Commando Baking After Sledding

I believe in commando baking.  This DOES NOT mean baking without wearing underwear!  It means going through your pantry and finding what you have to use up.

This morning we took the kids sledding at a city park.  I had originally not wanted to go because my ankles are swollen and I felt pretty rough after taking down all the Christmas decorations yesterday.  (Yes, I know I took them down too early.  I’m off work this week and I knew if I waited until the “right time” I wouldn’t have any energy.  So in order to try and deal with the new reality of RA, I took it down early.)  Mark convinced me to go along and I’m so glad I did.  I bundled up well so the cold didn’t affect my sore joints too badly, and the hysterical laughter that watching the rest of my family careening down the hill brought out in me was totally worth it!  (And for the record, T was not hurt in this picture.  He was actually laughing so hard he couldn’t get up!)

 

So after lunch (a veggie sub for me from Subway) we made a fire in the fireplace and hunkered down for an afternoon of relaxing.  I got antsy though, as I am want to do.  So I went digging in the pantry for an ingredient to use up, thus the commando nature of my baking today.  I mean, what’s the point of running out to the store for an ingredient on a snow day??  I found a box of rice krispies (with a Halloween picture on the box if that gives you an indication of how long the box has been there!) and went in search of a vegan treat to make with them.  After much searching I modified a recipe I found at food.com.  The author said that her recipe was a variation on one from from Vive le Vegan by Dreena Burton.

Nut Butter Rice Krispie Squares with Chocolate

1/3 cup almond butter

1/3 cup natural peanut butter

1/3 cup maple syrup

1 tsp fine sea salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups rice krispies, crushed a bit

1/4 cup vanilla almond milk

3/4 cup dairy-free semi-sweet chocolate chips (I use Ghiradelli)

Mix both nut butters, maple syrup, and salt in a pan.  Heat until warm and melted, stirring occasionally.  Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.  Then add the cereal and stir until combined.  Pat down into an 8×8 pan you have oiled or sprayed.  While it cools, mix the almond milk and the chocolate chips in a pan over low heat, stirring occasionally.  When melted, pour over top of the rice krispie cereal mix and spread it out.  Let it cool and then cut into bars.

Notes:  Next time I’ll have E or T do more of the stirring for me as I can feel it in my wrists.  The original recipe called for just a cup of cereal but I wanted more of a cereal flavor, not just a conduit for nut butter.  (I can eat it from the jar if I want that!)  These turned out ok.  Not phenomenal.  They are sort of flat but the flavor is good.  Definitely have to lick your fingers off after you’ve eaten it.  Would be tough to be a lunchbox treat but is fine for an afternoon snack when the paper towels are handy!  I still have about half a box of rice krispies so I’ll need to search for other uses!

I’m not happy with the pictures I took so no posting of those today.  I’m going to need to work on that…