Pumpkin Pancakes Vegan Style

Day 2 of my Vegan Adventure....

I've had some Organic Pumpkin from TJ's in my cupboard the past few months and thought I should finally put it to use. After a little google search I cam across Vegan Housewives, and a recipe for pumpkin pancakes.

After tasting the first few, I decided to add a bit more pumpkin, spices and sugar. I think next time I try them I'll add some cooked oatmeal and oat flour as well. I could really taste the whole wheat flour which I'm not used to quite yet. 

Some inspiration for keeping on the diet, "This is not a diet. This is a way of life. A way to enjoy food. A way to feel healthy, clean, energized and pure. It's time to reclaim your mind and body. If you feel like you are 'giving up' your favorite foods, keep in mind that you're not giving up anything. You are simply empowering yourself to make educated, controlled choices about what you will and won't put into your body."

Going Vegan...for 3 weeks

Perhaps not for life...but at least for the next 3 weeks.

Why? Multiple documentaries and books have inspired me to try a plant-based diet, omitting animal products that contribute to heart disease, high blood pressure, cholesterol and cancer. To start with, I watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, which is all about a guy losing tons of weight and reducing health risks through juicing fresh fruits and veggies...for EVERY meal! Now that's a little extreme and not really my taste, but the take home message for me was the need to increase the amount of fruits and vegetables in my diet and cut out the fried/fatty food.

Then one of my good friends told me about the documentary, Forks over Knives, which promotes a plant-based diet that omits animal protiens/products that have been shown to correlate with increased cancer incidence. A vegan diet will not only decrease your risk of developing cancer, but will also drastically lower your cholesterol, risk of heart disease, and diabetes. After watching the film, I was intrigued, but not quite ready to commit.

I was flirting with the idea of trying the diet for a few weeks, when my vegan friend, Mollie and I made dinner one night. We made a recipe from a cookbook by Alicia Silverstone, who is a well-known vegan...she is a bit extreme and even chews up food and spits it into her baby's mouth. Click here for a video from ABC. Jimmy Kimmel frequently asks parents "prank" their kids and upload videos to youtube for special segments on his show...his lastest..."Hey Jimmy Kimmel, I Silverstoned my Kids!" too funny!

Back to the original purpose of my post....

The dinner that Mollie and I made was delicious and more nutritious than a typical meal I might make. I liked it because of the variety of flavor and it was light...it didn't sit in my stomach and make me feel heavy and full. So after another week or too of flirting with the idea I checked out a book from the library, by Dr. Neal Barnard and was convinced to try a three-week vegan diet. I'm scheduled to get my cholesterol checked next week and hope to have it checked again in a month to see if my cholesterol levels decrease at all (I have atypically high levels due to familial inheritance).

I plan on posting along the way, so check back in for inspiration and recipes!

Spring has arrived!

Can it be true? Spring in February? 

The rain is falling and my garden is growing! Trees are blossoming and birds are singing! I guess Spring comes a bit earlier here in San Diego :)