Wednesday, May 23, 2012

black bean brownies

sounds gross but these are awesome! not raw or particularly healthy, but... top allergens-free and bean-heavy! hehe.
i tried these for the first time at a potluck where my new friend jen claimed they were super easy and she had just veganized a simple recipe from her mom or something. and she sent me what she did. and now, i am going to post what i did last night!
i have now made these twice and they have been super simple and super delicious both times ^_^ trying them again this morning makes me really aware of how chewy these brownies are! it's crazy! the ground chia is incredible!

brownies and coconut milk ice cream! hurrah!

ingredients:
1 - 15 oz can black beans (rinsed! of course!)
4 "egg whites" (i use 2 bowls, each with 2 tablespoons ground chia, or flax, with 6 tablespoons of water - to clarify: you'll 4 tablespoons ground chia or flax and 12 tablespoons of water in total)
12 tbsp cocoa (i use raw cacao which is funny as i bake these!)
2 tbsp earth balance (last night i used coconut oil which was great)
1 cup "sugar" (last night i used sucanut - not sure yet what to do about this high amount of sugar which i'm sure isn't so necessary - i will keep experimenting!)
3 tbsp gluten-free flour (i have used rice flour and last night i used namaste's perfect flour blend)

directions:
1. heat oven to 350 degrees, use a 9x13 pan. (i greased my pan with coconut oil just in case, though i don't know if it's necessary. also, i find 9x13 a bit big as i like a thicker, fudgier brownie so last night i used an 8x8 glass dish)
2. blend beans and 2 "egg whites" in blender. (since my blender is getting fixed right now, i blended half of the beans/"eggs" in my mini food processor and then added the rest. it all fit and it all blended just fine. hurrah!)
3. combine the bean mix with the sugar and flour and remaining "egg" mix.
4. mix cocoa and "butter" (melted) in a bowl and then add to main mix and mix thoroughly.
5. pour into pan.
6. bake 30-35 minutes or so! i took mine out last night at about 35 minutes and a toothpick still was showing a chocolate stain. but i love my thick, slightly gooey brownies! when i made them in the larger pan, they seemed they would be a bit dry but the next day, they had softened and moistened up. and all reports back have been very happy ^_^


i feel like this is the perfect recipe for staff treat days and kid events as they look "normal" and i think they taste normal (you would never guess that these are made of beans!) and i think most people can eat them! (ie no dairy/nuts/gluten/oats/eggs, etc.)

enjoy!

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

a sad vitamix story... hopefully soon with a happy ending!

on april 18th, i was so excited as i got my delivery of vitamix replacement parts. i put everything together. my vitamix still did not work.
i finally called them on the 21st to ask and i was told i would be sent the stuff to be able to send my whole vitamix base to them to look at and make sure to fix. i am still waiting!
i hope i can talk to someone about it tomorrow. i hate that my broken vitamix isn't even on its way to being fixed right now! and i'm sure that waiting part is going to take awhile!!!
sigh!
*may 17th update: called and apparently they didn't have my apartment suite number! so i never got the FedEx slip. they emailed me the slip instead so my vitamix is finally on its way for servicing. fingers crossed i get it back in june!*
well, at least we have a magic bullet here. it's a bit more work but i can still get some yummy smoothies happening in it.
this smoothie is DELICIOUS. it's frozen banana, almond milk, some supergreens powder, fresh mint and lucuma powder. it tastes like how ice cream should taste! ^_^

p.s. in the last couple days, i have had 2 friends excitedly tell me they have bought their first vitamix! i hope i can visit them soon to get my extra smooth smoothie fix! ^_^ hehe