Pulpy.

Warning: this post is going to be WEIRD. Don't say I didn't warn you.

After juicing up a storm this past week, I ended up with quite the vegetable pulp collection. Mostly carrot because I bought 5lbs of carrots. I didn't even realize how many carrots 5lbs was when I bought the bag.

I've been brainstorming ways to use the pulp. (Believe it or not, I didn't use up very much of it in my quinoa patties). I really wanted to make something resembling carrot cake with the carrot pulp. So I started out with my oatmeal. Of course.

My usual overnight oats combination with the addition of a few hefty spoonfuls of carrot pulp and some cinnamon, topped with almond butter and a drizzle of maple syrup. This was seriously WAY too filling. I hardly ever feel that full after breakfast but this was just ridiculous. That's what I get for eating what was the "meat" of something like three carrots. Goodness gracious.

I was planning on making the carrot cake until I was given the suggestion to make carrot halwa. If you aren't familiar, it's an Indian sweet. I LOVE Indian desserts. They are sweeter and richer than any other dessert...what's there not to love? So I looked up recipes and decided to make a Tulika-fied version: easy and not involving 100 grams of sugar.

Tulika-fied carrot halwa = 2 packed cups carrot pulp (or finely grated carrot) + 1/2 can sweetened condensed milk + cinnamon (optional).  Mix everything together on the stove top over medium-low heat.

[Side note: I found marshmallow creme at the store for a dollar. So I bought it. Marshmallow creme is vegetarian. Marshmallows are not].

I wanted some kind of frosting for my "carrot halwa"...you know, to make it more carrot cake-like. (Can you tell I'm a huge carrot cake fan?). Enter MARSHMALLOW CREME!

Cream cheese frosting would work well, too. I also tried some with melted dark chocolate on top. <-- Big fan.

Enough about the sweets. Let's talk salty. And crunchy.

I've seen lots of recipes for juice pulp crackers. I attempted to come up with my own. It worked. Good thing it worked, otherwise I would have had to say goodbye to my juice pulp.

I mixed together the juice pulp with 2 teaspoons olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Then transferred the mixture onto a foil-lined baking sheet and flattened it with my hands.

The baking time is the reason I'm not making this into a formal recipe. I put this into the oven at 325F for 30 minutes or so, but the edges were beginning to burn and the center was still moist. My goal was to get these as dehydrated as possible so they would resemble actual crackers!

So I cut these into squares, reduced the temperature to 200F, and put them back in the oven for a longer time (another hour or so). I checked periodically and finally took them out of the oven when they felt dry.

The biggest problem I had was prying the crackers off the foil! Next time I'll remember to generously grease the foil. However, taste and texture-wise, these were exactly what I was looking for! Flavorful, salty, and crunchy. I think the garlic powder made a huge difference to the flavor.

They held together pretty well! I even tested this out by dipping them in the remains of my homemade hummus...

Oohh yeah. I'm taking these to work for a snack, along with a batch of kale chips I also made today. My co-workers are going to be so confused if they ever see what I'm eating.

P.S. I went grocery shopping today, looked for some more canned pumpkin, and they were all out. Can you believe it?! So disappointing. Anyone else have this problem recently?