Salisbury.Fake breakfast, food

Blueberry Granola

When I have down days, I automatically seek comfort in food.  This isn’t a bad thing, necessarily, but it’s important to reach for the right kind of food.  Lately, I’ve been eating dairy again, which I don’t judge myself for, because judging myself is something I’m pretty good at without worrying about the food I eat.

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Photo by Chelsea M. K.

The importance of loving myself and self care through food is quickly becoming a topic I struggle with and I end up making some rather unpleasant discoveries about myself.

It makes me ask questions like why do I seek comfort in food?  Especially dairy, because as I’ve gotten older, dairy has increasingly bad after-effects on my system.  Yet, I can spend an entire day eating one pizza, and then the next day feel like a garbage can, but then eat macaroni and cheese.

The truth is, it’s easy comfort.  It’s conveniently comforting.  I find myself reaching for the foods I like without thinking of the consequences because it’s easy to ignore those things when I’m trying to find comfort.

So, what is the solution?  I know what I’m going through is not new.  It’s not a new thing for a lot of people.  So, how do I solve my problem?  The solution is to find comfort in something other than food.  Easier said than done.  As the days become more stressful, and the hours at work ramp up to overtime, convenience food is always going to be a thing.

The solution then needs to be a healthier comfort food, right?  Yeah, but I don’t like hummus that much to be eating it after work on days that I had a struggle.  I want something fast and easy.

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Photo by Chelsea M. K.

I did sign up for Thrive Market and they have a lovely smattering of vegan friendly snack and convenience foods, but that again presents a problem for me, because while it’s dairy free, vegan, whatever, it’s still a snack food. The solution is to make food the last resort for comfort when I’m having a bad day.

I love to read, and I write fiction, too.  My options for creativity are somewhat limited where I live, but that doesn’t mean I give up completely on what I love to do. The key is to believe the level of satisfaction will be the same as a bowl of macaroni and cheese.  Or a slice of pizza.  Reaching into that well of colorful visions of the future, what I could be, using that to distance myself from what bothers me will be the eventual goal to achieve. 

Food can still be a happy thing.  It should absolutely be a way to show I care about someone, or a way to help me feel happy.  But it should not be my only source of happiness.  With that, let me give you a gentle recipe, something small to provide a little bit of joy when you have breakfast, or when you need a quick, easy snack before heading out to live your best life.

Granola is not a glamorous food.  It’s probably not even that comforting.  But what it does offer is texture and crunch on top of smoothies, and it can be nutritious depending on how it’s made.  It’s simple and easy.

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Photo by Chelsea M. K.

Blueberry Granola

Recipe yield: about 4 cups
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Total time: 45 minutes, plus cooling

Ingredients:

3 cups rolled oats
2 cups nuts and seeds of choice
(I used raw, chopped almonds and pumpkin seeds)
3/4 cup dried blueberries
1/2 cup maple syrup or agave (I used a combination of both)
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Method:

  1. Combine dry ingredients, minus blueberries, in a large bowl till evenly distributed.
  2. In another bowl, whisk together wet ingredients, making sure the oil is combined with the syrups well.
  3. Stir wet into dry until all of the oats are coated.
  4. Line a tray with either parchment, foil, or a silicon baking mat, and bake in a 300 degree oven for fifteen minutes, stir, and then bake for fifteen more minutes.
  5. Remove from the oven and place tray on a wire cooling rack.  This will help air circulate under the tray and help it cool.  Stir every now and then, as the granola will harden as it cools.
  6. Add blueberries and toss to distribute once granola is completely cool.
  7. Store in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

Use on top of yogurt, smoothie bowls, or eat as plain cereal.

Salisbury.Fake Weekly Update

Veganuary Thoughts

All righty.  So, it’s now February.  If you participated in Veganuary, I hope you feel successful!  If you had some slip ups, that’s okay.  You’re doing great!  I know it’s hard to feel successful after a slip up, believe me.  But the important thing to remember is to keep going.  Persistence creates the habit.

My version of Veganuary inspired me to continue the decision to go plant based through the month of February.  As I participated in this month, I discovered a few things about myself.  I might repeat a few things from previous posts, so please bear with me.

Plant based eating is expensive if you purchase prepackaged, highly processed foods.

This one is kind of a no-brainer.  Prices per ounce on whole food ingredients when they’re fresh, frozen, or canned is significantly cheaper than the overly processed, prepackaged foods.  Not only are they cheaper, you also pay for your sodium intake as a lot of those products up the salt content to make it more “flavorful.”

