Black Bean Brownies

1 1/2 c. black beans
2 T. cacao powder
1/2 c. oats
1/4 t. pink salt
1/4 c. honey
stevia to taste (optional)
1/4 c. coconut oil
2 t. vanilla
1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 c. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine all ingredients in a good food processor, and blend until completely smooth. Pour into a greased 8×8 pan. Optional: sprinkle extra chocolate chips over the top. Cook 15-18 minutes, let cool at least 10 minutes before trying to cut. Makes 9-12 brownies.

Loaded Sweet Potatoes

I got this recipe from a friend and altered it a bit. I have made it several times and it's a quick and healthy dinner. We all enjoy it at my house.

4 medium sweet potatoes

2-3 c. black beans (canned or freshly cooked)

1 onion

1 green pepper

1 red pepper

1-2 avocados

4 tsp Braggs apple cider vinegar

2-4 tsp Honey

Hot Sauce, to taste

Bake sweet potatoes until soft. In pot, combine the remaining ingredients except avocado. Cook until peppers and onions are tender then spoon out onto sweet potatoes and top with avocados.

Lentil Sloppy Joes

I HAVE ALWAYS HATED SLOPPY JOES! Now that that is out of the way I LOVE this version. I married someone who ate the 'typical' america diet as a kid and he was missing sloppy joes. YUCK! I think its one of the grosses things to eat; right up there with spam! Forks Over Knives had a recipe for using lentil beans instead of ground hooves and eyes aka ground meat so I adapted it to my crockpot and simplified it.
 1 1/2C lentils
 1 md onion or 1/4C dried onion
 1TB chili powder
 4C vegetable stock a container of your favorite BBQ sauce
 water or stock to help it stay moist
 low in your crockpot for about 6 hrs, I like the lentils to be mushy so I left mine longer. feel free to add molasses or brown sugar or vinegar to spice things up or some canned tomatoes....the possibilities are endless! You could also adapt it for quinoa!

Homemade All Purpose GF Flour

I recently found a website: "Gluten Free Girl and the Chef" I found it because of my search for a gluten free flour that was a DIY version.....Oh and did I mention I wanted something that didn't taste like CARDBOARD! I was pleasantly surprised to find this website and a DIY version of an all purpose gluten free flour mix. As with anything that is GF it doesn't substitute cup for cup, especially in baking, but it's so handy to have! In her video on the website she shows how to mix 400g of "protein/whole grains" with 600g of "starches" to create 1000g of GF flour. She also has a list of the different flours you can play with to concoct your own flour mix. I'm actually working on a GF sandwich bread in the bread machine which is AWESOME.....by GF standards and I'll try to put that up soon.