Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I am going to start posting recipes for my friends to get the started on cooking vegetarian and/or vegan at my woman's groups request.

I am going to start with:



Oatmeal Chocolate (or carob if you are hard core vegan) Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup margarine/butter or dairy-free margarine (Earth Balance is good)
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
4 Tablespoons water
2 Tablespoons flaxseed meal
2 cups white flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups oats
1 package chocolate chips/carob chips

Directions:
Oven 375
Mix together water and flaxseed, set aside for 3-5 minutes
Mix up margarine, sugars
Stir in flaxseed mixture
add vanilla
Blend
Put in all of the dry ingredients. Add the oats and chips last

Roll into little balls, put on a baking sheet

Bake 8-12 minutes

Enjoy with a glass of soy milk

My generation has different priorities.

Sitting down to coffee with a college senior is always an adventure. After the sweaty hand shake and the introductions, most quickly warm up after I tell them about my husband, dog & adventure finding parking at their campus. Almost unilaterally soon-to-be grads are really excited about life, their potential and are totally petrified. They are facing the reality of leaving the bubble of higher-ed and all of its amenities (How many of us wish every now and then for that dinning hall downstairs that we bemoaned daily in college?) to face rent, loan payoff & the career ladder climb at which most are reaching for the very bottom rung.

It is amazing how quickly sharing some of the statistics of the national achievement gap can change the direction of the conversation. When I tell my “prospects” that 50% of students going to low-income schools won’t graduate from high school and those that do are reading on a 8^th grade reading level upon entering college, eyes pop, and jaws drop. They are shocked that they were the lucky ones to be born in the right zip-code to be afforded the opportunity to not only graduate from high school, but to go on and be successful at a prestigious four-year institution.

That is when you see my generation. The generation that won’t stand for this kind of injustice. I have seen a student with a 3.9 cumulative GPAs, holding an offer from a prominent consulting firm lay that aside for the children of our country. And he was not the exception.

With affluence & recognition within sight, the young leaders of our country are being called to something different; they are taking a radical stand for justice and equity in our country. They believe in the ideals that our nation touts, equal opportunity for all. And they are willing to make the opportunity a reality.

This year alone, I saw over 60 top college graduates turn down or defer offers from the government, graduate schools and high-paying job opportunities. They did so to fight for what they and I believe is vital to the elimination of poverty in our country, American children's access to an excellent education.

The next two posts

I thought actually writing my blogs on a blog... might be helpful. The following two posts are for a proposal to a large faith-based, political organization for their online blog for my work. I will probably delete them, so if you read them, read quickly, they are going to dissappear soon!

One Day of the Iraq War= 84 New Elementary Schools

As I sipped on my non-fat mocha while doing my very radical job of recruiting college students, I came across a banner presentation in the lobby of the school where I am meeting with students to compell them to make an impact... (I leave my actual job off this Blog, because I don't want them to read my blog because I want the freedom too be political, not politically correct and well, open!

So anywho, I saw this incredible horrible poster display and decided that I would take time to reflect on each poster that I saw, to somehow gain the collective conscience of this tragedy. What would 84 elementary schools do... well since I work with schools and teachers I know that true experience of having a new school. It raises the moral of the teachers, students & parents. It is a home to 200-500 children during the day and can literally be a safe haven, a place to raise up future leaders and a place to open minds. One of the things that I think about often is that bumper sticker that says "Won't it be a great day when the Pentagon has to hold bake sales to raise money and schools no longer have to?"

The injustice of the federal budget is beyond my comprehension. I just wonder what I can do about it. Is it enough to vote for "change" this upcoming election, or is something more drastic needed? I have protested at the Pentagon & on the green in D.C., but I am not convinced that this was enough. I know I will be added this to my prayers and maybe that is the most powerful thing I can do.

