Healthy Chocolate Brownies

Good afternoon, bloggies!  I am so excited that I found Happy Herbivore's recipe for brownies!  These are great if you're on a whole food or vegetarian diet (not diet.  LIFESTYLE), or if you're just trying to eat healthy but still want to have a treat.  Boy, are these a treat!

Here is my version of HH's Black Bean Brownie recipe  (you can see the real version here)

Ingredients:

1 Can of Beans (black preferred... but I used pinto and it woked just fine), drained and rinsed

2 Bananas, peeled (as ripe as possible)

1/3 C Honey (agave works too if you're vegan)

1/4 C Cocoa Powder, unsweetened

1 T Cinnamon

1/4 C Instant Oats (though I used a little bit extra to thicken the batter a bit)

Preheat the oven to 350.  Spray an 8x8 pan with a little bit of oil (just to keep it from sticking).  Throw all of the ingredients in the food processor:

And blend it all up!

Then, pour it into the pan and bake for 30 min, until you can stick a toothpick in the center and it comes out clean.  Let cool, and cut into squares.  I have been keeping mine in the fridge, though I'm not sure you HAVE to, better safe than sorry.

YUM.  YUM YUM YUM!  I have been eating these with a little bit of peanut butter or some smooshed raspberries on top.  DOUBLE YUM.  SO easy to make- give it a try!  OH and I did the calorie count on these, and for my recipe it was about 100 calories per brownie if you cut it into 9 squares.  Happy Baking!

Hello Tuesday!

Good evening, bloggies! What a Tuesday!! Last night, we had some pretty rough storms, but this morning brought a beautiful sky to wake up to!!

Quite lovely! I had gotten up pretty early, so I decided to try my first ever steel cut oatmeal! I simmered a 1/4 cup on the stove (and had to keep adding water to it) for 30 min, and then mixed in a few drops of agave, some frozen organic raspberries, and a T of raw almond butter. It was pretty good!! Really chewy, but filling. I paired it with an orange- yum!

For lunch, I decided to make a salad with a thinned out version of the 'guacamole' I made yesterday for dressing (just added more water). I decided to take a break from work and go watch airplanes land (I work about 5 miles from the airport).

My salad was very good!! Nice size, and light. I got to watch my FAVORITE airplane land, too...


If you click on the picture, it'll get big. Then you'll see that the airplane is SHAMU!!! I LUV Southwest!!!

After work, I stopped by Kroger to get some ingredients I was out of for Happy Herbivore's Black Bean Brownies. While I was there, I picked up a Bora Bora bar to wave off starvation until dinner.

A little blurry (sorry), but VERY GOOD!!

I couldn't wait to get home to try the beanie brownie recipe! I switched on the TV and was pleasantly surprised to find...



WHOO HOO!! Good start to the evening, I must say!! Anyway, I proceeded to make my brownies. Here's the batter, pre-baked. The texture was a little thicker than normal batter...


Like my silver shoes? HAHAHA. While the beanies were baking, I made myself a 'Sushi Salad', made out of roasted nori strips, brown rice, carrots, cucumber, avocado, and soy sauce. VERY VERY GOOD!



By the time I was done eating my 'salad', the beanies were done! They smelled SOOO good.


I cut them up and dug in. My husband had a great idea of putting natural peanut butter on top...



So how were they? Well, they tasted like bananas, but overall, I thought they were good, and so did Brenton. I don't think I would make them for a party that non-vegans... 'normal Americans' would be at, but I'd DEFINITELY make them for us again!!

So until next time, take some time off during your day to enjoy yourself. Go watch Shamu land on a runway!! Namaste.