Vegan Dessert Heaven

I'm going to torture myself by writing this post right now, as I'm beginning day 1 of my juice fast. Actually, I'm sipping on my first green juice this morning and it's pretty delicious. No complaints. But hey, it's no FoMu or Pumpkin Powerbake.

I'd had good intentions of trying Kasey's Apple Pie Chickpea Powerblondies for a while, but didn't get around to it until a few days ago. I decided to use that recipe as inspiration and kind of do my own thing, since I wasn't in the mood for a baked apple flavor. The result? Basically pumpkin bread in the form of brownies. DELISH.

Pumpkin Powerbake
1 large can chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
1 c. rolled oats, processed into flour (or sub whole wheat flour)
1/4 c. Plant Fusion vanilla protein powder
1/2 c. vanilla almond milk
1/2 c. canned pumpkin
2 tbsp. coconut oil
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. liquid stevia
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Makes 9 servings.

Nutrition facts:
102 calories
5 grams protein

Preheat over to 350 degrees. First, process your oats into flour using a food processor. Get it as fine as possible. Next, process the chickpeas, pumpkin, and almond milk until you have a smooth paste. In a separate bowl, combine oat flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice. In a separate bowl, combine pumpkin mixture with vanilla and liquid stevia. Combine wet and dry ingredients. Batter should be moist. Place saucepan over medium heat and melt coconut oil. Pour into batter and immediately mix thoroughly. Coat 8x8 pan with coconut oil spray (or other cooking spray). Pour in batter and bake for 40 minutes or until top begins to crack. Let cool. Slice and enjoy!!

I enjoyed mine with a topping of peanut butter and raisins - super hearty delicious dessert packed with plant power and protein. No empty calories here!

In other news, this past weekend the hubby and I got to have our first date night in forever. We ventured out to Allston to try out FoMu, a nondairy ice cream place. I can't believe this was the first time we made it out there - it was incredible. We got to sample some different flavors - cinnamon bun, veggnog, avocado, and cake batter. I ended up ordering espresso bean and cake batter, and the hubby ordered veggnog and maple bourbon walnut. All the flavors were delicious, but I especially loved the espresso bean, and if I liked eggnog, I probably would have loved the veggnog...

and then came the BEST part...

We're sitting there eating and I turn around to see none other than Heather from For the Love of Kale with her boyfriend, Matty! Small world, people. I popped over to say hi (which I guess is kind of creepy...approaching someone you recognize from the internet...) and we got to grab a quick picture.

I'm not sure what it is that is so encouraging about running into people who are on a similar journey as yourself, but it definitely brightened my night.

Cheers to the sweet things in life,
Avocado Athlete