Vegan Brownies and an introduction to my garden

I have had a lot of fun playing around with my new camera that I got for my birthday! It is so nice to easily be able to take clear crisp pictures! I am very thankful! Okay, so the brownies were amazing! There is a secret ingredient in them that may surprise you. Go ahead and guess. Nope it isn't walnuts, try again. Not almonds, try one more time. Okay, you give up? The secret ingredient is black beans! Black beans are very high in protein. One cup contains around 15 grams of protein. They are also extremely low in fat. These brownies are full of fiber, protein, and nutrition and are low in fat. I have been adding more beans to my diet and am really enjoying all of the new possibilities they bring to the dinner table.

In other news these are lovely pictures of my garden. The first picture is the mint growing in the back yard. I use this mint everyday in my morning smoothie. Mint is wonderful for you and I love the way it tastes! Luckily we did not plant the mint, it came with the house! We started the rest of these little plants from seeds. We bought organic cucumber, zucchini, bell pepper, basil, and tomato seeds and grew them inside until they were a couple of inches high. At that point we planted them outside and have been watching them grow. We have one basil plant that is doing very well. It is quite large and I have already started using it in recipes. Half of our tomato plants died but we have a couple going strong. Our cucumbers seemed to have died. Our bell peppers are alive but don't seem to be growing too much. Our zucchini looks the healthiest. The last two pictures are of the zucchini. I never realized they grew these pretty yellow flowers. I can't wait to produce our first vegetable. That will be exciting! If you have any tips on growing organic fruits and veggies I would be happy to hear them!

Brownie Recipe:

Ingredients:

15 oz can of black beans (next time I plan to make them from scratch)

2 cup of dates (pitted)

1/4 cup of coconut butter

1/4 cup of water

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp of cinnamon

1 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder

Directions:

Mix the black beans, coconut butter, water and dates together in the food processor or vitamixer. Stir in the rest of the ingredients until well combined. Press this into a baking pan and cook at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Check to make sure they are ready by putting a knife in the center to see if it comes out clean.