Hey you all.

I hope your September is going well so far. I have been stuck with visa papers and dialog with my lawyer the last week, and in between I'm cleaning up my closet because we are just moving. Whenever I have some time off, I go to the gym or out in the woods to get some fresh air. It is really lovely out now, and I'm especially excited about the mushroom season. Love picking mushrooms and cook dinner out of it. I will try to prepare a mushroom soup recipe for you this month, stay tuned!

Lately, I have been trying to challenge myself to eat more vegan, mainly because of the nature and everything going with the rainforest, but also because all science shows that eating more greens and less meat is better for our health. So far I haven't cut meat out complete, but I'm trying my best every day to find substantives for meat and dairy. Starting with cutting meat, and will try to follow with chicken. One step at the time. I honestly feel like its a lot easier to do this in the states, or actually anywhere else than Norway. Ever Sweden has better Vegan options in products than Norway.

I have been craving chocolate and brownie lately, probably because it gets colder out and I feel like eating something cozy. I wanted to try to make a healthier brownie verson, more like an everyday dessert. I also tried to make it as easy and less complicated not with a bunch of ingredients. I did a few mistakes and tried a few times to add and take away some ingredients. This was the result I got most happy with.

This dessert is perfect after a Sunday dinner, with some vanilla ice cream and berries, or just a piece after your workout with a cup of coffee. You can cut the left overs into pieces and refrigerate it, and serve next time you are having a guest over.

What you need

12 Dates

1 Box of kidney beans

1 Toppes tbs oil, I used cocosa (coconut oil)

3 Tbs cacao powder

Baking paper

Salt

What you do.

Start with heating the oven to 175 degrees celcius.

Remove the stones from all the dates and cut them into smaller pieces.

Drain the Kidney beans and add everything to a blender or a food processor.

At the end add 1 dl of water and a pinch of salt.

Mix all together until the texture is smooth.

Have the mixture over in prepared tin. I used a baking paper so I had less to clean up.
Bake in the oven for 20 min, but this does always depend on your oven. A little trick to test if the brownie is done: Stick a toothpick or a knife in the center-right around the time your recipe says it should be done. If it comes out clean, it's done. If there are any traces of uncooked batter, let it continue baking for another few minutes and repeat the process until the toothpick comes out clean.
The baking time also depends on how you prefer your brownie. I like mine super soft!

Why this cake is good for you

This cake is full of nutrition. Kidney beans are also a great source of several vitamins and minerals, they contain iron which is something a lot of us girls need to include more in our diet, because of the loss of blood during our period. Cacao is a great source of antioxidants- Antioxidants are thought to be effective in helping to prevent cancer. So yes for more chocolate in our diet, just remember to try finding the chocolates with less sugar, or try my homemade chocolate recipe. Dates do also contain a small amount of iron, they are high in fiber (which is good for our digestive system) and they have a natural sweetener witch makes them perfect for natural way of baking. Dates are also to be helpful for lowering inflammatory markers such as interleukin 6 (IL-6), in the brain.

Just remember not to tell your boyfriend or guests of the secret ingredient (beans), before they have tried the cake.. A lot of people get super skeptic when things are too healthy, haha. I kind of get it, but give it a try! At least this cake was accepted by my family and boyfriend. I hope you like it!

Almost Friday, yey! I wish you all a great weekend.

X, Eline S