We have made it through our CRAP free month! It went by scarily fast, and we weathered it much better than expected. Neither of us had any detox symptoms, which was encouraging since it means we clearly weren’t as physiologically dependent on caffeine, sugar or alcohol as we feared. What was interesting though was to see the habitual triggers which made us think about giving in to any of these vices. For me, it was our Thursday night grocery shopping which made me want to drink. (Why can’t one store just have everything? Just once?!) For Josh, it was reaching the end of work on Friday. I craved coffee every weekend, because that’s the only time we drink it. Josh wanted junk food whenever he felt bored. As for procrastination, well, we did our best to give that up too. Josh signed up to do the Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer (if you want to donate, click here) and I started a project at work I’d been thinking about for over a year. Acknowledging the temptations to cheat was the most important part of letting go, and after four weeks we feel like our perspective on our habits has shifted to a healthier place. It wasn’t at all what we thought we’d get out of our CRAP-free month, but being surprised has actually made it better!
To celebrate, I did a little bit of baking. We’ve got to live a little, after all! Two years ago an especially charming patient brought these cookies into work as a thank-you present. She was so disappointed that Josh couldn’t eat them (the originals were full of gluten) that she later brought in the recipe for me to tweak. It was titled Jade’s Healthy Cookies, and the printed ingredients and method had been heavily modified, crossed out and scrawled over in the patient’s wobbly grandmother writing. Her name wasn’t Jade, and she couldn’t remember who Jade was, if she ever knew. Since we can’t use her real name anyway, and because Josh’s niece is named Jade, we kept the name as-is. It seems fitting that a recipe of spatula-licking good cookies be named for a happy preschooler.
Next time you want to lift office morale, or just your own, these will do the trick. They double as energy-dense power food, so Josh will be taking some along on his ride in June. The recipe makes a huge batch, around 60 cookies, and they freeze really well.
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup Earth Balance margarine, room temperature
- 3/4 cup palm sugar
- 3/4 cup honey
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 cup almond butter
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup brown rice flour
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 1/2 cup potato starch
- 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 cup coconut
- 1 cup quinoa flakes
- 1 cup GF rice crisp cereal
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 3/4 cup sunflower seeds
- 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
- 1/3 cup hemp hearts
- 1/3 cup ground flax
Preparation:
Preheat your oven to 350°F. Cream butter, palm sugar, honey and olive oil in a mixer on medium speed. Add almond butter, vanilla and eggs, beat until smooth. Sift flours, potato starch, baking soda, baking powder and xanthan gum into a small bowl. Add to creamed mixture in batches, mixing until smooth. You will have a sticky batter, and I take mine off the mixer at this point and do the rest with a wooden spoon. Mix in the coconut, quinoa flakes, and rice crisps. Fold in remaining ingredients until well mixed. The batter will be chunky, but will hold together when rolled. With wet hands, roll the dough into 3cm (1.5″) balls and place on parchment lined baking sheets. Stick any chocolate chips or cranberries that fall out back onto the top of the ball. The cookies don’t spread much so you can place them within 2-3cm of each other. Bake for 8-9 minutes, or until the bottoms are golden brown. Carefully transfer the cookies to a cooling rack. I only have two baking sheets, so it takes three batches to get through all the dough (even with me eating it raw!)
Bon appétit!