Cooking Fail and Cooking Win!

So I promised I would give you guys a brief run down of a recent cooking fail I had. I don’t usually screw anything up so bad that I don’t at least eat it…usually I can find a way to critique what I’ve made and think of ways to do it better for the next time, but to flat out refuse to eat it is a rare occurrence, and this is exactly what happened last Thursday night.

I was crossfitting that night at 5:15, and Rob was in the class right before mine, so our arrival times home were staggered. We still had not gone to the store (oh but we did this weekend though and spent an entire life’s savings…Still licking the wound from that one) so rations were still limited but I had this ginormous butternut squash and I had read my friend Lauren’s blog earlier in the week where she had made butternut squash soup and I thought,”Oh that sounds easy and different, I’ll do that.” So I did. And I made bacon wrapped pecan stuffed dates to go with. Those suckers came out great, like always. The soup COULD have come out great too, except I wasn’t really following any type of recipe as a guide and was working off instinct. I totally recommend all cooks to work off of instinct, it’s how you get better and learn to improvise and create. But sometimes, like this time, it yields an undesirable dinner. Sure looked pretty though!

I think I went wrong at the Cardamom. It’s this very aromatic spice, kind of like coriander, that can be really overpowering. I used literally two dashes, but probably should have omitted it entirely. Oh well! I nibbled on the dates but was pretty bummed. Rarely do I ever knock one out of the park in the WRONG direction.

Moving on to my Cooking Win!

I woke up Saturday morning with a throbbing sweet tooth. While getting breakfast going, and sucking down some coffee, I decided to make some Paleo Protein Cookies. I browsed a few recipes on the internet to get a baseline idea (see, I learned from the soup!) and then got to bakin’. I loved the way these turned out and likely wouldn’t change anything about what I did. I thought the honey was the perfect amount of sweetness. These go great with coffee, and as you’ll see below, with wine.

• 1 1/2 cups almond flour
• 1 cup of coconut flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 heaping scoop vanilla protein powder. I use this! Syntha 6 Isolate Protein. (awesome stuff and great flavors).
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp flaxseed meal
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 cup of Coconut Milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup raw honey
• 1/2 – 3/4 cup dark chocolate chips (now this is technically NOT paleo, but you can find paleo chocolate chips if you really want to).

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and spray nonstick spray on a cookie sheet (I lined mine with parchment paper)
2. Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
3. Mix wet ingredients together in a small bowl and gently mix into dry ingredients.
4. Add chocolate chips and combine.
5. Form dough into small balls, place onto prepared cookie sheets and press them down to form a cookie shape.
6. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until lightly browned and then eat them and smile and feel good about life.

These were a hit! I snacked on them that morning, and then again later that night..

It’s a guilt free snack because each of these cookies has 3-4 grams of protein in them (I didn’t really do the math but it’s somewhere around there, and will vary depending on the protein content of the powder you use). Definitely satisfied the sweet tooth for the weekend.

This was a fun, long weekend. Rob and I went and saw Wolf of Wall Street Saturday night. I wish I would have taken a picture of us all dolled up for our date 😦 He is a looker! Arm Man Candy.  Then, we went to Mellow Mushroom for a very late and very naughty dinner of Cheese Pizza. Oh don’t worry, my gut and every other part of my body paid for its sin and then some during sprint training today. The amount of anguish and suffering involved in sprint training is mindboggling. On the second lap of my 800 I actually said to myself “I’m quitting crossfit”. WTF?! (I’m not, but that certainly illustrates the fact that I was on the teetering edge of sanity). And then, all day since then, I have felt like  Dr. Leo Marvin at the end of “What about Bob?” Where he is completely comatose in a wheel chair. (the internet could not provide me with an image of that!! Can you believe it!?) I got to wear my “YAY BURPEES” socks though because after all of the running, we got to do burpees…(and pull ups and push up and sit ups).

What else happened? Oh, I made some  Paleo Chili from Well Fed on Sunday night in my awesome Cast Iron Dutch Oven. This belonged to my stepdad, and it made me miss him while I cooked. I’d give anything to be able to cook a meal for him and have him visit me. I paired it with some Cauliflower Biscuits that are a cinch to make, you can find those on Pinterest.

Also worth showing off, some new artwork for the X5…you jelly? Thanks Margaret! Now I can love and appreciate Christmas Vacation all year round. “It’s the gift that keeps on giving the whole year!”

And that was a glimpse of our lovely weekend. I’m going to go eat another cookie.