Yummy Sandwiches and Chocolate Topped Energy Bars!

I was in the mood for a gigantic sandwich today and I envisioned a turkey, cheese avocado and slaw sandwich. I think I succeeded. I used Tofurky and Daiya products.

The slaw is a combination of kale, cabbage, red onion, carrot with a creamy Vegenaise based dressing with mustard.

BBQ pulled " pork" made with soy tvp chunks. I wanted to use jackfruit but didn't have any. This was great with the kale slaw!

Served on toasted white bread.

These are the usual energy bars I make but this time I had slightly less peanut butter than the recipe called for so the mixture seemed a little drier to me. The remedy for that was to add a layer of dark chocolate on top that I melted with coconut oil. Worked great!

The bottom layer is toasted oats, sunflower, pumpkin and chia seeds, almonds, chocolate chips, dried cranberries and apricots. This is all mixed with melted peanut butter and agave. I pressed the mixture into a pan and chilled for a couple hours. Then topped it with the melted chocolate and chilled overnight.

Red Lentil Dahl, Caesar Salad & Energy Bars.

Tried out The Happy Pear's recipe for red lentil dahl today. It's pretty similar to the usual dahl I make but they add curry powder and lime juice to theirs. I also added a tiny bit of olive oil to sautee my onions and garlic and also added about 1 TB of tomato paste. I also pureed half of the soup because I used whole red lentils which didn't break down enough for me. Because of the added tomato paste, it was more tomatoey. Yummy!

Caesar salad with whole grain croutons and sauteed tofu. I used the dressing from "The Ultimate Uncheese cookbook". I added some Vegenaise to my dressing to mellow it out a bit. It's quite strong with the nutritional yeast and dijon flavors, as is.

Love these energy bars. They are made out of toasted oats, peanut butter, agave, maple syrup, coconut, hemp protein powder, nuts, dried fruit and chocolate chips! Slightly healthier alternative to a processed power bar or candy bar. I posted the recipe at a previous blog entry here. I omitted the sugar and used maple syrup/agave instead. I found that the bars are softer as a result.

Wrapped up individually for lunches this week.

Here, watch The Happy Pear red lentil dahl video!

Mushrooms on toast, TV dinner and Homemade energy bars!

One of my favorite snacks and comfort foods. Saucy mushrooms and tomatoes on toast. Recipe by Mary McCartney.

Gardein "meatloaf", mash, gravy and peas. Vegan tv dinner! Thumbs up on the Gardein meatloaf by the way. Easy to prepare. I would rather make my own though with beans, grains and vegetables. It wouldn't have all that processed stuff that meat analogues have.

I found a recipe for diy energy bars in Runner's World magazine. Here is my version made with oats, peanut butter, dried fruits, chocolate chips and hemp powder.

Based on the Marronthon bars recipe in Runner's World Magazine.
Ingredients:
1 cup rolled oats (toasted in the oven first)
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1 cup dried fruits chopped (apricots, cranberries etc)
1/4 cup hemp protein powder (Trader Joe's vanilla flavor)
1/4 cup flax seeds
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup plus 2 TB of chunky peanut butter
1/2 cup agave syrup, 1/3 cup brown sugar (next time I will cut back to a smaller amount of agave and leave out the sugar)

Method: Mix the toasted oats, fruit, nuts, powder, seeds and chocolate chips in a large bowl. In a small saucepan, heat the agave, peanut butter and sugar until just boiling and the pb is melted. Take off heat and add to oat mixture. Stir until everything is combined. Spread into a prepared pan that was sprayed with oil. Flatten with wet hands and refrigerate for 4 hours. Cut into bars. Keep in fridge wrapped in foil.