On This Week’s Menu: Stay-cation 4/11-4/20

Who’s more fabulous? (I love my job.)

Ladies and gentlemen, please respect the talented writers and bloggers that share the Earth with you. Writing is not easy. Consistency is not easy. I propose to blog as often as I can, which will now probably be once a week on my “weekend”, and to make my posts worthwhile to read. I’ll include some top recipes from the week or from the current week’s food prep. I’ll give an overall thumbs up or down for how I’ve eaten that week too. I’ve been much more honest with myself lately. . .recently. . .the last week and a half or so. I acknowledge what I ate on stay-cation. For all my victories, I found a way to toss sugar in the mix. My victories are still mine. So are the incredible memories. Even when my brother was here there were poor food choices. Our victories, however, were awesome and were ours. Like meeting Mama of Mama Bakes Safe Cakes in Alpharetta. Grain free? Nope. Sugar free? No sir. Gluten free, dairy free sugar bombs of joy and love.

Shots and tots at Battle and Brew!

 

 

 

 

 

#MamasLoveKnowsNoBounds

Easter carrot cake cupcakes with cashew frosting. Thanks PaleOMG!

I miss my family terribly. It was an amazing weekend with the boyfriend and an amazing week hanging out with my brother and then meeting our parents’ friends for Easter. (AND having a second set of hands in the house!) Now I’m back to my regularly scheduled program and kicking my health into high gear. Started with a fast day Monday and accidentally on Tuesday and Wednesday as well. Not full fasting obviously, but carb intake between 0 – 50g definitely. I got through work on cocon’oatmeal, a truly brilliant discover with literally nothing bad in its base recipe. Oh I love my life right now. My corset for POC arrived and it’s too big. I’m apartment hunting. I’m on a roll. Life is good.

 

Featured Recipe: Cocon’oatmeal

This is the second recipe I’ve tried from Lauren at Empowered Sustenance. The first was my honey shampoo. It seems her recipes are going to be some long term sustenance for me. 😉 Cocon’oatmeal will definitely be a staple. Even with summer approaching.

 

Featured Recipe: Brenna’s Pie (a take on Farmer’s Pie which is a Paleo friendly Shepherd’s Pie)

I was just going to wing it with this one. My brother made our version without looking at a recipe. Our version which he called Brenna’s Pie, uses two grass fed meats and sweet potato crust. I tried to just do what he did. Then he suggested I look up a recipe. I found Nom Nom Paleo’s site first and then saw that she directly cited Paleo Comfort Foods. Oh, my version also gets topped with guacamole. So. Freaking. Delicious.

Mine and my brother’s Brenna’s Pie with grass fed bison and beef

My attempt at Brenna’s Pie with 2lbs grass fed beef. The guac wasn’t ready yet, but my sweet potatoes lightly browned!

Recipe for success! (Recipe 2.2)

Wow, Brenna. How long have you been waiting to whip THAT title out?

Well the Primal dessert was a success! Carrot Cake Cupcakes turned out delicious, moist, and sweet without being industrialized sweet. They were only sweetened with Manuka 100% raw honey that I bought for the first time the other day while prepping for this. Yum! Not a drop of grain was found. I even made an emergency trip to Whole Foods to buy a new container of baking powder because the one in the house contained cornstarch.

If that’s not proof that I’m really trying to do this right, then I don’t know what is. Easy? Not by a long shot. But single digit pants don’t lie. 😉

I missed the smell of sweet things in the oven. Mmmmm…

There was a frosting aspect to this recipe, but I didn’t like how it came out so I left the cashew frosting off. My brother found it in the fridge and ate half of it without realizing it was frosting and not just cashew butter. Now he doesn’t feel so great. Sorry, bro.

I made the cupcakes for Easter dinner at the boyfriend’s house. Get it? Easter Bunny? Carrot Cake? Yup. Brenna strikes again. Actually I saw the recipe when Julie at PaleOMG posted it to her Facebook wall from last year. I simply HAD to make it. It occurred to me too little too late that his mother bakes the “real” way so my newly hatched interest Primal health style was up against a veteran of the SAD school of  standardized sugar baking. But I’m proud to say my cupcakes passed the test. 🙂  The only comment from the expert was that she ought to teach me how to keep to the recipe’s estimated prep and cook time. 30 minutes turned into two and a half hours. Whoops.

But between awesome cupcakes, macaroons, and stopping yet another Ancient One from awakening in Arkham, it was a good Easter.

Now I need to scrounge around for my next Primal encounter. To the internet!!