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!

lazy cookie experiments.

i'm not sure what my deal is, but whenever i make almond milk and have all the almond flour leftover, i either figure i won't use it for awhile and put it in the freezer or i try to make up a recipe for cookies that never works! the other day was no exception.

 what i should do next time is at least try something that has been done before so i get a better idea of what makes a good cookie texture. i'm thinking this cacao walnut cookie recipe might be a good one for next time (substituting the agave, of course!).

for these cookies, i used almond flour, banana, coconut oil, maple syrup, cinnamon and cacao nibs on top. maybe there was something else too. they smelled AMAZING in the dehydrator.

out of the dehydrator though, i figure these would need raw ice kream on top or something! they are kinda chewy but basically cause me to gasp for air, like eating too much almond butter or something. i think i need to add dates or something sticky and sweet to balance out the dry flour.

next time i will spend the extra 30 seconds and look up some sort of guideline to follow!

bananas and chocolate!

i don't know what i would do without bananas. frozen for smoothies, smushed up with cacao bits and coconut for a snack, fruit on the run... they are just the best!

tonight paul was saying he wished he could dip his banana in chocolate, so, grateful for the inspiration, i started throwing things into the vitamix.

i put about 4 spoons of cacao powder, a heaping spoon of coconut oil, a heaping spoon of almond butter, a few hunza dates, a number of splashes of almond milk (had to keep adding because there wasn't really enough in the blender to mix things around - as it were, there are still some chunks of dates).... anyways... it was so good and i'm convinced this is my raw chocolate pudding recipe. and i'm definitely going to start making it on the regular!

korean middle school cafeteria winter-styles day 5

okay so getting off the raw train temporarily... there was tofu in the cafeteria again! and the roasted seaweed seemed like too great of an addition. i can't help but believe that me choosing any vegan options available in the cafeteria creates more of a demand for them! raw bagel with coconut oil though is crucial for my better breakfast!

 look! my orange still has a leaf! YES! beauty.

 lunch... i don't know how i got so lucky but the greens did not contain any "little fish" OR "little little fish". AMAZING. i broke up some of my raw nori from home for the salad and eek! a banana for dessert! LOVES IT.

 and okay, dinner? more vegan options? the broccoli was steamed and then chilled but whatever! it's broccoli!!! and then a warm no animal product potato strips thing was great for a switch. and later cucumber strips with sesame seeds were brought out. YES! i have never seen so many vegan options in this cafeteria in one day before. one of the chefs came up to me and said hello and my name so i can't help but feel like being so inquisitive about the food plays a role in what they produce for us! 

korean middle school cafeteria winter-styles day 5

okay so getting off the raw train temporarily... there was tofu in the cafeteria again! and the roasted seaweed seemed like too great of an addition. raw bagel with coconut oil though is crucial for my better breakfast!

 look! my orange still has a leaf! YES! beauty.

 lunch... i don't know how i got so lucky but the greens did not contain any "little fish" OR "little little fish". AMAZING. i broke up some of my raw nori from home for the salad and eek! a banana for dessert! LOVES IT.

 and okay, dinner? more vegan options? the broccoli was steamed and then chilled but whatever! it's broccoli!!! and then a warm no animal product potato strips thing was great for a switch. and later cucumber strips with sesame seeds were brought out. YES! i have never seen so many vegan options in this cafeteria in one day before. one of the chefs came up to me and said hello and my name so i can't help but feel like being so inquisitive about the food plays a role in what they produce for us! 

korean middle school cafeteria winter-styles day 1

so i'm back teaching at a camp in korea... i changed up my food suitcase a bit this time around but once again, i really only eat the iceberg lettuce salad from the cafeteria (if it hasn't been tainted by seafood, meat or dairy additives).
my first full day at the camp included meals such as a go raw real live flax bar for breakfast, then lunch i did in the cafeteria...

 i finally got to try the "almond rosemary rawgles" i've been anxious to try... picked up a whole bunch of stuff from home grown living foods at buddha-full. excitement! lots of fun stuff made in lake cowichan and they have a buddha in their logo so it matches buddha-full. anyways... i wished these to be chewy and they're not, but they are softer and thicker than typical raw crackers so it was a nice change. smeared some coconut oil on em (they shattered in my lugggage) and it was great fun! had the cukes and carrots and salad from the cafeteria plain and then some oranges too! yahoo!

it was pizza night to celebrate new years eve so the teachers had that to look forward to after dinner in the cafeteria. the salad that i count on to be there was mayonaise atop fruit so it was a major letdown. but hurrah for the sprouted chickpea miso i bought at organic lives! added some kombu which kind of reminded me of 'el dante' pasta and it was quite nice!