Prep time: 3 minutes.  Cook time: none.

I’m no skate historian.  I’ve tried to bone up on as many skateboarding history books as possible, but nothing really compares to being alive and shredding in the 70s and 80s.  Sadly, all my skateboarding history knowledge is from secondary sources, and, as such, tricks that involve grabbing my board are a bit of a novelty for me. I tend to notice and covet those tricks most when they are thrown randomly into an otherwise modern part.

One that often comes to mind is John Rattray’s perilous bean plant fakie in the middle of his New Blood part.  John Rattray absolutely rips everything: stairs, rails, benches, parks and any kind of transition.  I love that in this part he goes from doing gap to back lips down double kinked rails to sticking the sick bean plant in the deep end of a pool.  What I love even more is that you see a failed attempt right after the make (which makes me feel justified for being skeptical about blindly dropping into a pool fakie).  Watch the whole part for maximum enjoyment, but the bean plant fakie is at 1:34 below:

As I said, I’m no skate historian. According to Wikipedia, Neil Blender invented the bean plant.  I tried to verify this with other sources, but came up dry (alas, I am skilled at legal research, but there’s no Lexis for skateboarding).  That said, given Neil Blender’s impressive contribution to skateboarding, I’m willing to accept that the bean plant was included in the formidable list of tricks he invented.

I am not good at this trick.  I take too long to jump back in, my hand placement is garbage, and, as you can see, I stick to very easy transition.  This monstrosity was circa 2011, when I thought that landing a trick was sufficient, regardless of how sketchy.  I do them every now and then, but am no longer foolish enough to think that they should ever be documented:

However, while bean plants may not be my forte on the board, I don’t shy away from bean plants in the kitchen.  With that not-so-subtle transition, I present to you the Black Bean Shakie.

Now, bear with me on this one.  I beta-tested this shake at the skatepark because I figured people would be skeptical about having black beans in a shake.  Every sip so far has come back with glowing reviews, so I know I’m not crazy for being thinking this is delicious.  If you cook them yourself, rather than using the canned ones—which are already salted and seasoned—black beans don’t have a very strong flavor.  Unsalted, they mix well into lots of recipes (homemade ice creams, brownies and delicious shakes).  Even better, they are much cheaper when you cook them yourself (they’re already cheap when canned), and you can cook them in a batch and freeze them for months.

Black beans are a magical, heart-healthy food.  They’re high in protein, fiber, potassium, and vitamin B6, while extremely low in cholesterol (in fact, the high fiber content of black beans can help lower your cholesterol).  I won’t criticize protein powders, but if you’re not afraid of adding some carbs with your protein, black beans are a great, cheap, delicious way to do it (and if you’re drinking this either before or after skating, you’ll need those carbs anyway).

The Black Bean Shakie is going to be a bit higher carb than some of the other shakes/smoothies I put out here (about 90g carbs), but it’s also higher in protein and undeniably delicious.  Given the carb content, this is an ideal pre- or post-skating shake.  The banana and dates give it a very sweet flavor, grounded and thickened by the black beans, and then made just a touch creamier and chocolatey with the cocoa powder.  Throw in the hemp seeds for some added protein and healthy fats and you’ve got a killer shake to guzzle down after skating.

Let’s get right down to it.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 medium-large banana
• 2 pitted dates (medjool dates are fine, too)
• 5 tbsp (15g) hemp seeds
• 1 cup black beans (cooked)
• 1 tbsp vegan cocoa powder
• 1 cup almond or cashew milk

DIRECTIONS:

1. First, make sure you read above regarding the black beans. I have not tried this with canned black beans, but I’ll jump out on a limb and say that the added sodium won’t make it taste very good.  For this shake, you definitely want to cook your own black beans.  As long as you have some time, there’s no downside to this because you can cook a lot at once (for almost no money) and then just freeze them for later recipes (and I promise you this: there will be lots of black bean recipes here).
2. To cook black beans, first make sure you have some a couple of hours free. It’s not labor-intensive, so you can do other stuff while they cook, but don’t plan on trying to do it in under 2 hours.  First, soak the black beans in a pot with enough water to cover them by a few inches for about 45 minutes.  Once they’ve soaked, bring the water to a boil, then turn it down to a simmer.  Cover the black beans and let them sit.  There’s no magical time when it comes to cooking black beans.  Sometimes they’re ready after simmering for an hour; sometimes two hours.  Just check on them periodically by mashing a couple of beans against the side of the pot with a fork.  Once they’re tender, they’re good to go.  Your extras will last about a week in the fridge, or just shy of an eternity in the freezer.
3. Throw all the ingredients into your blender and blend it up until no chunks of date or banana remain. This isn’t rocket science.  There’s no right order, just throw it all in, blend, and drink it down.
4. (Optional) Go land a bean plant fakie at the park and tag us on Instagram!

Per shake: 570 calories, 12g fat, 90g carbs, 25g protein

Happy shredding,

Johnny