Tuesday, January 13, 2009

A "Syn"-less suprise :)

Sorry about the title... but I couldnt resist :)

So right now it is 12:30 am.. I'm sitting in my bed.. and I cant sleep.
why you ask? Because I am catching up on all of the wonderful blogs that I've missed while I was gone!
I really love blogging and reading everyones blogs.. so the fact that I can now read.. and actually TRY out some of these great recipes has me just about peeing my pants (dont worry... I am properly potty trained and promise not to wet the bed) 

But truly I have been very inspired lately...which leads me to my Syn-less suprise!

Now If you have ever read my blog before (and if anyone new is reading this.. that makes me super excited :) ) You know that I have a very terrible, horrible, no good, very bad allergy to nuts (all accept pistachios and pine nuts) Now.. as every good vegan should, I try and do my research on healthy energy boosting snacks (vegan of course). I am always seeing "Lara Bars" . I always hear how healthy and delish they are.. but this poor vegan cant try them because they are CHOCK FULL OF NUTS!!!

Well... after doing so more research and looking at ingredients I thought to myself.. why the hell cant I make my own danm lara bars!!

After this realization (of course with a cute little light bulb over my head) I rummaged through my pantry and happily found a huge container of mejool dates, pistachios, coconut, dried blue berries, apricots, cranberries, raisins and more HORRAY!!!

So my friends.. I have created three types of Syn-less bars. All containing mejool dates, and only one containing any nuts. I used seeds and carob chips to get that desired crunch. If you are allergic to nuts like I am, but are jealous of all of those foodies out there who eat these amazing bars... consider some Synless bars :)

Elphie bar (In honor of Elphaba-the lead role in Wicked-and a role I hope to some day play :)
1/4 cup chopped mejool dates
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup raw pistachios (before chopping)
1/4cup coconut
pinch of cinnamon

*Chop mejool dates into 1/4 cup. Add dates and cranberries to a food processor. Process until it makes a gooey paste (mine sort of rolled up into a gooey ball)
*Transfer into a medium sized bowl. 
*Add cinnamon, pistachios and coconut into the bowl and mix them all together with your hands. YES YOUR HANDS! Its gooey and messy but totally fun and it gets the job completely done.
once they are totally mixed together, press the concoction into a flat bar
... cut down the middle and VUALA... PISTACHIO GOODNESS.
sorry about the pictures... i am no photographer.. but I tried ;)
my next bar was,...

SMURF BAR (In honor of one of my favorite cartoons when I was growing up)
1/4 cup mejool dates (chopped)
1/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup dried blue berries
1/3 cup coconut
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds (i know this sounds weird in the mix.. but it adds a nice crunch and its actually very complimentary to the blueberry taste i think)

just follow the same instructions

and last...
(and my personal favorite)

Carob Bliss bar (I couldnt think of anything clever oops)
1/4 cup chopped mejool dates
1/4 cup raisins
1/3 cup coconut
1/3 cup chopped carob chips 
1/3 cup coco powder
1/8 tspn  vanilla

Im just guestimating these measurements. the truth is I like mine super chocolaty...so I added more carob and coco powder. I also threw in some extra coconut. I did a tiny taste test... but its kind of up to you how chocolaty you wanna make it.
I plan on making more.. im thinking something with dried banana, and another with apples... ahh the possibilities are endless.

ok well now thats its 1:15am.. I guess I can say its time for bed.



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12 comments:

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

So fun!! Love it!! :-D


**Just as a heads up/reminder: I will not be able to comment on blogs as often now, during this semester, due to work overload (I'm stressed already) - PLEASE know that I'm still loyally reading, but just won't have time to comment. I hope you understand!!

Anonymous said...

you are so creative! congrats on having "larabars" to eat :)
also--love the rockette banner!

Anonymous said...

Those look absolutely divine. I can't wait to try the pistachio ones. I love those little green nuts. I'm happy that you are back home. Especially after you awful experience in Austin.

Lauren said...

Wow! Those look amazing! I LOVE LARA BARS!!

T and I saw Wicked for our anniversary last year and we loved it! We listen to the CD in the car all the time! :)

Oh yea, Smurfs was my fav too! My family use to call me Smurfette when I was little because I had her little mousey voice..haha!

Vegan_Noodle said...

Welcome home! I think that's awesome that you're making your own lara-type bars. And I love the names!
I'm sure you'll make it as Elpheba someday... I loved Wicked!

Anonymous said...

Glad to see you're back and those bars sound AMAZING!

I will try some out when I can, so thanks so much for the recipe!

Keep up the posts, darlin', I love reading them!

Anonymous said...

I've done the homemade Larabar thing before but your combos are FAB, especially since you managed to do it pretty much nut-free. Too impressive for words. And I'm loving the names you've got for those lovely little bars too :)

Anonymous said...

Those look fantastic! I'm glad you found a way to enjoy that Lara Bar taste...with a Syn twist, of course.

I'm glad you're back!

Anonymous said...

Amazing! I have to make some of these. I think all of the titles are clever. Thanks for sharing the recipes!!!

River (Wing-It Vegan) said...

You are too cool making your own Larabars! I love the Smurf Bar!

Becca said...

I bet your bars taste every bit (if not better) than larabars and are probably cheaper!

The Vegan Snorkeler said...

Sounds delish! I want to try a smurf bar!

A Vegan on STAGE

Navigating my way through a Vegan lifestyle