It’s up to the individual consumer what compromises are to be made because if you’re like me and appreciate convenience, there’s nothing wrong with enjoying these products.

One of my favorite things about purchasing fresh, whole ingredients is being able to take the time and make them taste good with my personal preferences.  I might not like the way a macaroni and “cheese” tastes out of a box, but if I can recreate a facsimile of it with whole ingredients, then I’d much rather do that.

I think going forward, my goal will be to definitely stick to more whole foods as much as I can.  I rediscovered a love of lentils, and my adorable mother (who went a little upset when I told her I wasn’t eating dairy anymore) went through her cookbooks and recipe collections to find me recipes to help out in a way she knew how.

Making mistakes during a goal is not the end of a goal.  It’s the middle of your progress.

Over the course of the month, I did end up eating some dairy products, if by accident or on purpose, but I never once felt bad about it.  It’s incredibly important to keep a positive mindset when trying to change a part of your life, because negativity is so easy to fall back into.

I used to be on Instagram, and I followed a fitness person there, which was a different thing for me as I’m not into fitness at all, but she had a day where she discussed what she ate over the weekend.  She mentioned that she’d gone to a party for a friend’s birthday and made the choice to eat a cupcake.  It was her reaction to eating it that stuck with me, because it wasn’t a positive experience for her.  She took it as a slip up, a poor choice.

I’m not saying there aren’t bad choices, because I don’t need to eat macaroni and cheese all the time, but I do.  I know, what is it with me and macaroni and cheese?  Well, I couldn’t tell you, hah. The point is don’t get caught up on the days you don’t meet your goals.  It’s all in how you react to the situation.

I decided I wasn’t giving up dairy and eggs, but I was choosing not to eat them any more.  The difference in those statements is one is a loss, and the other is exactly what I said, a choice.  Losing makes it harder to accept, choosing is a step forward.  The times I ate dairy — at a friend’s birthday party, as part of my partner’s Taco Bell, or inadvertently in a batch of hash browns at a restaurant — didn’t mean I’d completely failed myself.  It meant I could just keep going the next day toward the goal I set out to achieve.

People will always have their own opinion on what you’re eating.  It’s up to you to ignore it and do what works best for you.

I think the biggest problem I have with veganism is how judgmental some of the community is.  For something that seems so wholesome and inviting for everyone, there’s quite a few people who make little comments to those around them that just doesn’t make it a friendly environment.  It’s an important thing to me to remember that not everyone has the privilege I do to go plant based, whether for family reasons, for religious reasons, or whatever.  It’s not my place to judge someone for how much plastic they use, or how much “insert generic criticism” happens.

We don’t know everyone’s story.  We only know our own.  It’s up to us to make sure we continue to improve the goodness in the world not by aggressively going after those not like us, but by making changes in ourselves first so that maybe others see it and feel inspired.

I don’t know.  I’m not an expert.  This is all just a ramble, really, while I watch Forensic Files on Netflix.  I was going to include a recipe in this blog post, but it’s really long, so I’m going to link to one of my favorite YouTube channels instead.

Pick Up Limes is a channel run by Sadia.  She is an actual dietitian who happens to be plant based, and her channel is incredible.  The amount of work she puts into her videos is impressive.  She gives reasons for why foods work the way they do, and she provides recipes and printable pdf sheets on her blog to help you on your food journey.  I love her professionalism and her ability to make learning about food interesting.

I hope you’re well, and I wish you well on your food way.

Salisbury.Fake food

Chickpea Salad

One of my struggles with being plant based is sandwiches.  I love sandwiches!  They’re so versatile and with a crispy toasted bread, or rolled into a wrap, the possibilities are endless.  But plant based sandwiches can be tricky.  I’m not overly fond of hummus as a main protein source, and while I love a good crunchy tofu cutlet sandwich, it can be a bit monotonous.

I’m not going to lie.  I’m not a fan of mayonnaise either.  But for some reason, the vegan alternative is pretty palatable to me.  It might be the lack of egg flavor?  I’m not sure.

The key to this wrap is texture.  The chickpeas are mixed in with the mayonnaise, the grapes, the walnuts, the celery, and then everything gets blitzed in the food processor.  There are still decent sized bits of chickpea, so it’s not a paste like some recipes call for, but it’s crunchy and satisfying.

