates during reentry into the Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard, 2003
Johanna Siguroardottir is elected as the first female Prime Minister of Iceland, 2009