VEGETARIAN RECIPES - NEWS FROM THE YOGA SANCTUARY

Recipes from Janine's Kitchen ~ December 2005 Recipe

Well its that time of the year again! And instead of packing on the calories in an unhealthy way, I thought I'd give you an alternate sweet to bring to work. These are inspired by Dreena Burton's Vive le Vegan recipe and the Chakra Bars we get in Toronto. It's a very flexible and easy recipe to modify for you liking. Enjoy! My hubby loves them.

Cereal Squares - Healthy!
Difficulty: Easy! The list is long but its easy to make.

1 cup of liquid (1/2 cup nut butter & 1/2 cup brown rice syrup for more nutty flavour OR
(3/4 cup of brown rice syrup & 1/4 cup nut butter for less nutty flavour)
1 1/4 cup dried fruit (raisin! s & cranberries for colour)
2 cups oatmeal & 1 cups puffed cereal OR 1 cup oatmeal & 2 cups puffed cereal
2 tbsp hemp seeds OR sesame seeds
1/8 cup ground up flax seeds (use coffee grinder otherwise I don't bother adding them whole because it is hard to digest)
good pinch of cinnamon
pinch of salt
1 tsp spiralina (optional or add 1 heaping tsp for real green colour)
2 tbsp vanilla
2 tbsp maple syrup or honey or other sweetener (optional)


Feel free to play around with adding nuts or other types of fruit. I used cashew nut butter and almond butter.

Okay Let's make the squares:

1. Grease a 9" square pan or 9x13" if you want thinner squares.
2. (optional step ) Toast about 3/4 cup of mixed pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds.
3. (optional step) Toast 1-2 cups of oatmeal. Gives more texture to the squares.
You can toast them on a cookie sheet in the oven 350F move them around some they can toast evenly or toast in a non-stick fry pan or cast iron pan.
4. In a large wide mouth pot, add brown rice syrup and nut butter. (Trick: if you add a bit of oil to your measuring cup and grease it, the syrup won't stick.) Break up nut butter until well combined with syrup.
5. Turn off heat and add, vanilla, cinnamon, maple syrup, spiralina, salt and stir well.
6. Add the rest of the dry ingredients and stir well.
7. Pour into pan and using a wet hand press the mixture down into the pan. Let cool. Take a sharp knife and run it under hot water and cut squares. It keeps them from sticking to the knife.

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Hi all, my name is Janine and I'm excited to share with you recipes that I've collected over the years. Maybe even your favourite recipe! I love to cook and I love to eat. If you would like to share a recipe for consideration into this column please email it to janine_woo@yahoo.com.