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Chickpea Salad

1 can of chickpeas, drained
10 grapes, quartered
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped
1 rib of celery, diced fine
1 cup of vegan mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon of poultry seasoning
1 tsp agave nectar
1/4 tsp black pepper
14/ tsp salt

Mix all ingredients together in a medium sized bowl.  Add mixture to a food processor and pulse five, six times, or until desired texture is reached.

Serve on toast with lettuce, or in a wrap.  Store in the fridge for up to a week.

Salisbury.Fake food, Weekly Update

Daiya Pepperoni Pizza Review

I love pizza.  It’s one of my favorite foods.  The first being macaroni and cheese.  Macaroni and cheese is very easy to replicate as a plant based food.  Pizza, however, is a little trickier.  So far, I’ve made my own vegan style pizza (pizza dough recipe here).  While Daiya is the most familiar brand of vegan cheese out there, it does have a distinct flavor, so I can always taste when it’s used.

Obviously, a Daiya pepperoni pizza is going to have the distinct taste of Daiya. (Do you say day-ah? or dye-ah?)  I have tried a few vegan pepperonis, and the attempt by Daiya is the closest to what I remember pepperoni tasting like.  That said, this pizza is better fresh baked from the oven.

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The crust on this is disappointing.  I don’t like a majority of the gluten free options available because they often have little to no flavor.  This is no different, unfortunately.  The cheese never really melts either, it just kind of goops.  Which isn’t bad, just a little off putting.

This pizza does not warm up well if you don’t eat the whole thing.  The crust turns soft and the toppings become kind of mush.  All in all, I am not a fan of this pizza.  But I’m not against trying other kinds of the Daiya brand pizza.  Maybe this one wasn’t the best because I expected familiarity with the pepperoni, and there are some meats you just can’t fake.  Lucky for me, Target stocks this pizza regularly in their frozen section for a lot cheaper than other places.

I give this pizza a 6/10.

A small update on my progress.  I hit the ground running last week and only had one bite of cheese at a party for a friend.  I had a KFC biscuit last night, but it was drier than I remember them tasting, so I didn’t eat any more.  I haven’t had any sugar past what is in fruit, and some of my already purchased stuff.  I don’t actually have that much in the way of processed sugar, which is interesting.  I did take my Christmas candy to work, which hurt my heart a bit.  Chocolate is a comforting food for me.  But I’ve noticed a huge difference in my cravings.  I did have the one bite of cheese, but I didn’t want more.  It was a new feeling when normally I’d go wild and eat a whole block of cheese without hesitation.

My food has been mostly whole food, plant based, as much as I can get it.  I did finish off a package of vegetarian friendly sausage, and a package of Gardein chicken strips, both of which I don’t think I’ll purchase again.  But I’ve eaten a lot of rice, and broccoli and cauliflower.  It’s a challenge to find stuff I like to eat because I’m not a fan of vegetables.

One of the things I’ve been telling myself is to eat what I know I like.  I made a tray of roasted vegetables with broccoli and cauliflower, and I tossed in some brussel sprouts.  Turns out, I really don’t like brussel sprouts.  But I do like peas, carrots, corn, green beans.  It’s not difficult to eat foods I like, so I decided to make it a goal to eat more of the vegetables I do like in order to train myself into eating better.  I don’t like salad, and I don’t like weird textures vegetables can sometimes get when they’re roasted or cooked.

So my advice is to eat what you know you like when it comes to “healthy” food.  If you eat more of it, eventually you’ll come to crave it.

Salisbury.Fake dinner, food

Quorn vs Tofurky/Veganuary

Wow, well, I disappeared for a bit there, didn’t I?  I work in a production plant and since it centers around stuff people want for the holidays, we were slammed with a lot more orders than we were expecting.  That said, I decided this year to try out two different holiday roasts by Quorn and Tofurky, respectively.

I purchased two roasts at the same time since they were on sale, and I have to say I wouldn’t purchase them again if they weren’t on sale.  Not to say they weren’t worth the price, but I definitely don’t have spare cash lying around.  That is one of my nitpicks with the vegan/vegetarian meat substitutes.  Even tofu can be expensive if you want a certain kind.  If it’s made with plants, why is it so expensive?  Well, the more processed it is, the more it costs, right?  Except not always.  I’ve noticed animal product… products don’t have the same issue.  Boxes of macaroni and cheese can be purchased for less than a dollar, while Daiya (which I’m not all too fond of, if I’m honest), is usually above 2 or 3 dollars.  I know there are homemade versions of a lot of the processed vegetarian foods, but I’m all about convenience.  I know this has nothing to do with what I said I’d talk about, so let me get back to the topic at hand.

