Vegan Cookie Bliss

Before I rave about this blissful foodie experience, let me tell you what has led me to it. I was recently diagnosed with PCOS – a  mild version of it. PCOS is Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and it is fairly common among women, especially younger women. Um, I’m not that young – well, that’s an ongoing debate I have with myself regularly- and I’m facing an interesting choice at the moment. I have been doing a lot of research about alleviating symptoms naturally, as opposed to taking medication. I read many articles that support the idea of following a gluten-free diet, which can help with the onset of symptoms. I’ve posted before that we are a gluten-free household, well, for the most part. I have a daughter who is allergic to many foods, with wheat/gluten being her most severe allergy. As a result, we all try to eat gluten-free as much as possible. I also try to eat dairy free, as recent research has revealed that dairy can exacerbate and cause many illnesses. My dilemma is that I love cheese, I think I might do a post on cheese, no, really, I adore cheese. I have been trying a drunken goat cheese from Spain soaked in Madeira wine and er, well, it is delicious. I like to think goat’s cheese is better than dairy. I could go on and on… As for not drinking milk, I find rice and oat milk are better with chocolate – if I could survive on it, I would. It may not be the milk of choice for everyone, though um, if you give it a try, I guarantee it is quite good.

I am always on the hunt for gluten-free food and there aren’t many restaurants/ cafés that promote a whole gluten-free menu, where I live. When my friend mentioned we should try Lydia’s Sunflower café in Petaluma, Northern California, lets just say, we both er, felt a certain compulsion to eat there. Tucked away, inconspicuously, in a corner of an office building, you’d never know it was even there. The menu is fantastic, a foodie haven, where everything is raw – um, no not as in raw eggs etc. it’s vegan, but they use pure raw ingredients. I had the most delicious, giant, decadent flourless chocolate chip cookie, made of grated zucchini, and a couple of other mysterious and sumptuous ingredients – yuck! you say. Not so. You do not taste the zucchini. I am still trying to decipher.. not that it’s a secret code or anything like that, but I literally broke the cookie into bits, to see what I could find. I think there were some grated carrots too. All I tasted was this incredible chocolate and vanilla flavor. I also had a hot chocolate with coconut milk – it was smooth, with a touch of nutmeg and cinnamon or some other spice. It wasn’t overwhelming, it was just right. I hope you enjoy the photos. I am going to break down the recipe as soon as I can, when I do, I will definitely share.