Baking and a cookbook review...of sorts...

I haven't baked since I moved back in April.  Which is sad, because not only do I enjoy the results of my labor, I enjoy the process of baking as well.  However, it's always hard to get used to a new kitchen and new appliances and really get a cooking/baking groove in any new place.  My Mom figures it's because in the beginning, it's not "my" kitchen.

But, things happen and in my case I baked out of a little bit of desperation.  I'm having a lot of stomach problems as well as a return on headaches, just plain tiredness, etc.  It finally occurred to me that it could literally be the food I eat.  I mean who thinks they're intolerant to certain things if they've gone their whole life not thinking that?  Well, I'm still researching, but I started by going dairy free (taking a challenge, which is still in the rough start phase).  Do you know how many things have diary in them?  Even my bread had dairy.  This weekend's grocery store trip I got more substitute items (for lack of a better phrase) to better go dairy free (I'll also be following up with a doctor).

So, back to the baking.  This weekend I tried two new recipes - diary free and gluten free - from the cookbook, Cooking for Isaiah by Silvana Nardone.  Awesome.

Last night, to satisfy that sweet tooth, was Chocolate Chip cookies.  I have not made her "flour mix," so I subbed Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free mix, but after baking these two recipes (other one below), I will be.  The cookies have a slightly nutty flavor, but I've baked chocolate chip cookies with whole wheat flour, so this doesn't bother me.  Overall, these cookies are great and were worth my late night baking foray.


The other recipe I baked today.  Cornbread.  I hadn't planned on it, but I've been eating sandwiches at work and the author has a recipe that uses cornbread as the sandwich bread.  What a cool idea.  This cornbread is awesome!  It will be around my house even if it's not the food causing my problems.  I didn't do the sandwich she had in the cookbook, but I did an egg sandwich (with a small amount of dairy free cheese that was quite tasty).  Truly, this cornbread is some of the best I've made.

I'm looking forward to trying other recipes from this cookbook.

On getting stuck...

Last week, I attended a conference in Austin, TX.  It was my first time in Austin and I loved it!  I stayed at the conference hotel, which made it easier to get to breakfast (provided by the conference), and go to morning yoga (before breakfast).  Plus, it was within walking distance of a lot of lovely restaurants or in one case, a food truck - The Jalopy.  Had a wonderful hummus sandwich.  Austin has some great food and a lot of it is vegetarian and/or vegan.  I got to try truffle tater tots.  I'm not a total vegetarian, but it was nice to have those options.  However, the picture I've included is not vegetarian.  We had dinner one night at Ranch 616 and I got the fried shrimp tacos.  Yum.  All in all, not a bad food experience in the time I was there.

And, I got an unscheduled extra day to sample food.  Because of the upcoming move to Georgia, I'd decided to come back Wednesday morning, missing the last half day of the conference, but giving me two full days at work my last week.  Yes, this past Friday was my last day of work in my current job.  And, if you haven't guessed, I had to fly back on Thursday rather than Wednesday due to the tornados that hit Dallas.  I was realizing all of this when the American Airlines automated message called to notify me of my new flight at 1:30 AM.  Yes, AM as in the morning.  At first I was all over the place upset.  Then I realized I couldn't do anything about it and decided to just roll with it.  I called and rescheduled the shuttle and called the front desk to make sure I could stay an extra day.  Then, I went back to sleep.  This was about 2:00 in the morning and I was still a bit keyed up.  To add to the excitement, the fire alarms went off not once, but twice, at 4:30 AM.  Followed by a message a little while later that it a false alarm and not to evacuate.  After this, I realized I wouldn't be doing yoga my last day.

I did enjoy the day's sessions and then spent a lovely afternoon walking around Austin with a friend/colleague. We had lunch at the 1886 Cafe and Bakery (some of the best pizza I've ever had) and I got to stop at the lomography camera store I'd seen online.  I knew the store was in Austin, but didn't think I'd get to it on the trip.

While I was upset when I realized I would be staying for an unplanned extra day, it actually turned out to be a great day.  Bumpiest flight in a long time on the way back, but I got back. Made it through my last day at my job (sorta sad) and am now furiously organizing for the movers who will come next Monday to pack.

I leave you with a photo of fried shrimp tacos...

Fried shrimp tacos from Ranch 616

Exercise and supermarkets

It's beautiful today. Sunny and breezy and mild. This is especially nice since Tuesday severe storms once again rolled through the area. Even though I left work late (by almost an hour), I still went to the gym. I have a lot to do tonight and tried to talk myself out of it, but then I thought I'd probably just come home and watch tv. What a slug. So, I went. I rode the bike and finished off with sit-ups. I didn't do the full workout, but I still went and I'm proud of that. Especially since I tried talking myself out of it.

Last week was different, but some hard lessons. I did yoga on Monday, the step class on Tuesday and Thursday (when it's a Step Jam class, basically more pepped up), and the bike and free weights on Wednesday. After each step class I did free weights, either leg or arms, and sit-ups. Thursday almost killed me - literally. I've been having problems with my hips and I was just in pain after that class. So, I took Friday and the weekend off and decided to play the aerobics by ear this week. Well, with the storms on Tuesday and not feeling really well anyway, I just headed home. However, I did exercise Monday, Wednesday and tonight. And, I'm pretty sure I'll go tomorrow. That's four days and it ain't bad. I'm also going to aim for Yoga sometime this weekend. I used to do that Sunday mornings, but if Church Search continues (see previous post), I'll either be doing it really early or later in the day. The two churches I'm considering though have 10:00 services, which is a nice time. So, if I'm particularly energetic I could do yoga before church. Wouldn't that be nice?

You're probably wondering why the supermarket part? Well, this past Saturday, co-worker LH and I went to Central Market. It was my first time to visit one even though there was one available where I lived (in TX) before. Oh my gosh. What a cool store! They had a great patio area to enjoy lunch. We just got sandwiches, but they were very good and very reasonably priced. The weather was nice, so we got to eat outside. Although, they don't anchor the umbrellas that are at some of the tables, so when the wind gusted, which it did several times, these umbrellas fell over the table. Thank goodness no one got hit, but it added an extra dimension to lunch keeping an out for a falling umbrella. After eating, we headed inside, first stopping to look at their plants. The had a very nice collection of herbs. I've always wanted to do an herb garden. Plants aside, this is just a grocery store, which I really liked. They weren't trying to hawk clothes or office supplies or electronics or anything else. Though they did have a very nice selection of organic personal care products (shower gel, bubble bath, make up, candles). I was happy to see the organic personal care products as several months ago I started using organic products for my facial cleanser hoping it would help with my extremely sensitive skin. So far, so good.

Grocery shopping was just as fun. An awesome veggie and fruit area, along with meats. If you're in to wine they had plenty of that, too. My favorite isle was probably the chocolate/candy isle. Oh, the selection they had! Also, European cookies, including Hit cookies, which brought back fond memories of my trip to Germany many years ago. And, I lucked into flavored water, without sugar. So far, I've sampled three flavors and like them all. Friend TW and I liked Le Nature, but it became very hard to find upon arrival in AR. Haven't seen it since I moved back to TX either. This was a bit more expensive, but it is also 20 oz as opposed to 16 oz for the Le Nature. I've been taking a bottle to work as I'm trying to increase my water intake and reduce my soda intake. I was very proud of myself this afternoon, when instead of getting another soda, I drank the water and didn't miss the soda. Hmmm... maybe that means it won't take me long to develop that habit. It'd be good for me.