Ingredients:

2/3 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup maple sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup peeled chopped apples
1/2 cup nuts (optional)
Powdered sugar
Instructions:

1. Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla, mixing well. Add flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. Stir well. Stir in apples and nuts.

2. Spread batter into a greased 9 x 13-inch baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes, until brownies test done with a fork and slightly browned on top.

3. Cool; dust top with powdered sugar and cut into 24 squares.

There is a great website I’ve been visiting now for sometime, but have not cooked any of her dishes.  I’m going to try two of them soon though.  She has a recipe for a fasting bread and a Black Bean & Rice recipe that look good.

On Ash Wednesday, fasting in this household means 2 small meals that together do not equal a normal meal and one regular sized meal (for us that is our dinner).  I think I’ll make the fasting bread on Tuesday so that we can have that for breakfast and lunch on Ash Wednesday.  Then fix the black beans & rice for dinner and serve along with some fasting bread.

5 cups butternut squash, cut into 1 inch cubes
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 garlic cloves, minced
2T fresh parsley, minced
1T fresh chives, minced
1/2t salt
1t black pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Butter 2 quart baking dish

In a large bowl, add squash. In small pan over medium heat melt butter. Once melted whisk in syrup, garlic, parsley and chives. Add squash and season with salt and pepper, toss to coat. Transfer mixture to prepared baking dish, cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Uncover, bake for another 30 minutes or until squash is tender.

1 refrigerated pie crust

1 1/2 cups maple syrup

3 eggs

6 tb butter, room temp

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

2 cups chopped toasted walnuts

1 tb vanilla

1/4 tsp ( or less) freshly grated nutmeg

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Prepare the pie crust in a 9-inch pie plate.  Prick bottom and sides with a fork and line crust with a double thickness of foil.  Bake 8 minutes, remove foil and bake another 5 minutes and cool.  Lower oven temp to 350.

In a small saucepan bring maple syrup to a boil, reduce to a simmer, uncovered for 10-12 minutes or until syrup has reduced to about 1 cup.

Beat eggs with electric mixer on medium-high until thick and lemon-y colored, about 5 minutes.

In another mixing bowl beat butter on high speed for 30 seconds.  Add sugar and brown sugar.  Beat in syrup and eggs.  Fold in walnuts, vanilla and nutmeg.  Pour into pie crust.

Bake pie on a baking sheet lined with foil for 35 minutes or until set around the edges are set.  Let cool and serve with vanilla ice cream.

1 LB chicken breast tenderloins (or boneless, skinless chicken breasts)

2 tsp of Montreal steak seasoning (spicy or regular)

1/4 cup maple syrup, plus 2 TB for finishing

1/2 cup sliced green onions

In a large zip top bag, combine maple syrup and seasoning.  Drop in chicken tenders and coat.  Marinate for 1-4 hrs before cooking.  Heat a little canola oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the chicken and cook until no longer pink and internal temp is 170 degrees.  Remove chicken from skillet.  Heat finishing syrup and green onions until just warm and serve over chicken.

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 cup water
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 3 tablespoons dark sesame oil
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
• 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
• 5 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 1 cup brown rice
• 2 cups water
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch