Healthy & Energizing Hazelnut Brownie Bars

So dessert won last night. Well, kind of. 

Todd and I are going on The Ski Train this weekend! It's an all-day train party ride (like a legit, real life train) that goes over 130 miles one way from Anchorage, past Talkeetna to Curry Ridge where it will stop and myself and hundreds of other cool cats will ski their little hearts out. Then we'll all pile back on, eat a bunch of food, drink a bunch of adult beverages, and enjoy the scenery on the way back home. Photos to come!

I am so psyched you have no idea. It's usually sold out instantly and you can only get tickets if you happen to be a member of the nordic ski club...which we are. Oh! And there's a polka band too! Yes, a polka band. We'll be playing lots of Apples to Apples and Carcassonne and probably polka dancing as well. I dunno, I hear it's a thing. My brother and sister-in-law will be joining us! It will be epic.

Anyways, I realized I needed to make something to bring with us and I knew these brownie bars would be perfect. They've got oats and black beans, flax seed too along with hazelnuts to keep us fueled up for the big ski. Plus they're freaking delicious, man. I only allowed myself to one yesterday, so we can take the rest with us! Picture me, on a train, in a corner scarfing down these bars with a mouth-fulla chocolate. 

These fudgy bars are reminiscent of brownies, not too sweet and packed full of healthy goodies. A nutritious energy bar that tastes like a brownie but boasts ample protein and complex carbs to keep you fueled throughout the day. Plus, they're done in a cinch and easy peasy. 

Healthy & Energizing Hazelnut Brownie Bars

Serves 10 

• 1/2 cup hazelnuts, toasted and chopped
• 2 Tbsp. ground flax seed
• 6 Tbsp. water
• 1 cup vegan chocolate chips
• 1/2 old-fashioned oats, dry
• 1 15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 Tbsp. coconut oil
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• flake salt for sprinkling (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 F and roughly chop the hazelnuts. Spread on a baking sheet and toast at 400 F for about 3 minutes or until fragrant. Be sure they don't burn! When done, remove from oven and set aside. Reduce oven to 350 F.

Meanwhile, whisk together the flax and 6 Tbsp. water in a small bowl. Refrigerate until ready to use. 

In a food processor, add the chocolate chips and the oats. Pulse until roughly chopped, about 30 seconds. 

Now, add the remaining ingredients excluding the flake salt. Don't forget to add the flax mixture! Process until fairly smooth, scraping down the sides as needed, about 3 minutes. Add the toasted hazelnuts and pulse to combine. 

Coat a bread pan with nonstick cooking spray. Pour in the batter and spread it out so it's smooth and even. The brownie bars will not rise at all in the oven. Bake for 60 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through. 

Remove from oven and allow to sit in pan until completely cool. Then, transfer to a cutting board, sprinkle with salt and additional hazelnuts. Carefully cut into 10 slices. Keep wrapped in saran wrap. 

Is it Saturday morning yet?

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German Word of The Day: Hazelnut --> Hasselnuss (pronounced: hahsell-noose) Brownie is...just brownie, so I couldn't use that obviously. 

Good Deed of The Day: Um, so this petition is to stop the horrific dog meat trade in china and demand that they make animal cruelty laws. Yea. You'll definitely want to be a part of this one. Trust me. Imagine if your dog was stolen and caged, treated horrendously, then slaughtered and consumed. That's what I thought...sign this. 

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Creamy Butternut Chickpea Millet + Cool News

So, I have something pretty cool to share. It's my vegan story! The beautiful Kristy over at Keepin' It Kind is so wonderful to have provided me with the opportunity to share my journey to vegandom. Is that a word? Vegandom. I think it should be. Well, it is now. If you've ever wanted to know more about my little story, now you can! So head on over and check it out. Plus, there's a few pics of me with some pretty sweet pups.  Just about every night I have a pretty intense internal battle about whether to make dessert for dinner or an actual, proper dinner. Last night it was a particularly harrowing spar. However, dinner won. It usually does, but only because I know if I don't make any dinner then I'll have to eat falafel chips and hummus for lunch the next day...which I totally did yesterday. I'm not complaining about such a delicious lunch, but really, it's more of a snack. Then, I'm so hungry by the end of the work day that I come home and binge on a downright shocking amount of Endangered Species chocolate. They have these new ones that are creme filled you guys! And VEGAN! Actually, now that I think about it...maybe I should just do this everyday. 

Completely unrelated to food or being vegan, Todd and I watched Frozen last night. New favorite movie! Well, I dunno. Could I demote Monsters, Inc.? I'm entirely not sure. But, we laughed throughout the entire thing and also Josh Gad is my favorite person to ever walk the Earth so ya' know, pretty much best movie ever. Plus it's all about snow and winter and that's kind of my jam...living in Alaska and all, ya' dig?

Okay, back to this dish.

You know how everyone loves chickpeas and buttersquash? Yes. And you know how everyone's getting on all up on the millet bandwagon? Yes. Well now combine those three luscious ingredients! Bam! Fluffy millet soaks in a warm, herbed butternut squash sauce dotted with protein-packed chickpeas. All ready to go in about 30 minutes. Now that's a dinner worth forgoing dessert for. 

