One of my goals to getting healthy was to cut out caffeine! HOLD UP, NOW! I know some of you are saying, "Wait a minute, didn't they just tell us that coffee is now good for us?"

In small, occasional cups there is possibly a case to be made for some benefits to coffee. If it’s fresh, high-quality and ideally organic (regular coffee is one of the most pesticide-intensive crops in the world) then studies have shown that it can improve alertness and long term it may reduce the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, gallstones, and even kidney stones for heavy drinkers. On the other hand, it has also been associated with an increased risk of high cholesterol, heart disease, and osteoporosis.
​
I'm not going to debate these issues with you. I know for me personally, caffeine is not my friend. It makes me anxious and jittery if I have too much of it and I don't sleep at night. For me, it's just not worth it. And, my doc has told me to cut back. 

Though I haven't cut it out completely, I have been able to cut back to one cup of really good organic coffee in the morning. For me, an avid coffee drinker, I think this is quite the achievement. Seeing how at one point I was at 3 - 4 cups (That's an average of 500 mg of caffeine a day - give or take) a day.

What I have tried lately is switching to tea in the afternoons. Though still caffeine, tea has only about 25 - 30 mg (half that of coffee) of caffeine. Baby steps, people. Baby steps. 

In the beginning, I started ordering these out and about at either Starbucks or a local coffee shop in town. I noticed they were TOO sweet for me. I also noticed they were using a premixed coffee liquid. I get it, it makes life easier. You can even save time and buy these in Target and other stores (TJ MAXX has an organic blend) and cut down the time it takes to make one old school. But I will tell you, there's nothing like the taste you get when you make it from scratch!

I hope you'll try it. I think once you do, you'll never want to have another relaxing afternoon without it!

​This post was written by Susan Avello, Personal Chef at Lean Bean Chef Personal Chef Services in Dothan Alabama - offering Healthy Meal Prep, Meal Planning, Private Cooking Classes, Private Dinner Parties and Education on Healthy Eating.

One of the first things that threw me for a loop when being diagnosed GLUTEN INTOLERANT was the fact that my best friend BREAD was out, as I knew it! When I say I love bread, that's an understatement. I love making my own bread and smelling that beautiful aroma as it bakes in my kitchen. Knowing that when it comes out of the oven I am going to slather it with butter and jam it in my mouth! 

When I realized I could no longer eat regular bread or bake my own bread, the thought of never having another piece to dip into homemade sauce with pasta that you can't eat either? Well, you think "I might as well die!" But you don't and you learn to adjust. You find ways to adapt.


​Thanks to Al Gore and the internet there are so many (a holy crap load, really) people out there willing to share their journey and their amazing recipes especially as it relates to dietary restrictions, and that includes gluten-free. And now, we can find a zillion ways to make gluten-free bread. Heck, we can even make CLOUD bread, straight from heaven. 

After having made this beautiful roasted beet hummus earlier this week I was really having a craving for some Naan - which is basically Middle Eastern Flatbread, kind of like Pita Bread -  that if lucky enough, can have beautiful flavors of garlic and onion incorporated into it. I wanted to make a dish with the hummus and flatbread and somehow make something I haven't had in while. Not to mention I cannot find a gluten-free version anywhere. And for those of you who asked me to help you find it in your supermarkets, I was unable to. Google did not come through for me. And what's better than making it yourself anywho? 

I came across this recipe online and gave it a go, but I really had to make some adjustments - so I didn't want to link to it because it's totally changed now. Often, I find myself having to do this when using other recipes and that's okay. You take something and make it your own. You may have to do this here, and hey - whatever works!

Typically, naan is cooked in a tandoor or clay pot and cooked in the oven. But this recipe is cooked on the stove.

