Vegan,Gluten-Free Pumpkin Chocolate Bars

I get emails from VegNews magazine and this was one that came a week or two ago.  I instantly knew I wanted to try it- and I did this morning.  It was SO easy to make.  i even made my own oat flour using whole oats in my blender.  I also only used 1 cup of chocolate chips in the recipe i made today.  the next time i make it, though, i will use a little less sugar and let it cook a little longer.  mine was still sorta soft in the middle.  they are like cookie bars.  YUM!


What You Need:

3 cups gluten-free oat flour (make your own by grinding rolled oats in a blender)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup canola oil, plus more for pan
1-1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon gluten-free vanilla
2 cups allergen-free chocolate chips

What You Do:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and lightly oil a 9 x 13-inch baking pan. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, combine pumpkin with baking powder. Add oil, sugar, and vanilla. Stir to combine. Mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients, one half at a time, and stir to combine. Mix in chocolate chips.

3. Pour batter into pan. With damp hands, press batter to evenly fill pan. Bake 18 minutes, and cool completely before cutting into bars.

friday five

five weird things that happened in the last 24 hours

1. in the spirit of "green", i tried to ride the bus from my office to nathaniel's office yesterday afternoon but it FULL!

2. holly wore black halloween socks instead of pink tights with her blue tutu to dance.

3.  i drank a glass of milk.  real cow's milk, too.

4.  kendal woke up happy and holly woke up grumpy!

5. i joined twitter.  not because i want to "tweet", but because i wanted to win a contest and wanted 2 extra entries.

bonus:  last night, i dreamed i went to the kohls in elizabethtown, KY and spent $500 on stupid stuff.  when i got to fort knox, i turned around and took it all back because i realized #1 i didn't even like the things i bought, and #2 i'd need that money for other stuff.  it is the end of the month but i'm really not even close to being broke though. i'm really proud of myself for saving probably $50 this week by not eating out! (shout out to nathaniel for helping me by making my lunches.)

thankful thursday - mermaid and robot

today is friday, but yesterday i was thankful for the hallelujah festival at kendal and holly's preschool church!  they had SUCH a blast!  it was our first trunk or treat and it was the perfect way to start the "halloween" season!  they loved wearing their costumes & eating candy (just a little bit)!  kendal wanted to wear his robot shirt to school the next morning.  too bad it had sucker on it!

thanks also to gymboree for great costume ideas, even if one of them is PJs!

You Pick Three

Please help me pick 3!  Only 3.  Which are your favorites?

1. DeHart Lake

2. The Kiss

3. Mine!

4. Purple

5. Scout

6. Willie the Worm

what i want wednesday

Guts.

top ten tuesday - things i love about my new green office

1. the views. i love the look of the building itself, but i also love the view out of downtown raleigh!

2. the green wall outside!

3. the counter in the bathroom - made with recycled glass!

4. the NC shaped tiles outside on the patio.

5. the wavy bench downstairs (of coarse, this photo is surrounded by our moving totes, but you get the idea!).

6. the dry erase board in my office ROCKS!

7. no dust.

8. the wood all over the building is recycled.

9. the atrium (almost like a cruise ship!)

10. not being in a basement anymore! (i get to climb 3 flights of stairs every day!)

manic monday

i can't believe that it's a monday and i haven't anything to complain about.  i just had a great 3 day weekend with my family, the kids were super wonderful, minimal sister-brother arguing, they ate what we fed them, no potty accidents - had a blast everywhere we went.  i mean seriously, nothing to complain about!

i'm gonna have to force this one.  hum...

this morning, i sit in a new office.  it is really bright in here.  i prefer a darker room.  maybe that'll be my manic for the day.  that's really all i can think to whine about right now.  just too dang bright in here.  it's beautiful, though. 

i love downtown raleigh!