Bloggers’ Best

My oven and food processor are still sweating from the workout yesterday.

5 new recipes later, I’m making some progress on my recipe wish list.

It’s so much fun to use a recipe that has come from someone else. I felt like all my favorite bloggers came by to play last night. Pure bonding, I tell you!

So let’s jump right in, shall we?

As I mentioned, I volunteered to make the Baby Shower treats for my colleague who is unable to eat sugary sweets or anything made with white flour.

I love a good challenge.

My challenge was made easier by the help of the Happy Herbivore. I slightly altered the recipes, but the link is to the original recipe.

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1¼ cups whole wheat flour
• ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• ¾ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 whole banana, very ripe
• ½ cup raw sugar
• ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
• ¼ cup non-dairy milk
• 1½ tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup shredded zucchini

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease muffin pan and set aside.
2. Whisk flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon together.
3. In a food processor, cream together the mashed banana with applesauce and sugar.
4. In a small bowl, mix the banana mixture with the soymilk, vanilla, zucchini and any other optional add-ins you might like such as vegan chocolate chips or chopped raw walnuts. Stir until evenly combined.
5. Add flour mix to wet mix in 3-4 batches and stir until just combined.
6. Spoon batter into greased muffin pan and bake 18-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Butter Bean Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp cinnamon (optional)
• a dash of ground cardamon (optional)
• ½ cup canned white beans, liquids reserved
• ½ cup raw sugar
• ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• ½ cup vegan chocolate chips
• a dash of salt

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a large cookie sheet or line with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Transfer 3/4 cup of the oats to a food processor and pulse, about 15x, until crumbly but not powder. Transfer to a mixing bowl and combine with flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and cardamon. Whisk to incorporate and set aside.
3. Transfer beans to processor then add applesauce, sugar, vanilla extract and 1 tbsp of the bean liquid. Whiz until smooth.
4. Pour wet mixture into dry mixture and stir about 10 times. Add chips, remaining 1/4 cup oats and the rest of the bean liquid, stirring until combined. If the mixture is too wet, add more oats. If it’s too dry, add a little water.
5. Drop tablespoon’s of batter onto the cookie sheet, leaving an inch of room between each. Bake 15 minutes, until edges are just turning light brown and middles are firm. They will firm a bit more as they cool. Check the bottoms to make sure they are golden brown.

At the baby shower today, very few people were touching the treats I brought, not even the guest of honor!

Cookies, chocolate cup cakes, strawberries and whipped cream are my contribution.

Once I let her know about the nutritional value of the recipes, the table was flocked with “Oh thank God,” and “I was desperate but didn’t want to break my diet,” and “Really? NO WAY!” I’ve been asked to bring copies of the recipes tomorrow so I’d say the Happy Herbivore’s recipes were a hit! I came home empty handed.

The Guest of Honor was most satisfied. Chocolate cake is her favorite but she thought those days were gone. How wrong she was.

I was just happy she could have her cake while eating for two.

So back to the crazy cooking last night. We’re on to dinner!

On Monday night, I put out a ton of black beans to soak, following Allison’s helpful guidance. Yesterday, I continued the process by cooking the beans until ready to be used. These little gems can’t be found in canned from in Germany.

Vegan Black Bean Burger

Again, click on the link to see the original, unaltered recipe by Emily from The Front Burner

Ingredients: (makes 6 burgers)

• 3 cups cooked black beans
• 2 carrots, grated
• 1/2 cup dry rolled oats
• 1/4 pumpkin seeds
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 3/4  tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp coriander
• 3/4 tsp chili powder
• 3/4 tsp onion powder
• 3/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Next, add the oats and pumpkin seeds to your food processor and grind until coarsely chopped (they will still be a little chunky).
2. Grate the carrots, and then add to your mixture in the food processor. Add 3/4 of the beans, all spices, and the olive oil. Once all of this is in the food processor, give it a whir and mix it all together.
3. Spoon mixture into a mixing bowl and then fold in the rest of the whole, reserved beans. Wet your hands and then form into 6 medium sized patties. Place patties on a non-stick baking sheet or into a baking pan, and bake at 300 degrees for 40 minutes, turning once in the middle. If you want to grill these, pre-bake them for 30 minutes at 300, and then throw them on the grill to reheat and get a little extra browning.

These veggie burgers were pretty good, but I prefer my old-stand-by which is chock full of fresh veggies.

I topped the burgers with a super-simple yet delicious alternative to guacamole.

This recipe comes from Liren over at The Kitchen Confidante

Avocado-Corn-Tomato Salad

• 1 large ripe avocados, diced
• 1 cup grape tomatoes, sliced lengthwise
• 1 small can of corn
• 1/2 medium red onion, finely diced
• handful cilantro, finely chopped
• 1/2 jalapeno, minced
• 1 lime, juiced
• salt & pepper to taste

Toss ingredients and enjoy!

As if my life wasn’t full enough after such a good dinner and a sickening amount of batter eater while baking the cookies and cakes, I had a dessert yet to enjoy!

Brandi at bran appetit always has such wonderful ideas. She is probably featured more than any other blogger on my recipe wish list.

There’s a reason I like her so much.

She does good. She does real good!

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble

Ingredients:

• 3 cups strawberries, halved
• 3 cups rhubarb, chopped into 1/2” pieces
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup agave
• 1/2 cup oat flour (simply oats ground in the food processor)
• 1/2 cup oats
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• pinch salt
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 2 Tbsp canola oil

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Mix strawberries, rhubarb, honey, and agave in large bowl and pour into greased 8×8 baking dish.
3. Combine flour, oats, sugar, cinnamon, salt, butter, and oil until mixture is crumbly and butter and oil is incorporated.
4. Sprinkle oat mixture over fruit.
5. Bake 40-50 minutes until edges are bubbling and topping is golden.
6. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

This was so, so good!

So good in fact, it made a reappearance on my breakfast oatmeal this morning.

Don’t be surprised to see this again tomorrow!

Here’s what else I ate yesterday. Simple and repeat items. I just felt I had to share, what with my promise of catching you up and all.

Breakfast

Snack

One of the only photos I have of the Butter Bean Chocolate Chip Cookies

Lunch

Lamb’s Lettuce and Spinach from the balcony

After such a busy day yesterday, I’m taking it    e   a   s   y    tonight.

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