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?

Frozen Banana Bites

A Summer Season's Sensation! My little brother and I made these frozen banana treats the other day, and they tasted good! Actually, they are very similar to my Peanut Butter and Banana Freezer Bars. An old amateur post of mine... *sticks out tongue* But the recipe is good. I should actually re-post some of my favorite recipes; do a little revision. ;) But yeah, I'm supposed to be sharing my little recipe today. So. Here it is.

INGREDIENTS

About 2 bananas, sliced (fairly thick)

1\4 cup peanut butter

1 Tbsp honey

1\2 cup yogurt

1 1\2 tbsp honey

1 1\2 tbsp cocoa

INSTRUCTIONS

Mix peanut butter and yogurt mixtures in separate bowls. Put a bit of peanut butter mixture on a banana slice and top it with another slice. Repeat with all bananas. Dip and cover with yogurt mixture and place on a cookie sheet. Place in freezer until fully frozen.

Enjoy as a healthy little summertime treat!

\\ A great snack for kids\\ A great snack for anyone else\\ Make it easier to eat by cutting them in half after frozen\\ Be cooler than me and try putting a popsicle stick in between the banana slices\\

Tropical Strawberry Yogurt Smoothie

Happy Saturday! Are you burning up from pre-summer heat yet? Well if you are, you're in luck, because I have a five-ingredient smoothie recipe for y'all today. 

I made a smoothie yesterday for me and some of my family members, and decided I might as well take pictures and do a post. I need to get back into recipe posting. :P

Tropical Strawberry Yogurt Smoothie


INGREDIENTS:

About 1 1\2 cups frozen strawberries

About 2 1\2 cups fresh pineapple

Half of a frozen banana

1 cup plain yogurt

1 cup of water *


INSTRUCTIONS:

Throw everything into your blender and blend until smooth.
Enjoy!


Serves: about 7 small glasses- less for large glasses
* If you like your smoothies thicker, I would suggest doing less water.

Pistachio Almond Biscotti: Baking Video

Hey, I did another baking video! This one is kinda long... like nearing six minutes. But if someone wants to make some Almond Pistachio Biscotti, that's not too bad to follow along, right? *winks*

If you need any more Christmas treat ideas, you may want to try this out! *smiles* Because Christmas is coming fast! And these would make a nice gift as well... just so any other procrastinators out there know, if you need another gift idea. Last minute. ;D

*This video isn't supposed to have sound (at least not yet), but one part does... mistakes. ;P Just turn your sound off if you watch it. I didn't want to have to fix the problem and upload it to Youtube all over again.

WHAT IS ONE OF YOUR FAVORITE CHRISTMAS-Y TREATS?

Pumpkin Cheesecake Oatmeal Smoothie

Hey guys! I've got my first season's sensation of fall! Yet another oatmeal smoothie, but this one involves pumpkin. *winks* Sorry, I think I do too many oatmeal smoothies. ;P

 Anyhow, I quite like how nice my pictures turned out! It's the food photography... again. *hearts*

INGREDIENTS:

1\4 cup canned pumpkin

1\4 cup oatmeal

1 1\2 tbsp honey

1\2 cup milk 

1 tbsp cream cheese

pinch of salt

1\2 tsp cinnamon


INSTRUCTIONS:

Throw everything into your blender and blend until smooth. You may want to chill in the refrigerator before drinking. Enjoy! 

HAVE YOU EVER TRIED AN OATMEAL SMOOTHIE? HAD ANY PUMPKIN THINGS THIS FALL?

Random Photos \\ What Do You Like?

I have a few random, and mostly recent pictures to share today. Nothing too exciting, but I hope you enjoy it anyway. :)

What type of photos do you like best? Animals and wildlife, scenes from the countryside, flowers and little things from nature, food photos, people, architecture, random indoors pictures... ? I like pretty much all kinds, but people and nature may be my favorite. *winks*

By the way, did you see my new design???!!!! I love. <3 The black and white with a pop of peach theme... yes, my color scheme finally changed. But I didn't totally get rid of mint green. *sticks out tongue* That color must stay! I'm kinda in love with my "About Me" page right now too. ;P Black and white on the clean white page- it just looks so beautiful! *grins* OK, I'll stop now.

FAVORITE PICTURE? ANYTHING PHOTOGRAPHY-WISE YOU'D LIKE TO SEE ON HERE SOMETIME? BLOG IMPROVED OR NO?

