Happy Memorial Day! Did you know that yesterday was also the 75th
birthday for the Golden Gate Bridge? I did not attend, but there was
quite the hoopla in the city, culminating in fireworks set to music,
courtesy of KFOG (a great radio
station). Did you know that you can download the KFOG app and listen
anytime, anywhere!? You should check it out. My favorite is the acoustical sunrise.
My computer is still broken, which means I cannot upload any photos AND I tend to save future posts as word docs, which I now cannot access. So, in lieu of an interesting and funny post, I am going to share a couple of the recipes that I made over the weekend. Both of these were adapted from this site. If you get a chance you should go over and check it out. Laura is a mother, a runner and a darn good cook! If we lived closer together I know we would be good friends and probably even running buddies, although she is a little faster than I am!
Garbanzo Brownies:
These were very good and did not taste like beans at all! I actually ate half of the batter as I was making them, so you may want to double the recipe so you can have extra for snacking while cooking!
- 1 can garbanzo beans, drained
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup flax
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp baking soda
- 3 tbsp nut butter
- 3.5 oz 80% (or 70 or 60) dark chocolate bar (I like this one)
- 1 tsp vanilla
Split the chocolate bar in half. Melt half of the chocolate and chop the other half into small pieces (you can also use chocolate chips). Add the melted part to the rest of the ingredients and blend all ingredients thoroughly in a food processor. I had to also add a little bit of water to the mix to make it a bit more creamy. You don't want it too thin though!
Spread the mix in a greased 9x9 baking pan. Top with remaining chocolate (chips/chunks). Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350. The brownies come out dark and moist and for me, just sweet enough. If you have a sweet tooth, you may want to follow Laura's recipe more closely, as it calls for 2 tbsp of maple syrup as well. I cut mine into 16 pieces and they came out to a little less than 100 calories each.
Apple Oat Cookies:
These don't use any flour either and are very fun and nutty. In fact, I may have eaten them for breakfast a time or two. Laura's original recipe called for carrots, rolled oats and oat bran, but I had flax, no carrots, and steel cut oats. They turned out fine.
- 3 ripe bananas, smashed
- 1 cup steel cut (or rolled) oats
- 1 cup flax meal
- 1 apple, shredded
- pinch cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup sunflower seeds (or equivalent)
- 1/2 cup raisins (or dried fruit)
- 1/2 cup chopped almonds
- 1/2 cup applesauce (I cut up one apple and stewed it in a pan with 1/4 cup water and a dash of cinnamon)
Mix all ingredients together and place in spoonfuls on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 350. I found it helped to kind of smash the cookies down a little so they are flat. That way the middle gets thoroughly cooked. Otherwise a few in my first batch were a little moist on the inside. Also, they don't rise/spread, so you can pack them in on the cookie sheet. This recipe made about 40 small cookies.
I hope you are all enjoying your day off! Tomorrow, I have big news to share!
Have you ever tried bean brownies? Are you off of work today? What fun things did you do this weekend?
My computer is still broken, which means I cannot upload any photos AND I tend to save future posts as word docs, which I now cannot access. So, in lieu of an interesting and funny post, I am going to share a couple of the recipes that I made over the weekend. Both of these were adapted from this site. If you get a chance you should go over and check it out. Laura is a mother, a runner and a darn good cook! If we lived closer together I know we would be good friends and probably even running buddies, although she is a little faster than I am!
Garbanzo Brownies:
These were very good and did not taste like beans at all! I actually ate half of the batter as I was making them, so you may want to double the recipe so you can have extra for snacking while cooking!
- 1 can garbanzo beans, drained
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup flax
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp baking soda
- 3 tbsp nut butter
- 3.5 oz 80% (or 70 or 60) dark chocolate bar (I like this one)
- 1 tsp vanilla
Split the chocolate bar in half. Melt half of the chocolate and chop the other half into small pieces (you can also use chocolate chips). Add the melted part to the rest of the ingredients and blend all ingredients thoroughly in a food processor. I had to also add a little bit of water to the mix to make it a bit more creamy. You don't want it too thin though!
Spread the mix in a greased 9x9 baking pan. Top with remaining chocolate (chips/chunks). Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350. The brownies come out dark and moist and for me, just sweet enough. If you have a sweet tooth, you may want to follow Laura's recipe more closely, as it calls for 2 tbsp of maple syrup as well. I cut mine into 16 pieces and they came out to a little less than 100 calories each.
Apple Oat Cookies:
These don't use any flour either and are very fun and nutty. In fact, I may have eaten them for breakfast a time or two. Laura's original recipe called for carrots, rolled oats and oat bran, but I had flax, no carrots, and steel cut oats. They turned out fine.
- 3 ripe bananas, smashed
- 1 cup steel cut (or rolled) oats
- 1 cup flax meal
- 1 apple, shredded
- pinch cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup sunflower seeds (or equivalent)
- 1/2 cup raisins (or dried fruit)
- 1/2 cup chopped almonds
- 1/2 cup applesauce (I cut up one apple and stewed it in a pan with 1/4 cup water and a dash of cinnamon)
Mix all ingredients together and place in spoonfuls on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 350. I found it helped to kind of smash the cookies down a little so they are flat. That way the middle gets thoroughly cooked. Otherwise a few in my first batch were a little moist on the inside. Also, they don't rise/spread, so you can pack them in on the cookie sheet. This recipe made about 40 small cookies.
I hope you are all enjoying your day off! Tomorrow, I have big news to share!
Have you ever tried bean brownies? Are you off of work today? What fun things did you do this weekend?
It is my lunch break-but thinking 'I wish I was off work!' (2 day hangover...woops!). Bean brownies...interesting...but think the second recipe is more me!
ReplyDeleteAw, thanks for the shout out, friend! I wish we lived closer, too... and I don't think I'm any faster than you! :)
ReplyDeleteHave a great Memorial day- we're off to do some blueberry picking!
Ooo, those brownies don't have flour so I could easily make them! I have never made brownies with beans in them, but have seen recipes that call for black beans!
ReplyDeleteI am off work today! :) Taking practice final #7 and then running afterwards. My weekend has been full of studying, but when I finished studying yesterday I biked over to Target and then went to my aunt & uncle's house for dinner. It was nice to do some fun things after a full day of studying (and a horrible practice test that is still haunting me today).
I've been doing some cooking lately, too. Your chatter about the brownies prompted me to make them as well. My super picky daughter didn't like them and my husband thinks anything not the 'normal' is weird. But, my son loved them. I thought the batter was pretty strong on the bean taste, but it all blended nicely once cooked. So, I didn't eat the batter :-)
ReplyDeleteWe went to the movies yesterday, and I briefly tackled my jungle garden. Today we are going to a street fair for a bit. Nothing too exciting, I'm still on the mend.
Hope you're having a great day off.
The brownies look delicious! We celebrated Chad's birthday on Fri with friends. After a long and hot 15 mile run on Sat I spent most of the rest of the weekend reading and relaxing. Simply delightful.
ReplyDeleteHave a great day Kyria!
These both look really good, I'm saving both to try! Hope your computer is fixed soon!
ReplyDeleteMmmmmm brownies and cookies. If they taste good, who cares what healthy stuff goes into them? Yummy!
ReplyDelete