Healthy Nutrition Recipe: Vegan Nut Butter Potato Chip Cookies

Healthy Nutrition
Recipe-of-the-Month!

from our Clinical Nutritionist Michelle

The holidays are about enjoying yourself & this recipe will satisfy your desire to be indulgent without the guilt!  Surprise your friends & family with this delicious treat!
Vegan Nut Butter Potato Chip Cookies
- makes about 40

• 2 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoons fine sea salt
• 1 1/2 cups evaporated cane sugar (or your favorite sugar substitute)
• 1 cup refined coconut oil
• 1 cup chunky natural salted roasted almond butter or peanut butter
• 1 Tablespoon molasses
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup ice water
• 2 cups coarsely crushed Baked Kettle potato chips (they're Vegan!)

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. In a medium sized bowl sift flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl combine sugar, coconut oil and nut butter of choice and mix on medium to high speed until creamy. Add molasses, water and vanilla and mix until combined.
5. On low speed add in flour mixture slowly.
6. Add potato chips until combined well while not over mixing.
7. Make dough balls about 2tablespoons and place then about 2-inches apart on lined baking sheet.
8. Smash balls to about 3/4 inch thick then make crisscross pattern with back of fork.
9. Bake until slightly brown at corners, about 13-15 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack & try not to eat them all before sharing!

Enjoy a Stress-Free Holiday

If I had to choose one month out of the year that has the worst effect on our health, December would win hands down. Not only are we struggling with never ending to-do lists and pressure-driven money stress, but we also have to face our old family wounds being drudged up over eggnog. Patients seem to exist in such a perpetual state of stress that holiday activities, generally considered enjoyable, have become dreadful. Compound that with every sugar laden indulgence surrounding us from all angles with no time to exercise and you've got a recipe for disaster.

This year, don't let stress run the show! Stay on track with your "wellness lifestyle". Get adjusted, it increases your immune system and helps your body adapt to stress. Relax with a Massage, you'll be nicer to your in-laws I promise. And pick up a carrot stick instead of a cookie if you can. Stress makes you sick (see Dr. Broosan's research in the previous post), it packs on the pounds (check out our nutrition tips) and it robs you of the moment (try our stress busters)! Be AWARE this holiday and use some of the recipes, research and tips from our Wellness team to help keep you healthy and stress-free all season long.

Until our next adjustment...

Yours in health,

Dr. Heidi & The InnerMovement Wellness Team

How are Stress, your Immune System & Chiropractic Adjustments related?

Dr. Broosan's Research Corner
How are Stress, your Immune System & Chiropractic Adjustments related?

Along with family gatherings, celebration, and joy, the holidays can also bring with them higher levels of stress. Stress is one way to set off the body's "fight or flight" system. This system (known as the sympathetic nervous system) is intelligently designed to allow the body to adapt to life threatening situations. The problem arises when we have high stress levels chronically. You see, we were not meant to remain in a "fight or flight" state for long periods of time and yet this is exactly what happens to many of us on a daily basis. Add a little more stress (i.e. the holidays), and guess what happens to a lot of people? They get sick! Ever notice that when you are stressed out, you are more likely to get sick? It's not a coincidence.