Black Bean Brownies.

This version included walnuts!

If you've never had black bean brownies, now is the time to try them.  Like many people, I was skeptical at first, but since trying them, I can't make any other kind of brownie.  I've been making these non-stop for six months now.  These are deliciously fudgy, chocolatey, and satisfying.  I've brought them to many events and they always ellicit rave reviews!  These are great if you're new to gluten-free baking and just need a brownie recipe that works, without having to buy a bunch of gluten-free flours.

Black Bean Brownies.
    makes one 8x8 pan

    2 cans (15 oz x 2)  black beans  (make sure you get the unseasoned versions)
    1/4-1/2 cup  sugar  (or 1/3 cup is a good middle)
    1/4 cup  coconut oil, melted
    2  eggs,  large or medium sized
    1 cup  unsweetened cocoa - mine favorite is mixture of dutched and non-dutched
    1 cup  unsweetened almond milk OR milk of choice
    1/2 tsp  baking soda
    ~9 oz  dark chocolate chips, this is 3/4 of one choc chip bag
    2 tsp-1 Tbsp  vanilla extract
    1/2 tsp  real salt

Directions:
  1)  Un-can the black beans into a fine mesh strainer. Strain and run under cold water x1 minute or until water over the beans runs clear.
  2)  Place all ingredients, except chocolate chips, into Vitamix blender (or equivalent) and blend for about 30 seconds to 1 minute OR until all ingredients are incorporated, and the mixture is smooth and homogenous. Stir in chocolate chips with a soft spatula.
  3)  Pour into one greased or parchment paper lined 8x8 pan. Bake at 350 degrees non-convection for 40-45 minutes. Brownies are done when slightly pulling away from the sides of the pan, and the middle is slightly set. Bake longer to be slighly less fudgy. Let cool on counter. Store in fridge for best results.

I personally love how easy they are to make! You can have awesome brownies ready in under an hour. These are best the next day, however, after they've had some time to set. I love them straight from the fridge. GREAT with any kind of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Note on substitutions: I've made these with melted butter and water before, with coconut milk, with almond milk, and ALL versions have come out extremely yummy.


Nothing like a new brownie recipe to rock all summer long!

P.S. I'm all graduated from medical school now (Dr. Meg has finally arrived!). Maybe you'll be seeing more recipes on this space again! And my apologies for the poor photo - this was quickly snapped in clinic when I brought brownies for the whole shift.

Boston Baked Beans

Before you scroll down and see the recipe let me just tell you from the get-go. This is not a traditional recipe for Boston Baked beans. I am from New England. And because I am I can take certain liberties with certain regional traditional dishes.

Also let me tell you that I've never made any sort of baked beans in my life. I knew I wanted some of these for dinner. See, I grew up having the canned baked beans. They were good. Everyone loved them. Even though Boston is nigh two hours away, no one really questioned why we did not have authentic Boston beans. We had canned beans that were good - so who cared?

My love of cooking and learning about my allergies has definitely changed what we eat. How could it not? We cannot go out and buy cream of chicken soup anymore to make that super-duper wicked easy to throw together casserole. Enjoying food at Christmas parties and church functions has gone out the window. But never have I been so happy. We eat real, fresh, whole unprocessed foods. What can get any better than that?

And seriously, if you haven't figured it out - processed food is soo overrated.

Boston Baked Beans

adapted from JustHungry

1 lb grassfed beef, browned

3 cans navy beans

1 Tbsp organic light brown sugar, packed

1 tsp: black pepper, ground ginger, ground mustard, cayenne pepper

2 tsp sea salt

2 medium sized red peppers, chopped very small

1 medium green pepper, chopped very small

1 medium vadalia onion, diced

4 slices raw/uncooked turkey bacon

2/3 cup molasses

4 cups water*

To make your baked beans:

1. In a crockpot, place all ingredients in and stir.

2. Turn on high for at least 4 hours.

3. Turn on low or warm and simmer until ready to serve.

4. Serve hot with brown or white basmati rice, veggies and real cornbread.

*This dish is not thick - it is more like a soup, so use less water if you want less sauce.

