chocolate black bean protein bars

•  Awesome Chocolate Black Bean Protein bars
•  
• 1 large can black beans (drained and rinsed very well)
• 1/2 cup dutch or regular cocoa powder
• 2 packs of chocolate protein powder (I used Vega chocolate performance protein -30gr protein) or 1 cup of chocolate protein powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
• 
  
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 2 tbsp pure almond extract
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 4 TB soy milk  more recently I tried 1/3 cup
• 1/2 cup (or more) vegan or bittersweet chocolate chips (Not optional; omit at your own risk.)

Instructions

Homemade Chocolate Protein Bars: Preheat the oven to 350 F. Combine all ingredients, except chocolate chips, in a high-quality food processor. Blend until absolutely and completely smooth. (A blender works if you absolutely must, but the texture and taste will be much better in a food processor.)  Pour into a greased 9x12 rectangular pan. Sprinkle chocolate chips over the top and press down with your hand. Cook the homemade chocolate protein bars 20 minutes. They will still look underdone when you take them from the oven, but this is okay. Let cool. 
When I used the Vega all in one chocolate smoothie powder it was easy to cut them right away. With the Vega sport performance powder they were fudgy-er and needed to be refrigerated overnight before cutting. Store leftovers in the refrigerator. 

*Try the protein powder of your choice.

This is an adaptation of Chocolate Covered Katie's wonderful recipe. Check out her tasty blog.

Szechuan Beans & Tofu

Szechuan Beans and Tofu

Ingredients

Sauce
3 tbs tamari
2 tbs honey
2 tbs cider vinegar
4 tsp cornstarch
1/2 cup water

Tofu
1 lb firm tofu, pressed & cut into whatever shape you fancy
1 tbs tamari
1 tsp sugar / maple syrup
1 tbs olive oil

Beans
1 tbs olive oil
1 lb fresh green / yellow string beans, in bite size pieces
6-8 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp of crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 cup water
chopped chives or green onions

Method
Since I was planning to serve this over brown rice, I started cooking the rice first. Then I made the sauce & put it aside while I prepared the beans & garlic. Next came the tofu prep. Heat a large non stick skillet, add oil then tofu. Cook for about 4 minutes on each side until golden & crispy. Then add the tamari & sugar / syrup & stir until tofu is coated. Remove from heat & set aside. In another large skillet heat olive oil & add the garlic & beans. Stir & cook for 1 minute. Then add the crushed red pepper & water, cover & cook until beans are tender crisp. Remove cover & add the sauce, stirring until it comes to a boil. Add the tofu & chives, stirring to coat. Remove from heat & serve over rice or noodles of choice.

Quinoa Salad with Black Beans and Mango

A yummy meal with food I had on hand. This weekend I had brewed up a big pot of lazy man's black beans and I decided to use some to make this recipe I found in Veganomicon. I recipe called for cilantro...a spice i promptly removed and simply used the spices in my garden.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:
1 super large mango diced small
1 red pepper diced really small
1 cup chopped scallions
1 cup fresh mix of mostly basil with mint and parsley
2 TB Japanese vinegar (she called for red wine vinegar )
2 Tb oil
dash of herbamare
2 cups cooked quinoa
2 cups of cooked black beans (or on 15 oz can)
lettuce leaves

Combine  mango, pepper, scallions, spices with vinegar and oil. Add quinoa and beans. It's best room temperature...let it sit awhile to absorb flavors.

If you don't have quinoa ready just combine 2 cups water and 1 cup rinsed quinoa. Bring to boil and reduce to simmer. I like to cook it with the lid on. Cooks in about 15 minutes. Wait till water is absorbed.

