Do you know how hard it is to find a recipe for a granola bar without oats, nuts, coconut, dates, corn syrup or honey?!
Can you imagine what it might look like? Well it might look something like this. This big brown mushy, lumpy, crusty, ugly matter.
I was trying for a vegan bar, sans the things I'm allergic to (oats, most nuts, dates...) Alas, it was an experiment gone wrong.
Albeit a reasonably tasty one.
It's been a while since I had to throw out a whole pan of stuff. Then again, maybe my tolerance for bad, squishy, gluten-free food has just increased!
That isn't to say I won't try it again. It's just that it'll be awhile before I'm willing to throw a pan's worth of ingredients into the garbage!
I searched and searched around online, but couldn't find much in the way of options. Yes, people suggest GF oats, but it's not just the gluten that is a problem - some people with oral allergy syndrome are actually allergic to oats themselves. And many are allergic to nuts and dates.
I did find some suggestions for subbing quinoa or lentils for oats, and some that suggested using sweet potato in lieu of sticky stuff.
So I kind of guess-timated a mix of cooked quinoa, lentils, millet flour and sweet potatoes and applesauce, along with some raisins, molasses, some flax meal to bind things and other things...
Apparently I used too much applesauce, or too much of stuff that made things... squishy.
So there's no recipe for this yet, I just thought I would share it because, well, we all muck up sometimes. I'm getting better at avoiding these types of epic, allergy-free fails, but every now and then, when I'm testing out something completely new, it still happens!
Have you had any epic baking fails lately?
And do you have a great energy bar recipe that's free of oats, coconut, nuts, and dates? If so, please link it below!
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| The non-granola bar - tasting alright but feeling yucky |
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Sadly my granola bars use oats, dates and honey so I can't help you right now :( but if I come across a good recipe without any of those, I'll send it your way! Good luck with the experiments!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Cheryl! It's almost impossible to find any in the stores, either, that don't have any of those ingredients, so it's definitely a challenge.
DeleteOhh Danielle su barra de granola es irresistible me encantan,abrazos.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rosita. They tasted ok, but the texture was just too icky even for me to manage!
DeleteYes!I ive been craving brownies like crazy. I have OAS plus egg and dairy allergies. I just came upon your site and am so excited for everything you've shared and keep adding. Anyway back to the brownies I tried 2 different recipes the first was a gluten/dairy free one and it was just awful, I threw it away and the next one turned into almost a runny fudge. So any tips or recipes would be great.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, are you able to manage legumes? I tried a vegan black bean brownie recipe a while back and it was actually quite good - it even fooled my dinner guests, who gobbled them up until I told them they were made with beans ;p I just need to find the recipe again...
DeleteI am so glad you posted this. I think it is good when bloggers post their fails as well. I know I have. Sometimes others can learn from our fails by not repeating our mistakes. While other times it is just comforting to know that everyone out there in bloggy land is not perfect. I used to get discourage by all the perfect blogs with perfect photos because my attempts were rarely so perfect. And of course.....you cannot fail if you never tried. That of course means you out there trying. No doubt you'll tweak it and figure out what you had to much of.
ReplyDelete~Ann
Thanks, Ann! I don't usually post the fails, but after almost 5yrs after discovering my allergies they do still happen from time to time (especially when I'm experimenting with something new). Sometimes it leads to happy accidents (my very popular mini chocolate pudding pies came from a failed sugar-free lemon meringue), other times it's a stinky mess - like the time I tried to make sprouted mung bean and chickpea bread (won't ever try that again ;p ). We all make mistakes!!
DeleteI also highly recommend googling "failed pinterest attempts" if you want to feel better about any failed baking/crafting attempts! Good for a laugh.
While I don't "do" paleo, pinterest has awesome paleo recipes. They are incredibly creative, gifted people. If I didn't like their recipes so much, I'd hate them for it.
ReplyDeleteI can't see in this post if you can have seeds or not. If so, how about sunflower or pumpkin seeds? There's also sunbutter and you could easily make a butter with either or both seeds. Do or can you use maple syrup? Good luck!
Hi Michele, you're right, there are some awesome paleo recipes - and why must they all have amazing photography?! But alas, I can only have small amounts of sunflower and pumpkin seeds before they start to make my mouth swell. I've made sunbutter before and it's great for people who can't have peanuts, but not so much for people with oral allergy syndrome, who usually can't tolerate most seeds and nuts :( Luckily, I can use maple syrup, though :)
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