Running After Balance

Well, friends, I made it! Seven successful days of veganism. Before I reflect on the week and what I learned, I want to share a few final recipes with you.

Last night, I made Angela’s Vegan Chili. And with all the leftovers stashed away in my fridge and freezer, I’ll be eating it for quite some time. But that’s just fine with me – it was bean-tastic.

It was also incredibly easy to make. Win.

The recipe called for a few carrots, an onion, a clove of garlic, and a bell pepper, which I heated over olive oil for about five minutes…

Then I just dumped in the rest of the ingredients: a can each of black beans, red kidney beans, white kidney beans and diced tomatoes (with juices), 1 tbsp cumin, 3 tbsp chili powder, 2 tsp oregano, 1 tbsp cocoa powder, a pinch each of salt and cayenne, and Angela’s secret ingredient: 2 tbsp chia seeds to thicken up the sauce.

Basically, everything but the kitchen sink.

Then I covered the pot and let it simmer on medium-low heat for 35 minutes. This was apparently too high a heat for my stovetop, because when I checked on it later, the bottom of the pot had burnt and I was sure I had ruined the whole batch.

Luckily, my bowl of chili scooped from the top did not have a burnt flavour. But my kitchen still smelled of chili when I walked in the door from my run this morning.

Today, I only had one thing on my mind: Meghan’s Sweet Potato Brownies! Finally a vegan dessert, just in time for Valentine’s Day.

Ingredients:

3 oz unsweetened chocolate (equal to 3 double-squares)

1 tbsp coconut oil

1/2 cup steamed and mashed sweet potato (equal to the innards of one medium-sized potato)

1/4 cup raw honey *(I used agave nectar)

1/2 cup sucanut *(I used brown sugar)

1/4 cup cocoa powder

2 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup applesauce

1/4 cup water *(I used a little less)

3/4 cup Barley flour *(I used whole wheat)

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

I started by melting the chocolate and coconut oil over low heat.

Meanwhile, I combined the sweet potato, applesauce, cocoa powder, vanilla, agave nectar and brown sugar in a food processor and mixed for about 30 seconds. Then I added the chocolate sauce and mixed again until consistency was smooth.

Next, I poured the mixture into a separate bowl and added the flour, baking powder and salt. After mixing, I poured a little less than ¼ cup of water to make it a little more moist.

Finally, I poured the mix into an 8-inch square pan, smoothed it out with a spatula and stuck it in the oven for 35 minutes at 350 degrees F.

These brownies are fresh from the oven. My apartment smells ah-mazing right now.

Will you be my vegan Valentine? I swear it’s far tastier than a non-vegan box of chocolates.