S'Mores Graham Bars and Summer Running

I told you the graham bars would work perfectly with s'mores, too! I was so confident in my assertion that I just went for it last night. And I'm glad I did.

Look!

Since we didn't have any vegan marshmallows around the house, we used regular. But anything you toast will work great. I pop my mallow onto a large fork, light a burner to low on the gas stovetop, and let it turn for about 3 to 4 minutes. Until toasty. Gooey.

For the chocolate, I melted Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips. Maybe 2 tablespoons of them. There are no real measurements for this type of deliciousness . . .


If you happened to have missed yesterday's graham bars recipe, go check it out now! It's definitely a keeper. I think next time, I'll leave out the cinnamon to keep them tasting more like "regular" grahams versus spiced-up ones.

***We got a couple email questions about the coconut flour. It isn't absolutely necessary. You can do half wheat and half bread flour. Keep the oat measurement the same.

This is the sight that greeted me this morning as I headed out at 6AM for my 6-mile run:


One way I can tell my morning sickness is getting better-ish? I can get up at 5:45 and be running by 6 without a demoralizing dry-heaving episode. If that isn't a milestone, I don't know WHAT is.

SUMMER RUNNING, HAVEN' ME A BLAST . . .

Wow. This photo is ridiculous. It's so hot today, all those layers make me laugh!


I've been making an effort this week to switch my workouts from afternoon/evening to mornings because the temps are creeping into the 90s. No matter how long I wait after work to head out, it's just too humid and warm. It's not safe for me. It's not safe for the baby. But in the morning? It's perfecto!

Here are some ways (this year), I've been getting my butt out of bed:

• I set my alarm early. I set two, actually. One for 5:30 and one for 5:45. I need at least 15 minutes to wake up, eat, and get ready to head out. When the alarm at 5:30 goes off. I make an effort to open my eyes for 15 seconds. I do three sets. Sounds crazy, right? Well, if I don't force my eyes open, I'll snooze. When the 5:45 alarm goes off, I sit up in bed and wiggle my toes. Don't ask me why, but it helps.
• I eat a snack. After sitting up, I head to the refrigerator to eat something. Being pregnant has made this step a necessity. But it's a good practice no matter who you are. I've been sticking to yogurt. I toss in some Cheerios. I munch and then guzzle a small glass of water. This all helps with the waking part and usually takes about 5 minutes.
• I dress myself. I need to do a post on how we have our exercise clothes organized. Right now, we have those vertical hanging shelves in one of our closets. We've divided each shelf into categories likes: Tanks, tops, shorts, tights, socks, etc. Since I don't care if I match, I just grab a tank and shorts.
• I keep moving. At no point during my process do I stop back in bed or sit down, really. Keeping the blood flowing keeps me alert and ready to move my legs. So, after dressing and a brief potty stop (again, a pregnancy essential, but good for all), I grab my shoes, slip 'em on, and walk to the end of our driveway.
• I expect nothing amazing. At least for these first several weeks. It's difficult to switch up an exercise routine. Running in the morning is hard. It takes a bit more warming up. So, my first mile is slow. My first couple days on the run were short (between 3 to 4 miles). But that's OK. After a few days, I'm up to running 6 in the morning. I'd do more, but I don't have enough time with heading to work by 7:45.
• I eat again. And drink a tall glass of water. Sometimes when I'm rushing around to get ready for work, it's difficult to find time to eat. But just because my stomach isn't awake doesn't mean I won't be hurting in an hour or so. Plus, it's unhealthy to skip breakfast any day! Hydration is important, too. The temps are deceiving in the morning -- it can even feel chilly out. But as long as I'm sweating, and I always am, I'll replenish those fluids.

We did another post on morning running a year or so back, so if you'd like even more tips, check out Early to Rise, Early to Run and all our other running-related posts.

Summer runners: How do you deal with the heat? I'd love to hear how you've switched to morning runs . . . or what else you've done to keep your cool. I also love how running in the morning means staying safe and out of the sun. I burn easily, so the less rays I soak in the better. Oh, yeah. And don't forget those hydration belts/packs!


Pssst: If you're following (never home)maker, baby! don't miss our most recent post -- a short letter and apology to . . . the baby. :)

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Baking Again! Graham Bars Recipe . . .

I'm trying to get back into the food-making groove. Baking, cooking, and being around "real" food in general. It's been a slow process, but last night -- I had this intense urge to bake. But not anything I'm usually interested in (chocolate and peanut butter).

As I wrote yesterday on the baby blog, I've been craving s'mores lately. Naturally, when I thought of something to bake, graham crackers came to mind. But I didn't want crackers. I wanted a softer, heartier snack. This recipe is an adaptation of this graham cracker recipe I tried a few months ago. In bar/brownie-ish form.

Oh, yeah. I'm getting back into food photography, too. Enjoy the glamour shots.

GRAHAM BARS

What you'll need . . .

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 cup bread flour
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 7 tablespoons Earth Balance
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 5 tablespoons almond milk
• 2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract

Method . . .

