Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Bars


The vegan thing is going pretty well, I did have a minor set back over the weekend that involved much oohing and ahhhing over a friend's hot artichoke dip which made me have to try it. My family loved it, so I'm going to see if I can create a vegan version for the holidays. I will say that last week I felt kind of BLAH but I'm 98% sure that it had more to do with the weather than my diet. I've also avoided the scale because I'm off sugar again (no Halloween candy since Oct, 31!), so I'm not counting calories or watching portions while I'm doing the vegan experiment.

This morning I was checking out some Vegan MoFo around the web and came across this ineresting pumpkin bar recipe. I had leftover beans and pumpkin that needed to be used, so it seemed like the perfect thing for after school snacks.
  
Knucklehead thought it was pb fudge. Boy was he surprised!
The bars were very soft, I had to bake them an extra five minutes and even then, they remained quite soft inside. When I first tasted them, the banana was overpowering, but they were also hot out of the oven. After letting them cool completely, I could detect some bean, but no one else in the family suspected, so it may just have been because I knew what was hiding in there. I would have really liked for the bars to taste more pumpkiny.

Overall, the whole verdict was...strange. Everyone ate them, but everyone said they were "different" which is the word my family uses to tell me that they really didn't like something but they are either afraid they will hurt my feelings or there is nothing else available to snack on. I have a feeling this was the latter because I declared today a candy-free day.

In Happy Herbivore's defense I did make some modifications to her recipe. I eliminated the sugar completely, adding a touch more maple syrup and I didn't really measure, I just dumped in the pumpkin and beans that were in my fridge. I also used up the rest of my oat flour instead of the instant oats called for. So basically, I didn't follow her recipe at all. Sorry HH, that's just the way I roll. All of these modifications could have affected the taste and I'm sure this is the reason they were so sticky inside.

I like the idea of vegan pumpkin bars, and the use of beans to get that chewy texture (and protein!), but I'm more interested in eliminating refined sugar than doing away with fat, so I'm going to play around with the recipe some more. I want to have some vegan goodies for my dad to try at Thanksgiving and I think this one will be a winner.

Today's Workout:
Run 3.1  Ran the course I will be running on Saturday. Man, I'm a mess...way too much walking! I have to get back to regular running STAT!!!!  Legs feel fine, just my heart rate is through the roof! I need some advice (I probably won't use it, but I do need it).

4 comments:

Emz said...

I saw "bars" and thought of . . . not what you had posted. ;)

They look yummy!!

YAY for Saturday!!

heather said...

Ha! I wasn't really sure what to call them since they weren't that pumpkiny.

Oh Emz. I'm glad to be running, but honestly I've slacked off so much I'll be lucky to make it to the finish. Its like that with a lot of things in my life, I'll work my tail off to accomplish something, then after I get there, I'm done. Its like...been there, did that, on to something else now. I like running, I just need to make myself be consistent.

Maybe I need to start training for something bigger?

Teamarcia said...

Yes! Train for something bigger--something that scares you into staying with the training. Bars look yummy--I was imagining they were peanut buttery but pumpkin is good!

Quinton J said...

...Like a marathon? you animal! what about the idea of running - not for a goal (like a race)...but rather for you time? Do you go out for runs and come back feeling like a better person/mom/wifey? Maybe switching to that kind of running for a bit will help take the "been there done that" out of it. You'll ALWAYS need some you time.

The bars...they sound...well...different;0)

You rock and I wish you the best of luck this weekend.