Gothic Granola

Continuing the theme of "so basic it shouldn't need a recipe and I'd rather be writing" posts, here is the vegan and gluten-free fried rice recipe TC makes for me when we have leftover fried rice.

I'm not a fan of baking with protein powder, for the record. The " Shakeology Cookies " I made this time last year tasted odd and sharply fake-sweet. The stevia and other low-calorie sweeteners in most protein powders just don't set well with me either raw (by themselves) or baked. These brownies are good, in theory, when you're looking for a substantial but sweet snack, and the texture became almost cheesecake-like. I haven't been impressed with the vanilla blended Sun Warrior protein powder, and it's still pretty gross in brownie form, too. So use whatever protein powder, preferably chocolate, that you already like. Since I used vanilla powder, the brownies were not as chocolate-coloured as they could be.  

National Cookie Day is 4 December, which also happens to be an important date in the novel I've been writing since 2006. If you know me in person, you know that I like vampires: old-school, bloodsucking, remorseless, Dracula, Carmilla, The Vampire Lestat type of vampires. None of this Twilight wishy-washy stuff, a little Charlaine Harris (haven't read much of her work, but from what I hear...). Some Hemlock Grove as well, though that book (and excellent Netflix series) is about werewolves, which are cool, too. Back to the point. We need food for the brain as much as we do food for the body. Creativity for me (writing, beading, recipe R&D) feeds me, too. And I like vampires.

Trans fats are unsafe, says FDA. Enough said. Enjoy vegan & gluten-free baked goods free of trans-fats!

Post II of III in Simple Gifts series Changing your health, particularly losing weight, isn't just about letting go of pounds, it's also about letting go of that which doesn't serve you: people, jobs, over-the-top responsibilities, habits...in short, Revolution! A revolutionary new way to have a brownie is this proteinaceous snack or pudding or dessert. It will satisfy you and give you energy to burn without a crash because the plant protein and fibre will slow down the absorption of the sugar from the dates.

I believe one should speak one's mind. I have nothing nice, as in pleasant or organised, to say right now, coming off or through the job transition, so I will not say anything. Not here, anyway. Much processing to keep doing. Today I present Miceli Brownies, or "Knock You Nakeds," caramel-filled brownies or cake bars. They are dense, chewy, and mad crazy sweet. I invite your submissions of your rhapsodical memories from Lenape or Princeton when my mother or I made them and brought them to events or I returned to school with a container in tow.

Clearly, I like cheezecake.

To go with this chilly weather, an end-of-April Fool’s joke, I made black bean brownies.  “Hiding” ingredients like zucchini, kale, sweet potatoes, black beans, avocado, tofu, and other such stereotypically healthy food in dessert or snackish food is one, a pastime of mine, and two, fits the genre of April Fool’s food.

Here is a brownie recipe I made and brought to work this week; it is a mash-up of several recipes since I couldn’t find one to make what I wanted: moist brownies, not fudge, not sheet cake. The above picture is actually of zucchini brownies, but the base recipes are the same.