cranberry carrot oat bars

cranberry carrot oat bars:

Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees and greasing a baking sheet with coconut oil:

Spread 1 cup of oats on greased baking sheet and roast for 8 minutes:

Meanwhile, stir together:

1/4 cup applesauce

1/2 cup honey

2 T yogurt

1 T fresh squeezed lemon juice

2 T coconut oil

When oats are ready, combine them in a bowl with:

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ginger

1 cup shredded carrots

1/4 cup chopped cranberries *

* (why yes, i did dump in more than 1/4 cup of cranberries. and no, i did not chop them)

Add applesauce mixture to oat mixture and stir until combined.

Spread onto a 9" baking pan lined with parchment paper, greased with coconut oil.

(I simply greased a cookie sheet with coconut oil and formed my batter into a square-ish shape.)

Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Cool completely before cutting into bars.

Store in an air tight container for up to four days.

Butternut Squash Ginger Carrot Soup

I found a recipe for a carrot ginger soup, which sounded phenomenal to me, but I also had this big butternut squash lurking around my kitchen, begging to be used before it went bad.  I decided to try incorporating it into this soup by halving the amount of carrots and replacing it with butternut squash.  Since butternut squash doesn't have a very distinct flavor on it's own, you definitely just taste the carrot.  Or in my case, because I doubled the amount of ginger, you just taste ginger.  A mouthful of exploding ginger.

Chop, chop, chop.

Two cups carrots, two cups butternut squash.

Home made vegetable stock.

The recipe calls for vegetable stock, which I had previously never made before because I had no idea how remarkably easy it is.  You can follow these directions here, but basically: buy a bunch of random vegetables (I used celery, carrots, spinach, broccoli, onions and mushrooms) and simmer them in a pot of water for an hour.  Salvage the broth.  YOU'RE DONE.  There's really no need to buy veggie stock from the store.

The recipe also called for fresh ginger, fresh squeezed orange juice, and rolled oats.

If you're wondering if a tablespoon of ginger is enough: IT IS.  I used two tablespoons and my mouth was on fire with ginger.

Once all the ingredients had simmered on the stove for awhile, I poured it all into a food processor.

And the result is a creamy, smooth carrot-ginger soup!

I do like the soup, but I really did use too much ginger, so it was kind of overwhelming for my taste buds. :)