‘I’ll call my mother . She can help you.

Your mother wants to feed babies chicken liver and brains Al, don’t be an ass.’

Some lessons just stick with you.
(These are a few lines from my solo show, The Meatball Chronicles, which is coming up next April 21-23 in Las Cruces at the Black Box Theater, btw).

Yup, my grandmother Florence. She was amazing. I think it’s because of her influence so early in my life that I recognized the value of good, healthy food. She only recently passed at 103 years old, with not one illness. She always said “If you don’t have your health, you have nothing.” That may be why I read THE JUNGLE with such vigor as a teenager. I was the annoying kid in the grocery store reading the ingredients label out loud. It just took a while for what I knew - what my Grandmother Florence knew- to become ‘chic.’

So, in that light, I am sharing with you what our trainers at Dynamic Fitness gym call 'the best cookie ever,' in honor of my gram, Florence.

I love Sally’s Baking Addiction. The recipe I began with is hers. I make my own organic vanilla every year and when I am done with the beans, I throw them in a big jar filled with organic sugar to flavor it. I do the same with Kosher salt. That will, of course, bump up the flavor profile in the end result. I try to use as many organic ingredients as I can. I followed her recipe, soaking the raisins in Triple Sec and hot water first. I added 3/4 cup of organic chopped walnuts and 1 cup of dark chocolate chips. I used Trader Joe’s oven toasted organic oats. The most interesting change I made was taking out 1/4 cup of the organic all purpose flour and substituting it with a new ingredient, coffee flour. Coffee flour is super nutritious and it is a triple bottom line food. People, planet, profit.

So these cookies fall in line with ALL of my core values as an actorvist who cooks. Healthy for everyone and deeelish.

Click : Soft and Chewy Oatmeal Cookies. 

Enjoy!!