Brownies a la bean

I really like using surprising ingredients that add a healthy twist to a recipe without compromising taste or enjoyment. After a couple of trials of a brownie recipe that included canned beans (original recipe from My darling lemon thyme) as its main ingredient, the below came out as my best version and voted as amazing by 100% of people. It's fudgy, sweet and delicious.

Brownie a la bean

1 tin of beans - white beans, black beans or kidney

3 eggs 

4 tablespoons oil - coconut or macadamia
1/4 c sugar

1/2 c Xylitol (starch based natural sugar)
1/2 c cocoa powder
1/2 c LSA (like almond meal but more cost effective)

3 heaped dessert spoons flaxseed meal (works to bind in the absence of flour)
1 t vanilla essence
1 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

Optional

2T espresso and 1T coconut flour. Coconut flour is like a sponge - so if your mixture is too wet this will bring it back (use sparingly)

Chopped chocolate

Nuts 

Whatever other tasty additions you like. You could also ice with the avocado icing from here

Preheat oven to 180 and grease a loaf pan or small square tin. Line with paper if you like.

Mix your dry ingredients together in a small bowl.
Tip beans into the bowl of a food processor and blend to form a smooth paste. Add all the wet ingredients to the beans and pulse to combine. Add sugar to bean mixture and combine.  

Pour bean mixture into a mixing bowl and slowly mix in the dry. Stir through whatever delicious additions you have.

Pour into your tin and bake for 30-35 mins - it should be a fairly wet mix. the top should spring back when done.
Cool in the tin

This is seriously good and you will want to eat it all.

Beans

I love beans - much to my boyfriends disgust - he doesn't really dig my hippy bean meals.  I love that they're a cozy pantry staple, and can be a meal on their own, or an accompaniment.

Last Saturday I had some friends round to enjoy our shade dappled backyard with drinks and nibbles.

I made some home made hummus and another bean dip.  Now I'm sure everyone knows how to make hummus, but this was the second time I'd made some and I was really happy with the results.

Hummus - my style

2 cans chickpeas

5 cloves garlic chopped in half and skinned

A few springs of rosemary

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Pour out the juice from one can of chickpeas and leave one can with about half the juice.  Pop in a food processor.

Get a heavy based pan going with the oil, garlic and rosemary.  Cook the garlic till it starts to go brown and squish it down a bit to make sure it's nice and soft.

Pour this into the food processor and blend with additional oil till you get your desired consistency.

Don't forget to season.

Borlotti chilli dip

2 cans of borlotti beans

1 chilli chopped

Teaspoon of sugar

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

Do the same as above with the beans - and pour into food processor.

Fry off the chilli in oil then stir in the sugar and continue to fry gently for a bit.

Throw into the borlotti beans mix and combine.

Bruschetta

French bread

Olive oil

Pastry brush

Cut the bread into 1-2 cm wide chunks and place on a tray.

Turn on your grill.  Warm the oil in the pan you've been using for the above.

Brush the warm oil over the bread and grill till lightly browned.

I only did one side, as I found this made the bread crispy, but still had a softness so it didn't shatter when you were trying to eat it.

I served the above with a bowl of rocket dressed with a little oil, red wine vinegar and lemon juice.

I sadly have no pictures - but next time I make it I will take some and include fun cocktail recipes to quench your thirst.

xx

Food musings

I like thinking about food. Sometimes ideas just pop into my head and sometimes I have to think harder about a certain ingredient or half a dish I have going on in my head and try and find the match for it.

While I was ohmmmming at the meditation course I had a while to think about food - and definitely got a few good bursts of inspiration there.  

Dinner tonight was parmesan scrambled eggs and baked beans from a can.  It got me thinking about making my own baked beans - which is certainly not a new idea.  Suddenly I visualised the finished meal in my head:  

Chickpeas (cannellini beans? kidney beans?  cannellini and broad beans? - maybe any bean) cooked with tomatoes and herbs (thyme, parsley,basil, lemon juice) with a poached egg and parmesan cream sauce.  Sounds divine. May have to cook it this weekend.

The dishes I created in thought form only while away over New Years are:

• Tuna Ravioli with a pea sauce
  
• Smashed potato, haloumi and quinoa stack, with green beans on the side and a tomatoey sauce.
  
• Won ton soup -nothing new here, just would lie to make one. However it will need to be vege now.
  
• Mango chicken - probably also a no-go now, but still keen on the coconut rice and salad with walnuts and lime dressing

Ohmmmmm tasty  ;)