Sneaky Health: Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

     After I swore off processed white sugar (click here to read about my sugar addiction) I went on a mission to find replacements to curb the sweet tooth and keep my PCOS in check. This journey of learning about how my body reacts to sugar has lead me to vegan dessert recipes.  I found that it is possible to have dessert AND nutrition all in one AND be family approved.  The eye rolling is less and less with every delicious recipe I make.  

    We made vegan chocolate chip cookies. Oil-free, nutritious, and delicious. They are so simple to make, with real food ingredients, that my 10 year old son made them all by himself. 

 Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

3 mashed bananas (ripe)

1/3 cup apple sauce (unsweetened)
2 cups quick oats 
1/4 cup almond milk (unsweetened)
 1/2 cup raisins or chocolate chips 
        (if vegan use vegan chips)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 15-20 minutes. 

   The house smelled like comfort food heaven! I had a small face smashed up against the oven window for 20 minutes anxiously waiting for his cookie magic.  The cooling could not go by fast enough. Oh my gosh, place a tray off these on the counter and watch the family swarm like bees.                                                                                                                                                               These cookies are Mom approved; both for family and waistlines. 

   
     Healthy doesn't have to mean giving up sweets. For me it meant finding an alternative route to fulfilling my cravings and still providing treats to my family. Real food with nutritional purpose disguised as chocolate chip cookies. 

100% Kid Approved Awesomeness!!! 

3 Teenage Girls Blow Your Mind

     This is performance not to be missed. Youth Speaks is an organization with a vision:"Youth Speaks exists to shift the perceptions of youth by combating illiteracy, isolation, alienation, and silence, creating a global movement of brave new voices bringing the noise from the margins to the core." Founded in 1996 in San Francisco, Youth Speaks is empowering the next generation to talk about serious issues in society. They offer in school, after school, and online classes and resources. Their program has an international following and after watching this performance I hope we hear more from Youth Speaks. 

For more information about Youth Speaks, please visit the website (click here). 

Prepare to be blown away. 

This is an in your face piece that will not be forgotten. 

A Commercial for Empowerment

This is hands down the GREATEST commercial I have EVER seen!! 

The U.K. is leaps and bounds ahead of the U.S. and we need to catch up! Every women and teenage girl I know needs to see this video! Pass it on. 

I am right, huh? This is amazing!! Check out other great videos here and share with your friends and family. 

LOVE IT!!

Trust Me I Am A Brunette

     The influx of brunette women selling everything from car insurance to hair dye to burgers shows an extreme lack of diversity in the media.  My eyes hurt from their excessive rolling when another thin, perky, non-sexualized, white brunette woman comes on to sell me the latest product. In the fight for size diversity, the fight for hair color diversity got lost in the wake.

     This might be why the fight for size diversity in the media has been such a struggle. The media still believes brunettes are approachable and honest while blondes are only capable of being sexy. Never mind attempting to step away from the 'one body fits all' actor. I had thought society grew past the bias it has about hair color, apparently not.  There will be no change when we are still stuck on a basic idea that everyone trusts a brunette woman, blondes only sell sex, and what's a red head. 

    Enough Corporate America, we see your brunette non-sexualized woman, and although we have nothing against her, we are also over her. Let's shake it up a bit, shall we? Throw a blonde into your commercials and please leave off the cliché glasses and the hood of a car. Red hair, black hair, gray hair...are all great options to pick from and I bet if someone looked a little harder at the casting head shots you would find some great ladies to push your products happily. 

     Do not misunderstand me; I do not wish Flow to be fired or any of the other women that currently acts in the commercial. I would, however, like to see future commercials break out of the hair color mold. Yes, this means draping a brunette on the hood of a car and having a blonde sell me a phone.  We have to break the stereotype, once and for all, about hair color. Then we will tackle the sexualizing of women to sell products and the lack of size diversity. Today we start with Diversity 101.

    In the era of social media, we have a gift of making our voices heard. No longer do we have to sit back and just take what companies shove at us. We can take a stand and bring about change. How do we bring about hair color diversity? (Still can't believe this is an actual issue...) We SAY something! We light up Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, and Instagram photos with comments about the simple change of hair color diversity. Together we will bring this change into the media spotlight.