Valentine’s Day is just about a week away, which is a little hard to believe. It feels like we were just celebrating the start of 2017 and setting resolutions. If one of your resolutions was to follow the autoimmune protocol, Valentine’s Day might be the first holiday celebration that you are trying to navigate. This can be especially challenging since many people are used to celebrating with romantic restaurant dinners, boxes of chocolate and glasses of wine.

There is no real reason why you have to celebrate the love in your life by eating and drinking. There are plenty of non-food related ways to enjoy time with your loved ones. Here are 20 ideas to get you started.  That being said, I know that being surrounded by sweet treats that you can’t eat is a recipe for grumpiness at best and derailing your healing at worst so I have created a fun new recipe to help you celebrate. A few years ago I developed this truffle recipe that I think is perfect for an adult Valentine’s Day celebration, my hope is that these cookies will be a fun way to celebrate Valentine’s Day with paleo little one’s and grown ups alike.

Valentine’s Day Sugar Cookies (AIP/Paleo)

Yields 12-18 Cookies

Ingredients: 

1 1/2 Cups Cassava Flour

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 tsp Salt

1 TBS Gelatin

1/2 Cup of Coconut Sugar

2/3 Cup of Softened Coconut Oil (Not Melted)

1 TBS Vanilla Extract

3 TBS Water

1/4 Cup of Maple Syrup

3 TBS Beet Root Powder

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl combine all of your dry ingredients except the beet root powder and mix well. Add in your coconut oil, vanilla, water and maple syrup and beat with an electric mixer or stand mixer until little balls start to form. Use your hands to press your dough into a large ball and set half aside. Using your mixer, mix in your beat root powder to the other half of the dough until it is entirely pink. Take a cookie dough baller or a TBS and form small balls out of both the colored and the uncolored dough and lay them next to each other in an alternating pattern forming a rectangle (Pink dough ball, white dough ball, pink dough ball…) gently knead all of the dough together until the colors are marbled together, don’t over mix it. Place the dough in between two sheets of parchment paper or silicone baking mats and roll it out to about a quarter inch thick. Cut it into heart shapes and transfer your cookies onto a lined cookie sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes. Cool completely before serving. Enjoy.