I have been spending quite a bit of time in my kitchen experimenting, creating, and adjusting recipes — new ones, old ones, never-tried before ones.  Conclusion, I LOVE cooking!!!!

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been taking a variety of workshops from Meghan Telpner (author of Undiet).  This week I took the “Smoothie on Up, Juice It On Down.”  I was inspired to concoct a smoothie with some very interesting  ingredients.  Think watermelon, lemon, Earl Grey rooibos tea, and spinach.

Smoothies are an awesome way to incorporate whole foods with all the fibre into a complete balanced meal — well, it is a complete meal as long as protein and healthy fats are added to the carb mix.  Unlike juicing, smoothies keep their fibre.

I have been experimenting with cookies from Julie Corbett called Raw Cookie Book: Naturally Delicious Superfood Infused Sweets.  My creations have been delightful easy to make and of course, tasty too.  Our latest favourite recipe is “Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies.”  I had to do some “changes” because I was missing a few things.  I used grated ginger for the ginger powder.  Did you know that 1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger is equal to 1 teaspoon of powder?  Then Corbett’s recipe called for ashwagandha extract powder, I knew that wasn’t in my pantry.  I have a lot of unusual things, but this I did not have.  First, I looked up online to find out what is was and to decide if I could simply omit it.  According to WebMD, “ashwagandha is … used as an ‘adaptogen’ to help the body cope with daily stress, and as a general tonic.”  Okay, this is not a make or break ingredient.  I decided to leave it out.  This raw cookie also called for lucuma.  I know, I can hear you say it already — “What is that?”  Lucuma is a low glycemic sweetener of sorts that adds a slight caramel flavour.  Nutrient-wise, lucuma is fibre-rich, contains B3 (niacin), iron, carotene and antioxidants.  I would suggest you find this book for more superfood cookie recipes.  Light Cellar in Calgary carries this gem of a book.