No Bake Chocolate Chip Cookies

Everytime I get a sweet tooth, I have to whip something up with any of the ingredients I have on hand. Usually I end up making a raw or no bake dessert, only requiring my food processor and some mixing by hand. If I have rolled oats and medjool dates in the house, I'm usually set. These cookies were the results of my sweet tooth while I was visiting my family in the burbs.

I just got back to the city last night after being home for July 4th and I must say, I didn't go nuts with eating junk food and not exercising. I worked out over most of my vacation and also tried to eat well, lay off processed foods, not eating more than I needed to etc. It helped that I saw a nutritionist while I was home. She gave me some pre and post workout meal and snack ideas as well as portions of breakfast, lunch and dinner meals that I usually have. Today I only had 1 tsp of coconut sugar in my oats and let's just say it was an adjustment! My goals are to lose weight while I'm training for my marathon, get off the sugar and have much more variety in my diet. I feel I should be eating alot healthier, given that I'm vegan, but I tend to eat the same thing and I'm very bored.

Which brings me to a life lesson and something I wish everyone knew: being vegan doesn't mean being healthy. It also doesn't mean you eat nothing but veggies. You CAN be a junk food vegan and not see any weight loss after adopting a vegan diet. You can eat crap whether you're an omnivore, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free...you get it. It's about what you're eating, how much sugar you are eating, your activity level, the processed food you're eating. Don't become vegan if you want to lose weight, you need to be vegan for more substantial, permanent reasons. Like animal rights.

So, if you are, right now, getting off the sugar, these cookies aren't bad, I would just leave out the chocolate chips (though that is the best part about them!). I didn't add sugar, instead I used dates and this recipe doesn't make a ton of cookies so you will be fine if you share them.

1 cup of rolled oats
2 tbsp of peanut butter
7 medjool dates, pitted
1/4 cup of dairy free chocolate chips

Put everything in your food processor except the chocolate chips and process on high. Hand mix in the chocolate chips and form the mixture into cookies or balls. Serve and refrigerate any leftovers. This recipe makes about 10 cookies depending on how big you make them.

Go over and like me on Facebook. Sometimes I post short recipes there and I don't blog them. Also, I post pics and articles on the fly, it's fun over there on my page!