dietary changes lead to a new way of thinking...

so, i haven't been too vocal about my eating habits over the last month or so... but i've made some pretty radical changes. and i don't want anyone to think that i'm trying to change their outlook on food, so i've only told a handful of people.

i've really gotten into documentaries over the last 6 months or so and last month, i watched a few documentaries on food: the importance of buying food locally, knowing where it comes from, etc. Food, Inc. and A River of Waste: The Hazardous Truth were a couple of them... and then i watched Forks Over Knives. i highly recommend watching it; especially if you have high blood pressure or cholesterol, diabetes or want to be healthier overall...

for the record, i am not a tree hugger or an animal rights activist. i do my part to leave a smaller footprint on the earth and recycle everything i can, drive a small car that gets nearly 40 miles per gallon. and i really like animals and totally disagree with factory farming, but that's not the sole motivation for my choosing to eat a [mostly] vegan diet... i fall into the category of wanting to be healthier overall - and wanting to lose about 30 pounds - and was sick of making excuses.

if you wait until all conditions are perfect to act, you never will... when it comes to dietary changes, there will always be a holiday revolving around food or candy right around the corner.

so to date, it has been almost 5 weeks since i have had meat, eggs, or cow's milk. i have had cheese 2 or 3 times when i've been out to eat because it's nearly impossible to find vegan dishes out in a restaurant. it has definitely been more work on the front end. i have to give more thought to what i'll eat each day and keep healthy snacks on hand all the time. BUT I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER AND HAVE SO MUCH MORE ENERGY!

i've found some great vegan blogs and bought a couple of cookbooks, but have mostly been eating things that have been very minimally processed. i've been eating lots of leafy green vegetable, lentils and beans and juicing on a regular basis. i have baked cookies twice in the last month without using butter (oh my!) or eggs or white sugar. tonight's batch didn't even have a sweetener in them...

they are not a traditional cookie and taste a lot like granola in semi-chewy cookie form. here is the blogpost recipe i used for inspiration...

but here's what i actually did:

1 1/2 cups regular oats
1 cup unsweetened coconut
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup gluten free flour
1 cup sliced almonds
3/4 cup golden raisins

2 LARGE bananas
1/4 cup almond oil
1 tsp vanilla

preheat your oven to 350.

in a large bowl, mix all the "dry" ingredients listed in the first category above and make sure your raisins (or whatever fruit you use) don't stick together.

then i put my bananas in my kitchenaid mixer bowl and beat them until they were mush, then added the oil and vanilla.

then you pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly by hand.

the original recipe says to place a cookie cutter on a a cookie sheet, drop spoonfuls of dough in to press to shape into "cookies", but i just used my handy dandy pampered chef medium scoop - then i kind of pressed and packed each cookie.

bake for about 15-20 or until the edges are browned.

i'd hoped to have a picture to share with you, but i took the majority of the cookies to the salon with me yesterday and they VANISHED. there were only crumbs left yesterday afternoon. so i'll just post the pic that the original blogger used. :)

they aren't necessarily the buttery, crispy oatmeal cookies i'm used to (especially after storing overnight - then they are a super soft cookie) but they have NO ADDED SUGAR and very little oil. i got 26 cookies out of one batch using that scoop i mentioned earlier...

again, i would strongly recommend taking a little bit of time and watching the documentaries i linked to above. what you do with the information is a very personal and individual choice, but i know - at least for me - i was just walking through life IGNORANT of where my food came from and the effect that it would have on my body in the long run!

and DEFINITELY try this cookie recipe! it's a WINNER!