Carrot pineapple muffins/ cupcakes

It's my husband's birthday and he requested a low sugar cake. Ha! Now that's a challenge, especially since his favorite cake is carrot cake. I browsed around the internet for ideas then scoured my cookbooks. Finally I got an inspiration from Veganmicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. This is an adaption that was a hit. Since I used them as "cake" we ladled some coconut cream on top as "frosting."
Ingredients:
1/2 cup soy yogurt
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 TB ground flaxmeal
1/4 olive oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup crushed pineapple (all the juice is squeezed out)
1/2 cup frozen apple juice concentrate
1 large carrot -grated
1 heaping teaspoon orange zest (no white)
1/2 cup golden seedless raisins

 sift in:
1 1/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 and grease 12 cup muffin tin.
In large bowl whisk together yogurt, milk, flaxmeal. Whisk in oil and brown sugar.
Sqeeze the pineapple dry add to mix. Add carrot , apple juice concentrate, zest and raisins. Sift in all the dry ingredients.
Stir only to moisten. Scoop into muffin tins. Scoop high...these muffins don't really rise. Bake 23-27 minutes depending on the size of your tins. (mine were large rectangles so I did 27.
Cool to cool 5 minutes then transfer to a rack.
YUM!

SUPER Ginger Cookies

These cookies should be wearing  capes, they are sooooo super. When I was in Bow-Edison, Washington I tasted an amazing ginger cookie. It wasn't vegan! But I needed to figure out how to create a vegan version. My friend Lisa and I did the “research”(which amounted to repeated tastings.) I took notes in my phone and finally I had the time to figure it out. 
This is my favorite cookie recipe..... actually dangerous to make and have in the house.
Yummers!

Ingredients
½ cup coconut oil
1 cup organic granulated sugar, I used Sucanat
4 TB molasses
1 flax egg- which is 1 TB flax and 2 ½ TB water
1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
½ cup cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves

add 3TB water (about) to make a nice stiff dough
Add
3 TB sugared ginger
 1/3 cup chocolate chips- mini I like Enjoy Life
sugar to roll in

Directions
Preheat oven to 350º and prepare baking sheet with parchment paper. 

Cream coconut oil and sugar together in a large bowl using a mixer. You want to whip it. Add molasses and flax egg, and beat thoroughly. Sift flour, cocoa powder, soda, salt, and spices into the creamed mixture.  Add water to make stiff dough.
Add chips and sugared ginger to your taste.
Roll dough into ball about 1 “. Press into sugar. 

Bake for 13-14 minutes. Take the parchment paper with cookies and place on table. Let cool for several minutes –if you can! Good luck eating just one! 

Instant Breakfast- steel cut oats

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Instant Breakfast

I found this recipe on PopSugar Fitness. The premise is to make all these "oatmeal muffins" (which are just cooked steel oats) and freeze them. We call them hockey pucks. When it's morning and you want breakfast you simple place one or two in a bowl, microwave and add your special toppings. Easy! This one recipe has streamlined my mornings considerably!

This recipe makes enough for 10+ breakfasts if you use 2 "oatmeal muffins" per serving.

Ingredients

1. 8 8 cups water
2. 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
3. 2 cups steel-cut oats
4. 7 tablespoons pure maple syrup
5. 2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Directions

1. Bring water and salt to a rolling boil. Pour in oats, stir, and reduce heat to simmer, cooking for 30 minutes.
2. Turn off heat and stir in the maple syrup and cinnamon. Allow to sit for 10 minutes.
3. Lightly grease 21 sections of two 12-cup muffin tins, and pour in the oatmeal.
4. Freeze flat for five hours. Remove pan from the freezer and allow to thaw for a few minutes. Using a butter knife, gently pop the oatmeal "muffins" out of the pan, seal in a freezer bag, and keep frozen.
5. When you're ready to eat, place one or two in a bowl and microwave for 2-3 minutes. Add your favorite toppings and enjoy!
6. When fresh berries are not available it works just as well to microwave with frozen berries. My fave is a puck and raspberries.  Top with flaxmeal and you have a fully-balanced, sustaining breakfast.

two pucks waiting to be heated

75 calories per puck

SATURDAY MORNING splurge breakfast, one TB of vegan chocolate chips added