Harvest and Hope; Applesauce Energy Bars

Happy Weekend, post equinox! We can almost see the sunset from our south-facing windows now, which means the shorter days are definitely on their way. 

Today has been a day of perseverance. For the first time in too many weeks, I made the important first step of writing a 'to do' list--and managed to check off every item, some slow progress on the kitchen conversion and on garden chores. 

Despite feeling like I'm moving painfully slowly, like my brain is only partially co-operating, I also managed to get a draft down of a poem that's been nagging at me for some time. There are many poem-seeds in that category, and of course I want to get them all down in a single day, but I'm glad for the grace of harvesting even a single one.

Speaking of garden and harvest, we received a package from Phil's mom on the farm in Oregon--it's the first time in years that we have no plans to be down there during the gorgeous harvest season (see this post for our filbert-processing down there).

 Delicious corn, apples, pears and even four delectable plums, only one of which was irredeemably squished. I definitely felt some nostalgia and even a little regret not to be in a place that produces such sweetness. So much gratitude and pleasure at the connection...

But then, I bet one couldn't raise monstrous rutabagas down there like we have!

 I raised so much rutabaga this year, my first time trying them: they grow pretty easily and seem less susceptible to root maggots than turnips or radishes are, although we did lose a few plants. We've been enjoying them steamed, sometimes roasted. I've yet to try anything featuring them raw: they are intensely brassica-flavored and I suspect better digested with some of the cellulose softened up.

The devil's club (Alaskan ginseng but absolutely decked out with thorns that do not come out of your skin) is so stunning at this time of year. Some year, I'll have to pluck up courage to harvest some of the root bark and tincture it. It's also the time when the dandelions have a brief resurgence--offering their colors for our eyes to soak up before everything goes monochrome--time to dig some roots for liver-supporting tea.

Well, in addition to these signs of harvest and of hope, even if gentle and diffident, I have a recipe to share. It's a good part of self-care and a countermanding of the 'too busy to fix food' claim to make sure of a supply of well-balanced energy bars for mid-afternoon-type times.

These are kind of a riff on the banana energy bars of a couple weeks ago (which were themselves riffed off of the banana bread before that) and feature some of the amaranth-millet porridge that I also mentioned in the banana energy bars post.
A picture to show the kind of texture of the porridge (soaked a few hours, crockpotted overnight on low with lots of water): it's really quite watery.

 Applesauce Energy Bars (low glycemic, no allergen, vegan)

1 1/2 cups 'powdery substances' (I used maca, lucuma, coconut flour, pea protein powder and stevia baking blend)
cinnamon, ginger, cardamom to taste (I used lots!)
1 cup amaranth-millet porridge, cool

1 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 tablespoons yacon syrup
1/4 cup flax seed
1/4 cup melted coconut oil

1/2 cup raisins and/or goji berries

Mix together the 'powdery substances' of your choice. Stir in the porridge.
In a separate bowl (or a measuring jug), mix together the applesauce, yacon syrup, melted coconut oil and flax seeds.
Combine wet and dry, add the dried fruit.

Form into a big square on a teflex sheet, score into bars and dehydrate at 145 the first hour, then turn down to 115.
After about 3-4 hours, you should be able to flip, remove the teflex sheet and separate them into individual bars, which allows them to dehydrate faster.

You could bake these in the oven too--bake at 325 in a parchment paper-lined pan: I would flip these halfway through too, and suspect it would take at least an hour.

The flax complements the porridge pseudograins so well texturally. Generally, this bar is so satisfying--sweet but not too sweet, with an interesting texture, pleasantly spicy. For me, it was also a move in the direction of acknowledging the importance of protein and fat, re-embracing flax seeds and coconut oil.

I hope that you'll try it--the recipe is also forgiving and 'tweakable.'
In other news, Joanna Steven is giving away a copy of The Body Ecology Diet--check out her blog for full details and to enter, and to read her wonderful insights into parenting and life in general.

Do you enjoy creating (and eating) recipes that are associative/'riffed' from other recipes you've made?