Paleo Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars

I think I've maybe finally grown up. Just over a month ago I started listening to NPR instead of pop or country music stations. I now almost exclusively listen to NPR. I never used to follow the news; I hated (and still kind of do hate) listening to politics. My source of the news used to be my mom who would call me to inform me of recent goings-on and my ex who was much more into news and international affairs than me. Now, I actually know what's going on around the world. WHO AM I? I'm still not sure what happened a month ago that caused me to start listening to the news. I went to Portland... Can a city cause someone to start following the news? Unlikely. So that's why I'm thinking that I've finally become a grownup. Seriously, I called my mom and told her that I'm growing up. (Clearly I define being a grownup as listening to NPR.) Oh well, this is a baffling change in habits... I wonder how long it will last.

Now back to the good stuff... My pumpkin kick is still going strong. Very strong. I spend my free time thinking of what new pumpkin recipes to make. Okay, not ALL of my free time, but a lot of it.

A couple weeks ago, I decided to bake a Paleo version of the pumpkin chocolate chip bars that I love so much. It's hard to duplicate, and this is the closest that I've come so far. The more I ate, the more I liked it.

Paleo Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars
1 egg
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup almond flour
1 cup coconut flour
2 Tbls pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbls maple syrup
1.5 Tbls honey
2 Tbls sunbutter (sunflower seed butter)
1 package Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips (dairy-free, soy-free, gluten-free, casein-free, vegan, and kosher)

Preheat your oven to 350F. Grease your baking pan with some coconut oil. Whip the egg with the pumpkin puree, then add the vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, mix the almond flour, coconut flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, and salt together. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and then stir in the maple syrup, honey, and sunbutter. Last step is to fold in the chocolate chips. The mixture will be pretty sticky, but mainly just sticks to itself. This is what it looks like:

Transfer to your oiled baking dish,

  ... and bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes.

This is what the non-Paleo version looks like:

Homemade Lärabar

Lärabars are kosher, gluten-free, soy-free, dairy-free, and vegan. They are made with unsweetened fruits (dates, apples, bananas, blueberries, cherries, raisins), nuts (almonds, cashews, walnuts, pecans, peanuts), spices (cinnamon, ginger, cocoa powder, coconut, sea salt). Using these ingredients, the current flavors are below. I've crossed out the ones containing peanuts.

1. Apple Pie
2. Banana Bread
3. Blueberry Muffin
4. Carrot Cake
5. Cashew Cookie
6. Cherry Pie
7. Chocolate Chip Brownie
8. Chocolate Chip Cherry Torte
9. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
10. Chocolate Coconut Chew
11. Coconut Cream Pie
12. Ginger Snap
13. Key Lime Pie
14. Lemon
15. Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip
16. Peanut Butter Cookie
17. Peanut Butter & Jelly
18. Pecan Pie
19. Tropical Fruit Tart

Last week I was in a rush before work and didn't have time to cook something before running out of the door, so I stopped at the grocery store on the way into work to grab some pre-cut carrots and celery. While I was standing in line to check out, I saw some Lärabars on sale and vaguely remembered trying some at the race expo before my first half marathon in 2011. I picked up a bar and flipped it over to see the ingredients... "Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free, Non-GMO [genetically modified organism], Vegan, Kosher"... so I grabbed Cashew Cookie and Apple Pie. They were surprisingly good. I ate the Apple Pie once I landed in Atlanta and I let my mom try a piece. The expression on her face was priceless! It was a mix of "ugh, gross" and "something must be wrong with my daughter that she actually likes this." When I told her there's no added sugar, she replied, "Oh! It's pretty good then." Well I like it, and I feel like I appreciate flavors more, now that I'm not covering everything up with salt and sugar.

This coming weekend I'm going camping with some friends. We've been utilizing email and a google spreadsheet to figure out what we'll be eating and who's bringing what food, gear, etc. Based on our meal plan, I know there are some meals that I won't be able to eat, such as hot dogs, prepackaged trail mix, and cinnamon rolls. Because I don't want to impose my eating habits on everyone else, I'm going to bring some food to replace those meals. One of the things I'm going to bring is homemade Lärabars. These are the recipes for the ones I made Tuesday night:

This is really similar in appearance to actual Lärabars

 Apple Pie (made 4)

1/2 cup dates

1/2 cup almonds

1/4 cup walnuts

1/4 cup dried apples, unsweetened

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp water

Pumpkin Pie (made 3)

1/2 cup dates

1/2 cup cashews

2 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp water

Ingredients for Apple Pie

Use a food processor or blender to breakdown the dates/fruit into a paste. Transfer the paste to a separate bowl. Put the nuts in the blender and pulse until chopped small, but not to the point that you form flour/meal. Mix the nuts, dates/fruit, and spices together in a bowl. If your mixture isn't binding together, add a little bit of water. Once the ingredients are thoroughly mixed, measure out 1/4 cup of the mixture for each bar and form into bar shape. This is more cleanly done if you roll the 1/4 cup of mixture into a piece of saran wrap before shaping the bar. Repeat for all bars and then place the wrapped bars into a ziploc bag. Store in the fridge - this allows the shape to firm up. There you go. Homemade Lärabars!