 This is more information than you probably need, but my spine looks like an “S”. Now back in grade school, it was a really cool thing to say, “I have SCOLIOSIS!” and grin as friends looked at me with the admiration of comrades who had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. But now, it isn’t so cool and my back can give me fits. No more horseback riding, no more high impact aerobics, no more motorcycle riding – ok, so I’ve never gone motorcycle riding but you get the point. Now, my days are spent in the office of Dr. Ryan Hanson, chiropractor extraordinaire and I have to say, I AM getting better. The goal is to straighten me out even though Mr. Fix-It has devoted his life to that project. I’m thinking that he’s going to find that even after Dr. Ryan has done his job on my back, I still won’t be straightened out in Mr. Fix-It’s world! Dr. Ryan’s office (we call him Dr. Ryan because he is in with his dad, the other Dr. Hanson), is totally devoted to a healthy lifestyle that includes healthy eating. Every so often, on customer appreciation days, his lovely assistants provide snacks for us patients. Now I am relatively new to the office and so I was shocked at my first customer appreciation day to see chocolate cupcake muffins adorned with tiny mounds of whipped topping and a fresh raspberry. Health-conscious fanatics don’t eat chocolate muffins with tiny mounds of whipped topping and a raspberry. Well, that is unless it’s carob. Yuck. Dr. Hanson encouraged me to be sure and grab a muffin before I left and I was assured there was no carob in the recipe. I went through my regular routine, and then, as I was preparing to leave, grabbed a cupcake and headed to the car. Sitting in the seat, I gently pulled back the cupcake paper and gingerly sampled a tiny bite. Oh my. It was sweet, chocolate heaven with a firm, white cloud on top. And so, after savoring the rest, I ran back into the office and demanded the recipe. Anything that good, that was supposedly healthy (which I doubted seriously) had to have an available recipe for my dessert repertoire. I got back to my car with recipe in hand, got situated, turned on the car and just glanced over at the recipe. The first thing on the ingredients list was black beans. BLACK BEANS?? What?? I searched for flour. None. I searched for sugar. None. There was no way in the world that the chocolate treat I had just inhaled was made of black beans. I had to go home and give it a try to prove the recipe to myself and to surprise Mr. Fix-It. I have this mean streak in me that likes to play tricks on my husband. I made them and they were a success – until I told him about the beans. He still had to admit that they were good, though. I even shared them with a friend. She wasn’t too keen on the fact that there were beans in the making either, but she admitted that they were good, as she licked the last crumbs from her fingers. So if you are trying to lose weight or eat more protein, cut back on sugar or cut out gluten, these little jewels are just for you. They are wonderful for kids’ snacks and healthy as all get out. But they taste sinful!! Here’s is the recipe. Try them and let me know what you think!! 1 – 15 ounce can of unseasoned black beans drained Coconut Milk Whipped Cream Nutritional Info  I must begin with an explanation that the recipe called for all kinds of separate actions like beating the eggs, etc and then adding to the bean mixture, but I am a lazy cook in many ways and I just tossed all those ingredients into the blender and blended the fire out of them. First, I added the beans. And they were cheap beans.  Next I added the 5 eggs  …and salt  I used coconut oil, but I bet butter is awesome too  Then I added the xylitol and stevia which can be purchased at any healthfood store or online  Next came the cocoa, baking soda and baking powder  …and the water. Then I blended and blended and blended until I had a smooth, consistent batter.  