Saturday, July 31, 2010

Chewy quinoa carob bars (dairy and nut free!)

I totally forgot to talk about the concert I went to on wednseday. I saw John Mayer and Train!! (John Mayer part- highlited!!) I loove JM. We had really good seats, and despite the looks of the weather, it didn't rain on us!! He played for 3 hours, which was NO WHERE NEAR enough. But I appreciated it. Train on the other hand-not the HUGEST fan of. Yes, I did zoom in on these pictures. We weren't THAT close. My friend Daphne-I should thank her and give her 50-75% credit for introducing me to JM. Shout out!!One of the cases of his guitars-he has over 200 according to Daphne!
!

I'm leaving for camp for a week tomorrow, and I need some things to take. But no nuts are allowed since of allergies, so I had to get creative. This was one of those make-it-up-as-you-go-along recipes, so the measurments may not be exact, but they're close. You can do variations with dried fruit, or other grains like millet and kamut. They seem sticky once out of the oven, but they mellow out when you let them cool more. Let them cool completely before cutting!!

Chewy Quinoa carob bars (dairy and nut free!)

3/4 cup steel cut oats
3/4 cup quinoa
¾-1 cup water
3 handfuls cereal of your choice (about 1 cup-I used blueberry cinnamon optimum cereal.)
2 tbsp flour (I used spelt)
¾ lb dates
¾-1 cup plain roasted sunflower seeds
¼ cup currants/raisins
1 tbsp veg. oil
1 tsp salt
pinch cinnamon
splash of vanilla
1/3 cup coconut
½ cup carob chips
1 tbsp cocoa powder (or carob powder)

Preheat oven to 325’F.
Cook the oats and quinoa together with the water on the stovetop, until just a little bit underdone. Set in a large bowl when cooled enough to handle.
Puree the dates in a food processor until you get a “paste.” It may turn into a ball, that’s okay, just squash it and puree it a bit more, leaving some chunks.
Mash the dates with the quinoa and oats, when the oats and quinoa are cooled a bit. Add the flour, sunflower seeds, currants, oil, salt, cinnamon, cocoa powder, vanilla, and coconut. Mix well.
When that has cooled a bit, add the cereal (this makes it so it stays a bit crunchy), carob, and a sprinkle of raw quinoa or oats for a bit of crunch.
Press into a small lightly greased pan, and top with coconut and carob chips. Cook for about 15-20 minutes, a good way to tell if it’s done is if the coconut on top is browned JUST slightly on the sides of the pan. Enjoy!

I'll be back next week...think this is the last post before then!! I'll miss you guys and the bloggie:(

3 comments:

  1. thats a great recipe!
    so jelous you went to the JM concert !! fun :)

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  2. haha thanks!! I love the song you posted on your newest post.

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  3. So, I totally didn't follow the recipe because I didn't have half the stuff. But Thanks for the idea, I need to make this exact one sometime :)

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