Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies



Ingredients

1 cup creamy peanut butter (recipe called for creamy but I used crunchy since it was all I had and it worked out well. It added some extra crunch to the cookie).
1/3 cup agave nectar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup Dark chocolate mini chips (For those that are doing sugar free there are options for sugar free and dairy free chocolate chips. Or you can just leave this part out of the cookie).

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.
Combine all ingredients except chips until well blended
Use a mini ice cream scooper because the dough becomes very sticky! Place on ungreased cookie sheets (12 to a sheet) - do not flatten.
Bake 10 minutes or until puffed and golden. Cool on wire rack for at least 5 minutes before removing from cookie sheet (they will be very soft).

Note: 
* I love warm baked cookies but these cookies are actually better the next day once fully cooled. I gave them to some of my high school students and they were surprised that they had no flour or sugar in them.


* Also try them with a glass of almond milk. :) 

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

The story behind my Blog

Let me preface this blog by clarifying that I am not a writer or even a good speller for that matter. Those are not one of the gifts that God has given me. Even so I am starting this blog to document the journey that God has for me. I am such a foodie and my husband and I love trying new food. We love eating out, he loves to cook, and I love to bake. We are avid watchers of the cooking channels. We consider food much of the time to be an adventure. I have many memories surrounding wonderful foods in my family that have become traditions.  I am Italian and Greek so enough saidJ.
I feel like throughout life we are all tested in many ways that help us grow to hopefully be better people in the end. So when I learned that for my health I needed to go on a strict food regimen I wanted to make sure to turn this trial into a learning experience for myself. As I mentioned before food means a whole lot to me and my family and I know that this experience will be a challenge. But I also know that it can be a growing experience to help me be healthy and to rely more on the Lord for strength and guidance. So I decided to start this blog. For me in order to remember this journey, or life experience I needed to write it down. I need to be able to look back and see how far I have come. Being that my carrer choice is a counselor emotion, being real, and growing as a person are very important to me. I plan to be real with where I am at in this journey and how I am feeling. I LOVE food so I know that I will struggle at times with how strict this diet is, obviously you don’t have to read this part of the blog, but I hope if you do read it you will gain courage to be healthy too.
I am writing this blog for not just myself as I mentioned previously but also to encourage others to be healthy. There are many reasons why wheat and sugar are not good for anyone to eat large amounts of. Sadly I noticed in my diet that the majority of my food was sugar, since carbs turn into sugar. Basically I am a certified sugar-aholic J, and my friends and family certainly know that. I will be posting many different things to help us all eat healthy. I will be posting recipes that I try that are gluten, diary, and sugar free. I will post other blogs or websites that I find useful. I will also update on my gardening experience in the spring. Hopefully these can be of help to us all in being healthier.
 Quick background in case you wanted to know why I am starting this food regimen. I was recently told by my doctor that I have endometriosis. It sounds like such a big scary word that can be the cause of a lot of health issues. But after reading about the symptoms I am relieved to finally have an answer to many of my health issues I have dealt with for a long time. I am also so blessed that my health issues are not life or death. So many people are going through extreme health issues that require extreme medical treatments and a lot of faith. Thank you God that I am still blessed with good health. Quick side note: (If you happen to be reading this and going through a difficult time with your health please know that God is with you. He can help you, draw strength and piece from Him).  Through my research and through the help of a friend, I stumbled across a lot of information linking diet and eating habits to problems for those with endometriosis. I am going off of sugar, gluten, red meat, soy, caffeine, and dairy. It is kind of overwhelming but I am confident that with support I can stick to it. Plus feeling better every day will definitely keep me going. Thanks if you are reading this and giving me support. We all need the extra support in life. Hopefully this blog will inspire you to eat healthy and to take care of the gift of life God has given us all.

Love,
Stacey Gerh♥rt