Earth Fare in Greenville is a GREAT place to learn to prepare healthy cookies.  Surrounded by all the healthy energy and happy customers, we snacked our way through this "Food for Healing" Workshop.  Our tasting menu featured herbal, green and oolong teas, fresh fruit with Greek Yogurt dip, Vegan banana muffins, chocolate candy, and cookies, cookies, cookies!  8 delectable varieties to be exact.

If you are going to satisfy your sweet tooth, there is NO reason to grab a candy bar or reach for a box of processed white sugar.  Our recipes were Delicious, simple to prepare AND totally satisfying! And the best news; they were all sweetened with fresh fruit and small amounts of local raw honey!  

All the recipes we sampled (plus more) can be found on my website at http://www.creativejuicesconsulting.com/recipes.html.   Enjoy but remember it is best to limit your sugar intake so enjoy responsibly!

“Food for Healing” is a workshop designed to teach cancer survivors, caregivers and anyone interested in better nutrition about a rainbow of colorful healing foods.  The workshop is free of charge for all who attend and is sponsored by Wind River Cancer Wellness Retreats to promote whole body well being.  We meet on the second Tuesday of the month at The Kitchen Emporium in Anderson and the third Tuesday of the month at Earth Fare in Greenville from 5 – 7pm. 

Veggies and fruits that contain the color purple have so many nutritious bits for our bodies.  They contain phytochemicals, indoles, and antioxidants that are proven to support better health and are a great addition in your healthy kitchen.  As are other colors, but let’s think of purple goodness; eggplant, purple cabbage, blackberries, grapes, raisins, purple cauliflower, rainbow chard, purple Belgian endive, purple potatoes and the list goes on….BEAUTIFUL colors of nature that nurture our bodies.

Last night “Food for Healing” featured a cooking demonstration and 3 course meal.  Our meal was colorful as I served up a healthy dose of purple foods to 9 beautiful women.  We started the evening with a tour of the Anderson farmer’s market where we picked up vibrant and organic produce to sample and incorporate into dinner.  We found farm fresh goat cheese, purple/red baby tomatoes, purple onion and a purple tone wild edible green called lambsquarters.

All of that was added to an organic salad made with 8 varieties of purple and green lettuce, purple streaked dragon’s tongue bush bean, purple amaranth, purple streaked sorrel, lemon cucumbers, raisins, and the stem of purple Swiss chard.  You can imagine the color and texture in our giant bowl of salad and our excitement when each veggie was added.  We tossed all of that beautiful color with a purple balsamic and apple cider vinegar dressing.

The funny thing is that I didn’t plan on making purple the prominent color of this meal, nor did I really notice it until after the first course salad was served.  That’s when Sara, (a 28 year old daughter of a cancer survivor) raised her hand and said, “I have to tell you that this is SO good, and I CAN’T believe it.  I have never eaten anything purple.  All of my life I have avoided anything that is naturally purple.  And I just ate all of this salad and really loved it.  I tried to push aside all the purple but there was purple everywhere.  And I REALLY loved it, it’s REALLY good “Turns out that Sara has type 2 diabetes that she controls with diet but before the class she had decided that she probably wouldn’t like anything and made plans to stop for dinner after class. Skeptical but willing.

Not only did she love the purple salad, she also loved the main course of organic quinoa with sautéed summer squash, purple onion, and Swiss chard tossed with purple olives, walnuts and fresh feta from the farmer’s market.  Her excitement about how good healthy foods can actually taste was infectious.   We all shared in her excitement and joked that she in now a “convert”   The best news about getting excited about healthy food is that YOU can have a whole new attitude towards eating well that will impact feeling well. Sara will have a whole new outlook as she continues to manage her illness with good food and I can predict that her meals will include the color purple.

“Food for Healing” is a workshop designed to teach cancer survivors, caregivers and anyone interested in better nutrition about a rainbow of colorful healing foods.  The workshop is free of charge for all who attend and is sponsored by Wind River Cancer Wellness Retreats to promote whole body wellbeing.  We meet on the second Tuesday of the month at The Kitchen Emporium in Anderson and the third Tuesday of the month at Earth Fare in Greenville from 5 – 7pm.  During our next meeting, we will serve HEALTHY cookies and sample teas from around the world.  For more information or to join a workshop, contact Cheryl LeCroy at [email protected]