Month: March 2017

Tom Brady’s Black Bean Brownies Taste Just Fine

Tom Brady’s Black Bean Brownies Taste Just Fine

jeslarussa

Many years ago, I saw an interview with super model Gisele Bundchen. She was explaining to the interviewer that she ate mostly steak and french fries and did things like heli-skiing to stay fit for the Victoria’s Secret runway.

Okay, well now she is pushing 40 and has had two kids. And, according to her Instagram, instead of steak and fries on the regular, she and her super hero husband eat like this:


Source: Would You Survive For A Day On Tom Brady’s Diet – BuzzFeed News

 

I mention this because:

  1. it helps to know that even super humans battle against the march of time and
  2. after the Super Bowl, there was a lot of buzz about Tom Brady’s recipe for success AND his black bean brownie recipe. In actuality, the buzz was around Tom and Gisele’s personal chef’s black bean brownie recipe.

Obviously, I was going to have to try those brownies because if they are good enough for a super model or a super bowl champion, then they are certainly good enough for me.

Unfortunately, Chef Campbell doesn’t divulge his recipes, so I had to come up with what I think is a pretty close approximation, based on the ingredients he claims to use: black beans, flaxseed meal, coconut oil, cacao (NOT COCOA FOR GOD’S SAKE, CACAO!!!), and agave nectar.

The key takeaways:

  1. If you are a regular person who can eat a regular brownie instead of something posing as a brownie, then you absolutely should do so.
  2. If you have celiac disease,are a vegan, are trying to cut out refined sugars in your diet, or you are a killjoy, then these are the “brownies” for you.

And now, Tom Brady’s Vegan, Gluten-free Black Bean Brownies

Ingredients
• 1 15 oz. (425 g) can (~ 1 3/4 cups) black beans, well rinsed and drained
• 2 large flax eggs (2 heaping Tbsp (~16 g) flaxseed meal + 6 Tbsp (90 ml) water)
• 3 Tbsp (45 g) coconut oil, melted (or sub other oil of choice)
• 3/4 cup (72 g) cacao (if you don’t know, this is chocolate with NO sugar)
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/3-1/2 cup agave nectar (adjust to taste)
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• Optional toppings: crush walnuts or pecans (if you are splurging).
Oven temperature: 350°F

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First, this is cacao. Chop 2.5-3 ounces into small pieces.
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Combine your coconut oil and the cacao in a microwave-safe vessel and nuke it until it is smooth and melty. Cacao, and cocoa for that matter, doesn’t melt well without a fat to help it out.
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Next, make your flaxseed “egg” (this must be a vegan thing). Combine your flaxseed meal and the water and let it rest until it gels.
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Okay, NOW, you can dump everything, except for the nuts, into the food processor. Process until it is well mixed and smooth.
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Evenly distribute the batter into 12 well greased muffin cups. Sprinkle the tops with nuts if that is what you are in to. Then bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. FYI, mine took the full 25 minutes.
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When the edges are starting to pull away from the sides of the muffin tin and a toothpick inserted into the middle of a few brownies comes out clean, you’ll know they are ready. Pull them from the oven and let them cool in the pan for 25-30 minutes before you try to remove them. Even when cool, these seem to want to fall apart.

This article originally published on GroundingUp.

And the yoga nerds rejoice

And the yoga nerds rejoice

jeslarussa

Leslie Kaminoff, co-author of Yoga Anatomy and founder of The Breathing Project NYC is coming to ThreeDogYoga in Santa Rosa, CA this weekend for a yoga anatomy and breathing immersion workshop. And the yoga nerds rejoice.

Obviously, yoga nerds are excited and the workshop is sold out. However, if you are like me and you have waited until the last minute to prepare for the workshop, a quick review of the resources below should be enough to get you in the door.