I bought the Quorn turkey style roast for Thanksgiving.  It looks like this (image borrowed from amazon.com):

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Rating: 6/10

The texture was pretty spot on for how I remember turkey.  I know there are vegetarians who don’t like the texture of meat, so if you’re one of those people, I’d avoid this.  It’s got the flavor of cafeteria turkey sandwiches from high school.  It didn’t really remind me of turkey flavor too much, as from what I remember, turkey’s pretty bland unless you brine it or put a ton of gravy/cranberry sauce on it.

This roast isn’t vegan (they used dehydrated egg whites), or at least here where I live it isn’t.  I know the Quorn brand does make some vegan foods, but where I am, unless I travel to a bigger city, I don’t get that option.

The Tofurky brand roast was . . . interesting.  It looks a little bit like this (image taken from Vegan Essentials):

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Rating: 7/10

This one was interesting because as you can see on the package, it shows a little bit of stuffing in the center, with a lot of, well, meat.  Mine was mostly stuffing, which wouldn’t have been too bad except I didn’t find the stuffing to be particularly good.  I wanted more of the turkey.  I’d say if the roast had the texture of Quorn’s, but the flavor of Tofurky, it would have been perfect.

There are a lot of vegetarians who say Tofurky has a distinct flavor to it, and it does.  It’s got that vital wheat gluten flavor in the background, because while they do produce mostly soy stuff, the gluten gives it the texture of meat.  Much like a seitan.

I did have leftovers from both, and while the Quorn roast was all right on day two, I made the most epic leftover sandwich with the Tofurky after I sliced it.  I used the So Delicious Cheddar Jack and some Veganaise on two slices of Dave’s Killer Bread (with some Sweet Baby Ray’s to round it out).  Best sandwich I’ve had as a vegetarian.  No lie.

If I had to choose between the two, I’d go with the Tofurky one.  Both had issues for me that would make it difficult to repurchase either one, but if I was told I had to, it’d be Tofurky.

Changing gears a little bit, I’m going to discuss my food plan for the month of January.  Please pardon me if this post gets a bit lengthy.  Food is something I have a weird relationship with, as I’m sure a lot of people do.

For January, I’ve challenged myself to participate in Veganuary.  For those who don’t know, Veganuary is where you spend the month of January living the vegan way, which is more easily explained on the Veganuary website.  You can sign up to pledge, get a starter kit, and there’s just a whole lot of information you can get there.

My goal is to maintain a strict vegetarian diet, and eat far less processed sugar.  I know that’s literally not vegan, but I don’t consider myself a vegan.  I consider myself a vegetarian.  So for me, the challenge will be eating little to no animal products such as eggs and/dairy.  I say little to no because I purchased some meat free sausage recently that has egg whites in it.  I’m not going to throw away food I already have because that seems a bit un-vegan to me (in the low waste sense).

I’m not a vegan because I use plastic bags and paper towels at home.  I have sometimes eaten cheese and eggs.  My reasons for this are my own, and I feel like a lot of people judge others for the way they eat which is really disturbing to me.  Like I said, I work in a production plant and not very many people know I’m vegetarian.  I don’t go around spouting it because it’s my personal business and if we happen to have a free food day where there’s nothing I want to eat, then I don’t eat it.  I don’t stand in line saying it’s rude they don’t have food for me.

It really is something appalling when I watch my favorite YouTubers and the comments are filled with people saying “I can’t believe you call yourself vegan when you _______.”

Who are we to judge other people for how they live their lives?  It all goes back to the whole treat others the way you want to be treated, and it reflects poorly on ourselves if we say we’re all about saving the world when we’re horrid to each other over something as simple as food.

So, my personal goal, like I said, is to stick to a purely vegetarian diet.  I’m excited to try it out and see how far I can go.  Who knows, I might be able to keep it going after January.

TL;DR — Tofurky’s better, I’m doing Veganuary on my own terms.

Salisbury.Fake dinner, food

Fall Reflections and Chili Recipe

One of my favorite things about autumn is how peaceful the world seems to get.  I know election season just happened, and that’s not exactly peace-bringing.  But I find myself more reflective, and I feel like the rest of humanity kind of relaxes a bit, too.  It’s always a bit weird to think about relaxing with major holidays coming up, but I feel more gentle towards my fellow humans.

