Black Bean Brownies

I love these brownies. They may have a little different texture than you are used to, but you can not taste the black beans at all.
There is absolutely no flour in these brownies, which makes them gluten free.

You will need an 8" square pan, greased
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit/175 Celsius
You will also need a food processor for mixing.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup dry black beans
water, for cooking the beans
3 eggs
1/3 cup melted organic, virgin coconut oil OR butter
1/4 heaping cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons sugar
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Rinse the black beans and cover with water. Bring to a boil, cover with lid left ajar and took until beans are soft. This takes about an hour to an hour and a half.
When done, drain. You should have 1-1/2 cups cooked beans. If you have more than that, set those aside for something else.
Put the blade in your food processor. Add the drained beans. Or you can drain and rinse a 15 oz. can of black beans and add those to the food processor bowl.
Add the cocoa powder, coconut oil ,eggs, vanilla extract, and sugar.
Put the cover on the processor and turn on, blending until smooth.
Take off the lid and stir in the chocolate chips.
Scrape the batter into the greased pan and spread evenly.
Bake for 30 minutes or until the brownies test done when poked with toothpick.
They may just start to pull away from the sides.
Take out of oven and let cool.

I usually get 16 brownies out of a pan. They are pretty filling.

I like coconut oil better in these brownies. However, butter is more economical and tastes pretty good too.

Rhubarb Crisp

Rhubarb is a great springtime treat for a lot of people. Not everyone has had the fortune to enjoy it as it only grows well in colder climates. You might find it in stores or sold at farmer's markets though.
It is pretty tart and needs to be sweetened before eating. That makes it perfect for desserts.
I came up with this after looking and not finding a rhubarb crisp recipe like what I wanted.
I used oat flour, but feel free to use all-purpose or other flour if you would like.

You will need a 2 quart casserole or baking dish.
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit/190 Celsius

Ingredients:

FILLING-
6 cups sliced rhubarb- cut each stalk into pieces 1/4" long
1/2 to 3/4 cup brown sugar, depending on the tartness of the rhubarb and how sweet you'd like
4 to 6 Tablespoons corn starch, if the rhubarb is really juicy use the full 6

TOPPING-
1/2 cup dry oatmeal
1/4 cup oat flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup(1/2 stick) butter
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

For the filling: In a large bowl combine the brown sugar, rhubarb, and corn starch.
Transfer that to your baking dish.
Set aside.
For the topping: In another bowl mix the flour, oatmeal, brown sugar, and cinnamon.
Cut in the butter with your hands, fork, or pastry cutter until the mixture is all crumbly.
Sprinkle the topping over the rhubarb.
Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes until the rhubarb juice is bubbling thickly all over.
Take out of the oven and let cool for at least 45 minutes. It will be still be plenty warm. If you cut into it sooner the filling may run a lot more than you'd like.

Serves 4-6.

Enjoy!

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Last year's R- Rhubarb pie

Apple Crisp

This apple crisp is a little different than most. It is made with all oats instead of oats and flour.
If you would like flour, you can blend half the oats in a blender until you get oat flour.

You will need a 1-1/2 to 2 quart casserole dish.
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit/190 Celsius.


Ingredients:

4 apples
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup oatmeal
5 Tablespoons butter
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg

 In a medium size bowl, mix the brown sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, and oats. Add the butter and cut in until crumbly.
Set aside.

Core, peel, and slice the apples and place them in your dish.

Sprinkle the brown sugar topping over the apples. Put in the preheated oven for 30-45 minutes or until the apples are tender when pierced with a knife.
Remove to a wire rack to cool.
Serve warm or room temperature.

You will get 4 nice servings. Six, if they are smaller.

 If the apples are really juicy, you may get some juices pooling at the bottom. Just spoon some over the top of your crisp. Amazing!


This is great if you are wheat free or even have problems with gluten. If you have celiac disease, you may need to find certified gluten free oats. Most people that are gluten sensitive can tolerate oats, but there may be some cross-contamination with wheat or barley during processing.

Banana - Oat Pancakes

These are great pancakes. The taste is similar to banana bread, but like a pancake.

These are gluten free. Just make sure the oats or oat flour has not been manufactured on the same machines as wheat or other gluten products.

You can buy oat flour or you can just grind up oatmeal in a blender or food processor until it is a flour.


Ingredients:

1 cup mashed bananas- about 3 small/medium bananas
2 Tablespoons melted butter
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 eggs
1 cup oat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.
In another bowl, beat the bananas, butter, lemon juice, and sugar together. Mix in the eggs.
Add the banana mixture to the flour mixture and blend just until everything is moistened.
Set aside for about 10 minutes.
Heat a griddle or heavy skillet.
Oil the pan lightly.
Drop the batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto the hot pan.
Cook for about 3-4 minutes until bubbles start to form around the edge of the pancakes.
Flip over and cook another couple minutes on that side.
Serve or keep warm in a 200 degree Fahrenheit oven until the rest of the pancakes are done..

