Holy Hemp!

There is quite the trade going at my school for "natural" energy bars. The office sells them, along with all our textbooks - but even without the "inside" sales, I see more vega, soyjoy and larabars being eaten than anywhere else. I have to say I'm a bit surprised. After all, we are a nutrition college, which does emphasize whole food and actually eating breakfast, lunch and dinner (though if you talk to my current prof we'd all be on a week-long juice fast right now), so the thought of the processed, pre-wrapped bars is kind of contradictive.

But the demand is there, and seeing as I had a review copy of Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies by Alice Medrich standing by (review is forthcoming!) I figured I'd page through it and see if she had a nice, "wholesome" bar I could bring in. I did find a good base recipe - if you have the book it's her Honey Hemp Bars - and after making the original (according to mom: yum!) I knew I had something I could work with. I needed to make a fair amount of changes to it though: I make whatever I bring into the school vegan (if you saw the demographics of our program you'd totally understand!) and I try to bring in mostly gluten-free items, especially since one of my friends is gluten-free herself!

Then of course I set about emptying my pantry of every possible gluten-free and vegan add-in I could find: tahini, cacao nibs, bittersweet chocolate, flax, poppy, hemp, sesame and sunflower seeds, two types of nuts and every kind of dried fruit I could find! All the additions expanded the recipe so much that it essentially doubled in volume, which was fine by me... after all, I was feeding a goodly amount of people!

After baking them and letting them cool down (trust me, you need these to be completely cool before you cut them!), I figured I'd make them look like their $2.50 counterparts by wrapping them each in plastic wrap and slapping a label on them. I thought they were pretty nifty myself - and was asked more than once how much I was selling them for!

Wholesome Hemp Energy Bars

Makes 16

1/4 cup toasted buckwheat kernels (kasha)

1/4 cup water
2 cups puffed millet cereal
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/4 cup hemp seeds
1/4 cup whole flax seeds
2 tbsp black sesame seeds
1 tbsp poppy seeds
1 tbsp ground flaxseed
3 tbsp miniature chocolate chips
2 tbsp currants
2 tbsp dried blueberries
2 tbsp gogi berries
2 tbsp dried cherries
2 tbsp dried cranberries
1 tbsp cacao nibs
1/3 cup dark agave nectar
1/4 cup dark corn syrup
2 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp fresh-grated ginger

1. Preheat oven to 300F, line a 9x13 pan with parchment.
2. Combine kasha and water in a microwaveable dish, cover and microwave on HI for 2 minutes. Let stand, covered, for 5 minutes.
3. In a bowl, combine kasha, millet cereal, nuts, seeds, chocolate, fruits and cacao nibs.
4. In a small saucepan, heat agave, corn syrup, tahini and ginger, stirring until smooth and liquefied.
5. Pour over the cereal mixture and fold in, stirring well to coat everything. It may not appear as if everything will be incorporated, but it will blend!
6. Scrape into the prepared pan and with a spatula (I use an offset palette knife) press down into an even layer.
7. Bake for 1 hour, covering pan with foil after 30 minutes.
8. Cool completely, then lift out of the pan and cut into bars.
9. Wrap individually in wax paper or cling wrap and keep at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 175.9
Total Fat: 8.9 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 13.6 mg
Total Carbs: 22.9 g
Dietary Fiber: 3.1 g
Protein: 4.4 g

For those in the Durham region or who is a student at IHN that is interested in purchasing these bars, I am selling them for $1.75 each or as a box of 16 for $24 (a savings of $4).

I also specialize in made-to-order holistic, healthy baked goods and meals, lead grocery store tours (for those beginning new eating plans) and if there is enough demand will expand to cooking classes on a variety of topics. For those interested in nutritional counselling, cooking classes or ordering products (I am working on setting up a portfolio, but anything is fair game - if you have an idea let me know),

please e-mail me at newtrition.sreid@gmail.com.

As If You Needed Another One...

Banana breads are really one of the culinary universe's chameleons. You can do pretty much anything you want to them - leave them spartan, plain and proud, or go crazy adding everything from different spices to nuts to fruit and even candy. Ranging from the über rich, full-on butter and egg cake-like creations to a  dairy-, oil- and sugar-free loaf and even a raw vegan dessert, pretty much anything is fair game. But usually all banana breads we make are reliant on a single basic formula - we find one that works for us and our kitcheny circumstances and stick with it's ratios of fat/flour/binder/banana, just tweaking here and there.

So why even bother posting yet another banana bread recipe? After all, I fall victim to the "tweaker" mentality too. And yet, I have still managed to post almost thirty banana-filled quickbreads, muffins and cakes. Probably because with each progressive incarnation, each addition or flair, the results are so welcomed by those I give them to that I can't not share with everyone!

Craving Some Kale

Well, now that both us Canadians and our neighbours to the south have had their first meal of the pig-out season known as Thanksgiving-through-New Years, there's a tiny bit of leeway in between feasts to give our bodies (and jeans) a bit of a break. What better than to balance out the turkey, potatoes, stuffing and gravy than with a good hearty bowl... of greens?

No, I'm not talking a giant bowl of shredded iceberg lettuce (though there is nothing wrong with that!) - I'm talking some good, hearty greens. Kale, to be exact. And yes, I cook it. I have to admit, I never used to like kale in any variation - raw, stewed, in soups, sauteed, even as chips. I just couldn't get my head around enjoying the bitter, dark leafies.

Who's Getting Buttery Bliss??

First off, I want to say a HUGE thank you to the six participants in my fist ever giveaway - it was more than I thought ever read my blog in the first place at all, and your feedback was definitely good reading (and made me hungry!). Unfortunately, as much as I would love to give each of you a prize, I only have one gift basket from Gay Lea to give out. Thanks to the random number generator, we have a winner...

After the Frost

Don't forget, Ontario residents - enter to win a Gay Lea baking basket of goodies worth $60! Deadline is midnight tonight!

Well, we had our first "major" frost snap last night - not surprising, seeing as it's mid-November now, but stil a little bit of a depressing sign that all too soon that "white stuff" will be sticking around for a while. Our grass is back to it's dead brown blah-ness and our vegetable garden is bare - I picked all the remaining tomatoes (even the green ones) a few weeks ago and it's been far too late in the season for the plants to even think about doing anything but "kicking the bucket", so to speak.

But what was I then to do with all those "reject" tomatoes that didn't get their butts in gear fast enough to mature? I'd already done jars and jars of mincemeat, enough to last my dad (the only real mincemeat fan) for years. Then again, I did have a ton of apples still hanging around from our orchard trip, and some way-too-hard green pears that for some reason would not soften up. So what the heck - pie filling it is.