My family LOVED this recipe and said, "I hope you wrote down what you did so you can make it again." I must confess that sometimes I create a dish in the kitchen and do not write it down. Then sometimes they like it and request it again. I can usually remember nearly all the ingredients, but usually am missing some! That doesn't exactly work if we want to have the recipe again!

Three Bean Chili

Fall is just around the corner. Well, actually I think it has officially begun. This comes as kind of a shock, since Southern California has virtually no fall, or at least a fall season that could appreciably be called "Fall." Coming from New England, I have come to enjoy and love my falls. Autumn is easily my most favorite time of year besides summer and Christmas. The colors on the leaves, the pumpkin, the apple cider, the warmth of spices and the cold rush of an October breeze, the crunch of the leaves under your feet and the fields upon fields of apples and pumpkins just waiting to be picked...

Ahh, I reminisce. I miss my New England falls. But I cannot complain, because now in this new "world" I get nearly 365 days worth of sunshine. And you know how I love my sunshine.

The presence of fall has brought to light another thing that is missing. Soup. Once the leaves turn color and start to tumble down, and the weather begins to turn colder and colder, my family has always turned to soup. When fall arrives, on goes the stove, and on goes the crockpot. The crockpot has always been one of my mom's most beloved kitchen tools. Can you believe that only three years ago we bought her a new crockpot after using hers faithfully for 26 years, since my parents have first been married?! It was a feat to keep a much loved crockpot for so long, but now with the old one laid to rest, we can make bigger soup batches because the new one is so much bigger! I wish they would make appliances today that would last just as long!

I have digressed, however, because the making of this soup has nothing to do with fall, or the colors on the trees or my mothers crockpot. I created this soup this summer, and it is so good I can't believe I haven't raved about it before. But I've been busy, way busy.. so finally, consider it done.

This soup is warm, spicy and has a good mixture of both vegetables and "substance" - ie, meat and potatoes. I made it as an experiment, paired it with cornbread (see my earlier posts) and my mom and I managed to ate the whole batch in a week. So good. Try this soup out on a cold fall or winter day and it's kick of spice will be sure to delight your senses and wake you up!

Meagan's Three Bean Chili

1 lb browned beef chuck

1 small vidalia onion, diced

1 orange bell pepper, seeded and diced

2 T buter

3 - 15 oz cans of 3 beans (aduki, chickpea and white), drained and rinsed

1 - 15 oz can Muir Glen Fire Roasted tomatoes

4 cups organic free-range chicken stock**

1 heaping 1/4 tsp of smoked paprika - You can sub normal paprika, but you will lose the main taste profile of the soup.

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

dash of black and red pepper flakes

2 cups water

2 T olive oil

2 cups fresh corn off the cobb

2 small golden potatoes, cubed***

1 large pot

To make "THE soup" (as my mom fondly calls it):

1. On medium heat, brown the beef in the pot, and remove (do not drain the fat).

2. Add the vidalia, orange pepper and butter and saute lightly.

3. Add corn and potatoes.

4. Add beans, chicken stock, and tomatoes (do not drain these).

5. Add water.

6. Cover, bring to a boil and then simmer on low until potatoes are almost cooked...

7. Then add olive oil and spices, and return beef to the pot.

8. Simmer on low until potatoes are fully cooked, and their starch is slightly breaking down.

9. EAT and enjoy delicious soup, served with homemade cornbread and shredded raw milk cheddar cheese.

*In the picture, that delicious blob of white goodness you see on top of the hot soup is partially melted FRESH grated raw milk aged sharp cheddar cheese.

**The kind I used is Imagine or Pacific. I did not use low sodium, or reduced salt, so if you are using this kind you might want to add more salt to the soup. I find that sometimes the reduced sodium soups have other additives like MSG. Imagine and Pacific are a good brand, and use sea salt, so I know the salt I am eating my body can use, unlike the weak table salt. And of course - if you have HOMEMADE chicken stock, use it!!

