FESTIVAL FOODIE
April 15 2016 – Delikate Rayne
It’s that time of year again! The sun is shinning and we have been working our butts off all winter for this very moment! It’s Coachella time! Now lets not get it twisted- when it comes to having a good time being a vegan has never stood in our way. It has not created any challenges for us but the key here is to be prepared as always! Luckily due to the mass rise in demand for more vegan friendly vendors at events like this, there are now have choices readily available. Never again will we be left to wonder if the only thing vegan to eat is the wildflowers growing in the fields.
In past years, Coachella has had some amazing vegan/vegetarian food vendors such as Jenny’s Raw and Organic which serves an array of yummy food such as Thai springs rolls to pesto pizzas. Also “The egg roll people” are an all vegan vendor who cater in Asian inspired cuisine and then there has been “Sava” completely vegan/organic meals. So as you can see there will be a bounty of options to satisfy everyone!
Now having go to snacks and staying properly hydrated is the most essential factor if you wish to survive the entire festival and not just collapse after day 1! We find carrying energy bars is a super simple yet effective way to stay nourished. Now yes, you could just go buy some cliff or luna bars but hey where is the fun in that? So this week we decided to try and make our own! They’re so easy and versatile to make, you can really be creative when making them. Have some fun and give it a try!
SUPER POWER BARS (vegan)
INGREDIENTS:
.4 cups of gluten free oats
.½ Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut butter (you can use any nut butter but we wanted ours with a chocolate flavor)
. ½ cup virgin coconut oil
.1 cup pure maple syrup, grade b
.½ cup semi sweet chocolate chips (vegan)
.½ cup goji berries
.½ cup raisins
.½ cup cashews
.½ cup raw pumpkin seed or sunflower seeds (we used both half/half )
.1tsp ground cinnamon
.¼ tsp nutmeg
.1/8 Himalayan salt
METHOD:
.Add the oil and maple syrup to a saucepan and heat over a medium- high temp, stirring occasionally. Bring to a boil reduce heat and simmer while we prepare and mix the other ingredients.
.In the meantime, chop the nuts and add to a large mixing bowl along with the other dry ingredients such as the oats, chocolate chips, goji berries, raisins, seeds, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Mix well using clean hands.
.Add the nut butter to the saucepan and mix until incorporated into the syrup mixture. Remove from heat and mix into the dry ingredients bowl. Mixture will be sticky, once it cools you can use your hands.
.Line a 13x 9 inch pan with all natural waxed paper
.Add the power bar mixture into the lined pan. Pressed down into an even layer. Cover with another piece of waxed paper and continue pressing down. You want an even surface across the top. You could even use a flat bottomed glass to press the mix down into the pan.
.Refrigerate just until firm. If you refrigerate too long, bars will be too hard to cut.
.Cut bars evenly, you could use a ruler. Wrap each bar in a piece of parchment paper and secure with twine. You can store the bars into the fridge bring them out when your ready to go!
Image and recipe courtesy of One Green Planet
Additional imagery courtesy of No Meat Athlete and Daily Mail UK
Words written by Melanie Coggin