I've been eagerly anticipating this series the past few months! I started it in 2016 when I was in a particularly tumultuous season of life and was doing all I could to focus on the good, even during the particularly hard times. Life will always be a stretch of valleys and mountaintops and without one, we couldn't fully appreciate the other. Making an intentional decision, especially during the holidays, to focus on positive qualities can make a world of difference. I can't think of better qualities than the Fruits of the Spirit- love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

​First up in the series is love and joy! Below you will find recipes that embody love and joy, specifically heart shaped-recipes or heart healthy recipes and some of the brightest recipes you can find that are sure to bring some joy to your plate! And a huge thank you to the dietitian friends of mine who were so kind to let me feature their recipes!

​The below recipes are sure to make your heart happy for more reasons than one!

​​This particular fruit of the spirit is especially meaningful since we named our daughter Joy earlier this year. If you'd like to know more about how we chose her name, make sure to check out her birth story! The below recipes are bright, cheery and guaranteed to put a smile on your face!

Thank you again to all those who have supported this series the past couple years. Whether you shared a recipe, shared this post or just scrolled through the recipes, I appreciate your involvement on such a meaningful collection of posts! Wishing you all an incredibly blessed December and stay tuned for peace and patience recipes coming your way soon. <3 Shannon

I'm always pleasantly surprised when cookies made without any grains somehow can turn out just as chewy and delicious as traditional cookies. Even MR. KISS in the Kitchen is loving this recipe and he's more of a "gluten-full" cookie man, if you know what I mean ;).

It's no secret that it's pumpkin spice (and pumpkin spice latte) season and this month's The Recipe ReDux theme is all about pumpkin spice! Some of my favorite dietitian bloggers have some pretty creative pumpkin spice recipes so make sure to check out their recipes at the end of this post!

With only 5 ingredients, these cookies are incredibly simple to make. Simply mix almond butter, coconut sugar, egg, baking soda and pumpkie pie spice together, roll into balls and bake. It really is THAT simple. And the result is THAT delicious. And although there aren't any grains in this recipe, I'm not trying to pass it off as a "healthy cookie". There's plenty of sugar in this recipe to disqualify from any sort of light cookie experience, but who's really into diet cookies anyway ;)?

If you bake these cookies for about 8 minutes they turn out chewy (how I like them), but if you are more of a crunchy cookie person then bake for about 10 minutes!

KISS Tip #1: You may want to double this recipe because in my experience, the cookies go FAST!
KISS Tip #2: Make sure to use raw almond butter that doesn't have any added ingredients. If you choose one that has added sugars, oils, etc., it may alter the baking process or final texture of the cookie. I use the almond butter that is actually ground at the store and is only 100% almonds! 

KISS Grain Free Pumpkin Spice Cookies
Time: 20 minutes
Makes: 20 cookies
 
Ingredients
1 cup almond butter*
1 cup coconut sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
 
Instructions
1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2.) In a medium bowl combine almond butter, coconut sugar, egg, baking soda and pumpkin pie spice.
3.) Using a 1 tablespoon measuring spoon, scoop batter (heaping) and roll into a ball.
4.) Place on baking sheet about 2 inches apart and using a fork, create criss crosses on the ball, flattening them slightly.
5.) For chewy cookies, bake for about 8 minutes. For crispy cookies, bake for about 10.
 
*As mentioned in the post, make sure to use raw almond butter that doesn't have any added ingredients. If you choose one that has added sugars, oils, etc., it may alter the baking process or final texture of the cookie. I use the almond butter that is actually ground at the store and is only 100% almonds!

I teased these Banana Cream Pie Shakes on Instagram last week and got a lot of excitement over the recipe! I also shared a quick story about my dad and I used to get these from Sonic when I was growing up and my mom wasn't necessarily privy to that info. Well of course I spilled the beans on social and she lets me know that daddies and daughters do have secrets.. including Mr. KISS in the Kitchen! Apparently when Joy is supposed to be sleeping, sometimes her and Mr. KISS watch Star Wars. They've already finished episode 1 and 2. *eye roll*. These generational secrets are pretty hilarious ;). Now back to this shake!

I am a huge banana lover and this shake seriously tastes like the ones at Sonic, but it's WAY better for you. It's still totally creamy, dreamy and decadent and I'm officially making them on the regular.

A slight disclaimer about this recipe- I'm pretty specific on the instructions and ingredients, which isn't usually the case. If you're a frequent visitor to the KISS blog, you know I'm big on substitutions and encourage making recipes your own! I used a lot of my favorite ingredients that I always have on hand and if you don't have them- I really think it's worth trying them (I'm not affiliated with these brands, just a big fan!). I used both fresh and frozen bananas, Ripple Unsweetened Vanilla Plant Milk, Vital Proteins Collagen and Maranatha Raw almond butter. I do think you could probably swap out a different almond butter and get the same result, but the other ingredients should probably stay if you want the same creamy, dreamy masterpiece I concocted ;).

Cheers to childhood memories, generational secrets (the all in good fun, special kind of ones) and lots of bananas!