Pecan Cookies

I'm reading "The Schwartzbein Principal", because of my blood sugar concerns. It says carbohydrates must be eaten together with protein and fat to avoid a large insulin reaction, and also to prevent accelerated muscle loss. So fruit and cheese or peanut butter is better than fruit alone, and any sweet craving should also be satiated with protein and fat.

It's made me decide these nut cookies can be a great between meal snack to keep my blood sugar up (letting it dip too low slows the metabolism, and causes release of adrenaline which is hard on the thyroid and adrenals), due to the protein in the nuts and the high fat content, which is supposed to make them very filling.

I decided to experiment with different kinds of nuts so last night I picked up some pecans and some pumpkin seeds. Last night I made pecan cookies.

The pecans are really hard to grind in the blender because they are such an oily nut (but it's high in omega-3, which is great because it reduces inflammation!). To do again, I'd chop them first so there are no large pieces. You can't sift these either with a regular sifter, you have to use your hands to feel out the chunks to throw back in the blender for another go. Link to health info. on pecans.

The cookies turned out FABULOUS! They are a rich dark brown like molasses cookies and the flavor is very buttery like the ideal Pecan Sandie.

I used 1/2 stick butter (but I think less would be better),
1 1/4 cups pecans, ground in the blender to a paste/flour consistency,
2 tablespoons honey,
1 egg,
1 tsp baking soda,
1/4 tsp salt.

I mixed the ingredients, baked by teaspoonfuls on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper at 375 for around 7 min. (until they started to brown). These get darker as they cool. I got 17 cookies.

Yesterday I had:
Snack - yogurt, orange juice, and berry smoothie
Breakfast - eggs with cheese
Snack - dried date, apple and celery with peanut butter
Lunch - chicken vegetable soup
Supper - roasted chicken, lettuce wedge with salt
Snack - pecan cookies

I found out my scale was not level and I've actually lost 5 lb, I think some of it is water weight because I was bloated but now I'm not. The bloating was part of the reason I started the SCD diet, and I'm glad to see it go! Friday I was sick and laid around all day but by mid-Saturday I'd fully recovered and had lots of energy.