And just like that, I have been gone for five days!
To be fair though, it was birthday weekend. That's right, my baby girl turned eighteen Sunday. I can't believe I am the parent of an adult! Like all other adults before me, I keep saying to myself, Where did that go?
But my musings on having an adult child are for another post...
Anyway, since I have been stricken with some extra awesome Hashimoto's Hypothyroid symptoms as of late, I have been doing my best to limit so-called inflammatory trigger foods.
Some of the most Hashi's triggering foods are also some of my favorites: gluten, dairy, and soy. Sigh.
Dairy has been outta my diet since January 18th, and this week I am eliminating gluten. Next week will be dairy, gluten, and soy-free, and the week after that I am doing a full 30 day AIP protocol menu to see if I can give my poor glands and gut a break and a bit of a reset. We'll see how that works.
But here's the thing, I really, really want to feel better, so it doesn't feel too deprivation-y to eliminate foods in a quest to heal my body. It's kinda exciting actually because it gives me a chance to be creative and come up with tasty things that I can eat.
Like the following peanut butter cookies. My friends, these are super yum! Like, I want to go eat a couple now.
And filling, there's a ton of protein in them, and I don't feel like a bloated, inflamed pile of a gargoyle after enjoying a couple. Win!
Ingredients-wise, this recipe doesn't call for anything too exotic. Defatted peanut butter powder is available pretty much everywhere these days, which is a nice development, because a decade ago I had to special order the stuff.
I started my cookie journey by putting some PB2 peanut butter powder (the sugar-free, stevia sweetened kind) in a bowl along with some water.
At this point I will freely admit that the resulting goo looked a lot like what used to come out of the south end of bottle baby goats, but I didn't let that dissuade me.
I then added some stevia syrup and some actual peanut butter. Maple syrup would be just dandy as the sweetener portion of this recipe, but I am staying far away from any sugar things right now.
Another ingredient added at that point was vanilla extract, and I had some homemade bourbon vanilla extract to use that a dear friend made and gifted me for Christmas. YAY!
Then I arrived at the binder and leavening part of my experimental cookie fest. In my pantry area I have a large sack of gluten-free Bob's Red Mill oats. I got out my daughter's Magic Bullet and blended some of those oats until they were of a flour-like consistency.
After I mixed in my fresh oat flour, the other half of the peanut butter powder, the baking powder, and a pinch of salt, I have to say, the cookie dough was looking very cookie dough-ish.
I also am not ashamed to say I tasted it for quality control reasons...
Onto my parchment-lined baking sheet I placed Tablespoon sized balls of dough, flattened them slightly with a greased baking cup bottom, and did the ol' cross hatched fork treatment to the tops of my cookies. You know, because they were peanut butter cookies.
Now, these cookies do not bake long at all. I baked mine for seven minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. And it is essential that you let them cool a bit before eating them, lest they fall apart.
But holy tastiness! They are so yummy! And since they have a reasonably high protein content thanks to all that glorious peanut butter and powder, let's just say they are very filling!
I think I am going to go eat one now!
Peanuty Protein Cookies
2/3 cup PB2 peanut butter powder (divided)
4 TBSP water
1/4 stevia syrup (or maple syrup if not sugar-free)
1/4 cup peanut butter (I used Adams)
1/2 cup oat flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extractPreheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a mixing bowl, add 1/3 cup peanut butter powder and the water. Stir until combined.
Next, add the peanut butter, syrup, and vanilla. Stir well.
Add and mix in the oat flour, remaining 1/3 cup PB2, baking powder, and salt. Stir until dough comes together.
Roll 1 TBSP pieces of dough into balls and place on parchment-lined cookie sheet. Flatten dough balls a bit before crosshatching with a fork.
Bake for 6-8 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on pan for a few minutes before moving cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
Enjoy! This recipe makes 12 cookies.
And as most of the time, all of the images in this post were taken on the author's always allergen-free iPhone.