Vegan pumpkin seed bars with coconut glaze

Dogs in the kitchen as usual

Bailey and Misha investigating food ops in kitchen

Vegan pumpkin seed bars with coconut glaze

The dogs are still overtaking my life and my kitchen but they are adorable especially when sleeping. The rest of the time it is pure chaos. Bailey and Misha offer a glimpse of what it's like getting anything done in the kitchen in the photo above where they are investigating what's on the stove.

The new kid in the house, Nika, loves food like nothing I have ever seen. She is literally a shopvac when it comes to eating her food. She could easily enter a professional eating contest if they had such a thing for canines.

The best time to prepare anything for the humans in the house to eat is when all the dogs are sleeping which actally works part of the time. I had a nice one-hour window of tranquility to prepare the vegan pumpkin seeds bars.

Vegan Pumpkin Seeds Bars

Ingredients:

1. 3 cups of quinoa flakes or rolled oats
2. 1/4 cup coconut sugar
3. 1/4 cup coconut syrup
4. stevia for additional sweetness
5. 3 scoops rice protein powder
6. 2 cups of seeds (or nuts) of your choice ground in a coffee grinder.
7. 1/4 cup unsweetened sunbutter or use other seed or nut butter of choice.
8. 2 T. coconut oil, melted
9. 1 T. cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
10. 1/4 cup unsweetened hemp milk (or other alternative dairy beverage)
11. 1 + cups of pumpkin puree

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spray a large cookie sheet.
3. Process all the ingredients in a food processor.
4. Add enough pumpkin puree and hemp milk to get the mixture to hold together.
5. Spread the mixture onto the cookie sheet. It should be about 1/3-inch thick.
6. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or so.
7. Cut into bars and spread them apart on the cookie sheet.
8. Return the bars to the oven for 10 minutes.
9. Remove them again and flip them over
10. Continue baking until the bars are firm. Remove those that get done sooner as needed.
11. When done, place the bars to cool on a rack.
12. In the meantime, prepare a simple glaze of 1-2 T. coconut butter melted with 1 T. coconut oil.
13. Drizzle on the cooled bars and allow to harden.
14. Store the bars in the fridge or freezer.

There's more at: http://www.dietdessertndogs.com/2011/11/10/wellness-weekend-november-10-14-2011/