Pumpkin Granola Bars (and why going on vacation makes me want to bake!)

Vacation is in T minus 2 days. I don't have a thing packed or ready to go except for buying snacks. Typically, when we head south, we fly. This year my sweet little pumpkin is 2 and while that means some independence, fights and the dreaded potty training, it also means we no longer have to spend our hours on a plane fighting with a wiggly, upset child on our laps. Yes, at the age of 2, the airlines make you buy your child a ticket (which is both a blessing and a curse -- I mean now I have hands to read my kindle and possibly take advantage of the airline beverage service since I can 1. put my tray down and 2. the odds of her knocking it over are lessened slightly by the distance of the next seat. So there's that.) But ticket prices to fly to Orlando have been crazy high lately and are not dropping so that means gassing up my car and taking a road trip.

And a road trip inspires me to buy and make snacks. Lots of them. Because what else is there to do in the car besides drive, listen to music and eat?

I saw a recipe on Pinterest for pumpkin granola bars. I have made road trip granola bars before (Tosca Reno's sweet potato bars) and they didn't make it to this blog. They were mushy and wet and soggy. Good flavor but the texture made me gag. (My poor husband had to eat a gallon size bag of them by himself. My toddler and I both voted no.) So I was hesitant to try these. Pumpkin and sweet potato (and butternut squash!) are kind of similar and interchangeable in a lot of stuff. But I gave it a shot. Because it's fall and even the air should be pumpkin flavored. (Side note - I do not drink pumpkin spice latte's they gross me out. To compensate, I attempt to eat my way through the fall by way of the pumpkin and other various squash cousins - namely of the acorn and butternut squash variety. But to each their own.)

This recipe was amazing -- not only because it contains pumpkin and chocolate but a bunch of other awesome things as well. Flaxseed for omega-3's, ginger for some anti-inflammatory action, cinnamon for all sorts of reasons (read more about that here) and even honey which (raw honey) has been touted as anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and an anti-viral substance (check out more on honey here.)

They baked up not sticky and messy but kind of cakey, not what I expect in a granola bar. I think they would make awesome cookies. They are really good. Not very sweet (I cut the original amount of honey in half) but I wasn't going for sweet. I have really cut back on sugar in general (even natural sugar) so I have become more sensitive to sweet (which for me is a mini-miracle. I used to eat frosting, out of a can.) I also think maple syrup in this recipe may be amazing.

The original recipe for the pumpkin granola bars is here. I (of course!) had to do a few things differently.

First - I doubled the recipe. An 8x8 pan was not going to cut it. (I have 16+ hours in a car with a toddler. Plus a week's worth of snacks I need to pack since she refuses to eat real meals and only snacks -- we call lunch and dinner "big" snacks and sometimes it works *wink wink*)

Second -- I added raisins because I love them and cut back on the chocolate.

Third -- I searched high and low and everywhere to find chocolate without soy lecithin. (Yes! it does exist.) I prefer my chocolate without a side of GMO soy. (I used Enjoy Life brand.)

Ingredients:

5 cups of old fashioned oats
1 cup flaxseed meal
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves
1 cup of pureed pumpkin
1 cup of unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup raw honey (or more to taste)
2 teaspoons of vanilla
1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used Enjoy Life brand)
1/2 cup raisins

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Grease a 9 x 13 pan (I used coconut oil to grease mine and it worked awesome!)

In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients (oats through cloves)

In another bowl, mix all the wet ingredients (save the chocolate chips and raisins)

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well (it was gross but I mixed it with my hands to make sure it was all mushed together -- in a good way)

Fold in the chocolate and the raisins (again I used my hands)

Press into the pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until the top browns slightly. 

Let cool completely and cut. 

Amazing. 

October #Unprocessed - Take the Pledge! (And the post with lots of links to other stuff)

I stumbled upon this today. Since I am kind of obsessed with Bob's Red Mill, I follow them through social media and this popped up on my news feed. A whole month without processed foods, taking a pledge and doing it for the entire month of October. And at the end, feeling better and (hopefully lighter.) This year sponsored by one of my favorite West Coast places to visit (and eat!), Bob's Red Mill so of course I was sucked in from the minute I clicked on the link.

I am generally pretty good with no processed foods but there are those few things that really get me. One being popcorn. And not air popped popcorn, but the yummy fluffy, white cheddar flavored kind...maybe after a month without I can cut the habit for good.

The whole idea of October #Unprocessed was started by a guy named Andrew in 2009 when he wanted to see what would happen if he went a whole month without processed foods. It was his quest to get healthy and feel better. He started a blog to help keep himself accountable and to influence others. Since then it has grown to having over 3,000 people take the pledge. Some pretty cool stuff. (And it doesn't hurt that he has read all the books I have including those by Michael Pollan.)

So what I have decided to do is to start a group. We will all pledge to take the October #Unprocessed challenge. We will post and share recipes. And encourage each other (plus I may need someone who is fairly close to come pry the cheese popcorn from my hands.)

Here are the rules --

Eat only foods that pass "The Kitchen Test" 

 I may have to "steal" this term. It is kind of awesome. There are so many definitions out there for clean eating and many of them are personal. This, however, is one of the best definitions I have seen yet. According to Andrew, "Unprocessed food is any food that could be made by a person with reasonable skill in a home kitchen with whole-food ingredients."  I told you it was a pretty awesome way to distinguish processed from unprocessed. 

Eat only whole grains

So this means eating only 100% whole wheat flour or grains. Un-enriched and unbleached because you couldn't do this in your kitchen. For more info on whole grains check out this post http://www.eatingrules.com/2013/09/unprocessed-faq-flour-grains/

No High Fructose Corn Syrup

I would extend this to cover refined sugar (more info on sugar here http://www.eatingrules.com/2013/09/unprocessed-faq-sugar/ ) and artificial sweeteners besides stevia extract (which you can do at home if you have a stevia plant-- so it totally passes the kitchen test. For info on this check out this post http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2013/04/25/stevia-food-babe-investigates/#more-7559 

No Trans Fats

Why no trans fats? Because it is pretty well decided that they are not good for us to consume and are often added to processed foods because they extend the shelf life. (Here is a brief explanation on trans fats http://www.eatingrules.com/2011/01/about-trans-fat/ )  Fats like grapeseed oil, flaxseed oil, and fats from plant based foods like avocados, nuts, seeds and coconuts are considered good fats.  There is a lot of contradictory advice that comes with talking about saturated fat. My best advice is to research dietary fat and come to your own conclusions. 

What about my Shakeology?

It is no secret that I love Shakeology. I love how I feel, the energy I have and I really miss it if I don't have it as part of my daily diet. The beauty is that the majority of ingredients are from whole food sources (for more info check this out https://faq.shakeology.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1813/kw/whole%20food/~/“whole-food-ingredients”%2f-bioavailability ). The ingredients aren't chemically extracted, the foods are dried and powdered and then combined to make shakeology. If I had the formula and fancy dehydrating machines could I make it in my kitchen (aka does it pass the kitchen test?) Umm....maybe? Provided I could even find all the ingredients. (I mean can one buy yacon root at Giant Eagle?) Provided there are no chemicals, I am still going to continue to use Shakeology. Again, I feel that this falls in the personal realm of what is considered processed and what allowances are going to be made. 

So those are the rules for October #Unprocessed. Do you think you can hang? I am going to start a support group on Facebook so if you are interested in joining me please send me a message or an email to scyobe@gmail.com and I will add you to the group. 

Please visit http://www.eatingrules.com/october-unprocessed-2013/ for more information and to sign the pledge!