Creamy Butternut Chickpea Millet

Serves 6

• Millet:
• 1 1/2 cups millet, dry
• 3 cups water
• pinch of salt
• Aromatics:
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 medium carrot, diced small
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced small
• 1/2 red bell pepper, diced small
• 1 whole dried bay leaf
• 1 Tbsp. fresh ginger, minced
• 1/2 Tbsp. whole cumin seeds
• 1/4 tsp. ground sage
• 1/4 tsp. ground pepper
• 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
• grating of nutmeg
• Sustenance:
• 32 oz. butternut squash soup
• 2 15 oz. cans of chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
• 1 Tbsp. nutritional yeast
• 1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar

Notes: Quinoa, rice, or couscous can be used in place of the millet if you wish. If you don't have whole cumin seeds, feel free to use about 1/2 tsp. of ground cumin. I used Pacifica brand of butternut squash soup. 

In a medium saucepan, toast the dry millet over medium-low heat for about 5 minutes, until fragrant. Stirring occasionally. Then, add the water and salt. Bring to a boil over high heat, then cover partially and reduce to a simmer. Allow to simmer for 15 minutes, then stir and remove from heat. Keep covered and let sit until ready for use, at least 10 minutes. 

While the millet is cooking, in a large soup pot heat the oil over medium then add the aromatic ingredients. Saute for about 10 minutes, until the carrots are tender and the onions are browned. 

Meanwhile, in a blender combine 3/4 cup of the butternut squash soup, 3/4 cup of the chickpeas, as well as the nutritional yeast and the vinegar. Blend on high until smooth. Add this mixture to the sauteed vegetables as well as the remainder of the soup and chickpeas. Stir well to combine, and remove the bay leaf. 

This dish can be served two ways. Either place a scoop of the cooked millet into a shallow soup bowl and a ladle of sauce around it or, combine the millet and sauce and serve that way. Serve hot. 

Come jam with me. Don't deny yourself...

[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/106878552" params="color=88d0ab&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_artwork=true" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /]

"He stares so politely I'm best behaving when he's walking with me, walking with me Oh, he likes taking photos in black and white They're upon his walls, on his walls"

German Word of The Day: Millet --> Hirse (pronounced: hillseh)

Good Deed of The Day: For real? Ugh. Sign this petition to tell UK labs to stop puppy and kitten experiments. Only takes 5 seconds, promise. 

Oh and also...

Dang that was a pretty involved post today. Lots of stuff going on, but guess what? It's pretty much Friday, peeps! 

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Restaurant Worthy Hot & Sour Soup

If you like hot and sour soup. This is the real deal. No restaurant necessary. 

I wouldn't joke about this. I take my restaurant-worthy dishes very seriously.

This soup made me dance on my little tippy toes around the kitchen. Seriously. I've never been a particularly fervent hot and sour soup fan though, I always went the egg drop soup route. I loved me some egg drop soup. Nevermore! This soup is the bees knees. 

So hot and sour! Well...kind of hot. I'm a bit of a wimp when it comes to spicy foods. Unless we're talking ginger or wasabi. I'm all about that type of spicy! When I get sushi, I dip the pickled ginger into the wasabi and eat it plain, okay? You're impressed. I know. Watch out, BA comin' though. 

Feel free to add as much ground fresh chili paste as you'd like to this soup. I stuck with 1/2 tsp. because, like I said, a bit of a wimp here. I've made my peace with it. I just have dainty taste buds, okay?

Restaurant Worthy Hot & Sour Soup

Serves 4-6

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 Tbsp. fresh ginger, peeled and minced
• 4 green onions, thinly sliced
• 8 oz. cubed seitan, chopped (or ground plant-based meat)
• 2 cups water
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 lb. firm tofu, cubed small
• 10 cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 2/3 cup rice vinegar
• 3 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. sesame oil
• 1 tsp. vegan sugar
• 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. ground fresh chili paste, to taste
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 2 handfuls of fresh spinach, torn (optional)

Notes: I added a bit of spinach, because that's how I roll but feel free to omit it if you like. 

In a large soup pot, heat the oil over medium-low. Add the garlic, ginger, green onions, and seitan. Saute for about 5 minutes, until fragrant and the seitan begins to brown.

(Do you like the repurpose of egg holder? It's a garlic holder now!) Add the water and the vegetable broth and bring to a simmer. Now, add the remaining ingredients, excluding the cornstarch and the spinach and stir well. 

In a small bowl, add about 1/2 cup of the soup broth. Whisk in the cornstarch until clump-free. Stir the mixture back into the soup to thicken it. 

Add the torn spinach and continue to simmer until the spinach has wilted and the soup has thickened slightly from the cornstarch. 

Remove from heat. Let the soup rest for a few minutes before serving.

Serve hot. 

Jammin' along to Josh Rouse – It's Good To Have You

"Coffee and a toast and a peppermint tea It's a little too cold to go outside  Wonder what would happen if you lived with me,  Oh oh, I got the feeling that it'd turn out nice Oh oh, it feels good to have you in my life."

German Word of The Day: Worthy --> Würdig (pronounced: ver-dich)

Good Deed of The Day: Sometimes I really hate our species. Sign this petition and help the Defenders of Wildlife tell the US Government to stop using your tax money to kill coyotes from planes. For real. I'm not onboard with that. 

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