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 inch glass baking pan. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the flours, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together. Use a food processor to pulse the (raw) rolled oats into a powder/flour. Then add them in as well. (Alternatively, you can put all dry ingredients into a food processor and pulse until smooth.)
3. Cut in the Earth Balance and mix with your fingers until it resembles a coarse meal. This may take several minutes.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together the almond milk, vanilla extract, and maple syrup. Add this mix to the large bowl and bring together with a spatula until just combined. Then turn over onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for one to two minutes.
5. Plop dough ball into baking pan and press until evenly distributed. Then bake for 15 to 20 minutes. A toothpick should come out clean (but middle should be somewhat sticky, not over-dry). Texture is in-between a cookie and a brownie. Delish!

Cool and then cut into bars. Top with slices nectarines and melted dark chocolate. Or whatever else you think goes well with grahams!



Pssst: On (never home)maker, baby! we posted all about 15 weeks -- including belly shots and recent cravings. Stayed tuned for tomorrow's video post update, too!

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Graham Crackers and Video Posts

As you'll see in a moment, I wrote up an entire post this morning and watched it -- in an instant -- vanish. I need to keep better track of my battery power. On like everything. My phone is basically dead right now (and as I told Tina on Twitter this morning, my ringer is always off . . . so I guess it doesn't matter anyway!). My camera has another 20 shots left in her -- maybe. My iPod Touch is on low battery, too (and I have a gazillion Words With Friends games to catch up on -- sorry, friends!).

Here's what I would have posted in words, but had to -- instead -- record as an awkward video:




(Please, please click and watch . . . with the freeze-frame, I look so ridiculous!)
OK. Please settle something for me. Is it Vibram with an "i" as it "fish" . . . or Vibram with an "i" as it "eye-ball" . . . Stephen thinks it's fish. I want it to be eyeball, but I think Stephen's right. I don't know. I just think it sounds better with the word "vibe" in there. If I pronounced it wrong, I apologize to the Five Fingers folks.

If you missed our "geeking out" post, check it out here -- and reveal to us your inner dork.

And here are the grahams I'm referring to. They are amazing. So good, in fact, that I ate them in place of a healthy breakfast. I won't post the recipe yet (and it's not my own recipe anyway -- I found it on Ashley's site. And she found it on Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World). I tweaked it a bit, used some different ratios of flour (as per our flour discussion the other day), and added some more spices. Since they are so thick, I figure I should give it another go before sharing.



I can't seem to cut them evenly . . . reminds me a bit of Tetris:


Also, I can't stop listening to:


What songs are you currently obsessed with? I've got a TON more, including this rare version of "The Killing Moon" by Echo & the Bunnymen that Stephen burned onto a CD for me. Stephen basically spends whole evenings trolling around for music.

We're going to two concerts soon-ish: Broken Social Scene later this month and Phoenix in October. While we're on the topic -- what music are you not too keen on? Stephen thinks I'm crazy because Springsteen doesn't float my boat. Just leave a comment or email us at neverhomemaker [at] gmail [dot] com.

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Vegan S'Mores

For the longest time, I didn't know marshmallows aren't vegetarian. I take that back. I may have known, but -- quite frankly -- I didn't care. S'mores are my favorite dessert of summer. Hands-down. And I can't wait to get my hands on some vegan marshmallows (or make a few of my own) again, so I can enjoy them on all our camping trips this summer. To make s'mores vegan, I usually like to use some of that dark chocolate dreams peanut butter I told you about in a previous post. But since I'm not vegan, I typically go old school with some chunks of Hersey's milk chocolate.

But I don't have any marshmallows right now. And when I went to a natural foods store and asked if they have any in stock, the guy looked at me like a crazy person. "What's in marshmallows that isn't vegetarian?" Oh, boy. You have so much to learn, clerk.

So, I improvised. I realize some of you vegans do not eat honey. I used graham crackers with honey in them because when I was vegan, I did eat honey. If you know of any good non-honey grahams, please let us know! We'd love to share them with everyone else. Otherwise, enjoy this recipe . . . it may not be the classic melt-y treat you remember from your childhood, but it sure tastes amazing.


What you'll need . . .

For the crust:

• 9 to 15 graham crackers, crushed (or processed in a food processor)
• 3 to 5 tablespoons Earth Balance

For the chocolate:

• 1 cup vegan chocolate chips (I used Sunspire semi-sweet)
• 1/2 cup almond butter
• 1 tablespoon Earth Balance

For the "marshmallow" slurry:

• 3 tablespoons flax meal
• 1/4 cup ice cold water, divided
• 1/3 cup raw sugar
• 1/4 cup agave nectar
• pinch kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/8 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 small banana, ripe

Topping:

• Another 5 graham crackers, processed

Method . . .