How to prepare for a Leslie Kaminoff Workshop

yogaanatomybylesliekaminoff
Read (or at least be familiar with) Chapters 1-5 in Yoga Anatomy by Leslie Kaminoff and Amy Matthews. Those chapters break down the foundational theory and the remainder of the book gets into the specifics around the asanas

 

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Check out the information available on his website and read the article on Anna McLawhorn and Three Dog Yoga.
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Watch some or all of the videos available on his YogaAnatomy YouTube Channel. 
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Watch “The Enlightenment of the Dumpster” by Leslie Kaminoff on YouTube because it will make your day.

And that should do it. Have fun!

This article originally published on GroundingUp. 

 

 

 

 

Random Ingredient Night Success

Random Ingredient Night Success

jeslarussa

Tonight was random ingredient night in the kitchen. I didn’t have it in me to venture to the grocery store AGAIN so I was going to have to concoct dinner from whatever was edible in the kitchen.

Ingredients on hand included:

2 boneless pork ribs
1/4 of an onion
some garlic
1/2 a can of crushed pineapple leftover from make your own pizza night
2 rutabagas (I have no idea how they got into the refrigerator)
white rice mixed with quinoa
and, praise Jesus, a fresh head of lettuce.

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Step #1: throw it all into an oven save baking dish with a cover. Season with salt, pepper, and fresh or dried mint. Put it into a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes. Then, remove the cover, increase the oven temperature to 425 degrees and cook for another 15-20 minutes until things are nicely browned.
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Step #2: Put in on a plate and pray the kids will eat it. Mine loved it and I consider them completely average eaters.

This article originally published on GroundingUp.

Women in U.S. plan to stay off the job, rally in anti-Trump protests—UMM, NO WE DON’T

jeslarussa

Today, I’m demonstrating my value to the economy, my industry and profession, and to my family by going to work.

I don’t consider myself a particularly political creature and in most cases I keep my opinions to myself. But sometimes, I have trouble understanding what a particular political movement is hoping to accomplish by taking certain actions–like skipping work for a day.

Anyway, I’ll just be over here at my desk in the insurance world feeling grateful for the opportunities that are available to me today because of the activism of the past but also because I work hard every single day of my life to grow my knowledge and experience because I am responsible for my own success and failure.

Source: Women in U.S. plan to stay off the job, rally in anti-Trump protests | ReutersThis article originally published on www.groundingup.com

Science says a leopard can indeed change its spots (if it lives long enough).

Science says a leopard can indeed change its spots (if it lives long enough).

jeslarussa

Growing up, I often heard the proverb, ” A leopard cannot change its spots,” a line always used to confirm the fact that, like a leopard’s spots, a person cannot become good if their nature is bad. This is from the old testament and goes like this:

Jeremiah 13:23
“Can Ethiopians change their skin or leopards their spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.”

But, for decades, scientists have been looking for ways to prove or disprove Jeremiah’s theory about the spots and the people (because they are scientists and they had some left over grant money I guess).

And as it turns out, Jeremiah was probably incorrect. A recent study published in Psychology and Aging (2016 Vol. 31. No 8, 862-874) determined that your personality and the content of your character at age 77 bear no resemblance to that of your 14 year-old self.

“We hypothesized that we would find evidence of personality stability over an even longer period of 63 years, but our correlations did not support the hypothesis.” Harris, Brett, Johnson, and Deary, study authors.

This is all really great news because I was a self-absorbed a**hole at 14 and I like to believe that I won’t always be one. So what’s the catch?

THE CATCH:

You have to live long enough to experience a change in your personality. Their data indicates that as expected, our personalities change incrementally over time based on the life experiences we have and how we process them. This is the first time a study included anyone old enough to demonstrate a significant change in personality. So plan on living into your 80’s if you want to be fully self-actualized.

WHAT IS SCIENCE MISSING?

There are so many limitations to this study that I feel bad even pretending this data is legitimate.

There were only 171 of the original 1,208 study participants still alive at age 77 for the researchers to even talk to and collect data from. And, there is no mention of a personal motivation to change our spots over time, which arguably is the only way we can.

We must change our spots ourselves.  We must want to go on a journey, we must recognize that journey for what it is, and we must be willing to be changed by it.

Science cannot do that for us.

This article originally published on www.groundingup.com.