Black Bean Mousse Brownies

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY WEEEEEKENNNND! 

How are you guys? Did you have a fun Valentine's Day? Okay, maybe you were single and sad, but whatever. I'm sorry. :P I'm single as can be, and I honestly didn't feel sad about it on the 14th. *shrugs* Not that I've really been old enough to even qualify as a "single" for very long, so I guess I can't say anything yet. *laughs*

It's ok, y'all. There's hope. :P I'm actually doing a book study for this book, Love Defined, right now. The authors, founders of GirlDefined Ministries, are currently putting on a study of the book on their Instagram account. They've been doing a live video every day. So yeah, I'm hoping I'll become wiser. =D 

Anyhow, another thing I decided to do a couple days ago is go off of eating sugar. I have cheated... I mean, they offered me chocolate strawberries at work twice in a row. So I ate two chocolate strawberries. :P I decided dark chocolate DOESN'T count, so I've eaten 70-85% dark chocolate too. Also, savory sauces at restaurants don't count. I make my own rules, ok? lol.

So yesterday, since I'm off sugar, I decided to make a healthy dessert. The idea was brownies, but my creation turned out more mousse\pudding "brownie". Here's the recipe. ^__^

BLACK BEAN MOUSSE BROWNIES


15 oz can black beans

1\4 cup cocoa powder

1\2 cup walnuts

2 eggs

1\2 tsp salt

1 banana

4 tbsp butter, melted

1\2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp yogurt

2 tbsp maple syrup

1\3 cup water


Place all ingredients into a blender and blend well. Pour into a lightly greased 9"x9" glass pan and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 28 minutes. Let cool and enjoy! 

tip: combine some yogurt, maple syrup, and vanilla for a topping. Even better, whip some cream and sweeten it with maple syrup.

If you're not eating sugar, maybe you'll want to give this a try. It's good, and filling. You could even eat it for breakfast. :)

Also, if you did the survey in my last post thanks! If you haven't done it, it's currently still open. :)



WHAT'S UP? WOULD YOU TRY THIS RECIPE?

On the Ninth Day of Christmas

The ninth day of Christmas! Christmas is about three\four days away! =D 

The topic today is of Hot Chocolate. :) 

INGREDIENTS:


1 cup milk

1 tbsp. cocoa

honey, to taste, or 1 tbsp.

DIRECTIONS:

Stir cocoa and milk in a mug, then heat for around one minute, stopping after 25 or so minutes to stir cocoa in the rest of the way. Add honey when hot. You can also drink it with a candy cane, to give it that delicious peppermint flavor! :) Not to mention marshmallow... just remember, it isn't exactly healthy any more, then. ;)

Here are some more hot-chocolate-related recipes I found. :) 

Hot Chocolate Smoothie Bowl

Hot Chocolate Breakfast Smoothie

Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate

Peppermint Hot Chocolate Cookies

Some of these sound really good! :)

Peppermint Chocolate Chip Cream-Filled Chocolates

PEPPERMINT CHOCOLATE CREAM-FILLED CHOCOLATES

INGREDIENTS:

8 oz. pkg cream cheese

3 1\2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp. peppermint*

1\3 + 1\4 cup mini chocolate chips

to dip:

chocolate chips and coconut oil

INSTRUCTIONS:

Beat cream cheese. Add the rest of the ingredients (except those for dipping) and mix together well. Put in the freezer to make more firm. Then, using a 1\2 tablespoon, make balls and drop onto cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. You will probably need to use powdered sugar to keep it from sticking to bad while making balls. Place in freezer to firm up. 

Melt chocolate chips and coconut together, then take the balls from freezer and dip. Place back in freezer to harden. 

I would store these in the freezer.

   These were supposed to be truffles. I used another recipe as a guideline to make these, but the cream cheese mixture was way to un-thick. So instead they are cream chocolates. ;)

     And they're very good, with that mint and chocolate chips! :D Of course, I had to taste the finished product after taste-testing and picking at it while making it... I think it lessens the deliciousness when you already ate a bunch of sugar. ;P

   But if you're looking for a treat for Christmas-time, you can try this! :)

Season's Sensation: Chocolate Banana Ice Cream Smoothie

 Here with the smoothie recipe I mentioned in my July Currently post! :) Mind you, I'm on vacation right now, and this post was scheduled. :D I'm having fun... hopefully, because I don't know that yet, since I wrote this up the day before we left. :P 

 So anyhow, this is a good recipe for your hot summer days! =D

CHOCOLATE BANANA ICE CREAM SMOOTHIE

3 tbsp cocoa

3\4 cup milk

1\2 tbsp honey

1 1\2 -ish frozen banana

pinch of salt

a little cinnamon (a pinch?)

Blend together in a blender and enjoy! 

