Today’s vegan Mofo theme is a bit strange to me because I’m a homebody who fiercely protects her personal space and alone time (Man-thing and cats don’t count as “other people” and therefore don’t bother me). We do take an annual holiday admittedly but then the answer to the question of what we would bring on a vegan road trip is “everything”. Since I’m not going to unpack my whole kitchen for this post I decided to make some easy protein crunch bars, since that’s always the one thing that’s guaranteed to fuel the long hours on the road. 

One of the first things I did when I started to get all squishy-hearted for Man-thing was test his stance on going out and how dedicated he was to it. Luckily he’s a gamer and in fact lent me a computer and games to keep me busy, so he has only deepened my love of the indoors. With the indoors, of course, comes the need for snacks.Or rather, the desire for them, since having a generally butt-bound set of jobs and a bunch of hobbies that include more sitting, there isn’t much cause to chow down for energy. A pal and I are trying to change that, however, and have been on our merry walks almost every afternoon for a few months now following surgeries and procedures on both our parts, so now I can confidently say that these bars are not just for the nom factor but also serve a more basic purpose 😀

Ingredients (makes 8 bars):

• 1.5 cups GF oats
  1 TBSP flaxseed powder
  2 TBSP chia seeds
  2 TBSP hemp seed powder
  1/2 cup pear purée
  1/4 cup liquid sweetener of choice (add more to taste)
  2 droppers NuNaturals NuStevia Liquid Vanilla
  2 TBSP water or date soaking water

To fold in: 3 TBSP hemp seeds, 3 TBSP soaked buckwheat groats (or nuts, other seeds or 1/3 cup puffed brown rice cereal)

Optional: dried berries, choc chips, chopped fresh fruit (e.g. figs)

Chocolate topping:

• 3 TBSP melted coconut oil
• 3 TBSP cacao/carob powder
• 1/2 tsp NuNaturals NoCarb Blend

How-to:

1. In a food processor blend your oats to a flour, then add the rest of your ingredients.
2. Taste and adjust sweetness to taste.
3. Fold in the hemp seeds and buckwheat groats.
4. Line a loaf pan and spoon the mixture in, smoothing out the top.
5. Place in the freezer for 30 minutes or until firm.
6. Splash on cinnamon.
7. Mix your topping in a very carefully dried bowl, then drizzle over the top.
8. Slice and store in the freezer. Defrost for 5 or so minutes before munching.

Because these are protein-stuffed with crunch to boot they really cure the munchies and have been a last-minute emergency snack a few times now. I usually keep one or two slices in the fridge so that I don’t have to wait around after work before gulping them down on the way out for a walk, but even a few seconds in the microwave should do it. What could be fun but sounds crazy is chopping them finely and munching it with soy milk or vegan yoghurt as a type of cereal – stranger things have happened! 😀Speaking of strange, I’m definitely feeling it – it was my little brother’s third birthday yesterday and it’s rather shocking to think that there’s almost three decades difference between us. I’m turning thirty in January (and after a completely blasé attitude have recently started to panic for no good reason!) so I’m going to hit a mid-life crisis just as he becomes a teen I suspect :pStill, it’s so wonderful to have siblings after imagining it would never happen. I miss them terribly now that they’re in Morocco for four years, but I’m plotting a passport and everything. I was determined on principle to never renew it again (having had my fill of diplomatic missions), but it seems that plan of roadtripping via my computer is not going to fly with the little rascals, so I’ll have to just suck it up and travel. My biggest conundrum is what I’m going to eat, so let’s hope airport security lets me slide a few of these into my backpack!