Paleo Magazine Express May 2014 | Page 15

Cookies! Oh-so-tempting. Here’s a salty-sweet treat using minimally monkeyed-with ingredients. Do you love coconut? Skip ahead and just make these, pronto. No need for explanation. Double Coconut Macaroons makes at least 3 dozen little cookies 1 package (8 oz) shredded, unsweetened coconut 1 1/4 cups coconut sugar 6 egg whites 1 tsp pure vanilla extract, or almond extract (optional) 3/4 tsp sea salt Combine first three ingredients in a small saucepan and cook over low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly. The mixture will be a deep golden brown and a little bit gooey at first, and then will dry out into almost a paste. That’s when you’re done. Remove from heat, add the extract and salt, and stir well. Scoop with a teaspoon and shape into balls before dropping on a greased pan. Bake at 300°F for about 20 minutes—watch for just the first bit of browning on the edges (watch closely since the batter is already light brown!). Cool before removing from pan and store in an airtight container. Try not to eat half the batch before the macaroons make it into your drop bags. Nutrition for whole recipe: 2692 kcal, 145 g fat, 41 g protein, 343 g carb (9 g fructose, 4 g glucose, 258 g sucrose), 2800 mg sodium, 4624 mg potassium. Energy bars are everywhere: in recipes online and in stores, all nice and wrapped up and shiny. All of them are delicious, but most have one problem for endurance athletes—they’re pretty darn high in fat, which slows down digestion. Now, if you’re going all day long at a moderate heart rate, that’s totally fine. But in a training run or race that demands a little more intensity, that much fat won’t always sit well. I’ve created a ball recipe that slashes the typical nut and fat content to result in a snack with about 25 percent fat instead of the typical 60 percent of commercial fruitand-nut bars. Enjoy! Homemade Gel? Maybe that sounds a little strange… but, I love this recipe. It’s sweet and a little bit salty, and the ginger helps to keep your stomach calm. I used Deglet Noor dates, which are small and light brown and have less fructose than Medjool dates. Fructose can be okay in endurance events if you tolerate it well, but be wary when loading up on dried fruit—digestive issues are not something you want to mess with during an ultra. As a bonus, Deglet Noors are often sold pitted and packaged. I have ginger juice in a jar in my fridge pretty much all the time to use as tea or for cooking, but if you don’t want to mess with it, go the powdere