Tweaking A Recipe

I like finding recipes on boxes. First, because that means it uses something I buy and second, because they've usually been tested (although some are just plain weird). Here are 2 of my finds that I've tweaked a little. They are big hits here in the Budge household.
Black Bean and Rice Soup--found on a Good Seasonings Italian Salad dressing packet (the dried stuff)
2 cans of black beans, undrained and divided
3 cups of water
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 packet of Italian Salad dressing mix
1 1/2 cups instant brown rice, uncooked
Place 1 1/2 cans of beans in a blender. Blend until smooth. Pour into large saucepan.
Add remaining beans, water, onion and mix; stir until blended. Bring to boil on medium-high heat.
Stir in rice. Reduce heat to low, cover. Simmer 5 minutes.
Here's how I changed it: I added one can of undrained petite diced tomatoes. Threw in some extra sausage I had browned and added regular rice instead of brown instant. This meant that I had to cook it a little longer (20 minutes maybe), but with the extra juice from the tomatoes it still stayed soupy. You might need to add extra water though, so watch it carefully. The kids really liked this one and it was good for them.

Grape-Nuts Peanut Butter Bars
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup peanut butter
4 cups Grape-Nuts cereal
Mix corn syrup, sugar and peanut butter in large microwave bowl. Microwave on high 2 minutes or just until mixture boils, stirring every minute. Add cereal; toss to coat well. Press firmly onto bottom of greased 13x9 pan. Cool. Cut into bars.
Here's how I changed it: Cut the corn syrup in half and add honey to make up the difference. Omit the sugar. Add unsweetened coconut flakes and sunflower seeds to the cereal to make a generous 4 cups (cut back on the cereal a little). They make a great granola-type bar, perfect for lunches.
Enjoy!!