Food is a big deal at our house. It’s our health plan and our insurance and our future. We feel very strongly that food is the foundation for all the body’s needs, and our children deserve to eat real, whole, natural foods. Not from a box or a can or an aluminum tray, with all sorts of dubious substances added. It’s a very cool thing to hear our 2-year-old ask, “This organic food?” or “This vegan?”
We eat a predominantly vegan diet—no meat, fish, fowl, dairy, or eggs. We do use honey. The fundamentalist vegan would be right in arguing that some bees are killed through the regular maintenance and “harvesting” of the honey. Well, I figure that worms die every time we dig a carrot or potato out of our garden, and we probably inhale or step on many beings with each move we make.
So what we try to do is minimize the suffering our food choices create, while eating a nutritious, energizing, diverse diet.
Some books that have inspired us:
- Conscious Eating
– Gabriel Cousens
- The Sunfood Diet Success System
- David Wolfe
- Diet for a New America
- John Robbins
- The 80/10/10 Diet
- Dr. Douglas Graham
The following is a great basic cookie recipe that you can tweak to your tastes. We usually have the ingredients on hand, so it’s the default sweet treat around here. Makes a small batch, so if your family’s like mine, double it. If the children are already in bed, one batch'll probably do.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie Recipe (Vegan)
(preheat oven to 350°F)
- 1 cup quick oats
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1/2 cup olive oil (or your choice)
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp salt
- shredded coconut to taste
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- (and whatever else you need in there to get your fix)
Mix all dry ingredients, then mix in liquids, then add chocolate chips. Sure, you could make cookies on a baking sheet, but I just usually put it in a pie pan (no oiling necessary), put in the oven, and call it cookie pie. Bake until browned on the bottom, 15–20 minutes for cookies, and 25 or so for cookie pie.
This is a vegan recipe, though you can’t tell a difference in the taste (omnivores eat them up just as fast). Honey can be substituted for the maple syrup if you wish, and you can add hemp seeds or walnuts or whatever you dig. I like to put in about 1/2 cup of peanut butter and reduce the oil to maybe a tablespoon or so. When you add dry ingredients, be sure to put a bit more water to compensate.
These are so good you'll hurt yourself by eating the whole thing. Not that that’s ever happened to me.
If you want more great vegan propaganda for yourself or a friend, try the Vegan Freak Radio podcast. Some of the language is not for little ears, but it’s funny.
Derek Markham is a father, husband, and founder of NaturalPapa.com, a forum for sharing observations about parenting and fatherhood. Originally published on NaturalPapa
*Image of “chocolate chips“ via Shutterstock
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