Imagine an aspiring food blogger, who works at a corporate job in a cubicle but dreams of one day writing her own cookbook. She listens to her heart and her love of animals and decides to go vegan, adopting a completely plant-based diet and loving the new foods she’s discovered. Along the way she discovers an amazing blog with a ton of vegan recipes – recipes that are so beautiful and delicious that she shares some with her mom in hopes that she’ll realize that being vegan isn’t restrictive.

And then a few months after she starts her website, it turns out that the blog that so inspired her actually looked at what she wrote, and gave her a shout-out in their space!

If you haven’t realized it by now, the aspiring food blogger is me, and the inspiration is Minimalist Baker. When I first went vegan, I wanted to show my mom how healthy and delicious being vegan could be, so I scoured the interwebs for visually appealing, plant-based recipes. MB’s roasted red pepper pasta was actually the first vegan recipe I ever sent to my mom! It’s amazing how much a simple recipe can mean to someone.

Unabashed fangirling aside, I want to take a moment to thank anyone reading this for taking time out of your day to stop by my little blog. This space here is a manifestation of my true passion in life, and it means so much to me that you’re reading my words and looking at my pictures. Through every post I try to pour a little more of my heart in here (as sentimental as that sounds!), so the fact that any of you are sharing this experience with me actually blows my mind.

And I also want to give a very special shout-out to my girl Jessie over at Faring Well, who answered about 3,000 emails from me gushing over her stunning photography and asking a million questions about photography and editing and whatnot. (But I’m not the only one who’s a fan – Faring Well won “Best New Voice” in the 2015 Saveur Blog Awards! Rock on, girl!)

To everyone else stopping by Well and Full – THANK YOU! :)

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Almost Raw Cranberry Vanilla Cookies

Caution: these cookies will make your hands sticky and your belly happy.

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 15 minutes minutes

Ingredients

• 1 Cup Dried Cranberries
• 1/2 Cup Walnuts
• 1/3 Cup Coconut Flakes
• 1/4 Cup Pepitas
• 2 Tbs Pure Maple Syrup
• 2 Tbs Water
• 1/8 Tsp Vanilla
• Sprinkle of Cinnamon

Instructions

• In a bowl, mix all ingredients until evenly combined.
• Add all ingredients to a food processor, and pulse until it becomes crumbly. You may need to scrape down sides if things start clumping together. The finished product should be a sticky “dough” that has little teeny bits of seeds and cranberries sticking together.
• Using an ice cream scoop (or your hands if you don’t have one!) portion out the cookies into little balls, about 1 – 1 1/2 inches in diameter.
• Using hands, flatten cookie balls into little cookie discs.
• Place cookies on a baking tray and stick in the freezer for a few hours so cookies can “set”.
• When ready to serve, take out from freezer a few minutes beforehand.
• Enjoy!

Song of the Day:

Shallows – Daughter