Easter and my attitude during familiy gatherings

My dog is on his back, paws stretched out, belly exposed, smiling. It looks like a picture of peace but total awkwardness at the same time. Most dogs don't sleep like this. They ball up or lay on their side. Not Sam. He is Mr. Luxury, his back paw is about 6 inches from my chin and he is taking up much more than his fair share of the couch.

Today was Easter and almost the whole family was here to eat and hunt eggs and dye eggs and play euchre and pet Sam. No wonder he is luxuriating on the couch, he has been in paradise all day. Why do we do family gatherings? They seem so stressful to everyone involved. I am happy to see these folks that I love, but when they all get together, I get stressed. It isn't fair to Jon or to my guests. It is this insane obsession I have with 100% unity, which I am not sure can be obtained when you bring two pretty different families together. Throw in the mix a sensitive person or two, an exhausted one, a dominant mama or two, and two or three men who all they want to do is please the women and keep the peace. When do we get past these underlying issues? I am not sure this is the way it is suppose to be, but I guess it might be this way when mixing any group of people.

I also have to have everything perfect when our families are here. I want every detail attended to and every person with a smile constantly. This just isn't fair to me or my guests. What is this a result of? On holidays, I want to be like Sam. Totally relaxed, enjoying the TRUE MEANING of the holiday- that the battle of my salvation has been won. I want to be belly up in the lap of a loved one not concerned with what others are thinking. I think it could happen, I am going to work towards this.

SNR - Saturday Night Reflect

It has been a good week. Really good. Got to connect with my peeps, hang-out with friends in between working, do some mentoring, drink coffee, eat yummy dinners with recruits and have a pretty balanced life. I am not sure how to handle all of this freedom of only working 9 hours a day! I run with my dog, clean, call friends & meet up with folks for coffee. Wow, this is the life.

Today I confessed to my husband and now I will confess to the world, aka, the 2 people that read this blog, that I am really struggling with a temptation to turn from God and lean into personal success, fashion, and beauty instead of pushing hard into God. I just want the world all of a sudden. Gross, right? I am a glutton for stuff. I want an unending bank account, a size 6 body and a blemish-free, shimmering complexion. I want cute purses, high-heeled shoes and a car that turns heads. I want a horse farm with lots of room for my dog to run. And I want horses, and kids, and things for the kids, and cute clothes and I want I want I want I WANT!

Jon & I would say this is my id screaming out for attention. It is. It is my immature, media brain-washed, Americanized, stuff-saturated id making me sound gross. This really isn't what I want. I actually want all of the above and unlimited access to Starbuck (- the fat and calories and just the deep coffee flavors washing over me) BUT NO! I don't want these things. I want world peace, I want our resources to be shared more justly, I want educational equity, I want justice & the human rights of every person to be honored. I want to start schools in Africa. I want to find homes for homeless animals, I want to be green. I want to turn the tide. This is my super-ego talking. What is the truth? Is is somewhere in between?

Why whine little dog?

When I am not on college campuses meeting with students, I work from home. It is nice, I have schedule flexibility, can throw laundry in when I want, wear what I want, meet my husband for my lunch, drop everything and go to the mall... I get to listen to my own music, sit where I want, lay on the couch and work, so many beautiful benefits. There is one thing that is not working for me. The whinny dog. I am on conference calls 40% of the time and a barking, whining dog is no good. I have to continually apologize. I love Sam. If you know me, you know that I LOVE SAM. But even when he gets a run in the morning, he whines and whines and whines for no apparent reason.

Right now, he is in the back-yard barking. He is probably making the neighbors mad and waking up the new baby next year. But I am so frustrated that I just need some space from that whinny little guy.

How can I get him to stop whining? I have tried, tried, tried with treats, toys and all sorts of other tricks, and unless I want my dog to hit 100 pounds, I can't keep shoving treats into his mouth. I have got to get him to stop. He is driving me insane!!!!!!!

Planning

I have learned that if you pray for God to reveal what he wants done today, he will actually tell you. It may not be what you want to hear, but if you do it there is great peace.

If you plan to be generous on a budget level, the time and money will be there.

--Jon