Strange as it may sound, tepary beans are excellent in desserts.  No one will ever suspect that these brownies, which are moist and delicious are also a much healthier alternative to regular brownies.

Ingredients:

• c Brown tepary beans; cooked
• 1/2 c Carob powder
• 3/4 c Mild honey
• 1/4 c Margarine; melted
• 1/2 c Flour, all-purpose
• 1/2 c Walnuts, chopped
• 1/2 c Raisins (optional)
• 2 ea Eggs; well beaten
• 1 1/2 ts Vanilla essence
• 1/2 ts Salt

Directions:

Butter an 8 inch square pan. Line with waxed paper and butter the paper. Whirl the tepary beans in a food processor until smooth. In a large bowl, mix the processed beans with rest of the ingredients. Spread in prepared baking dish. Bake at 325 degrees F for 30 to 35 minutes. Cool, before removing from the pan. Peel off waxed paper and cut into squares. Makes 16 2-inch squares.

Recipe from: http://www.recipe-cookbook.co.uk

photo credit: jgodsey

This recipe is great if you don’t need a lot of soup or if you are serving it as a side dish.  It’s proportioned out for a 2.5 quart crock pot.  If you have a larger crock pot and would like to make more, simply double the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb dried tepary beans (soaked over-night)
• 1 small potato (small-diced)
• 1 carrot (diced)
• 1 onion (diced)
• 1 stalk celery (diced)
• 1 (14 ounce) can tomato sauce (use a small can)
• 2 tablespoons vegan margarine
• 3 slices turkey bacon (cubed)
• 1 small dried chili (optional)
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and pepper (to taste)

Directions:

Saute the turkey bacon until it’s soft but not crisp. Remove from pan and set aside. You will have very little grease from the bacon so add the vegan margarine to the fry pan and saute the carrot, onion and celery until tender crisp. Drain the Tepary Beans and rinse them well. Put the sauted turkey bacon, vegetables, beans, pepper and bay leaf into your crock pot. Fill to within 2 inches of the top with water. I considered using soup broth but remembered that tomato will inhibit the beans cooking, so water is a better choice here. Remembering this will bubble up so you don’t want to over fill the crock. It should take about 6-8 hours to cook the beans to the soft stage. If think you will need to cook the beans longer add your water at the beginning of the cooking cycle. After 6 or 7 hours check the beans for softness. If you are happy with them then add the tomato sauce and cook for 30 minutes more. Don’t add the tomato sauce before hand as it will stop the beans from getting soft.

Recipe from: http://www.recipezaar.com

photo credit: scottfeldstein