Recipe Roundup

I've had some recipe successes as well as a notable flop recently. Here's the scoop.

The granola bars I made were a definite success. For the most part they hold together and what doesn't hold together is willingly gobbled up as cereal. Try as I might, I can't find the source of the original recipe but I suspect it came from the Vegetarian Group. Naturally I tinkered with it so it only vaguely resembles the original recipe anyway. Here's my version:

Granola Bars

Combine the following on an ungreased cookie sheet:
2 1/2 cups uncooked oatmeal
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup flax seeds
1/2 cup flaxseed meal

Set your oven to 300 degrees and place the cookie sheet in your oven for 20 minutes while its preheating.

Heat the following in a small saucepan:
2 Tbs canola oil
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup blackstrap molasses
1/4 cup pureed dates

Place 1 cup of raisins into a mixing bowl. Pour in dry ingredients and stir to combine. Remove wet ingredients from heat, stir in 2 tsp of vanilla extract* and 1 tsp cinnamon and then pour over dry ingredients. Quickly stir until everything is coated.

Continuing to move quickly (because this beccomes a sticky mess rather quickly) press this mixture into a greased 8 x 8 pan. Bake for 20 minutes. Let cool slightly and then cut into bars. Let the whole thing cool completely before attempting to remove from pan.

*I skipped the vanilla extract because I used vanilla sugar.

I did finally make a very mild baba ganoush a few days ago. Everyone liked it but I had made a lot, far too much to use in sandwiches. I sliced two onions and cooked them in a bit of water until they carmelized. Then I added a can of black olives and some chick peas. I tossed these around until they were heated through. Then I added in the leftover baba ganoush and again let it heat through before serving it over pasta. The result was really tasty and everyone took leftovers for lunch the following day!

Last night, it seems, I was feeling a little too kitchen confident because part of last night's dinner won the stinker of the week award. Our Tuesday CSA pickup had a small amount of broccoli pieces in it, perfect for cream of broccoli soup. Having never made vegan cream of broccoli soup, I headed to the cookbooks. I wound up using the Broccoli Cheez Soup recipe from The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook. Visually and texturally, the soup was perfect but the taste was a little too intense. Everyone ate it but they requested it never reappear on the menu.