Food

That's always a popular blog title :) I've made a couple recipes lately that are yum yum so have to share. A good contrast of sweet and savory.

#1: Whole Foods' Flourless Brownies
The kicker with these: the main ingredient is black beans! But don't let that fool you. These brownies are sweet, moist and as delectable as can be! You'd never know there was a bean involved. I swear. I'll admit, I was sketchy about them, but I trust WFs (and Maggs) so I went for it. Have yet to find someone who didn't like 'em.

You can find the recipe here. The only modification I did was add some blueberries to the mix, per Maggs' recommendation. I also may have added slightly more chocolate chips ;)

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#2: Gluten-Free Flatbread
I have amaranth flour from some muffins I made, and wanted to find a new (savory) recipe for that flour. Did a little online searing and found several recipes that led me to concoct this flatbread, which will seriously now be a new staple in mi casa. I love the savory cracker flavor and texture. Plus, the middle sections stay a bit more moist if you make it thick enough, and that's just as yummy as the crispy parts. Great as a snack, a side dish or for your favorite dip or spread (like hummus!) Recipe after pics...

Went sans motorized kitchen appliances here and stirred the old-fashioned way.

Peek of the goods on the cookie sheet (this recipe is enough to fill one large cookie sheet, but I'd recommend splitting it onto 2 sheets if you want it more crispy overall). Finished product, which lasted less than 24 hours in my house (hmm... made this pre-wisdom tooth surgery so I had to get all my crispy-food eating out of the way because now I'm on the mushy diet haha)

Flatbread Recipe:
1 1/2 cup amaranth flour
1/2 cup almond flour
2 cups finely chopped fresh spinach
2 T. EVOO (I used Annie's garlic-infused olive oil)
1 T. Avocado Oil
1 egg (yolk and all)
1 1/2 tsp dill
1 1/2 tsp basil
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking powder
sesame seeds (didn't measure, just added haha)
1/2 cup room-temp water (a bit more may be needed when forming bread)

Preheat oven to 350 and get out a big cookie sheet or two, and cover with olive oil or avocado oil. Throw all ingredients in a large bowl and combine well (by hand or food processor). Get your hands moist with water and start forming a flat layer of the dough on the cookie sheet(s). It will be sticky, so dip hands in water during this process to prevent half the dough from remaining on your hands. Bake for 30-40 min depending on thickness and size, and your desired "crispy" level. (It took me about 35 min for the whole batch laid out as one flatbread; next time I might separate the dough onto two cookie sheets).

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I've now been on the mushy food plan for the past couple days, and I'll I want to do is bite into something crunchy and crispy lol. Oh well. Thanks to the Vitamix, I can still eat pretty much whatever I want! I've been averaging about 5x a day with that thing. Probably the best new drink/dessert I've made is a carrot cake smoothie. Heaven in your mouth. Details to come on that one :)