Holy cow I am so tired.  This is what one sleepless night on top of 6 weeks of cumulative sleep deprivation will do—ya crash.  I have all these great ideas for a post but I cannot remember any, my brain is so fried.  So, I will tell you how else I was productive tonight!  I got on my Wonder Woman apron and–

We baked.

My kids have life-threatening allergies to nuts, egg, and dairy, among other things, so it’s not always easy to find portable snacks off the shelf.  My son has committed to crew for the school play as well as swimming this semester, so he is often not home until well after dinner.  Today we brainstormed what food he can keep with him.  He already likes our homemade granola, so we tried to think of ways to make it into bars.  We recently found some bread mixes from Trader Joe’s that taste pretty good, and we are good at substituting for egg and dairy now, so we tried their Blondie mix tonight, too.  I overestimated the one stick equivalent of butter substitute, but overall the results were pretty good.

I have included the loose granola and granola ball recipes below.  Enjoy!  I plan to be back tomorrow night with a post from actual thoughts.

Homemade Vegan Nut-Free Granola (I make a 3x batch to save time since it goes fast!)

2 cups rolled oats

2 tablespoons chia seeds

1 tablespoon hemp seeds

¾ cup coconut flakes

¼ cup sunflower seeds

¼ cup pumpkin seeds

3 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons maple syrup

2 tablespoons coconut oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons soy milk or coconut cream

Preheat oven to 350F

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl

Combine wet ingredients in a small bowl (I do it in a glass jar to melt the coconut oil and shake to mix)

Mix wet into dry, thoroughly coat/combine

Spread on parchment-lined baking sheet, single layer

Bake 20-30 minutes until golden; stir halfway through

 

Portable Granola Balls

1 ¼ cup rolled oats

½ cup sunflower seeds

½ cup pumpkin seeds

¼ cup hemp seeds

1 cup dried blueberries

½ to 2/3 cup honey

½ to 2/3 cup sunflower seed or soynut butter

Combine dry ingredients in large, microwavable bowl

In small bowl combine honey and nut butter, microwave until very warm and liquid

Pour liquid over dry ingredients and thoroughly coat

If the mixture cools, chunks, or there are still loose oats/seeds, microwave the whole thing in 30 second increments until it’s all warm.

Wearing knit gloves under food preparation gloves, knead handfuls of mixture into tight balls; smaller than golf ball size tends to fall apart more easily

Lay separated until cooled, then store in airtight container