Chewy Bars

My granola bar stash needed a major restocking. I had 30 minutes to spare so I decided to whip up my homemade chewy bars. These freeze well and are so easy to make. My favorite ingredients to use: Kroger natural creamy peanut butter, Flying Mouse Farms Grade B Maple Syrup, Lindt 85% chocolate, and GF oats. 

-1 cup natural creamy peanut butter

- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce

-1/3 cup maple syrup

-1 tsp vanilla extract

-1 tsp salt

- 2 1/2 Cups rolled oats

-1/3 cup ground flaxseed

-2 Tbs Chia seeds

-1/2 cup raisins

-1/2 bar dark chocolate (I used 85%) chopped

Mix all ingredients together and press into a sprayed 9x13 pan. You can use whatever size pan you prefer, it will just determine the thickness. Cut and wrap in parchment and freeze each slice for individual servings!

Holiday Bark

CHOCOLATE BARK! Who doesn't love it? It's a great last minute gift to give to co-workers and neighbors! It comes together in 5 minutes, and can be tweaked depending on what flavors you love:) To keep it very Christmas like I keep the colors red and green with cranberries and pistachios. This year I added a nice crunch with chia seeds. Dried cranberries always have a boat load of sugar added to them to help combat their natural tartness. I found a brand called Paradise Meadow, that uses 50% less sugar in their dried cranberries. They are awesome. Kindove tart, a little sweet, Yum. I was skeptical thinking they must have added something else to them when removing the sugar but nope nothing else added! To make the bark:

- Melt 1 or 2 packages dark chocolate chips (60 % or higher cacao). To make this vegan be sure to read the label. The higher the percentage of cacao the more likely the chocolate is vegan. Be sure to check though!

-Spread on a Silpat or non stick surface

-Sprinkle with cranberries, pistachios, and chia seeds

-Let set for 1-2 hours

-Break into small pieces and enjoy!

Thai Broccoli Bowl

Many of us are still reeling from the amount of holiday eating and drinking we did this past week. Hop on the Meatless Monday band wagon and make a bowl of veggie and tempeh awesomeness to get you and your family back on tract. Today's recipe is a remake of a restaurant favorite of mine, Thai Peanut Tofu, from Sunrise Cafe   . This is one of my "go to's" that I make at least once a week. I change the veggies to incorporate whatever I have on hand. To ensure that quick meals have tons of flavor using fresh garlic and ginger are key. To keep ginger root fresh store it in the freezer and pull it out whenever you need it! 

1 cup short grain brown rice

2 tbs olive oil

3 garlic cloves chopped

2 tsp fresh chopped ginger root

Place rice and other ingredients into a medium sized sauce pan. Toast rice for 2-3 minutes on medium to high heat. Add 2 cups water to rice. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 20-25 minutes until rice is tender. 

2 cups fresh broccoli florets

Add broccoli to the pot of cooking rice when there is around 5 minutes left of cooking. 

1 package tempeh sliced into small chunks

Saute tempeh in a bit of olive oil to brown

Combine the rice with broccoli and tempeh in a bowl. Top with liquid aminos    , has a similar flavor to soy sauce, and 1 Tbs of Mrs. Chuns Thai Peanut Sauce  . It's easy to go overboard with sauces, with this specific one I like to add 1 Tbs of the peanut sauce to 1 Tbs rice wine vinegar. This makes it seem like I'm getting more with the same calorie amount!