Sunday Super and Nutty Sticky Bars

Cumin Spiced Quinoa with Roasted Pencil Asparagus and Purple Cauliflower, and Ginger Pomegranate Sauce

We had a beautiful weekend here in the bay. I feel so lucky to live in such an amazing part of the world. This past week we had a sudden heat wave, which is fun for a day, but I hate when it stays hot. It was hot, like, can't sleep unless every single window is open and the fan is on, kind of night. But today was a little cooler, thank you know who! And here on the island of Alameda, it couldn't have been nicer out.

The day started off with having brunch out with my sweetie, and then a leisurely walk around town. With a stop at one of the many local antique shops. It was fun to get a sense of the past, we got to read handwritten notes to a girl named Audrey from her classmates back in the 1930's. And play on a few old typewriters. I really wanted to take one home! But where would I put it?!

The rest of the afternoon was a pretty lazy one for me. But isn't that what Sunday afternoons are made for?? So when dinner time came around, I wasn't sure what I felt like doing. I took a mental check list from the comfort of the couch. I knew that I had some asparagus in the fridge, and some much-needing-to-be-used purple cauliflower in there as well. And I knew that I absolutely wanted to do something pretty with that gorgeous cauliflower. I mean, just look at it...

...sooo purty....

So I threw together this simple but tasty and healthy dish of quinoa, with purple cauliflower and asparagus. I wanted some sort of sauce, so I reduced some pomegranate vinegar, with some brown sugar, ginger, and lemon curd. Perfect! The veggies were simply roasted with olive oil, salt and pepper, and garlic. The quinoa was spiced with cumin. I added some toasted pine nuts and pomegranate seeds to complete the dish. Perfect ending to a beautiful day.

And for a healthy snack, earlier this week I dished up these sweet, savory, and nutty, sticky bars. They are great to bring to work as a perfect little snack to get over the hunger hump....

You could put just about anything in these. I used a bunch of ingredients that I had in my kitchen, such as pine nuts, dried soy nuts, flax seed, hemp seed, sunflower seed, dried blueberries, dried apricot, and dried cherries. I did not want to add a bunch of unnecessary sugar and fat, so the binder I used is almond butter and a bit of water. Cook that down just a bit and add your dry ingredients, heat until desired consistency, then spread out into casserole type dish to set. I sprinkled mine with salt and cocoa nibs. Let cool and store in the fridge. Easy Peasy!