My favorite procrastination activity has always been baking, procrastabaking if you will. The kitchen is my favorite place of creative outlet. When I need time to decompress, Alex usually finds me putzing in the kitchen. I’m home a lot these days as the remainder of my classes are online, and I’ve hit month 5 of unexplained health challenges that also keep me from getting out sometimes. One tough part of my health right now is the limit it puts on what I can bake when I seek decompression.

Having no starch in my diet is still the only controlling variable of my rashes, and that means there is little I can bake with short of eggs and certain nuts. Even vanilla extract is off limits. As for the physical toll this kind of diet has taken on me, I’m finally in a state of ketosis so my energy is a bit better. Fatty animal proteins, limited starchy vegetables, sprouted nuts, and lots of water is the majority of my dietary intake.

I’ve started intermittent fasting (IF) to promote autophagy of my “bad cells”. And now that I’m functioning in ketosis (aka, burning ketones for energy instead of glucose) it makes IF much easier. I don’t snack much during the day on this therapeutic diet, but I like to end my night with a little high-fat snack. These walnut crinkle cookies are the perfect end to my eating window for the day, leaving me satiated before I go to bed and enter into a fast.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup walnut butter

• 1/4 cup coconut butter, melted

• 2 eggs

• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

• optional: 2 tablespoons raw honey, melted

• optional: 1 teaspoon grass-fed gelatin*

*I found that adding the gelatin gives a slight chew to the already super soft texture.

Method

Preheat oven to 325°F and line a baking sheet.

In a medium-sized bowl, mix together eggs, walnut butter, and coconut butter. If sweetening, add raw honey at this point. Stir all remaining ingredients into the batter until smooth.

Using a medium cookie scoop (1 1/2 tablespoons), scoop the dough onto the lined baking sheet. It should yield 10 cookies.

Bake for 12 - 14 minutes. The cookies will be soft and pillowy, you’re not looking for crisp edges on these.

A small story to share about the recent happenings of my life.

Aside from learning to decompress more often in settings other than my kitchen, I’ve set homework for myself in learning to tap into receiving. Receiving energy, receiving words from God, and receiving gifts from others be it their time, words, or tangible gifts.

After a trip to the hospital last Sunday for a likely ovarian cyst burst, I stopped all supplements this week. Remarkably, my rashes have reduced and I don’t feel so overwhelmed. I’m accepting that I don’t have the energy to open my practice or finish out my classes at the pace I planned for. My focus is on receiving help for my own needs. It feels selfish, I feel like a burden to my loved ones, but I see an end coming and a better balance in my give / receive actions.

Admittedly I get overwhelmed by the extreme values on just about every lab I get back. There’s been a lot of crying the last few weeks. Yet, I’m continuing to get connected with doctors and practitioners who know how to take the next steps when I approach them after continual appointments diagnose my case as beyond their scope. I keep receiving help when I make room and energy for it.

So I hope you, too, can sit this week and focus on what you need and how well you receive. I’m headed to the mountains tonight, hopefully to spend the weekend tapping into intuition, thinking about boundaries (currently listening to this book on Audible), and receiving what I need to be my best self.

Next week, I’ll pick back up with my doctors looking for the latest lead on SIBO/SIFO, tricky overgrowths of the natural small intestinal bacteria and yeast. More updates and promises of hope to come.