Sweetness

This past year, I have devoted my time in the kitchen to strictly vegan cooking, and that has proven to be a wonderful gift to my body - I'm feeling healthier than I ever have in my life. The cookbook will feature vegan versions of most recipes, including desserts. This will be an interesting feature of the book, and I wonder what my great grandmother would think. I know she would be pleased that I'm doing what feels right for my body and life in the 21st century.

Healthy desserts was the focus of the last week of my cooking classes, and I set out to prepare 6-7 desserts over a couple of days. When it came time to start baking, I had two thoughts - 1). I don't bake much because I have never enjoyed sweet foods or desserts - granulated sugar and the like is just too sweet for me, and I've never really enjoyed ice cream. (I know what you're thinking at this point, and that's okay). 2). My firm belief in the detriment of western desserts loaded with butter, processed sugar, corn syrup, and all- purpose flour, led me to stay clear of desserts in general.

So, there I was in the kitchen with a bias against desserts needing to teach others how to bake them. Onward and upward is my motto, so I put my thoughts aside and proceeded with the vegan desserts: chocolate chip cookies, coconut cookies, "white" cake with a lemon sauce and poached pears, pumpkin squares, and baked buckwheat with apples and blueberries. (My inspiration for these recipes come directly from the cookbooks written by Christina Pirello - check her out.) To my surprise and delight, the desserts turned out wonderful. I was pleased, and the students enjoyed them.

I decided to read the section in one of the cookbooks where Ms. Pirello writes about the need for desserts in our life and the need for regular sweetness - those are my words. She was talking literally and figuratively, and I connected with her words immediately, knowing there was a significant message for me. Her words were in the back of mind as I baked, but I didn't spend time reflecting on them until the class was over. Actually, when I started really understanding her words was somewhere in the middle of this week, around Monday, when my husband and I had finished the coconut cookies, the chocolate chip cookies, and were half way through the cake and pumpkin squares. We haven't had that much dessert in the house since our Christmas party 5 years ago.

I noticed how much I was enjoying having these sweet and healthy treats in the house. Well, it's been 8 days since my class, and I decided to weigh myself today. Now, there is actually more to this story that I will write about at another time, but let me just say that the stars have been aligned in this direction all year. I got on the scale, and this past week, I lost 7 pounds.

Now, I'm not consciously trying to lose weight. I do watch what I eat, and I eat exceedingly healthy foods. I walk and do yoga, and I spent an entire week eating desserts everyday - sometimes for breakfast in place of my usual buckwheat and blueberries, and I'm 7 pounds lighter. I get how that happened, and I'm hoping you do, too.

I told a friend today how much I enjoyed having those vegan sweets in the house. Synchronistically, I made a wonderful connection this week with a woman who owns her own business. I'll be teaching monthly cooking classes at her place beginning in January, and that is just pure fun for me - more sweetness.

We really do need sweet stuff in our lives, and healthy desserts remind us of the joy that's available to us when life is in balance. Tonight, I passed by a local health food market and bought organic pumpkin for more pumpkin squares. They're just delicious - whole wheat pastry crust, pumpkin with cinnamon and amasake, topped with pecans. Yum!


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