Great day, plus an amazing recipe for EPIC CHOCOLATE ALMOND COOKIES!!!

I had an amazing day today. We have some new friends, Joshua and Sarah, that we met a couple of weeks ago at Southside (our church). Apparently they've known Wesley's uncle/our pastor for quite some time, but our paths have only just now finally crossed - and I'm so glad they did! What a BLESSING!!!



We had a great time the other night starting a game of Lord of the Rings Risk, which we finished today. And even more exciting, both Josh and Sarah are writers, so we got to spend a ton of time discussing our books, our reasons for writing, characters, plot outlining, and all that good writer stuff. :) They also really reminded me WHY we do this - we're writing not just to entertain, but to share a message. We're essentially teaching God to the world through the art of story, and as teachers of God's message we bear a tremendous responsibility to do our absolute best. It was very motivating, and I think we're going to be a great encouragement to one another, not to mention how wonderful it is to have like-minded people to bounce ideas off of... I'm so excited about this new friendship!!!

They were here all day, so we did some other stuff too - among which was BAKING! :) Sarah is very sensitive to gluten, so she eats only gluten-free foods... so we made THESE. They were SO GOOD. I should have taken pictures. Sorry about that.

Anyway, Sarah and I adapted this from a recipe I loved from the Nourishing Traditions cookbook, written by Sally Fallon. (You can find the original recipe either in the book, obviously, or copied down on another blog here: http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2009/10/gluten-free-almond-cookies-made-with-arrowroot-flour-real-food-wednesday.html)

Here is my and Sarah's variation: Epic Chocolate Almond Cookies :)

1 1/2 cups almonds
1/2 cup softened coconut oil
1 cup arrowroot flour
1/2 cup whole sugar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
4 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract

Place almonds in a blender or food processor and process to a fine meal. Add remaining ingredients and mix until well blended. (I didn't have enough almonds, so I made up for it with extra arrowroot flour. My dough turned out pretty dry, so we added some water to moisten it.) Form dough into walnut-sized balls and place on cookie sheets. Press down on the cookies to flatten them a little.

Bake at 300* for a total of about 20 minutes. Let cool completely before moving to an airtight container. Store in refrigerator.