Five Things Away From Paleo

Sugar
Rice
Chips
Genius
Deep frying
I want to be paleo, I'd like to be paleo, I really would - and some of my meals are, despite having to do potatoes for my dad everyday - but I just can't kick these last five things.

Sugar is an addiction, I won't pretend I am in control of it. Giving up booze would be easier I think! And giving up booze would not be easy. Hendricks & tonic anyone?
I do manage to swap sugar for honey or agave in some things but when I bake the sugar usually comes out! I am also so easily tempted by sweets & treats. I know I feel better without it but like a crackwhore I keep going back.

I have eaten so much rice since giving up gluten that I really can't imagine life without it. And I really love sushi! Sashimi only satisfies the craving so much, even if it includes beef tataki which I love.

Chips are self explanatory surely? I don't eat a lot of potatoes but chips & their chunkier sister, roast potatoes are very hard to give up. And fresh jersey royal potatoes - they just taste so good.

Genius is really the only gluten free bread worth eating and although I eat bread rarely their bloomer is just yummy. Bacon sandwich? Why thankyou!

Deep Fried. It's not so much the method of cooking, more that I turn a blind eye to the gluten in the batter. Soft shell crab tempura night be one of my favourite things. Whitebait? Pass the pail (pubs always serve them in those witty buckets don't they?). I think it's the only thing I cheat on gluten in. 

As I write this post I know I'm not going to be able to give these things up easily. I will try to cut them down with a view to phasing them out but giving up smoking pales into significance next to giving up sugar.

Busy bambi

<p>The blog has been neglected since I've been caring for my dad coz he likes such plain boring food the stuff I've been cooking isn't worth blogging about! Going to try and get back into doing my bentos at least - might start a 'bambi's bento's' blog to give them their own home!

Ideas & Time To Blog

I have masses of ideas to blog but I might have a bit more time coming up to blog in so they might actually get done ... we shall see!

graze.com

Yesterday I got my first nibble box from graze.com - loving it! Basically they post you a letterbox friendly box of snacks at a frequency to suit you (weekly, daily or in between) and you can adjust you preferences to select what you get, nuts, seeds and dried fruit (some with chocolate in :-) and some of it's dark) are a given but also olives and lots of things that aren't suitable unfortunately like flap jacks, focaccia bits (they say gluten free ones are coming soon but they are all covered in cheese so prob not much use) and crackers (mostly peanut :-().

Worth it for the convenience of having healthy snacks on your desk at work and hopefully they will start to consider the dairy and gluten free market at some point - especially as they have healthy diet and weight loss boxes. Lets hope it is before I get bored with the fruit/nut/seed/olive options!

If your reading this graze.com can I suggest rice snacks that aren't peanut, gluten free pretzels (because I like them!), gluten free or very low gluten flapjacks that don't have butter in them and making some gluten free focaccia bits and not putting cheese on them?

I have added a link to graze below.

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Why I cook (and why I blog about it)

Inspired by the post at Elanas Pantry (click on the title to go there) I had a think about why I cook. The big answer is simple - I love to eat. A bit too much to be honest, I am edging above (again) my fighting (ie look my hottest) weight at the moment! Bought a couple of things (understatement) in M&S at the weekend as I had a credit note from Christmas and it was a pleasure - I am still a 12 in there, their sizes are always on the more generous side!

I cooked a bit before starting the Best Bet Diet but it was after that I really started getting into it: it was so much harder to buy really nice stuff, any sort of variety and the prices were shocking. The gluten free cakes and brownies on offer? I could make better. Pasta sauce, curry sauce etc - no variey, over priced and what the hell is in there anyway? Once you start reading labels to check it is free from Gluten, Dairy and Legumes you start to notice all the other stuff thats in there and if it doesnt sound like food I don't want it in my body! Oh and my favourite rant - is rice pwder really twice as expensive as milk? Oh and just because my food is healthy and I have cut out some things doesn't mean I want to eat twigs and leaves! Oh and .... I could go on but will spare you for now.