1. First, make your crust. Depending on how much you want, use however many graham crackers you need. I used more because I love this part of s'mores. There's really no science to it. Just mix together the crumbs and Earth Balance until you reach a crust-like consistency.
2. Then lightly coat an 8 x 8 inch pan in a bit more Earth Balance, and press your crust into it firmly.
3. Then make your chocolate layer by placing the chocolate chips, almond butter, and Earth Balance in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat until melted, and mix together until smooth. Spread evenly atop your graham cracker layer. Let sit in your refrigerator until firm while you make the "marshmallow" slurry.
4. Make the marshmallow layer by combining 2 tablespoons of flax meal with 1/8 cup of the water. Let sit in the bowl of an electric mixer.
5. Then in a small pot over medium-high heat, combine the other tablespoon of flax meal with the other 1/8 cup water, agave nectar, and sugar. Mix until well incorporated and heat until in a rolling boil.
6. Take off heat and let cool for 15 minutes. Then slowly add mixture to your water/flax meal in the mixing bowl with a whisk. Add the vanilla, salt, confectioners sugar, the starch, and the banana.
7. Continue to whisk on high speed for 5 to 10 minutes -- until filled with bubbles. Take out your graham and chocolate layer from the refrigerator and pour a thin layer of the "marshmallows" on top of it. You may not use all of the mixture. You just want a thin layer.
8. Then set your oven to broil and broil until the "marshmallow" mixture gets slightly browned. This process makes it taste slightly toasted. Take out of the oven and swirl the chocolate and "marshmallow" together just slightly (I used a chopstick). And cover with another light layer of graham crackers.
9. Eat right away (if you're like me -- see below) or let sit for four hours, until firm.

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Pie in the Sky: Vegan Coconut-Carob Pie

I did a little cooking in the kitchen with Richard Simmons this weekend. If this statement sounds incredibly strange/unexpected to you, go check out last month's post about Mr. Simmons great book of desserts. Basically, I have an entire book full of the guy's most "dazzling desserts" -- and I'm not afraid to say I think they look scrumptious. From cookies, to cakes, to pies and other traditionally wicked-high-in-calories creations, Richard takes care making them with less sugar and fat, but not less taste.

Now that you're up to speed, I chose to start my culinary quest with the "My, oh, my! Chocolate Mousse Pie" from the "Pie in the Sky" chapter -- however, make it in my own, vegan way . . . and not with chocolate (or gelatin, evaporated skim milk, etc.) at all. The pie's about as natural and detox-appropriate as you can get (OK. Again, not a true detox, but if you HAVE to eat some kind of dessert -- this one's not full of crap).



Instead, I whipped up this delicious coconut-carob pie. Carob because Stephen loves the stuff (and because I spent a mint on a gargantuan container of chips at Greenstar this weekend). Coconut because I thought the pairing would be, well, a match made in heaven.

What do you think?

Richard writes:

"Like so many of my culinary introductions, I first met a chocolate mousse when I was a child, in a fancy New Orleans hotel, the Roosevelt. Anyway, it was love at first taste, even though I wasn't quite sure what to make of it."

Oh, Richard.

"Was there a Mr. Mousse who created it for Mrs. Mousse, like the great chef who created the fabulous meringue dessert for the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova? Could I use the leftovers in my hair?"

I've made vegan chocolate mousse before (it's a simple blending of tofu, chocolate, and a bit of honey or agave). However, in that particular instance, I used soft tofu, didn't drain . . . and the next day, my pie was a big pile of goo -- full of water. Disgusting!

It's vital that you use firm silken tofu, or you -- too -- will have a tremendous mess to clean. And no pie to eat.



What you'll need . . . (for the crust)

• 8 graham cracker rectangles (I had a ton left over from my s'mores binge this summer. Yes. Graham crackers have honey in them. I know some people don't feel honey is vegan. When I was vegan, though, I ate honey.)
• 1/3 cup (heaping) unsweetened coconut flakes
• 2 tablespoons agave nectar
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted

Method . . .

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
   
2. Break up graham crackers and place in a food processor. Process into fine crumbs.
3. Add coconut flakes and pulse until well mixed.
4. Add agave and coconut oil and pulse until well moistened. (It will still SEEM a little dry, but if everything is coated in some wet ingredients, you're good to go on to the next step. If not, add a bit more agave or oil, 1 teaspoon at a time).
5. Turn into a 9-inch springform pan (I used a tart pan). Spread crumbs evenly over bottom of pan and 1-1/2 inches up the sides.
6. Cover with piece of plastic wrap and press crust firmly. Remove plastic.
7. Bake crust for 5 minutes. Transfer pan to wire rack to cool completely. (I actually put my crust in the refrigerator to speed up the process.)

What you'll need . . . (for the chocolate mousse filling)

• 12 ounce package firm silken tofu (If you've never used tofu in desserts before, I realize it can sound gross. But it's not at all! It soaks up whatever flavor you put with it. Trust me. You'll love it!)
  
• 8 ounces vegan carob chips
• 2 tablespoons agave nectar
• 1/4 to 1/2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut (depending on how much you like coconut)

Method . . .

1. Take the tofu out of its package and press with a clean paper towel (to get the last bits of moisture off).
2. Melt carob chips in a double boiler (or in the microwave on medium) until smooth.
3. Put tofu, carob, agave, and coconut in your food processor and blend until well mixed.
4. Pour "mousse" into chilled pie shell and refrigerate for at least one hour, or until set.

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