snack

Bacon Peanuts – Vegan

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr)

I’ve missed posting my recipes, and I want to get back to my blogging, so behold – my latest creation.  A vegan snack dish consisting of peanuts that taste like bacon.  Seriously, it’s a bit creepy how good it tastes.

Theres little in the way of additives or added sweetener, so you’ve got a heck of a healthy snack here.  That tastes like bacon.

  • 2 cups roasted, unsalted peanuts (you can use unroasted peanuts, but may taste different)
  • 2 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
  • 1 Tbsp maple syrup
  • 1 Tbsp liquid smoke.

 

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Miss the soy sauce, syrup, and liquid smoke together on a bowl.
  3. Pour peanuts into bowl with sauce mixture. Stir until thoroughly coated.
  4. Pour coated peanuts and any remaining mixture into a 9×9 glass casserole dish.
  5. Place in oven. Cook for 20-30 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes.
  6. Remove when the liquid has turned sticky. Do not cook until completely dry.
  7. Set aside to cool, stirring every few minutes until peanuts stop sticking.
  8. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator. Should keep 3-7 days. (not sure yet)

 

– Steve

Cocoa Peanuts

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(Yeah been on a roll lately)

This is a simple recipe – and you can substitute any kind of nuts or seeds in for the peanuts. I like it as a healthy snack – the maple syrup doesn’t add many calories unless you’re really slamming it (keep it to about ¼ a cup or so).

You can scale this one up easily – just multiply the recipe.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup peanuts, unroasted, unsalted
  • 1 Tbsp maple syrup
  • 1 Tbsp cocoa powder
  1. Preheat oven to 325
  2. Mix peanuts and maple syrup in a bowl until peanuts are coated.
  3. Sprinkle cocoa powder into syrup/nut mixture gradually, stirring until it is mixed in with the syrup, and the peanuts are coated thoroughly. It will form a thick brown liquid that covers the peanuts.
  4. Pour mixture onto a cookie sheet and spread out.
  5. Cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes until the nuts are dry – the pan may be a bit sticky still, but the nuts will be dry.
  6. Remove sheet, stir one more time to unstick. Allow to cool, then store in an airtight container.

Notes:

• Make sure you use a good non-stick pan – the mixture bakes on, but it comes off with a bit of soap and scrubbing.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, publishes books on career and culture at http://www.informotron.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

Chocolatesque Chickpea Pudding

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So let’s face it – chocolate is good, pudding is good.  It’s just a bit hard to make them healthy.  However, I’m always one to experiment, and I’ve found chickpea flour makes a nice custard (also mixed with water it’s a good egg substitute as a binder).  This recipe is not “aggressively” chocolate, since that’d take more cocoa powder and maple syrup, and I’m trying to keep it to around 200 calories.  Right now it’s a bit below that so I can experiment.

  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 tsp cocoa powder
  • 2 tsp maple syrup
  • 1/4 cup chickpea flour (besan)
  1. Mix the water, cocoa powder, and maple syrup together until mixed in a microwave safe bowl.
  2. Sprinkle in the chickpea flour gradually, stirring, so it doesn’t develop lumps.
  3. Microwave the mix for one minute on high.
  4. Remove, stir.  It should be “custardy/pudding-like.”  if not, heat in 15 second increments, stirring each time.
  5. Refrigerate until cool.

Chickpea flour has a mildly nutty flavor that’s not bad as a custard., but doesn’t exactly send me.  These additions really make it interesting – and cocoa powder has an interesting taste blending effect I need to explore

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, publishes books on career and culture at http://www.informotron.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.