I put cupcake papers into muffin tins for 18 cupcakes and carefully poured the batter in to fill about three fourths full. Bake at 350º for 20 – 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean  Top the cupcakes with either the coconut milk whipped cream or the chocolate frosting and garnish with a raspberry. At first I thought that I liked the chocolate topping best, but I realized that you have to let the cupcakes with the whipped cream set up in the frig before eating. Makes the topping harden up and I decided that I like it better than the chocolate at that point but they are both good. To make the whipped topping, open a can of coconut milk that has been refrigerated overnight. The water will have separated from the solids and you will have a big chunck of white solid in the can. Drain out the water and add the solid to a bowl. Add xylitol and whip until well mixed. Put about a half to one tablespoon onto each cupcake. To make the chocolate icing, place xylitol into blender and blend until it is powder. Cream xylitol and butter together. Add salt and vanilla and then slowly add cocoa. Slowly because it will explode into a big poof if you don’t. Add coconut milk and then slowly add regular milk until a good consistency to spread. You can add the egg yolk if you want a more traditional, glossy icing. Spread on top of the cupcakes.  |
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Posts Tagged ‘coconut oil’
No Gluten – No Sugar – Yeah, Sure
Thursday, September 29th, 2011
Dehydrating Bananas
Monday, September 12th, 2011
Dehydrating Bananas
 I’m not just a huge banana fan – the only time I crave them is when my potassium gets low from drinking too much water. I know exactly when that’s happening. I’ll be standng in the checkout line at the grocery and I’ll see bananas displayed in the middle of the isle. I will think to myself, “I’ve gotta have those!!” And after my purchase, I then I lovingly cradle them in my arms like a baby, get into the car and start peeling those suckers, wolfing them down while I am driving. One of these days, I’ll have a wreck and the police officer will say, “You were on your cell phone, weren’t you?!!” But the police report will indicate, “Under the influence of bananas.” I like banana bread and banana muffins and banana/nut scones. I love Bananas Foster – hmmm – now there’s a recipe I need to put on here! – and I like to munch on my dehydrated bananas. So this past weekend, I spent most of the time dehydrating a BUNCH (pun intended!!) of bananas. I thought I’d share with you my way of doing that. I found bananas on sale at 5 lbs for $1. Yep. Can you believe it?? So, I bought 15 lbs. I mean, that’s a whopping $3 so I HAD to buy them, right? And I used a large bottle of lemon juice.  First, I sliced the bananas into a bowl with 2 cups of bottled lemon juice. I always wind up adding a little more juice to nearly cover the bananas. I use a huge slotted spoon to toss the bananas around in the juice to make sure they all get covered. Allow to stand in the juice for 5 minutes.  Sprinkle 1/8 – 1/4 cup of sugar over the bananas and toss. It just depends on your taste. After drying, your bananas are going to be like sweet/sour banana candy. You can use Xylitol instead of sugar.  Using a large slotted spoon, scoop bananas out of the juice and allow to drain. Pour the banana slices onto dehydrator racks.  Arrange slices onto the trays so that none of them overlap. Dehydrate for 15 – 24 hours depending on how pliable you wish your slices. The longer you dehydrate, the less pliable. They will not be crispy, crispy like those in the store but the flavor is phenomenal!  Mr. Fix-It loves the crispy banana chips that can be bought at the store. So I decided to experiment beyond my usual way of doing things. I wasn’t impressed at all. According to all I read, the commercial banana chips are actually deep fried in coconut oil and then dipped into a sugar syrup to be dried. Sooooo, I tried it. I’m never one to shy away from a challenge!  I made a syrup of 2 cups of water to 1/2 cup of sugar that was brought to a boil and then cooled. When the bananas came out of the grease, they were drained, put back into a large bowl and the syrup was poured over the top of them. I then drained them with the large slotted spoon and placed them onto dehydrator trays as shown above and then dried. I’m thinking they must fry them at REALLY high heat and for longer, although I found the bananas could only be fried for 30 seconds before they started disintegrating. What a mess.   The lighter colored banana chips are the ones that were done with the lemon juice and simply dried. The golden colored ones are the ones that were fried and the dark ones used Fruit Fresh instead of lemon juice. I did a batch like that so you could tell the difference. The flavor of the dark ones is not very good either. The flavor of the fried ones is ok. Kind of reminds you of the flavor of Bananas Foster. But the best ones are the ones that were done in lemon juice. I have decided that tried and true is best and I’m sticking to my method! |
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