Sacrifice II

Sacrifice II

My mother would be proud of me. This recipe contains chocolate chips. In the words of one of my fellow team members, “Is it going to be healthy, or good?” when I described the recipe I was going to present for yesterday’s Foodie Call. I remade the cereal bars I made last year for my friend Liz’s Fourth of July shindig. Calling them “Sacrifice to the Gods of Freedom and Democracy” would probably turn off most folk. Here is my recipe for the huge batch (three sheet pans!) of “Trail Treats.” You can customise the crunchy bits and trail mix to your heart’s content.

If I had my ascetic druthers, this recipe would be sugar-free and very low sodium. I would make unsalted popcorn on the stove, use plain cereal, and use unadulterated nut/seed butter. There would be no chocolate chips (but perhaps cacao nibs? Oh yesh).

Trail Treats

2 12-ounce jars sunflower seed butter (I used Maranatha hint of salt)

2 1 lb, 5-oz jars brown rice syrup

4 tablespoons ground cinnamon

2 12-ounce bags vegan chocolate chips

2 tubs Manukka raisins (about 4 cups)

1 tub dried cherries (about 1 cup)

1 tub salted, roasted pepitas (about 1.5 cups)

2 tubs raw sunflower seeds (about 4 cups)

1 12?-ounce box brown rice crisps

1 11.5-ounce box Envirokidz Koala Krisp cereal (chocolate crispy brown rice)

2 giant bags reduced sodium/fat popcorn

1 tiny bag freeze-dried strawberries

Line three huge rimmed baking sheets with parchment. In a medium saucepan, melt the sunflower seed butter and brown rice syrup together until bubbling. In a huge bowl, combine the dry ingredients until all bits are uniformly distributed. Pour the hot syrup over the dry ingredients and mix well. Once everything is evenly coated and sticky, press into the pans and let cool. Cut with a sharp knife once set and serve.

Makes way more than I distributed in two hours (like, one pan extra). Oh well! I went through about 250 sample cups. While eating it later, I felt when I reached my sugar limit by a weird feeling in my head; I haven’t been eating sugar qua sugar for a while. Yeh, I feel better without its rapid ups and downs.

Here’s a peanut butter-almond butter-agave-Nature’s Path vanilla and maple gluten-free cereals. Too sweet because of the sugar. You get the non-marshmallow picture, though!

This wave offering has been performed again for the gods of freedom and democracy. Their appetite for American ingenuity has been sated…for this year.