Black Bean Posole (crockpot recipe)

8 cups water
1 poblano chile, seeds removed and cut into large chunks
7oz can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, seeds removed from peppers
8 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup avocado oil
1 tsp dried Mexican oregano
1 lb dried black beans, rinsed and drained
2 15oz cans white hominy, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup lime juice
1 1/2 tsp salt

1)  Place poblano and chipotle peppers in a food processor. Pulse until well chopped.
2)  Combine all ingredients, except hominy, into a slow cooker. Cook on H for 3 hours, or L for 6 hours.
3)  Stir in hominy and return to cook (L) for another 30 minutes.
4)  Serve hot. If you'd like, it can be garnished with vegan sour cream, vegan cheese, or avocado.

Review: I've meant to make this for the past two weeks, but kept forgetting to buy key ingredients! Eventually I was close, but I only had one poblano chile when the recipe called for three. I had a can of chipotle peppers, however, and thought it would make for a wonderful, smoky posole. It was definitely smoky, but it was also pretty spicy. Leave out the chipotle if you don't like reallllly hot food. haha Otherwise, it was tasty and a great variation from my typical posole.

Adapted from:
https://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/slow-cooker-black-bean-posole

Chocolate Coffee Cookies

1 cup gluten free flour
3 Tbs coffee flour
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1 Tbs espresso powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup melted vegan butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips

1) Preheat the oven to 350F.
2) In a large bowl, add all the dry ingredients. Whisk to blend.
3) In a small bowl, add all the wet ingredients. Whisk to blend.
4) Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well.
5) Use a very small cookie scoop to drop cookie dough balls onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.
6) Bake 10 to 12 minutes, until the cookies are done.

Review: I bought coffee flour and picked out some recipes, but then never made them! We planned a party for a colleague's departure tomorrow and I thought it'd be a great time to try out my coffee flour. I chose a tasty coconut cookie recipe, but then found my coconut was old. Oops. However, I had no back-up recipe prepared. So, I devised a plan to focus more on the coffee by adding espresso powder and adding chocolate chips. It made for a tasty cookie that was well received! My only complaint was how big and floppy these were. There were easily the size of my palm, despite using a small cookie scoop. I assumed it was because of the melted butter, so I refrigerated the dough until it was solid after the first batch baked. However, that made no difference in size or texture, despite the dough being quite firm. I'm at a loss on how to fix these.

Adapted from:
https://www.fearlessdining.com/gluten-free-coffee-flour-coconut-cookies/