The Cave and the Grocery Toter

I'm mentioned before my love for and slight problem with Amazon Subscribe and Save. Between that and my Green BEAN bin, I do almost zero in-store grocery shopping. I also rarely go more than 60 minutes without stuffing something in my face, so you should have a decent idea of how often one of Amazon's boxes with the giant smiley face shows up on my doorstep. Some days I arrive home to a stack of boxes and wonder what the f*#! did I order?! I came home to a single fat box today: two canisters of vegan vanilla protein powder, one soy and one pea and a 24-count box of silken tofu cartons. My neighbor across the hall had lugged it up the stairs for me from the stoop like usual.

I call my apartment The Cave. It sits at the end of a cute little cul de sac in a bustling hipster neighborhood, only a tiny hop from all the hustle and flow, but at the same time feels almost unbelievably secluded. It's small, but not too small for visitors thoughI keep the traffic through the door to a minimum. It's like my own secret hideout.

It is one of four apartments that comprise the old brick house just steps away from the old Wonder Bread factory. Each unit is a studio, and you could say that the landlord carefully selects his tenants. We're a quiet bunch-I'm not the only one who uses her apartment as a hideout. The apartment beneath me acquired a new tenant in October; I saw her for the first time last week. Needless to say, there aren't any jointly-thrown house parties or all-night raves happening here. The neighbor across the hall has appeared a handful of times, but still every week, he lugs at least 2 armfuls of food up the stairs for me.

Very technical mixing technique

I decided that I needed to feed the neighbor grocery-toter something, and it just so happened that Thing 1 and Thing 2 had a birthday this week. So I had not one, but two reasons to preheat the oven. Martha has a fabulous recipe for flourless peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. I also at one point had a mild obsession with the monster mix from Target. They parented the brain child that are these babies. The smashed m&m's are totally the confetti for the birthday.


 Flourless PB This & That Bars


Ingredients


1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup Stevia in the Raw
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1 flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax seed mixed with 2 tbsp hot water)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups mix-ins (I used smashed PB m&ms, shredded coconut, and granola)

Mix your flax egg and sit aside to "gel." Preheat oven to 350 and line a 9 x 4 inch loaf pan with parchment paper.  In a large bowl, beat the sugar, Stevia, flax egg, and peanut butter until well combined. Add the salt and baking soda and mix until incorporated. Stir the mix-ins into the dough. You may have to get a little dirty and use your hands. Don't be afraid. Press the dough into the loaf pan and bake 16-18 minutes or until golden brown on the edges.