Mischief & Mayhem (Vegan Scrabble)

Scrabble clockwise starting from the left - Peanut butter chocolate chip, apple blueberry, savory, and blueberry squared

One of my favorite snacks as winter approaches is fresh citrus and Scrabble. The sweet juicy fruit mixing with the salty crunch seems like a complete meal. To eliminate the carbohydrates, the fruit has to go. This is the worst part. (Scientists in the lab, please work on a way for Type 1 diabetics to be able to eat fruit. Thanks.) The other high carbohydrate ingredient comes from the cereals.

To make Scrabble vegan and suitable for healthy diets, the margarine, Worcestershire sauce, and big brand GMO cereals need to be switched out. Most varieties of Worcestershire sauce have anchovies. Commercially, Wizard's and Annie's both make Worcestershire. Martha Stewart offers a homemade vegan recipe for Worcestershire sauce along with the suggestion of using it to make Colin Quinn's Irish Lamb Stew. *sigh* Her recipe doesn't use any clove or allspice, so it won't have the complexity of flavors of a well-brewed Worcestershire.

Accidentally, I stumbled upon a way to achieve that sought-after flavor of Scrabble mix. I am terribly excited about the recipe because it does not require a dehydrator, though I used one in this instance. The snack turned out to be an outstanding fuel source for the winter recreation created by the recent decent snowfall. It's high in fat and low in carbohydrates, so use wisely!

Not leaving well enough alone, I went back into the laboratory to replicate my results and came up with three additional flavor variations. First is the basic recipe so that you can consider making your own taste sensation followed by the variations. Before you slather the nut mix, taste the flavoring and adjust to suit. If you aren't using stevia, use a liquid sweetener you have on hand such as one tablespoon barley malt or maple syrup.

This recipe is not for hard core mathematicians. Relax and experiment. I did.

Basic Recipe
1/4 to 1/3 Cup flavored liquid (tamari or flavored balsamic vinegar)
1 Tablespoons fruit sweetened jam
seasonings
1 Tablespoon egg replacer
2 - 4 teaspoons of seasoning
2 - 4 Tablespoons water (if needed)
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix well and pour over 2 to 2 1/2 cups of nuts and seeds. (whatever you have - raw almonds, cashews, pepitas, pumpkin seeds, buckwheat groats, flax seeds, pistachios, hemp seeds, hazelnuts)

Oven method: spread on cookie sheet/s and bake at 275°F for 40 minutes stirring every 10 minutes.
Dehydrator method: spread on teflex sheets and dehydrate at 200°F for an hour. Check to see if done and remove from teflex once pliable. Temperature may be reduced and dehyrating time increased as desired.

Store in an airtight container.

Savory Scrabble
1/4 to 1/3 Cup tamari (low sodium)
1 Tablespoon apricot fruit spread (no sugar)
1 Tablespoon egg replacer (Bob's or Ener-G)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp ginger powder
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt
2 to 4 Tablespoons water (if needed)

Oven method: spread on cookie sheet/s and bake at 275°F for 40 minutes stirring every 10 minutes.
Dehydrator method: spread on teflex sheets and dehydrate at 200°F for an hour. Check to see if done and remove from teflex once pliable. Temperature may be reduced and dehyrating time increased as desired.

Store in an airtight container.

Sweet Fruit Srabble
1/4 cup flavored balsamic vinegar (blueberry, apple, apricot, whatever you've got)
1 Tablespoon complementary fruit spread (no sugar blueberry, apple, apricot, whatever you have)
1 Tablespoon egg replacer (Bob's or Ener-G)
1 squirt liquid stevia (apricot, vanilla, whatever you have on hand)

Oven method: spread on cookie sheet/s and bake at 275°F for 40 minutes stirring every 10 minutes.
Dehydrator method: spread on teflex sheets and dehydrate at 200°F for an hour. Check to see if done and remove from teflex once pliable. Temperature may be reduced and dehyrating time increased as desired.

Store in an airtight container.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Scrabble
1/4 cup peanut butter (salted, no sugar)
1 Tablespoon complementary fruitspread (no sugar strawberry, apricot, apple, grape)
1 Tablespoon egg replacer (Bob's or Ener-g)
1 squirt liquid stevia (apricot, chocolate raspberry, vanilla, whatever looks good)
1/2 cup Good Life chocolate chips (the tiny ones)

Oven method: spread on cookie sheet/s and bake at 275°F for 40 minutes stirring every 10 minutes.
Dehydrator method: spread on teflex sheets and dehydrate at 200°F for an hour. Check to see if done and remove from teflex once pliable. Temperature may be reduced and dehyrating time increased as desired.


Store in an airtight container.