Oh My Beans!!!

Yeah, I know, but just hang in there with me....

So last week I went on a bean cooking/baking spree. It all started with hummus. I spend a lot of money on hummus and figured, given the ingredients, it's got to be cheaper to make than it is to buy. So I got my behind to the store and bought a bunch of cans of chickpeas. Another main ingredient is tahini, which my local grocery store did not have and I was too lazy to go store to store to find some with kiddos in tow. I figured I could make do without.

That very same week, as luck would have it, a blog I follow had a recipe for these Chocolate-Chip Blondies, made with... you guessed it, chickpeas!!! They are Gluten-free, dairy-free and vegan. For my benefit, they were basically pretty healthy and low in calories!. An since I've been working out a lot, of developed a sweet tooth that had never really existed, so I thought I'd give them a try. Plus a friend of my mom is allergic to gluten and has a hard time finding tasty desserts, I figured if they turned out OK, then I could send some her way.

So first came the hummus.

Turns out... you probably should use tahini. This turned out pretty good, and of course I ate it all, but it did feel like it was missing something. I searched a lot of recipes and created my out based on what I saw.

Tahini- Free Southwest Hummus

1 can (15 oz) Garbanzo beans (Chickpeas) drained
3 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 tbsp Almond Butter (to sub for the lack of tahini)
1 diced green chili pepper (from the can, you can also use about 2 tablespoons of the pre-diced)
1-2 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp Capers

Throw all the ingredients in your blender, food processor, or Magic Bullet (that's what I used) until creamy and enjoy! I should probably note that it's a good idea to save a couple tablespoons of the Chickpea juice from the can so that it's not too thick and blends a little easier.

I put hummus on just about EVERTHING, so this was nice to have on hand. Suprisingly, the calories were a little higher for this than my normal hummus, so I'm going to try to figure out how to make it a little less. This came out to about 85 calories per serving (2 tbsp) and my store bought is about 50. Mine was a little thicker, and theirs is more of a whipped consistency, so that my have something to do with it.

Moving on...
I came across the recipe for Chocolate- Chip Blondies, and I have to say they turned out VERY tasty! The kids loved them!! So I didn't feel so guilty about giving them (or myself for that matter) just one more piece. That being said, they were gone so fast I didn't even get a picture! I did make their cousin Snicker-doodle Blondies (turns out Mom's friend isn't a big chocolate fan).

So yum!!! Nice and chewy and downright... well... yummy!

I changed both recipes a little for what I had. I used 1/4 C of Splenda Blend (a prepackaged blend of Splenda and real sugar). So your actually only using 2 tbsp of sugar total. I found out that they have a Splenda Brown Sugar Blend so next time I will try that. Splenda is the only non sugar sweetener that I can stand the taste of, so I use it a lot for coffee and such. I also used Almond Butter for the 'nut butter' since mom is allergic to peanuts. I only used 2 tbsp instead of 3 (for calories) and upped the applesauce to 2 tbsp for consistency.

The third part of my bean extravaganza was Black Bean Burgers. I really love burgers, but never tried the black bean variety, so while shopping for my chickpeas, I grabbed some cans of black beans. I think they turned out very good. Kids even ate them!

Probably not the best picture to convince you of their tastiness, but I was limited.

After researching many recipes, here is what I came up with.

Black Bean Burgers

1 can (15 oz) Black beans (drained and rinsed)

1 egg (you can also just use the egg white if you choose)

1/4 C Ground Flax Seed (instead of flour or oats what a lot of recipes use)

1/4 C diced onion

1 tsp Cumin

Mix in blender, food processor or mixer (above) until you have a mold-able consistency. Make into patty as you would a regular burger. Using Olive Oil grill in pan about 8 minutes per side. I put a lid on for about half of the time to help cook the inside a little faster. Grab some buns and add your favorite burger condiments and enjoy! Use the Sandwich Thins for a little less calories and they worked perfectly. Kids really did like them, I should've taken a picture of that, because I wasn't sure they would either! 

Thank you for coming with me on my Bean Extravaganza! I'm sure my family thought I was loosing my mind that week, but just yesterday my daughter asked me to make some more blondies (and I did!) so I guess it payed off. Off to start studying (Summer semester started yesterday.... more on that later), have a great day!!!