(This may be two servings, by the way.) 

 These are some pictures I took sometime before we left. The sun was shining, and it was raining! :) Pretty cool.

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies

   Yes, yes, another recipe. :) I just decided to do a recipe post dump. ;) So I can just get these things posted.

  So anyhow, this one is healthier peanut butter cookies (YUM!!) with chocolate chips (YUM AGAIN! :P). I used honey, so these are free of cane sugar.

  And they taste rather good. :D Dense and chocolate-y and delicious! Peanut butter- ah- is so good! Agree? ;)

CHOCOLATE CHIP PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

1 cup peanut butter

1\4 cup + 1 tbsp honey

1 egg

a pinch baking powder

1\4 cup + 2 tbsp flour

1 tbsp sour cream (or yogurt)

1\2 cup chocolate chips 

___________________________________________________________________________________

 Mix peanut butter honey and egg together. Add remaining ingredients. Form balls and place on un-greased cookie sheet (or stone pan, in my case). Flatten slightly.

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 16 minutes.  

Yield: 13 cookies

note: these don't really spread, so you can space them pretty close. And the dough will be very oil-y, for some reason. (The peanut butter, probably? It may depend what kind of peanut butter you use, though. *shrugs*)

  Ah, food photography! <3 

So there's the recipe, along with all it's cookie-picture beauty! :P :D

No-Bake Fudge Popcorn Bars (cane sugar free)

 Another recipe! This one is like fudge no-bake cookies (I used a recipe for it as a guide for this stuff), but it's popcorn instead. Popcorn, peanuts, and shredded coconut covered in fudge-y chocolate. Yum. 

 It didn't seem to harden up like the no-bake cookies. That might be because I used honey instead of sugar, and I cut the butter... So I just put it in the freezer. ;)

NO-BAKE FUDGE POPCORN BARS

6 tbsp butter

3\4 cup honey

1\2 cup milk

1\2 cup cocoa

4 3\4 cups popcorn

3\4 cup shredded coconut

1\4 cup crushed peanuts

                                           __________

 Combine first four ingredients in a saucepan. Mix the other ingredients in a heat-safe bowl. (when measureing the popcorn, pack it down a bit. Doesn't matter if the popcorn gets crushed) 

Bring the saucepan mixture to a boil and boil for two minutes. Pour into the bowl mixture and combine well. Then pour it into a 9x9 pan and freeze. 

 ENJOY! ;)

 So yes, this was really good. :)

Banana Garbanzo Bean Fudge Brownies

  

  Brownie lovers who like to eat healthy, here is a yummy recipe for you!   

  This recipe's all good-for-you ingredients are just thrown into a food processor (I'm sure a blender would work perfectly also), to combine. When they are done baking, the finished product is like a cross between a brownie and fudge... hence the name works nicely. ;)  

Banana Garbanzo Bean Fudge Brownies

a 15.5 oz can chickpeas

1\4 cup of banana

1\4 cup walnuts 

2 tablespoons butter *

1 tablespoon yogurt

1 teaspoon vanilla 

1\4 cup cocoa 

3\4 cup coconut sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

a couple pinches of salt

               ~~

Combine all ingredients in food processor or blender until smooth. Pour into greased 9x9 pan. 

Brush top with melted butter**.

Bake at 350 degrees for 21 minutes.  

*You can probably substitute almond or peanut butter for the banana, walnuts, and butter, if you'd like. Otherwise the recipe is peanut and almond free, for those who have allergies to these. :) 

**Optional- I did this to try give it a glossy top... didn't really work. 

ANOTHER RECIPE USING GARBANZO BEANS (or chickpeas): 

Chickpea and Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

Peanut-Butter Cup Brownie in a Dish

Chocolate, Peanut-butter, Dairy-free, (cane) Sugar-free, Healthy brownie-ish snack :) 

      Here's snack for healthy nuts. :) I made something like this not so long ago without measuring everything out, plus it needed some tweaking. So I remade something like it today. :) It's a good healthy snack\treat. :)  

HEALTHY PEANUT-BUTTER CUP BROWNIES IN A DISH


BOTTOM LAYER:

1\4 cup peanut butter
1 1\2 T flour
1\2 t vanilla
2 t coconut sugar
3 t honey
1 T coconut milk
pinch of salt
pinch of baking powder

TOP LAYER:

2 T coconut milk 
1 T cocoa
1 T honey
1 T flour
1\2 t vanilla
pinch of salt 
pinch of baking powder
________

Divide peanut butter layer evenly among two small dishes, then pour the chocolate layer on top.

Cook in the microwave for 1 minute (or 1 minute and 30 seconds).

  The chocolate layer is more pudding-ish, and the bottom layer is crumbly... more like a cookie, I suppose. :)