Another of my favorite autumn things is warm drinks and blankets.  I am one of the few people I know who enjoys snow and being out in it.  I love it because I can always come home and warm up, but it’s still there for me to watch from my window.  I love colder weather, and I love the crispness that comes with the temperature drop.

The best part about colder weather, for me, is the food.  Squash, beets, potatoes, roasted harvest vegetables, hearty breads, chunky soups full of all kinds of goodness.  I love how soups warm both my heart and my body.  Which is why the recipe for today is going to be a soup of sorts.

Chili is something I make every now and then, because I always tend to make a giant pot and then forget I’ve put leftovers in the freezer.  I usually find the leftovers months later, and they’re still just as good as the day I made it, if not better.  This recipe uses no fake meat fillers, but barley to add to the satiating bite and filling factor I love with soup.

It gets thicker as it stands, so it’s almost more like a dip than a soup, but you can certainly make it more soupy if you’d prefer.  Just don’t put as much barley in, and it’ll be fine.  As I said, this makes a lot, so be prepared for storing leftovers.  I’d keep the chili, unfrozen, in the fridge for a week, but this can be frozen for up to six months.

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Three Bean Chili

1 can great northern beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can black beans
1 can diced tomatoes plus one can filled with water
1 tbsp bullion paste (I use Better Than Bullion)
1 small bag of frozen mixed vegetables (carrots, green beans, corn, peas)
3 tbsp chili powder
2 tbsp garlic and onion powder
2 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional, but highly recommended)
1 tsp chipotle powder (optional, but highly recommended)
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin (you can add more to your preference, I think a little goes a long way)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 1/2 tsp cocoa powder (this adds a depth of flavor I can’t describe without sounding incredibly weird, but it’s good. If you’re not confident in it, you can leave it out)
1/4 cup vegetarian friendly worcestershire sauce (Kroger brand is what I usually use)
2 tsp soy sauce, optional if you think it might be too salty.

Bring all of these ingredients to a boil and then lower the heat to a simmer and cook for about 30 minutes.  Add in the barley and let continue cooking till the barley is tender, and the soup has thickened.  Serve with your favorite chili toppings, or just as is.

*Note*

I usually eat chili with shredded cheese (Daiya brand shreds since I’m trying not to eat as much dairy), but I tried a big heaping tablespoon of peanut butter and it was insanely delicious.

Salisbury.Fake fitness, food, Uncategorized

Clifty Falls Trip, October 2018 (Long Post)

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Today is my birthday.  I love having an autumn birthday because I get to see the world at its finest, getting dressed for winter.  As a present to myself, I usually like to go hiking in one of the state parks here in Indiana where I live, but this year I decided to do something different.  I went camping by myself.  I arrived in the park on Wednesday, the 24th, and left on Saturday, the 27th.  Wednesday and Thursday were positively lovely.  I spent most of the night I arrived setting up my camp and getting my dinner sorted.  I made a tinfoil dinner, I dropped right on the embers of my fire.  I had roasted potatoes, carrots, broccoli, and some seitan sausage I made the night before.  I also added in some salt and pepper, and a seasoning blend of nutritional yeast, onion and garlic powder, and smoked paprika.  It was quite delicious.

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I usually like to go on these excursions with my brother and sister, but this time I felt the need to go by myself.  There is something incredibly freeing in wandering by yourself in nature.  It’s almost a spiritual act, but more for me it’s deeply centering.  It brings me back to a place in myself I very rarely can find.  I don’t work in a particularly straining job physically, but mentally it can be very debilitating at times.  I’ve dealt with mental illness most of my life, so having added stress can make me feel kind of hollow and like I’m floating through my interactions with people I care about, as well as not giving my best effort at a job I’m really quite good at.

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What I liked most about Clifty Falls was the depth of the canyons, and the sound of the wind in the trees.  Obviously, the canyons here are not nearly as enormous as say, the Grand Canyon, but living in a mostly flat, cornfield-filled state is sort of discouraging.  So, it was nice to be reminded that there are beautiful parts of my state.  I think it’s important to find those beautiful things about where you live.  My hometown is not exactly good for natural beauty, but there are some elements in it that are rather stunning.  Sunsets can be quite remarkable during certain parts of the year.

Clifty Falls is certainly beautiful.  I will say I prefer Turkey Run State Park, but I don’t regret going where I did.  I went hiking on Thursday, and I was not disappointed.  Well, I was about one thing, but I’ll go into that later.  It was challenging.  There was a moment where I had to stop to catch my breath–something more to do with how out of shape I am than anything–and I found myself staring out at an impressive vista of color, rock, and trees.  The sun was peeking through the clouds at just the right moment, and I felt peace for the first time in almost a year.

