Happy Friday!
We’re having our priests over for dinner tonight. We’ll have a few beers, chat, and they’ll give our home a blessing. Both are from Peru, so I’m making chicken with a Peruvian green sauce1 chock full of cilantro and jalapenos and garlic. It’s probably a pretty Americanized version but it’s fun to try new things!
I’m also making these delicious brownies I’ve made for years. They have an entire can of black beans in them. Wild, I know, but you can’t taste ‘em, I swear! I love this recipe and return to it again and again.2 I shared it with a friend recently and thought I’d take a break from cooking and cleaning and come share with you, too!
Black Bean Chia Brownies
1 can (15oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
3 medium eggs
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1/3 cup coconut oil, room temp
1/4 cup raw cacao powder
2 TBSP chia seeds
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (I do Ghiradelli)
1/4 cup raw cacao nibs
Preheat oven to 350. Grease 8” square pan or put down parchment paper.
In a food processor or blender, combine all ingredients except chocolate chips and cacao nibs. Process until smooth. Stir in chocolate chips. Transfer mixture to pan. Level with a spatula and sprinkle w the cacao nibs. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a fork inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan before cutting.
Some of these ingredients might be foreign to you; they definitely were to me at one point! I think all are available at Walmart now, maybe with the exception of the cacao nibs (I’ve had my little jar for a long time as I don’t use often so I’m not sure on those), but you could totally leave them off. They mainly provide a little crunchy texture on top (and a few extra antioxidants). We like to have ours with a scoop of Haagen-Dazs.
A reminder too that it’s May 31: the last day to become a full (paid) subscriber at a 50% discount! I’ve loved writing here and am offering this in celebration of a year of it.
If my writing resonates with you, or if you’d just like to cheer me on, I’d love to have you as a full subscriber! It’s not much at the regular price—$50 for a year—but ‘til midnight tonight it’s $25 for a year, about $2 a month. A paid subscription here means a vote of confidence and support for my writing efforts—and definitely a shout-out in the book I’ll write someday! ;) It does encourage me so much as a mother-writer. You’ll also, of course, get access to all the things I put out into the world, but I try to downplay that as I don’t want our relationship to be transactional. I want you to be a paid subscriber because you want to be, because it feels good to you (and no worries if you’d just like to continue as is).
BOOK CLUB: Post for Chapter 2 of Nourished (questioning Maslow; I love it) coming this weekend! Not too late to join us! Grab the book or the audiobook and jump in whenever and however. If you have even the tiniest sense of the importance of food in our lives on a, like, spiritual level, you’ll love this book. It’s beautiful (and so, so helpful, too). More details on the book / book club here!
Have a great weekend. Happy (almost) June!
It’s from a lovely cookbook called Joyous Health.