Ah, chocolate cups!

It's amazing how many times I can lose something.
I had two camera cords, yet I managed to lose both of them.
Then I lose my camera...

Oh well, what can be lost can be found, right?

Well, I finally found my camera cord so now I can finally upload pictures and artwork. It just took me a couple weeks of searching!


York Mints were always a favorite of mine. They, and Reese's, were definitely my favorite part about going to the grocery store with my parents. Of course, I would never eat them now, but luckily, making homemade mint patties isn't that hard to do.
They're a little bit more goopy, and the rice syrup may make them not as pure white, but I thought these turned out delicious!

Peppermint Patties:
1 C quinoa
3/4 t peppermint extract
1/4 t vanilla extract
pinch salt
pinch cinnamon
pinchi nutmeg
2/3 C almond milk (plain, unsweetened)
1/4 C Rice Syrup

1. Bring the quinoa with 2 C water to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Let it cook for 11 minutes. Remove from heat.
2. Once cool enough, blend the quinoa with the rest of the ingredients in a blender. It's okay if it's not perfectly smooth.

Tahini-Ginger Filling
1/2 C tahini
1 t cinnamon
2 Tbsp maple syrup
ginger root, to taste
1/4 C peanut butter
Dash cayenne pepper

Toss everything in the food processor and blend.


To make the chocolate cups:
In a double boiler, melt chocolate (Use at least 1 C and add more as you need to. The amount of chocolate will depend on how much you use per cup and how many cups you're making).
Line a cupcake pan with cupcake holders (I like If You Care brand ☺), and spoon in enough melted chocolate to cover the bottom of each holder. Place in a spoonful of the filling inside, making sure you can see a ring of chocolate on the outside (the filling should not be touching the holder). About 1 1/2 Tbsp is a good amount, but it all depends on what you like.
Spoon on some more chocolate over the filling, enough to cover it and leave a more or less flat top.

Allow to cool.

Enjoy! :)

Walnut Maple Raisin Granola Bars

A successful granola experimentation... :)

Walnut Maple Raisin Granola Bars
1 C rolled oats
½ C grounded and/or chopped up walnuts
½ C oat flour (ground up oats)
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
¼ C grapeseed oil, or any lightly flavored oil
¼ C maple syrup
¼ C raisins

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Mix together all of the ingredients and pour into a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Press them down, and stick them in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the edges are golden.
Enjoy! :D

Granola Bars

Granola bars are amazing. There's no doubt, whether it's an elaborate bar, or a simple, raw, nut & date bar.
But the store bought stuff can get a little expensive... So why not make your own?
My mom likes having granola bars (or cereal bars) around to bring to work or have as a snack. The only bad thing was she would buy Kashi. I do have to hand it to Kashi for getting more people into eating organic, relatively healthy things, but Kashi is just a branch off of Kellog's- one of the largest buyers of palm oil there is. Not to mention the long list of ingredients on those bars, which also includes milk from dairy cows raised on CAFOs (if you would call mass producing a living animal raising...).
To get her to stop buying them, I promised I would make my own granola bars for her.

The first couple of tries did not work. But then I discovered the glory that is parchment paper!

Basic Granola Bar Recipe:
2 C rolled oats
1/3 C oat flour
½ tsp salt
1/3 C nut/seed butter (I like using a mix of different ones)
1/3 C vegan brown sugar
2 T rice syrup
¼ C safflower/sunflower or grape seed oil
¼ C agave syrup


~ Preheat oven to 350 degrees
~Mix all the ingredients together, and press into a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Bake for 20 minutes, or until edges are golden brown.

These are delightful with some melted chocolate on them, or with chocolate chips. And it's so easy to add any type of whole nut, seed, dried fruit, or whatever floats your boat.

Puppy Bowl Sunday!

Well, it's that time of year again when millions of Americans sit down to watch the superbowl... and of course, the few who manage to sit through 2 hours of puppies playing non-stop in a mini football field.
It's really cute... but it gets tiring...

But whether you're watching the puppy bowl or the superbowl (or a Star Treck marathon), today should be about one thing: snacks

I wanted to try out some sweet treat for today. My mind fell on the box of phyllo dough that has been in the fridge for quite some time now, and I decided to try Baklava...


Of course, whenever you have toasted Phyllo dough coated in vegan butter, you can't go wrong!

Baklava
1/2 lb Phyllo Dough
Abour 1/2 C melted vegan butter (more if needed...)

4 C coarsely chopped nuts (pistachios, almonds, and walnuts are best)
½ C sugar
½ Tbsp cinnamon
½ tsp cloves
¼ tsp salt

Syrup
1 C water
1 C sugar
1/4 C agave nectar
1/4 C maple syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cinnamon stick

1.) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Mix the choppes nuts, the 1/2 C sugar, spices, and salt in a bowl.
2.) Grease a 9x13 inch pan. Place one layer of Phyllo dough in it and brush it with the butter using a pastry brush. (Make sure you keep the rest of the Phyllo dough moist by keeping it covered with a moist cloth) Continue layering Phyllo dough and coating each layer with butter until you have 8 layers.
3.) Spoon on about 1/3 of the nut mixture. Layer on two more Phyllo sheets, brushing each with butter. Do this process two more times, until the nut mixture is gone.
4.) Continue layering on the Phyllo dough, brushing each layer with butter, until there isn't any left. (It should be about 7 sheets)
5.) Bake for 35-40 minutes.

6.) While the baklava is baking, make the syrup. Mix all the ingredients together in a sauce pan and bring to a boil with the cinnamon stick in it. Once it begins rolling, reduce the heat, and let it simmer for 7 minutes.
7.) When the baklava is out of the oven, pour the syrup over it and let it soak for a couple of hours.
8.) Enjoy!


And of course, pretzels! They're always a must on any snack day, and being the proud new owner of a double boiler, I had to cover them in chocolate... plus, the world is better when coated in a nice layer of fair trade, organic, dark chocolate :D


Happy Snacking!