Frustration Comes Easily to Those Seeking to Live as a Vegan on a Paleo Diet

I don't think there's any way around it:  in order to give this Paleo Diet a good shake, I'd been consuming vast quantities of animal products (mostly eggs and cheese).  Since seeing "Cowspiracy," however, I've been reminded that although I can claim to be an environmental activist, in the eyes of the makers of that particular movie, I am not an environmentalist because I still consume animals and animal products.  I talked with Peter about that, and he researched and wrote about the topic on his blog:
http://ecoscienceblogdotcom.wordpress.com

Like many activists, the makers of this particular film are messianic.  They are on a "mission from god" (apologies to Jake and Elwood):  to convert/convince as many people as possible to follow their creed (veganism).  I admit freely that I was really taken in by the emotional appeal of the movie, and it was well-produced.  However, while watching it, I thought that the filmmakers were not entirely fair to the environmental groups they interviewed and excoriated.

I made a substitution of coconut flour in some muffins this morning.  Unfortunately, I only used half as much coconut flour as I ought to have, because the muffins resembled certain English breakfast puddings that Peter'd had in the past.  They tasted very nice, though.  When I am successful at making them into actual muffins, I'll post the recipe here.  In the meantime, here is a soft cookie:

Chocolate-Cherry Cookies

4 oz. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
4 oz. candied cherries, chopped well

1+1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1/4 c. a-p flour
1/4 c. garbanzo bean flour (I used Bob's Red Mill)
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t salt

1 large egg
4 oz. butter, melted and cooled
3 T. buttermilk (I used low-fat)
2 t. vanilla extract
1 t. almond extract
3 T brown sugar (you can use less, since the cherries and chocolate chips are plenty sweet)

1 banana, mashed

Preheat oven to 350 F.  line baking sheets with silicone liners or parchment.

In a medium-sized bowl, combine flours, baking powder, and salt.  Stir with whisk to blend.

In a large bowl, beat the egg lightly, then add buttermilk, butter, and extracts.  Beat these well.

Add the dry ingredients, half at a time, mixing well and making sure there are no lumps.  Add mashed banana, and mix well.  Stir in chopped cherries and chocolate chips.  The batter will resemble a typical chocolate chip cookie batter, but with red specks of cherries in it.

I used a 2t measuring spoon to scoop the batter into cookies, using a silicone spatula (a small one) to scoop it out and place it in rows on the baking sheets.  I used two 17x12 (residential oven-sized) baking sheets, and made about 51 cookies (I'd made three trays of a dozen each and one with fifteen).

Bake for about 10-12 minutes, until cookies are set.  These cookies don't seem to brown very much with that amount of time, but they're still fully-baked.