Beans, Beans are Good For Your Heart....

We've been experimenting a lot lately. With less grains in our diet, less refined sugar, more protein. The kids have actually really surprised me with their willingness to try my creations. This past couple weeks the star ingredient has been beans.

It started when I was searching around for new recipes that were grain-free friendly. I came across Diet, Dessert and Dogs. And while browsing the posts and links and all of that I found a recipe for Chocolate Bean Butter. The day before I had made a bunch of chickpeas for veggie burgers (and no-meatballs) and there was a bunch left. So I decided to try it. I altered the recipe a bit to use what I had on hand, but it was really, really good. The boys had it with peanut butter and waffles for lunch. They begged for more. And I will admit to eating it straight from the bowl as well.

Then last week I made a big batch of navy beans- intending to use them for dinner. Then I got roped into a game of Monopoly- which you know is never quick, even playing with the quick game option. So about 2 hours later when the game was over I realized the beans were way past done, and way past being used as actual beans in any dish. So they went into the refrigerator until I could figure out what to do with them. The next day we had bean-waffles. Basically milk, mashed beans and eggs. It tasted a lot like cornbread actually. Then I added a bit of flour and baking powder and they tasted very similar to my normal waffles. 

Tonight we had muffins. Peanut butter muffins. Which my boys decided to call Bean-nut Butter Muffins...

They turned out really good. I think I actually prefer them to my normal peanut butter muffins and they have a ton of protein in them- which is really good for Cohen- who won't eat eggs, meat, plain beans, etc.

And on to the recipes....

Bean-Nut Butter Muffins

2 cups mashed beans ( I used navy)

4 eggs

1/4 cup honey (more if you like sweeter muffins)

1/4-1/2 cup natural peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup almond meal (bought, self ground or you can use whatever flour you want)

Mix the first 5 ingredients well. Add the almond meal and baking powder and combine. Pour into muffin tins and bake at 375 for about 15-20 min until a toothpick comes out clean. I used my muffin top pan- which is why they are flat, the ones baked in the standard pan rose just like any other muffin.

And if you want, top it with Chocolate Bean Butter.

Chocolate Bean Butter

2 cups mashed beans (I've used chickpeas and navy- both were good)

5 T cocoa powder

1/4-1/2 cup Maple Syrup (add a little add a time until it is as sweet as you like)

3 T melted coconut oil

optional: 1/4 cup peanut butter

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until very smooth. 

disclaimer: all measurements are approximate. I didn't actually measure anything at all when making these recipes- but based on my experience in eye-balling ingredients these should be pretty close)