***Add more if you wish, but I am a protein type, and do not do well on lots of carbohydrates, so I generally do not add as much potato as I would, say, meat.

If you bring this tangy chili to winter potluck parties everyone is sure to love you, but don't forget the cornbread!

Buffalo Bean Soup and Classic Cornbread

This past week and a half has been filled with lots of baking (several snow days have kept me inside) and now I am finally getting around to posting it all.

Since being home we have eaten dishes with lamb, turkey, beef, pot roast, and most recently, I have been experimenting with buffalo. I especially thankful for all this lovely variety at protein, since when I am at school my protein choices are limited.

Sometime back in my childhood I remember going to some restaurant somewhere up in Northern New Hampshire, maybe North Conway? where I had my first taste of buffalo. Buffalo is different than beef in texture, taste, fragrance. The way it browns in a hot pan as you break it up with a knife is different than beef. The ground variety is less stringy. Brown both side by side in a pan and you will see what I mean. When they both cook up, the mountainous curves and bumps of the buffalo meat looks uniquely different than the beef. The taste of buffalo is so mild, and not at strong as beef.

That was, however, my first and last taste of buffalo for a while, until now. As I have become increasingly willing to experiment and I have demonstrated that I am capable of cooking (3 years working in foodservice really helped) my mom has let me go wild in the kitchen.

Well, maybe not wild.

But this soup is wild- wild on taste. It took my Dad one bite to declare, "This recipe is a keeper. I hope she wrote it down so we can make it again!"

Music to my ears!

Buffalo Bean Soup

serves 4 to 6 people, or less with leftovers

1 1/2 tsp coconut oil

1 pound grassfed organic ground buffalo meat

1/2 pound grassfed organic ground beef

1 half vadalia onion - diced

2 1/2 cups beef broth (I used Imagine)

2 1/2 cups water

1 can lightly drained corn

1 can lightly drained adzuki beans

1 can baked beans (be sure this is GF)

1 half vadalia onion - diced

1 orange bell pepper - diced

1/2 cup baby carrots - diced (use more or less depending on how much you have or how much you like carrots)

1 1/2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp: black pepper, cayenne pepper, cumin, salt

dash oregano, thyme

2 mildly heaping tsp arrowroot + water

To make your soup:

1. Place soup pot on the stove top. On medium heat, brown onion with coconut oil then add the buffalo and beef cook through. Do not drain off the fat- this is very nourishing!

2. Add the beef broth and water, diced pepper, carrots, onion, can of corn and both cans of beans. Add spices.

3. Let cook on medium heat, stirring often for about an hour. Cook for 30 minutes longer or until peppers, carrots and onions are soft.

4. Serve with cornbread.

It is very moist as cornbread should be, but it is not a super cakey gooey cream cornbread. Those types of cornbreads made with lots of dairy and creamed corn are not typically what cornbread is really about. This cornbread has a nice crumb, a balance of corn and textures of the other flours with a hint of sweetness. Next time I may try adding a whole can of corn so there are actual corn kernels.

Classic Cornbread

adapted from this website

1 cup stoneground cornmeal

1/4 cup uncooked polenta

3 Tbsp almond flour

1 Tbsp brown rice flour

1/4 cup brown rice flour

1/4 cup white sorghum flour

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp: xantham gum, salt

2 REAL eggs (from grassfed chickens)

1 cup unsweetened almond milk (Pacific) or raw whole milk

1/4 cup coconut oil - melted (Spectrum Organics) or grassfed butter

1/4 cup organic maple syrup

To make the cornbread:

1. Combine the wet and combine the dry in 2 separate bowls.

2. Add the wet to the dry and mix well.

3. Pour into a 9 X 9 X 2 baking dish.

4. Bake at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes, give or take depending on your oven.

5. Cut into squares. Serve with Buffalo bean soup.

6. Optional: make a mixture of 3 parts agave, one part honey. Microwave/zap for 30 seconds or until warm and fluid. Serve in a little pitcher for drizzling over cornbread.

My family and I ate this for dinner. It was a lovely feast for three. And we have leftovers!