Paleo Baking Vent

I was taught how to bake by my mother and grandmother.  The process of measuring out cups of flour, leveling them off, mixing and knowing just when to pull something out of the oven is soothing to me.  I refuse to give this up.  At first I tried substituting paleo ingredients into my old recipes.  This does not work.  Things end up too wet, or too dry.  I've found it's best to seek out paleo recipes.  Google paleo baking and hundreds of blogs come up with paleo versions of pancakes, bread, cake, cookies, etc.

So here's the vent.  A good portion of these recipes disregard the usual process of baking.  You should add wet ingredients together, slowly mix in dry, don't throw hot melted butter in with eggs (they'll scramble), there is such a thing as over mixing, cold dough that's been allowed to rest will make thicker cookies, etc.  The instructions usually amount to throw everything into a bowl, stir and than dump into a pan.  It pains me every time I see it.  And than the comments from people who follow these directions that want to know why the texture is off, or they took forever to bake, or they burnt.  Baking is chemistry.  There is a reason why you use certain amounts of each ingredient and follow an order for adding them. 

I'm going to make a huge generalization here.  We have become an eat out, premade, add hot water and your done kind of country.  Part of what is hard about eating paleo, or clean, or just better for you is that it requires you to actual cook.  There are hundreds of bloggers out there creating recipes, following recipes, complaining about how horrible things taste, how difficult it is to follow this lifestyle, and a huge part of the problem is they didn't know how to cook to begin with.

Civilized Caveman's Banana Bread

I've complained enough.  I should share some of the good ones now.

Civilized Caveman- Great stuff here too.  Some of the baking recipes fall under the dump it all into a bowl and mix, but if you follow traditional methods for baking you end up with great results.

Clean Eating for the Realistically Minded- Delicious recipes that everyone will eat and won't have a clue they're healthy.

PaleOMG- Her recipes are easy to follow and yummy, and Julie is just hysterical. I will never be a fan of cake in a mug, it's way too dry no matter what I've done to tinker with the recipe, but otherwise everything I've made off this site is stellar.

Meal Planning

My first Crossfit competition is just a little over 30 days away.  I'm starting to get nervous.  To take the leap and spend the $ to register and travel, etc. makes me so nervous. I want to do my best and I want to feel prepared.  Today I distracted myself from the pressure I'm putting on myself by meal planning.  I get some sort of weird thrill finding ways to provide healthy, cleanish meals for my family (cleanish because I have to make some concessions for the not-anywhere-close to Paleo/clean husband of mine).  I thought I'd share what I came up with.

Everything was based off our local Kroger add.  I start with what's on sale protein-wise and than hit my recipe books, internet, etc.

Chicken with ginger, mushrooms and asparagus Using chicken instead of sea bass.
Spicy pasta with sweet potatoes I'll omit the sugar and substitute plain greek yogurt for the cream cheese.
Pork medallions with caper-sauce Without the olives.  No one in my house will eat them.  Add I may substitute almond flour for the dredge.
Baked zucchini coins This one is especially for Miss K who prefers her veggies fried.
Also soft-shell tacos and homemade pizza. 

Add in the regular odd's and ends like milk, cheerios, yogurt, fruit and snacks for the kiddo and that brought the whole bill to $126 and some change.  With leftovers and probably one meal out somewhere over the weekend, we should be good for the next two weeks.

I don't coupon.  I've tried many times and find that I spend too much time sifting through all the coupons for prepared foods to find the one or two I may use.  It's just not worth it to me.  I keep hearing of these mystical coupons for fruit and veggies.  I haven't found any yet, but if you know where to find them please share!

Motivation

Last night, sitting next to my husband on the couch, we were talking about what motivates us to workout. His sole motivation is his work, infantry in the army. What motivates me? Personal records are nice, but I always want to see where I am compared to others. That's what motivates me. I'm a bundle of emotions thinking about the upcoming CrossFit competition. I'm excited to see where I stack up, and nervous that I'm going to embarrass myself. Can't wait to get this first one under my belt.