Savory Potato "Pancakes"

It's about time I did a recipe post, don't you agree? This recipe has been sitting in my drafts box for awhile, so I finally decided to get it posted. *winks*

These are potato cakes. Potato patties, whatever you'd like to call them. I found the idea somewhere, so yea... what else to say? I'll give the recipe. ;P 

SAVORY POTATO PANCAKES

INGREDIENTS 

1 potato, chopped, boiled, and mashed

1 egg

cheese

salt

garlic salt 

pepper

Any other spices you'd like! 

INSTRUCTIONS

 Mix all ingredients well. Grease a pan or skillet and cook each side until browned. 

You can try this alongside eggs, with hamburger gravy perhaps, or just with ketchup! *winks* They're pretty good. :)

Tea and Cupcakes\\ Food Shoot

  I made cupcakes the other day and practiced frosting them. I also did a little elegant "tea and cupcake" photo shoot. *winks* I used some white gloves that we got a long time ago along with a bunch of old hats. I think the gloves might be authentic from older days. ;)

 Oh, and that's not real tea. Want to know the trick to making tea that's not tea but looks like tea? The quick tea trick? Put water in the cup and swirl a tiny bit of cocoa in to it, just enough to tinge it tea-color. *winks* Worked like a charm.

I just love how elegant this looks. 

 I used my hand in all of these except this last one. So I had to take pictures with my left hand. More awkward but it got the job done. ;P


So, just a fun little food photo shoot. *smiles*

Mint and Red Spring Outfit \\ My Eiffel Tower Mug

  I haven't posted since six days ago. *gasp* Almost a week... that's a serious record-breaker for lately. ;P

  I have an outfit to share, which I wore to church this past Sunday. :) One of those rare days when you can put together a pretty cute outfit without digging through your drawers and closet for hours. ;P But when that happens I probably don't end up with anything amazing anyhow...

  Anyway. Here it is.

 A white shirt tucked into a slightly past knee-length "flow-y" brown skirt. My amazing new mint green scarf, and red heels. <3 Oh, and my cute brown hat in the pics below. I should wear it more often. 

 I called it a mint and red outfit, but it probably would've been more accurate with brown in the name too. ;)

(don't like how my scarf is laying in this. Ugh, oh well ;P)

My new picture ^^  ;)

So, guess what I found at a K-Mart closing sale the other day?

This lovely Eiffel Tower mug! It was two dollars, and I just had to get it because... Eiffel Towers. ;P It's sort of vintage looking too. But since only the cupcake is in focus, you may not be able to see it clearly.

Doesn't it go well with the cupcake though? :)

So March is seriously flying by...? O.O HOW? Every month has seemed to go by so fast.

But maybe that's good for now, because me and my sisters are going to the southern coast next month! We're meeting family there, and it's going to be so much fun! :D

Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed this post!

Cranberry Almond Banana Bread (mini loaves)

    Hello! I haven't posted since last year! Ha... ha... ;P But it IS true. Anyhow, this is my first post of 2017! I think 2016 still sounds a little more right... but it's the New Year non-the-less.

    On with the post. I said in my Reflecting on 2016 post that I wanted to get back into recipe making. WELL, it appears I'm kicking off the year with that. ;) I decided to make some sort of mini bread- banana bread. This is what it turned out to be.

    I used Pecan Banana Bread recipe as a guide, and decided to experiment with cardamon in banana bread. It smelled like nisu, and I was excited to see how it turned out. However, once I mixed the wet and dry ingredients together, the other flavors overpowered the cardamon. :\ Oh well, it turned out good anyhow! And I really like the cranberries in it! :)

CRANBERRY ALMOND BANANA BREAD

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups flour                                              1\4 cup crushed almonds

1 1\2 tsp. baking powder                          2 eggs

1\2 tsp. baking soda                                 1 cup mashed banana

1\4 tsp. salt                                               3\4 cup coconut sugar            

1\2 tsp cinnamon                                     1\2 cup melted butter                                                                                                

1\4 tsp. cardamon 

1\4 cup + 1 tbsp. dried cranberries "craisins"

INSTRUCTIONS:

Combine first eight ingredients (from flour to almonds). Set aside. In a separate bowl, mix eggs, mashed banana, and sugar with electric mixer. Stir in melted butter. Pour wet ingredients into the dry and mix until just combined. Don't over-mix.

Grease four mini bread pans, then divide batter among them. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean.

Cool and enjoy with lots of butter! ;D

   By the way, my little brother helped me make these. ;) He helped pour things in, and mix a little. It's fun to bake with little siblings. <3