___________________________________________________________
​This Recipe is Gluten-free, Dairy Free and Soy Free

GLUTEN-FREE NAAN (FLATBREAD)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup warm water 
• 3/4 - 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk (you will have to just keep adding till you get right consistency)
• 2 teaspoons yeast
• 1 Tablespoons sugar
• 2 Cups King Arthur GLUTEN FREE Flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/8 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 egg, lightly beaten, room temperature (For egg-free version, use flax, chia or egg alternatives)
• Coconut oil

Instructions
Combine warm water, warm milk, yeast and sugar in a small bowl; set aside. While yeast is sitting and doing its thing, in a mixing bowl, combine flour, salt, seasonings (if using); whisk to blend.
Add liquid yeast mixture and egg to dry ingredients; stir by hand until mixture forms a rather thin batter. Try not to over-stir. This is not going to be a thick dough that you can make with your hands. It is more like a pancake batter.

Cover bowl of batter with a damp, clean kitchen towel and let sit for 25 minutes. In the meantime, grab your cast iron skillet that you will heat over medium-high heat on the stove top and have your coconut oil on standby, a spatula for turning, and if you have an ice cream scoop, use this to spoon the batter into the middle of the pan when your batter is ready. 
​
When 25 minutes is up, heat the skillet to med (or according to your stove top, mine runs hot) be careful not to burn them, add a small portion of coconut oil (about 1/2 teaspoon for each naan as you cook it) and when it is sizzling hot, add about 3 T. (one ice cream scoop) of the batter in the center of the skillet. Because the batter is on the thin side but still a little thick, the ice cream scoop makes this easy and less messy. You may have to use the back of the scoop to flatten out the batter just a bit. Cook 2 or 3 minutes per side until the naan is cooked through and pliable. You will have to flip a couple of times and press down to flatten.  Drain on a paper towel. Eat as you go (just kidding).

Above: You have your dry ingredients, your yeast mixture, and your batter (which looks a little like a pancake batter). 

First off, let me say that though these brownies are DAIRY FREE, VEGETARIAN,  GLUTEN-FREE they are to DIE FOR! 

I know, you're thinking "EW! Brownies with BLACK BEANS?" I felt the same. But after creating a dinner just this past week and having leftover black beans, I thought I would FINALLY give it a try! MAN, was I glad I did. And most of Ya'll know, I really dig sweets! 

When having to switch my lifestyle to Gluten-free it was quite the challenge, especially with baked goods because when baking with Gluten-free flours it is not the same. Am I right? It truly takes practice and a very long learning curve to perfect what used to come easy - and make even BROWNIES eddible.

Well, this recipe is SUPER EASY and is FLOUR FREE using only a few ingredients. Trust me, you're going to love these. You'll see a few black beans in the mix unless you spend a few minutes more at the processor mixing these up. But I didn't have to fool any small children (or husbands) into thinking these didn't have beans in them so I didn't worry too much with that! 

They are super moist, very chocolaty, so scrumptious and packed FULL of Fiber! In addition to these being gluten-free, it uses a cup of black beans. And a cup of black beans has about half the calories that a cup of all-purpose flour has, has 20% of your daily iron, AND it has a slightly higher protein content (15g).

You’ll need to rinse, drain, and puree a can of black beans
(or use cooked, dried beans) to make a good pastey base,
then mix in the rest of your wet ingredients (3 eggs,
3 Tbsp oil, 1 tsp vanilla extract).

In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients
(¼ cup unsweetened cocoa, ⅔ cup sugar, ½ tsp baking
powder, ¼ tsp salt, ½ tsp coffee). The coffee can be
omitted if you don’t want to incorporate it and you can use
​decaf if you're worried about caffeine.  But I STRONGLY urge you (see what I did there?) to leave it in. It just seems to
add a depth of flavor. Coffee always seems to work so well with chocolate. Don't you think?

______________________________________

BAKING TIP:
I'm sure most of you know this, but when you're baking,
you'll want most always to mix your wet ingredients with 
your wets and your dry ingredients with your dry. Keep
them in separate bowls then slowly incorporate them 
together after you have first mixed them with LIKE
ingredients.  This helps ensure they get evenly mixed.