Carrot Walnut Bars

Though I am really digging my Rouxbe class, sometimes it is stressful
always trying to keep up and worrying about graded assignments.  Last
night, I took a break and tried a new recipe that I received in an
email from the California Walnut Board.   It was surprising to see
they chose a vegan recipe by Mollie Katzen to share.

Because the Carrot-Walnut-Oat Gems are low in sugar and sweetened
mostly by fruit they do actually match up with my lessons on cooking
for special diets.  I'm also working on finishing up the no oil
chapter and these contain no added oil.

All in all this is a great recipe for many folks as it is: dairy
free/egg free/vegan, gluten free (if you use gf oats), low sugar, soy free and
no oil.  They are super healthy, but a little high in fat due to the
walnuts.

With a food processor these can be mixed up and ready to bake in no
time at all.  The most difficult parts of the preparation is grating
carrots and juicing a lemon.   Once done, you have breakfast or snacks
for the week.  These squares are easy to eat/take on the go and much
healthier than many of the energy bars you get at the store.

What are you waiting for? Go make them.

Tunaless Salad and Oyster Mushroom Scallops

This post has an ocean theme...A Post Aquatic if you will.  I wasn't a huge seafood fan in my pre-gan days, but every once in a while I could go for some tuna salad and occasionally I would have scallops.

In the Rouxbe chapter on grains and beans, one of the assignments was preparing a Tuna-less Salad.   The dish consists of mashed chickpeas, seaweed, pickles, mayo and some other extras.  It has a slight flavor of the sea, but in reality is just a fresh, tasty chickpea salad that doesn't need to be compared to tuna.

At the same time as taking this class, I'm also helping recipe test for Celine and Joni's upcoming cookbook: Vegan Substitutions 2.  When I saw the Crispy Bacon and Shallot King Oyster Scallops, I knew I had to try them.  This is built on two other recipes from the book, bacon bits and (believe it or not!) bacon grease.   It never occurred to me to try to veganize bacon grease, so kudos to the authors there.

Anyway, this is an imaginative and tasty dish like so many others you'll find when this book is released.

As far as Rouxbe, I've been making my way through chapters on soups, sauces, marinades, dairy replacements, proteins and most recently fresh pasta.  Expect to see some posts from these tasks soon.