My mom says that life is too short to waste on ugly cookies, but lately, especially after learning about the influences on our biochemistry of sugar, gluten and the glycemic load of some foods, I've been thinking that maybe life is too short to waste on cookies at all. I can think of at least a few things in life that I like way more than cookies.

Even so, I'm especially vulnerable to a good old fashioned cookie craving. It's familiar territory and I succumb to it more often than I'm proud to admit.

My solution? I made a cookie with nothing in it. I'll wean myself from these unhealthy habits with Nothing Cookies!

Obviously, they're not made of nothing because, there you see them right before you (Upper left, see? They're giving you a friendly wave now.). These cookies are gluten-free, sugar-free, dairy-free and vegan, which makes it sound like there must not be anything in them. But, actually there is stuff in them, and these things are pretty gosh-darn awesome, especially in regard to blood sugar regulation.

Replacing flour with steel cut oats reduces the glycemic load of the cookie, which means it won't make your poor liver and pancreas perform acrobatics around each other to manage the sweetness in your belly. Instead of sugar, banana is used, which admittedly has quite a lot of sugar itself, but at least it comes with a bunch of vitamins and minerals especially vitamin C and B6. Almond butter, here used as the oil source, endows the cookie with the protective powers of nuts, which have been shown to reduce the risk of type II diabetes when eaten regularly. Cinnamon is used by herbalists, Naturopathic doctors and in some nutriceuticals to help the body balance blood sugar. I used raisins out of convenience (which also unfortunately have a pretty high glycemic load), but a superfood cookie would instead don dried berries, like blackberries or blueberries, which are full of antioxidants and are suspected to help out with blood sugar balance.

Of course, eating these cookies as second lunch isn't going to help anyone's blood sugar. I think of it as training wheels--when I'm about to cave and reach for a sugary snack, having one of these around could save the day.

Nothing Cookies

4 super ripe bananas
1/2 cup almond butter (I suppose you could use peanut butter, which would make it a very peanutbuttery cookie.)
1/2 cup raisins or dried berries
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons freshly ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups steel cut oats
1/2 cup coconut

Mash the bananas in a bowl until they become syrupy, add the almond butter, vanilla, cinnamon, baking soda and salt with the bananas and combine. Mix in the oats and coconut. Press this dough onto a baking sheet covered by parchment paper. Bake until the cookies are slightly golden at the edges, 15-20 minutes, at 350˚F. Freeze for emergencies.

I know since you saw my last post about these charming little nut crunchies, that you wanted a little flair. Some color. A firework to help you understand why I would devote a whole post to some chopped up nuts.

Well, here it is. Pickled beet, avocado and something-that-reminds-me-of-bacon salad. It works for winter because California avocados are actually in season around this time of year, and it's a good time to finish up any canned food on hand, before the fields and markets become populated again with fresh local produce. Also, nuts are amazing, if you hadn't heard.

Here's the recipe, but the first step is to curry enough favors from your friends until someone eventually gives you homemade pickled beets. This is when you've finally made it in this world. (Thanks for the beets, Eric!) 

Pickled Beet, Avocado and Nut Crunchy Salad

3/4 cup chopped pickled beets, gifted by a friend
1 ripe avocado
2 tablespoons nut crunchies (see recipe here)

Combine the ingredients. Do your best to share if anyone else is around.