An updated version of (gag) black bean brownies!

Hi guys and gals! Hope you are enjoying your summer! Remember when I said I was going to blog here again? I guess I lied! :\ I swear - I have good intentions! I just... forget sometimes! :) Anyway, I hope this finds you well! The boys are growing so quickly - Jude is almost 3.5 (ahhh!) and Noel is 10 months! It's odd not having a toddler anymore (is 3.5 a toddler?) and coming into toddlerhood with another one. It's sad that this stage of life passes so quickly.

Anyway! We went to our dear friends' house for dinner last week and I wanted to make something a bit fun and different. I decided to try to trick them with my black bean brownies, but I changed them up a bit. I took this recipe and changed it just a bit. I omitted the peppermint extract and chocolate chips and added some peanut butter and a good handful of frozen spinach. Gross, right? But delicious! The kids ate them and my dear friend's husband was game to try to guess the secret ingredients in these "special" brownies and he guessed peanut butter - so wahoo! Success!

Here's what you need:

-15 oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed in a colander
-1/4 c peanut butter
-1/4 c spinach
-3 tbsp olive oil
-3 large eggs
-1 c sugar
-1/2 c cocoa powder
-1 tsp vanilla
-1/2 tsp baking powder
-1/2 tsp salt

Optional:
Chopped nuts
Chocolate chips
Oats

Here's what to do:

Preheat oven to 350. Grease an 8x8 pan.

Combine beans, peanut butter, spinach, and olive oil in food processor and process until creamy (it doesn't have to be SUPER smooth.. it's difficult to get it to that consistency). Add tthe eggs, sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla, baking powder, and salt. Process until it's fairly smooth. If you want to, add some nuts, oats, or chocolate chips to make it extra delicious!

Bake 30 - 35 minutes or until a knife comes out clean. The edges will pull away from the pan a bit, too.

Eat up, if you dare! :)

Enjoy!

And if you're a crazy lover of Christmas like me, come say hello on my new blog - the Crazy Christmas Ladies!

Kali

Black bean brownies

I can't wrap my head around the grossness of how these sound. And frankly, they tasted fine, but knowing they had an entire can of BLACK BEANS in them made me want to gag, but they weren't bad.. at all! Jude went nuts for them and everyone who tried them asked for the recipe! Soooo... here it is! Your poor, unsuspecting toddler will be none the wiser, eating this yummy treat, packed full of protein!

1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed very well
1/3 c honey
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 c sugar
1/4 c oats
1/4 c cococa
2 tbsp olive oil
1 egg

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease an 8x8 square pan.

Combine all ingredients aside from the oats in a food processor. Blend until smooth. Stir in oats. Bake about 30 minutes.

I read all sorts of recipes for black bean brownies and combined a few to come up with this one. Another suggested leaving out the sugar and using an overripe banana in it's place! I still have some in my freezer (they freeze well) so I haven't tried that variation yet, but if you do, let me know! I hope to try it soon, as it gets cooler... this weather is killing me!

Hey - if you are feeling REALLY daring - throw in a handful of frozen spinach in there... tasteless and it'll blend right in. Oooh, health food on the sly!

Enjoy!
K

Edited on August 25:

So I just got an email from a fellow blogger, Janet from Mama Jan's Kitchen that I'd like to post! She tried the brownies without sugar and substituted an overripe banana, like I suggested, and they turned out REALLY well! Thanks, Janet, for making these and sending me the feedback!!!

I made your black bean brownies yesterday - and yes, it sort of makes me stomach turn. LOL I tried the overripe banana instead of sugar and wanted to let you know it worked just fine! I don't at all feel like I need to try making them with sugar to see if it's better. It added sweetness with a hint of banana but the taste definitely goes with the other tastes in the brownie. Caleb, my picky little eater, gobbled up the square I gave him! Wow! Next time I will throw some spinach in there too :)
Thanks!!
Janet

Black bean veggie burgers

As an intro to my first recipe, please note that I'm not much for exact amounts, so just go with it! Most of my recipes are very versatile and won't cause any natural disasters if you stray from my guidelines, so be creative!

Jude gives it 2 baby-sized thumbs up! I love this recipe because it's sooo versatile and SIMPLE. You can adjust it to whateveryou have at home. Sorry for the lack of exact ingredients, as I am an eye-baller.

Here's what I did:

~1/4 c ground oats (do this in the food processor FIRST)

1 can black beans - do not drain completely - save some liquid

Frozen spinach (maybe 1/4 c or so?)

Frozen corn (or fresh, whatever! I used ~1/8 c?)

~1/4 c grated cheese

~1/3 c bread crumbs/ground up crackers I had leftover

~1 tsp garlic powder (you can use fresh, too)

Pinch salt

Pepper to taste

Throw everything in the food processor with the oats and grind up! It'll be a thick paste that you can form into patties. As with my broccoli bites, add some more bread crumbs if it doesn't form into patties. You can chill it for a bit to make it easier to work with. Line a cookie sheet with olive oil and bake for about 15 min on 350, turning once, or pan-fry on the stove with some olive oil (I did this b/c I was baking some banana bread). It gets a nice crispy crust and even resembles a real burger! I topped them with some more cheese, too. I made Jude a tiny one and a regular "burger-size" one for myself and Jude ate both his and half of mine!! You can put it on a bun or whatever with condiments. I was thinking how fun it would be to use diff types of beans, maybe couscous or recipe in place of bread crumbs, other veggies and spices (maybe some Mexican burgers would be fun!), etc. If you try them and use other items, please let me know what you did!