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Vegan Black Bean Brownies + The New York Baking Company

Ever since my vegan chocolate beet muffin success, I’ve felt a little braver in the baking department. Rizzi from The New York Baking Company (Facebook page) asked me to review their brightly colored silicone baking cups, which you can buy on Amazon here. After doing some research, I decided to try baking vegan, gluten-free black bean brownies. I found a number of different recipes online, and adapted them to make our own unique blend (mainly adapted from The Minimalist Baker’s recipe here). Sasha and I devored them within minutes – they are that good (and we’ve made them multiple times in the past week!). Did I mention they are flourless and have no dairy products? It’s definitely seems too good to be true. I have included photos and the recipe below – I highly recommend you make these if you’re trying to satisfy a sweet tooth. 

The baking cups worked like a charm. They cost $9.95 and are worth every penny. Not only are these colorful cups BPA free, they are easy to clean – just rinse them and pop them into the dishwasher. The cupcakes came right (without any difficulty!) and into our mouths. Delicious! If you enjoy baking but hate peeling cupcakes, brownies, and muffins out of wrappers, I highly recommend you buy these cups.

Ingredients

  • 1 can black beans
  • 2.5 tablespoons flaxseed meal + 6 tablespoons water to create a flaxseed ‘egg’
  • 3 tablespoons of melted coconut oil
  • 3/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 1/4 tsp sea salt
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup of Truvia sugar blend
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 bar of vegan, gluten free chocolate (I love this one!)

Steps

  1. Turn oven to 350 degrees in the bake setting
  2. Mix 2.5 tablespoons of your flaxseed meal with 6 tablespoons of water and set aside to settle
  3. Add together all of your dry ingredients (sea salt, cocoa powder, sugar blend, baking powder) and mix
  4. Add the melted coconut oil and vanilla extract and stir well
  5. Melt the chocolate in the microwave for 1 minute and add to the bowl
  6. Add your flax egg – the batter should be icing-like texture at this point
  7. In a separate bowl, add the drained, clean black beans and grind them until they are a soft, blended texture (you can do this in a blender or food processor, but my parents don’t have one in their house in Durango – it works easily by hand too)
  8. Add the ground beans to the batter and mix well
  9. Line your muffin tray with the baking cups and add the batter to each cup – these don’t rise much, so you don’t need to leave space
  10. I added some almond butter to the batter for the last few muffins for a little extra kick – delicious!
  11. Allow the brownies to bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the outside is slightly crispy, then wait until they cool off and enjoy!

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Et voilà – the final product below!

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One happy mouth


Recipe adapted from The Minimalist Baker

Baking cups provided by The New York Baking Company – all opinions are my own

Photos by me!

Isla’s Newborn Photos by Taylor Lord

When the doorbell rang yesterday, and Sasha came into the living room with a package, I freaked out. Isla’s newborn photos had arrived from Taylor Lord. We opened them, read Taylor’s sweet letter and immediately started looking at each photo, one by one. I love them so much. Taylor captured our happiness and Isla’s sweetness perfectly. I am absolutely terrible at editing down photos, so pardon the large number of pictures in this post, but I had to share my favorites. I love this little girl so much, and I am so happy that the Lord blessed Taylor with such an incredible talent. View Taylor’s website here and her blog here. View details about Isla’s nursery here.

PS We took these over a month ago – Isla is so much bigger by now! It’s crazy how fast they grow.

Oh, and the Trumpette giveaway ends tonight at midnight! Enter here to win a free set of adorable socks!

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Isla’s Rifle Paper Co. Inspired Birth Announcements

At long last, Isla’s birth announcements have been sent! I am so relieved to have completed this major project – one which started well before she was born! I did the calligraphy on all 100 envelopes prior to her birth (thank goodness!), cut the envelope liners using this Rifle Paper Co. wrapping paper, stamped our return address using a custom stamp from Angelique Ink, and created the design for the announcement (which was printed by Czar Press). When Isla arrived, all I had left to do was update the design with the appropriate information, get it printed, have Isla’s photos taken by Taylor Lord and printed locally, add the photos to the glassine bags, punch holes, tie bows, and voila – done. Whew. Yes, I am exhausted, but so happy to have finished my second big project (first being Sasha’s graduation announcements). Baby number two will likely have an e-card (ha!).

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Duplex announcement card printing by Czar Press

Ribbon and kraft envelopes from Paper Source

Wildflower Liner from Rifle Paper Co.

Isla photo by Taylor Lord

Custom return stamp from Angelique Ink

Dr. Martin’s Pen White calligraphy ink from Paper and Ink Arts

Glassine bags from JenStampz

Calligraphy and photos by me

A Photo A Day

Every year, I create a Shutterfly book that encompasses all of the big events and trips I take. You can view 2012 here and 2013 here. I’m almost caught up with my 2014 book, and quickly realized that as of June 2014, it will be all about Isla – except our trip to Mexico in September for Paola’s wedding! I also wanted to create another Shutterfly book with one photo a day for the first year of Isla’s life. It astonishes me how much she has already changed in under two months, and I know that I’ll love looking back and seeing her grow day-by-day on her first birthday.

Have you seen other creative ways to chronicle life’s big events? Do you use Shutterfly? I know that my friend Mara does Project Life, which I love as well.

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Highlights of Week One in Durango

We’ve been in Durango for just over a week now, and we are loving it. Sasha said to me yesterday, “You realize the most important and stressful decision we make all day is what we’re going to eat for dinner.” I laughed – but it’s true. We go on about four to five walks a day, as my parents live within 5 minutes of the grocery store, Main Street where all of the restaurants and shops are, Animas River, and mountain trails. My Nike Fuel Band is back in action! I wrote a Durango Travel Guide post last year, but I definitely have to update it after trying many new restaurants, juice bars and ice cream shops. I’ve put together an assortment of photos from our first week – as you can tell, I’ve been very trigger happy as of late.

What are your summer plans?

PS Happy birthday, Mum and Karine!

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Isla flew from Houston to Denver to Durango and slept through every second of it (thank you, Lord!)

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Walking to Durango Joe’s for morning coffee with the whole Petrovic family

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Hiking and biking (while the grandparents were here to babysit!)

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I finally found a bow that is semi-appropriately sized for a newborn – and a tutu dress from my sweet co-workers!

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Celebrating our one year anniversary — with dinner and on a raft!

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My favorite bow romper from Paola (I love Janie and Jack!) and our romantic rooftop anniversary dinner

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Staring at that face all day and praying she always wants to hold my hand

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Geared up for a day on the water (another Paola gift!) and a wet pup from lots of Animas River swimming

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Isla’s new nap place – the BabyBjorn – and a tired tanner in her Baby Gap swimsuit from Erin

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Navajo State Park adventures with the whole family (Isla slept through the entire experience)

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A sneak peak of Isla’s newborn photos from Taylor Lord and I’ve finally sent all of the birth announcements!

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Father-daughter bonding moments that make me heart melt

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Hamming it up – and wearing her UT apparel! Girl’s gonna be a Longhorn fan, for sure