experimenting with food

almond flour, caveman diet, coconut flour, cooking, food, Good Eats, life, paleo diet

I mentioned a while back that I was changing my diet a little bit. I've been more and more choosing paleo-friendly foods and it's making a big difference for me.

A paleo diet is not a diet in the sense of “going on a diet.” It's a change in eating habits, like being a vegitarian, vegan, raw only, etc. I've also heard paleo called the caveman diet.  The diet does not contain grains, dairy, soy, legumes, vegetable or canola oil, no added sugar, and no artificial ingredients. It contains lots of protein and naturally occuring fats and oils.

I've turned to nut flours, coconut oil and milk, and tons of fruits and veggies to fill my meals and I'm loving it. 

I haven't been very adventurous with my cooking yet, I hope to do a bit more playing around. I eat eggs and veggies most every day for breakfast. And honestly, eggs and peppers are starting to get a bit old. Still yummy, but I'm looking for a little variety.

This weekend I'll be trying my hand at making my own almond flour, it's super expensive to purchase. Think almost $12 per pound. (what the what?! yep. not kidding.) And while even homemade almond flour still costs more than traditional flour, the benefits are totally worth it for me.

Yesterday I tried a new recipe, an apple cinnamon omlette.  And it was so yum! Kind of unexpected since it tasted a bit more like french toast than an omlette. And it turned into more of an apple cinnamon scramble than an omlette but whatever. It was the perfect use for the apple I had that was getting a bit soft for me to really enjoy. Yay!

Today I tried an eggless pancake recipie (since I'm out of eggs) with coconut flour instead of almond flour (since that's what I already had). Coconut flour is tricky because it's super “thirsty” and you have to double any liquid in the recipe to adjust for it. They did not turn out. Haha. The texture totally got to me, so grainy. That's the last time I'll try that coconut flour nonesense. A friend told me that it was worthless to try to use it, now I totally believe her. I'm sure there is a good use for it and someone out there loves it, but they don't live in this house.

Anyway, I've been trying new things, leaving behind old favorites. Now I'm developing a taste for foods that are less sweet and that makes me happy. Of course there's always a cheat meal here and there, but you better believe those cheats aren't wasted on the plain and boring stuff. I aim to absolutely enjoy my food from here on out. 🙂

 

it’s just random stuff

food, Good Eats, homemade food, life, paleo diet, summer

After spending some time outside to soak up the sun, laundry is in the washer, banana bread is in the oven, the baseball game is on (go sox!) and, for some reason, I feel like I'm not being productive.

Wha?!

Since there are piles scattered about my living space and chores to be done I have quite a bit of stuff to do. 

Other thoughts occupying my mind today:

Last week I tasted my first ever homemade pickle and it happened to be the best pickle I've ever tasted. Imagine that.  I now have a desire to plant a cucumber in the backyard so that I may have the opportunity to make pickles.  This just might happen. Stay tuned. I also desire tomatoes and mint in the backyard.  Though it's getting to be past planting time so we'll have to just wait and see what happens.  I'm serious about that cucumber though.

It is a holiday week coming up and there is much to be done.  No plans for the holiday yet, but it's promising to be a busy week.  This makes me happy.  Now that my first session classes are complete there is not much happening to keep me occupied.  Both good and bad, this leaves more time for yoga, continual reading and the making of wonderfully good food to eat.

Speaking of food, I've decided to give the Paleo diet a real try. I've been dabbling for the last few weeks and I'm certain a hardcore transition won't be so difficult. I've come across  PaleOMG that has a plethora of recipies and each one sounds better than the last.  There will be no shortage of good things to eat. It could be as easy as a piece of grain free, dairy free, added sugar free cake. 

So in proper send off fashion today I've made banana bread Betty Crocker style.  With the exception of using coconut milk instead of buttermilk. It's pretty much amazing. And tomorrow it'll be consumed french toast style. I'm very much looking forward to the life-altering experience. 

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