Vegan PB & J Bars
What’s the peanut butter to your jam? We’re so lucky--we live in a world replete with perfect pairings. But, old-fashioned peanut butter and jelly set a gold standard when it comes to conjuring up the simple joys of childhood.
These easy, vegan bars are scrumptious enough to delight as snacks, yet wholesome enough to just make the cut as part of a grab-and-go breakfast bite. I like fruit-only jam, but any jam or jelly will do, really...except maybe marmalade. I tried using up a jar of homemade marmalade once--big mistake. It was the kind of concoction that gratifies for a split second before it sours into lingering dismay. One thing I have not tried, but intend to, is using a chia-based jam. The idea of it alone makes me kind of giddy, and the trial just has to happen. As soon as it does, I’ll update and share!
This past week, it took real concentrated effort to focus on the sweet, simple things. It was Chef F’s “spring break”, and even though he’s learning from home this year--or maybe all the more so because of it--I really wanted to give the week that lighthearted, joyous sense of unbound opportunity for rest and adventure. As Monday unfolded, however, I felt myself dragging with a little extra weariness, and at the last minute took on just a bit of extra freelance. Nothing jarringly challenging, just enough to add distraction to the fine juggling balance we’ve been maintaining during a week I didn’t feel like juggling at all. Then, Monday afternoon, we watched in horror as details came in spurts of a shooting in Boulder.
The crime scene, a grocery store, is a good 45 minutes+ from our house, but is one we know well. We’ve run, biked, and hiked in the area countless times, and run in for quick replenishments. We have friends who live within walking distance of it. I was still trying to process the previous week’s shooting in Atlanta, where I spent my undergraduate years at Emory. This one was not only achingly close to home, it seemed even more heavily symbolic than ever, with heartbreak echoed in the dreary clouds and chill air. It begged the question, did easing back into “normalcy” mean bracing for tragedies like these as “typical”, too, interwoven as part of our cultural landscape?
Later in the week, I heard a politician talking about “every time we have a shooting” as if shootings are as ubiquitous a part of life as rain; the way he spoke seemed to suggest that wanting action was merely misguided whining. Taking in the event in the contexts of both singular and big pictures spurred such feelings of desolation and loneliness. Feeling lonely when in the company of your favorite little person in the world is an awful feeling.
Dave was super busy at work, and we had no plans to travel for Chef F’s break, nor did it feel like we had many places to go. Not in the early part of the week at least, when the ground was soggy and mucky, and the skies were temperamental. But, we did have cozy comfort, together. We had board games, darts, books, and lots and lots of chess. Chef F schooled me swiftly me every time we played, but in exchange he allowed me to teach him some piano, which was a stellar motivation for enduring humiliation. With each passing day, the sun warmed, the trails dried, and we got to run, explore, and play with a few friends outdoors.
All that, and we had peanut butter and jelly, too--the real deal, plus a whole host of things synonymous with it. We had the sweet and salty, slippery and crunchy, delicious simplicity of sharing that reminds you, you are loved. Even if some days the world feels unkind. Even when you’re anxious, tired, lonely or scared. The kind of quiet, humble offering that says, you are valued, and it’s going to be OK.
Vegan PB & J Bars
16 squares
1 cup quinoa flakes or oats (quick oats, or whole oats lightly pulsed work best)
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 Tablespoons psyllium or 2 chia eggs
1 cup natural creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼-⅓ cup agave
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt (unless using salted peanut butter)
½ Cup unsweetened almond milk, or as needed
⅔ cup jam or jelly of choice
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large bowl combine quinoa flakes, peanut butter, chia egg/psyllium, baking soda, vanilla, and salt and mix well. Drizzle in almond milk until a dough forms.
Press a little over half of the batter into an 8 X 8 baking pan lightly coated with cooking spray or lined with parchment paper. Soften jam as needed in a saucepan or microwave until smooth and spreadable. Use a rubber spatula to spread jam over mixture. Crumble remaining mixture over jam layer as topping.
Bake for 30 minutes, until topping is browned and jam layer is bubbly. Allow to cool before cutting into squares.