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One of the reasons I wanted to go by myself was so I could do a lot of thinking.  Most of it pertained to the death of my friend, Henry.  Henry died last September, and so it’d been about a year or so since he’d gone, and I hadn’t really confronted my grief about it.  It’s hard to explain how much he meant to me, because even though I didn’t ever really meet him, we wrote each other letters and spoke daily for almost ten years.  His loss is something I can’t think about for too long because it still devastates me a year later.  I know that grief is something that everyone deals with in their own way and own time, but this feels like too much for me sometimes.

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Being in the fresh air certainly helped me as I approached my grief.  I often thought about writing to Henry, especially when the moon was out Wednesday night.  He was very fond of the moon, and his nickname on forums was Moon.  I have a tattoo with a quote from one of his favorite books, Desolation Angels by Kerouac, on my left arm.  “The moon is a piece of me.”  In this way, I felt I was able to keep part of Henry with me at all times.  I didn’t end up writing anything, mostly because I was too busy trying to start fires in incredibly windy campgrounds.

I didn’t end up eating much on Friday, as it rained all day and my plan for oatmeal and a fire cooked pizza didn’t end up happening.  Next time, if I go camping, I’ll bring more ready to eat foods.  Not only was it raining, it was windy.  I remembered to pack extra socks, but I completely forgot my peanut butter.  Starting a fire was impossible on Friday, so I ate my last premade pb&j sandwich I’d brought for hiking, some granola bars, and then for dinner, I had some bread and butter because I didn’t have much else.  Frustrated by the day of rain, I went to bed and tried to sleep.  By this time, more people had arrived to the campground, so it was much noisier than the past two nights.  It made sense, as it was one of the last good camping weekends.  However, when I woke up, I heard more rain on the rain fly of my tent and decided to just pack up and go.

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I was, of course, disappointed with not being able to finish out my trip on a high note, but what I got out of this was beyond worth it.  I saw a beaver on my trek through the trees, almost slipped into a ravine–which is why I don’t recommend hiking by yourself–and I spoke to strangers along the pathways like one does in the middle of nowhere where no one knows your name.  I took several rolls of film photographs, and I fell in love again with a small part of myself that enjoys the little things in life.  That was a success for me.  The bitter part of me got slightly miffed at the small boys yelling at the top of their lungs as they explored, but I reminded myself that children should be allowed to enjoy themselves without the censure of adults.  Within reason, of course.

All in all, I say this trip was incredibly wonderful.  I hope to post some recipes soon.  I’ll try to be more diligent about food talks and fitness talks.  I threw in a little for this post so it wouldn’t be completely irrelevant, hah.

I hope you are well.  If you are struggling, please know that I believe in you to accomplish what you need to do today.

Salisbury.Fake food, snacks

Nut and Seed Bars/Trail Mix

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So, the fun thing about these is I can never get my granola bars to stay in bar form.  I have tried sticky sweeteners with baking and not baking, and I’ve tried egg whites and flax eggs.  I left out the oats this time, and I used a flax egg to bind everything.  I used brown rice syrup as well, since I discovered it was the stickiest sweetener.  To me, anyway.

I wanted to make this since I’m going on a camping trip this week, and I wanted to have some snacks to take on the trail with me while I go hiking.  I’m excited for the upcoming trip, and I plan on making a bigger post for it when I come back.  It might take time for me to post it, so I’m hoping this one will be okay enough till I can get my thoughts together.

Nut & Seed Trail Mix Maybe Bars

1/4 cup sunflower seeds, roasted
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, raw
2 tbsp hemp seeds, shelled
2 flax eggs (mix 2 tbsp ground flax with 6 tbsp water and mix. Let sit till gelled, about five minutes)
1 1/2 cups crispy rice cereal
1/4 tsp kosher salt (a pinch, really)
2 cups cashews, roasted
1 1/2 cups almonds, roasted
1/2 cup brown rice syrup (or other sticky sweetener, I just find this one holds better)
2 tbsp vegetarian/vegan friendly butter

Melt together sweetener and butter, then add in flax eggs.  Add all ingredients to a large mixing bowl and add syrup mixture.  Mix everything well together and spread evenly into a half sheet pan.  Place in fridge to set, then bake at 350* F for ten minutes.  Cool and either cut into bars or break into pieces for trail mix.  Store in an airtight container at room temperature.