Once I started to get into it I started to really enjoy it; it really is relaxing, I get a great sense of achievement out of something that turns out great (especially cakes, though that may also be the anticipation of eating them) and I am a total feeder: I love to dish up something tasty to friends and family (though you may notice in other posts that my family as a whole aren't foodies) and have them enjoy it and go away with full tummies. Like Nigella* I am never knowingly under catered and it is very rare that there aren't a LOT of left overs. In fact there have been occasions where the left overs were enough to do the whole party again. Sometimes of course the left overs are on purpose coz I want them! There is also the Greys style baking as substitution :-) if you dont watch Greys Anatomy then I will leave it to you imagination I think!

I love cookery programmes, watch way to much of the Good Food channel, set my Sky+ for the new series of Jamie, Nigella, Ina Garten etc (noone too fancy I am a home cook not a chef!) or Supersizers and have a mass of cookery books and a drawer full of recipes I have pulled out of magazines and papers (sometimes mine, sometimes other peoples to their annoyance no doubt) which I simply must try and get excited about trying new things but always trying to find a cheats way to do it! Home cooking to me is not about impressing people (though I do like to show off a bit occasionally, who doesn't!) it's about enjoying the process and the product and entertaining should be pleasurable for you and your guests! I shall save the story of me showering myself in aubergine dip for another post! Noone enjoys a get together where the host is a red faced, strung out, panicked bunny - not the host and not the guests.

The blogging started when people started asking me for recipes in a 'my niece can't eat dairy how do you make chocolate cake' or 'mmmmmm I want to make those' type way - I figured it was easier to stick them all somewhere central than keep typing out emails and it would give me something to go back to when I wanted to do something again. I also thought it would get me back into a bit of writing; I remember planning to write a best selling novel at some point but life kind of got in the way. Brevity, as you can see, was never my strong point! I've kind of lost my way with the blogging; I tried to keep to the facts and that wasn't fun to write and then I got behind ...This year, a New Years Resolution if you will, I am determined not to just get up to date but to enjoy it, it's my blog and if I want to talk about the fantastic shoes I bought while the cake was cooling I will. I love shoes :-).

So I shall continue to cook and bake (not too much baking while the christmas pounds are still hanging around) and blog and eat, and eat some more ... I hope you all enjoy reading and try some of the recipes, I know Sarahs Chocolate Orange Cake has been a success for quite a few! Don't be shy about commenting when you've had a go; some of my best ideas have been nicked off other people ;-)

If you do a 'why do I cook' blog post link back so the trail leads back to the originator!

PS I have no idea who Michael Ruhlman is! Anyone want to comment?
* I think it was Nigella, but my memory is not to be trusted

i'm rubbish ... but I promise to try harder

Ok, I know I have been rubbish and I won't make excuses but I promise to try harder. This weekend I will sit down and start getting up to date and then I will make something extra nice to make up for it!

Biscuits maybe - I haven't done any biscuits yet!

things I have made this week and failed at ...

I know there are a lot of photo's that don't have the recipes - I have a big pile at home that sits there looking reproachfully at me! In my defense I am feeling absolutely awful at the moment and managing to make anything between getting home from work and going to bed is considered a win! 

The two things that I have managed to make this week weren't very successful, although edible, and certainly not worthy of blogging yet! I shall add them to my list of things I shall try again!

Toad In The Hole
This was more toads lying on a quilt! It was soft but in no way the billowing airyness I was hoping for! Andrew Watson of the BBD Group has posted a recipe for yorkshire puddings so I will try again!

Porcupines (Meat balls with rice in)
They tasted pretty good and I don't think it was a recipe malfunction more a me being lazy problem - they obviously weren't all going to brown when put in together in a pan that size! They has mushed a bit into the sauce - I have some for lunch but they are very far from being meatballs now! Will do it again and take a little more time!