Being Healthy(er)

Blair and I watched the documentary Unforked on netflix a few months ago, and the movie really moved me. I've always had slightly ill feelings towards vegan people, mainly because I've seen so many malnourished vegans. (Speaking of young adults). But this was a documentary that was arguing for a vegan lifestyle. Scientists talking about their strong beliefs that milk and meat are causing cancers and illnesses, and how they truly believed we should strive to live a life eating low processed whole foods.

Honestly what moved me the most was how beautiful their food looked. It really got me thinking about how difficult it is to "eat healthy." I'm pro food, I hate the idea of banning any food, so I'm never going to completely go vegan, but lets say you wanted to for one week eat only truly healthy foods. Could you do it? I don't think I know enough sin free, completely healthy recipes.

I know lots of pasta dishes, but there's the whole gluttony of starches, and I know how to cook any meat strait up, but there's the whole "how much is too much?"...so what should I be eating instead of pasta or meat?!?!

To answer this question Blair and I decided to buy the book that is tied to the movie, which has 125 recipes. We agreed to make all 125 recipes at least once no matter how scary they sound (and some of them are pretty frightening). We are marking each recipe with our rating of how much we liked it, and notes about what would make it better, or what tips would help next time we make the recipe.

Honestly, we seem to like the deserts and snacks the best, but hey, they are really good for you, and most munchies I eat are not "really good for you," so I still think it's a win. Plus it's a lot of fun cooking with all kinds of ingredients I've never used before. I'm hoping in the end I will have a couple dozen super healthy recipes that I will add to my weekly/monthly/yearly rotation.

So far our absolute favorite recipe is
Frozen Chocolate Banana Bon Bons:

(to make about 50 bon bons)
1/3 cup maple syrup (I use real maple syrup)
1/3 cup plant-based milk (I use real milk)
1/3 cup cocoa power
2 teaspoons of vanilla
2 ripe bananas
2 cups of rolled oats (not the instant stuff)
and grape nuts to roll the stuff in

Puree everything except the oats and the grape nuts, stir in the oats, then scoop up a little ball of the mixture (bite sized balls) and drop it into a bowl of grape-nuts and cover on all sides (it will be pretty sloppy, covering it in grape-nuts is kind of what holds it together), then place on a baking sheet lined with wax paper…freeze the entire pan, them move them into a tubberware dish of some sort.

After they are deeply frozen, 5 minutes of thawing can help soften them a little, but they are so yummy…they fulfill chocolate cravings, as well as ice cream cravings.