crunchy.

We are approaching 11 weeks with Sofie and things couldn't be better. She is such a beauty and a wonderful, happy baby. I love spending my days with her, we have adjusted into a really nice schedule without even realizing it. The latest development is that she wakes up from her afternoon nap around 4pm and sits in her bouncy chair laughing and cooing, watching me make dinner. I love being in the kitchen and having her there with me. I secretly hope she grows up to be a chef, a vegan chef would be spectacular!

My window for cooking time is still quite small, but just getting to this point feels great, and knowing that it will just get better and better. And speaking of cooking and eating, I decided to start slowly introducing cheese back into my diet and it's going really well. I don't think Sofie has any food sensitivities (phwef!). We just had a bumpy start for that first month. I still have a bunch of vegan recipes I want to try and I really love having a balance of vegetarian and vegan meals. This weekend I hope to try Pumpkin Seed Lentil burgers.

Yesterday I made a homemade granola bar/square recipe. I ate a ton of these while I was pregnant because they are so darn healthy (and delicious). It's a bit pricey up front for all of the ingredients. But I get a 9x9 pan out of these. And I picked all the nuts up at Bulk Barn and ended up getting enough for 3 batches. Here is the improvised recipe taken from Vive le Vegan:

1 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup toasted pecans (or walnuts)
1/2 cup toasted almond slivers (or whole almonds)
1/4 to 1/3 cup raisins
3 T flax seeds
1/4 to 1/3 cup honey
2 T cashew or almond butter
1 t molasses
1/4 t cinnamon
1/4 t salt

* toast nuts at 400 for a few minutes. they burn easily, be careful, nuts are expensive!
* i like to add around 1/3 cup chocolate chips for fun

In large bowl, combine nuts, seeds, raisins, flax. In saucepan over med-low heat, combine honey, molasses, nut butter, cinnamon & salt. Stir until just heated through, not boiling. Remove from heat and add to dry mixture. Stir well, transfer to lightly oiled dish. Press it down so it's compact. Put in the fridge until set. They cut pretty easily into bars or squares.

You can see a picture of mine on my tumblr blog, just click on the right. Enjoy!