You will get about 10(4") pancakes.

Serve with butter and syrup.

Enjoy!

Cocoa Meringues

Cocoa meringues are a pretty delicate cookie. They are also gluten free and there is almost no fat in them.
The only fat is in the chocolate chips. If you want totally fat free leave them out and bake on a silicone pad or parchment paper.
If you love meringue, you are going to love these cookies.

A mixer is needed for this recipe.
Grease a cookie sheet. You can also line it with parchment paper.
Preheat your oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

Ingredients:

2 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
2/3 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
2/3 cup miniature chocolate chips

In a mixing bowl, beat the egg whites, vanilla extract, and cream of tartar with a mixer until soft peaks form(tips curl).
Mix the cocoa powder and the sugar.
Add the cocoa powder/sugar to the egg whites 1 Tablespoon at a time, beating as you add it.
Beat until stiff peaks form(tips stand straight up).
Fold in the chocolate chips.
Drop mixture by teaspoon onto the cookie sheet.
Bake for 20 minutes until the cookies are firm and the bottoms are lightly browned.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Tips- make sure there is absolutely no yolk flecks in the egg whites or they will not beat into peaks.
Also do not add sugar too fast. That too will inhibit the beating of the egg whites.

Nutty For Oats Cookies

Nutty for Oats Cookies are gluten free. The only flour like ingredient is ground rolled oats.

Oats do not contain gluten. At one time it was thought that they did, but they do not.

These are wonderful cookies. They are made with peanut butter,rolled oats, and chocolate chips.

They are nice and soft too.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Grease cookie sheets.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup smooth peanut butter

4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 eggs

1 cup rolled oats, ground to a powder in a food processor or blender

1-1/2 cups rolled oats

2 cups chocolate chips

In a bowl, cream the peanut butter, butter,vanilla extract, salt, and baking soda.

Add the eggs.

Stir in the ground oats, rolled oats, and chocolate chips.

Using a medium cookie scoop or a spoon drop tablespoons of dough onto cookie sheets.

Bake for 11-13 minutes until they are just barely set and starting to brown around the edges.

Let the cookies cool on the sheets before removing them to a rack.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Going Gluten Free - Part 2

There is just so much information about cooking gluten free that I decided to make a part 2.

I found this great chart to help substituting types of gluten free flour for all purpose flour.

You can go to the Celiac Sprue Association for the whole chart.

This is great, but sometimes you just have to do your own experimenting.

Some great tips to remember:

Pea, bean, and lentil flours can be use as direct substitutes for wheat flours, but you will need to add egg whites or cottage cheese as softeners.

Potato flour is a great thickener for soups and casseroles.

I have used instant potatoes for potato flour before.

Potato starch flour makes great sponge cake.

Soy flour has a bit of a nutty taste. You should only replace 1/4 of the flour in a recipe with soy flour.

Rice flour has a bland flavor so it is great for blending with other gluten free flours.

I did forget to mention in part 1 of cooking gluten free that some seasonings such as curry, seasoning mixed, and meat extracts could possibly contain gluten.

I can not stress enough how important reading labels when buying food and ingredients.

I included a list of what to look for and what ingredients could possibly have gluten.

I am planning to start adding some gluten free recipes to the Yummy Stuff blog.

Stay tuned!

Going Gluten Free

Many people are sensitive to gluten found in many foods.

This is also known as celiac disease.

It used to be that not eating gluten meant giving up so much.

But now, there are so many different gluten free flours that you can eat baked goods that you may have thought you'd never have again.

Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barely, and rye.

Gluten helps with the rising in baked goods when a leavening and liquid is added. It also helps develop structure.

If you are unable to have any gluten, you need to read all labels on food.

The FDA states that if a certain gluten is removed from a product it can be labeled gluten free. So, it could still contain small amounts.

When eating or cooking with anything that needs to be gluten free, make sure you look at all labels for certain things that could give you a clue there may be gluten in it.

Here is a list :

malt vinegar

malt or malt flavoring

hydrolyzed vegetable protein

modified starch or modified food starch- unless it specifies it comes from one of the sources listed below

monoglycerides and diglycerides

products that list "natural" or artificial" ingredients

red or yellow food dyes

vegetable gum or vegetable protein- except for xanthum, cellulose, carob bean,locust bean, guar, gum arabic, gum aracia, gum tragacanth, or vegetable starch

if it contains flavoring, stabilizer, or emulsifier

Here are gluten free flours and starches that you can use:

Corn flour

Corn starch

Potato flour and potato starch flour

Rice flour

Pea, bean, lentil flour

Millet

Soy flour

Tapioca

Arrowroot

Carob

Buckwheat

Amaranth

Quinoa

Oat flour can also be used as long as it was not processed on a machine that also processed wheat.

You can find many recipes that a gluten free, but you can also just try adjusting your own recipes with a mix of different flours.