Anyone who knows anything about me and my journey of dropping 185 pounds without surgery or dieting knows that Terri Lange (The Godmother of DDPYOGA) has played a key role in my success. From the start, she has guided and inspired me, offering a supportive ear and LOTS of sound, highly useful information. Terri has kept her weight off for more than a decade and at age 61, looks better than she did 20 years ago. That’s obviously fantastic, but what I love about Terri is she looks at health as an entire picture. In addition to being at a weight where she feels free, strong, and healthy, she lives a happy Life. Terri’s happiness is rooted in solid, healthy relationships with family and friends, in giving back through mentoring, and in engaging in a career that fulfills her.

Yet given all that, I was still skeptical when she told me she’d found a flourless brownie that dazzled the daylights out of her. Terri had decided to give the gluten-free sweets a bit of a rest, specifically those made with flour. Her nutritionist recommended desserts made with lentils instead of rice, tapioca, potato, sorghum, and all the other gluten-free flour options. I knew the time had come for me to give bean-based baking a whirl. As you can see from past blogs, I’d become a little too enamored with decadent GF desserts, that, while clean, still pack a punch in terms of calories and spiking the glycemic index.

I asked her to share the black bean brownie recipe that she said was her new favorite, and when I read the ingredients, my skepticism went into high gear. A can of black beans. Almond Butter. Agave. WHEEEEEEE!

But contempt prior to investigation is not a virtue, and my curiosity was piqued, so I tried the recipe. And even with a few amendments (based on the contents of my pantry), they were FABULOUS! To show how adaptable this recipe is, I made the following substitutions:

* 1 can of garbanzos for black beans

* A few squirts of Agave in place of the Coconut Crystals

* 1/3 cup of old, rather stale raisins soaked in warm coffee to bring ’em back in place of the dates

So have fun with this one…whether you follow it to the letter or not, I think you’ll love having a sweet-tooth alternative that actually pumps you up and keeps you clear-headed. I’m learning to love the difference.

Fudgy Black Bean Brownies

(A NO FLOUR BAKING RECEIPE)

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked black beans or canned no-salt added or low soduium black beans, drained (1 can works fine)

10 Medjool Dates–Pitted

2 TBS Raw Almond Butter (or any nut butter)

1 tsp Vanilla

1/2 cup unsweetened, non-alkalized Cocoa powder

1/2 cup of your favorite sweetner: Agave syrup, Coconut Crystals, Steevia, or Truvia.

1 TBSP Chia seeds (You can pack this with other healthy little things like flax seeds, unsweetened coconut, etc. Just watch amounts so it won’t be too dry). If it becomes too dry, throw in a little coffee or hot water.

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees.

Blend the black beans, dates, almond butter and vanilla in a food processor or high powered blender until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and blend again. Texture will be chunky and dough-like, but spreadable. Pour into a very lightly oiled 8×8 inch baking pan and bake for 1 1/2 hours.

Cool completely before cutting into small squares.

Suggested Topping:

Blend 2 frozen bananas, a handful of blueberries, and or some walnuts in a high speed blender or food processor and then top off the brownies.

Bean-Based, Yet Oddly Delicious

Really…No Joke

Living Proof

OK now…these brownies won’t morph you into this just by eating them. Terri is a dedicated clean eater and regular practitioner of DDPYOGA.