I have my emotional ups and downs with Facebook. For those with addictive personalities (like myself) it is a time suck and I feel I could be doing something much more beneficial for my family, community or world. Though I guess being as I don’t watch television I should allow myself chill out time. On the other hand, Facebook has allowed many of us to find a world-wide vegan community with like thoughts, which I feel makes it easier for many vegans who might be alone push through. Another aspect of Facebook that may be positive or negative depending on your perspective is reconnecting with old friends.

Hubby, who grew up in Chicago and moved away after high school has been able to reconnect with some of his old friends. This weekend one of them came to Seattle with his son’s band which happens to be the straight edge vegan punk band Poison Planet. We had the opportunity to show them around Seattle yesterday and are headed down to Olympia, WA to see them perform this evening. Don’t worry, earplugs are packed.

Despite what you may think about straight edge or punk for that matter these kids are a great influence on our little vegan. They are anti-drugs. They are making a political stand via their music. Plus they are vegan!

Having been in the music industry and around a lot of starving musicians we love feeding them especially home cooked food! Today we have been putting together a bag of food including homemade pudding cookies. These cookies are easy, moist and there are tons of different varieties you can make. We made one batch with vanilla pudding and chocolate chips. The second batch we used chocolate pudding with a mix of chocolate, peanut butter and white chocolate chips (because I didn’t have enough of any of them for a full batch) which was our favorite.

Ingredients (Makes 48 cookies)

2 tbsp flax meal
6 tbsp water
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 pkg. vegan pudding mix (we like Dr. Oetker’s)
1/2 cup vegan butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups chips of choice (chocolate, white chocolate, peanut butter)

Mix flax meal with water and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cover cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a small bowl mix flour, pudding mix and baking soda. Set aside.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer or smart stick mix sugar, butter and flax. Add flour mix in 1/4 cup at a time. Mix until well blended. Stir in chips.

Spoon rounded tsp of batter two inches apart onto prepared pans. Bake 10 – 12 minutes. 10 for softer cookie, 12 for crisper cookie. Cool on pan 2-3 minutes. Move to cooling racks. If you are able to have extras save in airtight container.

We also packed:

Smokey Pecans on Lavash

Anzia’s Paprika Dip