Transitional foods

The requests have been made, and I am here to answer. 

There are so many delicious and amazing recipes (including chocolate!) that will help you transition to your new plant based, vegan diet!  You will notice within a few weeks of eliminating meat & dairy that your palette will completely change.  Instead of craving foods loaded with trans fat and high fructose corn syrup, you will be chomping down on a delicious (vegan) brownies, or pawing through the fridge for a stalks of celery and carrot sticks!

Here is the first recipe I am sure you will enjoy...

Black Bean Brownies (yes, black bean brownies!)

Dense, fudge-y and ultra-healthy, these brownies are a great alternative to traditional brownies! It's amazing how they taste like chocolate and fudge and not beans! Chef's Notes: Rolled oats run through the food processor may substituted for the instant oats. Use optional sugar if your bananas are still green and not very ripe.

Ingredients:

• 15 ounces black beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 whole bananas
• ⅓ cup agave nectar
• ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ¼ cup raw sugar (optional)
• ¼ cup instant oats 

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 350 F and grease an 8x8’ pan. Set pan aside.

• Mix everything except for the oats together in a food processor or vigorously by hand (if you have that kind of muscle). Make sure you scrape the sides to get everything totally mixed; you want a very well blended mixture.

• Stir in the oats and pour the entire mixture into the greased pan.  Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until it passes the toothpick test.  Let them cool before serving.

 

If you think they’re too soft of fudgy, add another ¼ cup oats or flour. This makes 9 servings each serving only contains: 85 calories, 1g fat, 16g carbs, 4g protein (without optional sugar). Also, rolled oats run through the food processor may substitute for the instant oats. Use optional sugar if your bananas are still green and not very ripe.

 

If you do not have time to make something sweet, and you feel you might be going for a refined sugar filled donut or iced coffee try a packaged alternative.  Here is my FAVORITE alternative to a regular brownie.  Although the caloric content is not next to nothing like a large part of my diet, a girl needs to splurge now and then!  


Vegan Decadence Chocolate Brownie 
Ingredients: Molasses, Organic Oat Flour, Chocolate Chips (molasses, unsweetened chocolate, nondairy cocoa butter, soy lecithin, pure vanilla), natural cocoa, grape juice, soy oil, pure vanilla, vegetable glycerin.  


Granted, I generally stick to packaged foods with 5 ingredients or less (identifiable ingredients), but for those rare times you want a treat - try this!  When buying chocolate in general stick to those that have a cocoa content of 80% or higher!  Love love love dark chocolate :)

Mmm.. brownie goodness!