Baking with B

Hi, remember me? I've been suffering from a case of writer's block...no, actually it's called laziness...and I have a severe case of it. I always have and always will....don't worry, you learn to deal with it after awhile. So after some harassment via Facebook, I decided to come home from work and bake something to shut up appease my people. It's not that I haven't been cooking, I just haven't felt like writing about it. For instance, last night's dinner, blechhhhh!!! I attempted to make tempeh and white bean sausage patties...they didn't stay together OR taste good. So I just ended up eating this mush, and like any fine culinary expert such as myself, I doused it in ketchup. The green beans with pine nuts I made weren't even good. I was really off my game. Anyway, that was yesterday,and today was full of new opportunities. So I decided to make some healthy granola bars on this rainy evening. In case I haven't mentioned this before, Barney HATES the rain. So that's always a fun time. He becomes this needy little creature that I'm pretty certain would climb into my womb if it was even possible...gross, sorry. So there he was just panting and drooling away due to the rain and thunder. I personally like it when it rains...at least I used to...until I saw how upset it makes him. SO, in my attempt to not be the recipient of the Worst Human Mother to Dog Child of the Year award, I dragged his bed into the kitchen thinking he could comfortably be near me while I baked.

Notice here the patented tongue lolling...it leads to a lot of this...

....you may or may not be able to see the puddle of drool accumulating on the kitchen floor that I may or may not have almost wiped out in...twice.

He's going to take a peek outside to see if it's stopped raining....

.....nope. I'll just stand here between mom's legs while she tries to create delicious treats. I imagine this is what it must be like to have a human toddler....always under foot while you're trying to do domestic stuff.

Back to the treats that I eventually managed to make without breaking my neck in a slip and fall and only stepping on puppy toes once....

Granolacopia Bars

Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 20 min
Total Time: 35 min


Servings: 16


Ingredients:


• ½ cup dry quinoa
• 2/3 cup organic evaporated cane juice
• ¼ cup molasses
• ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
• ¼ cup canola oil
• 1/3 cup almond butter
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup almond milk
• 1 ¼ cup whole wheat flour
• ¼ cup wheat germ
• 1 ½ cup oats
• 1/3 cup raw sunflower seeds
• 1/3 cup raw pumpkin seeds
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries


Directions:


1. Preheat your oven to 300 F. Place quinoa in an ungreased 9x13 baking dish and put it in the oven while it heats up (check it occasionally, it should get toasty, but not burnt!).
2. In a small bowl mix together the evaporated cane juice, molasses, applesauce, oil, almond butter, vanilla, and milk.
3. In a large bowl combine the flour, wheat germ, oats, seeds, baking powder, salt, and cranberries.
4. Take the quinoa out of the oven, mix it in with the dry ingredients and increase the oven temp to 325 F.
5. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry. Spray the 9x13 baking dish and spread the granola mixture evenly.
6. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes, spinning them halfway through to ensure even cooking. Cut them into 16 bars and let them cool.
7. Eat, drink, and be merry!


Notes: Since there’s no way I need 16 granola bars, I’m going to attempt to freeze half. I’ll let you know how it turns out…maybe throw one in the microwave when I take it out of the freezer…we shall see.

This is what the batter...or dough....or whatever it's called that baby granola bars come from, looks like.

Final product....pretty good. They would be much better if they had chocolate chips, but I was trying to keep it semi-healthy. (Feel free to throw in chocolate chips!)

I totally meant to add ground flax to them but I forgot! Look I even have a note in my kitchen to remind myself to eat more flax....it hasn't worked...must think of new system...

Is that a mirrored back splash in your kitchen you ask?? Why yes it is!! Isn't it delighfully tacky!?

And on the new home front news, slab was poured this week...or so I'm told from my weekly excel spreadsheet update...I haven't been by to see and approve of the work myself just yet. But I can guarantee there will not be any mirrored back splashes in that house. Hope everyone has a wonderous weekend!

P.S. Barney update....the rain has passed, he is calm, laying at my feet waiting for me to get off this contraption and play with him and his annoyingly squeaky ball. He's pretty much the cutest.