Black bean brownies. Wheat berry and cranberry salad. Pickled baby carrots. Sweet and sour soy curls.

These were just some of the more than 50 recipes available to more than 60 people who attended the Grand Vitality Potluck at Americas Best Value Inn from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday.

The hope is that the Vitality Potluck will inspire new ideas for church potlucks, said Lilah Aas, who helped plan the event. Each dish had to include food recommended for longevity such as beans, blueberries, broccoli, nuts, carrots and brown rice. Other foods were forbidden, such as canned soup, mayonnaise, Jell-O and processed meat.

“I think a lot of people have discovered that they can eat much healthier than they ever gave themselves credit for,” Aas said. “People have really enjoyed tasting new foods and trying to come up with new recipes.”

There were about 50 dishes in five categories: appetizer, main course, salad, vegetable and dessert. For the meal, a $1 donation was recommended to help meet the costs of the event. That dollar bought participants five slips of paper. Each recipe had a red paper bag beside it, so people could vote for their favorite dishes in each of the five categories.

The five winning recipes received prize baskets that included different longevity foods.

Aas said there have been times when she tries a recipe and after she tries it, she’ll write a large NG across it in her cookbook for “no good.” The potluck offered a chance for people to try many new recipes.

“They get to taste it first, and will have access to all the recipes,” Aas said.

“You’ll read this recipe and you’ll think, oh, this might be good, but I might not have all those ingredients. Now you can taste it and discover that you really like it,” she added.

Jodi Blong partnered with Jacki Stene to bring one recipe in each category. One recipe Blong was proud to share was her black bean brownie recipe. She said her 8-year-old son doesn’t know the difference between that and healthier recipes. She said part of the reason is because she adds a handful of chocolate chips to mask the beans.

“It’s fun to take recipes that a lot of people may consider to be unhealthy and making them healthy. Enjoy them guilt free,” Blong said.

Like the brownies, many of the recipes Blong likes are simple. The two brought a Mexican crockpot chicken that is also an easy recipe, she said.

“I especially like new ideas that are simple,” Blong said.

Stene made a layered Greek dip with hummus. While she voted, Stene said it was hard because she didn’t get to taste all the dishes.

However, Dave Wolter tried every dish, and he had to take a second look at the foods to decide what he’d vote for.

“My favorite part of coming to an event like this is all the different foods you can try and all the different flavors you get introduced to,” he said.

Wolter’s wife, Carol, brought a Moosewood blueberry pound cake that won in the dessert category.

The lunchbox ladies brought a dish in each category. The four women eat lunch together every day at Albert Lea Medical Center.

“It’s fun to be out with other people and learning new ways of changing a recipe and finding out something better to bring to a potluck so we can eat healthier,” said lunchbox lady Mona Hobbiebrunken.

Hobbiebrunken and the other lunchbox ladies had a successful potluck, as they won in salads for their spinach fruit salad, they won in main course for stuffed turkey boats and they won in vegetables for a whipped squash dish. The other lunchbox ladies were Peggy Pechacek, Linda Andersen and Carol Olson.

Kelly Johnson made a strawberry, apple and pomegranate syrup that won the appetizer category all from food she bought at the Albert Lea Farmers Market Saturday morning. She said it was exciting to find new recipes and different things you can try to do.