More experimental cooking

I managed to fit in quite a bit of experimental cooking this weekend. Some of it by design and some of it accidentally.

The planned ones were sweets - I tend to gravitate toward those because they are much more foreign to me in their primal forms and I'm still getting a feel for what things taste like. Meat and veggie recipes I can usually look at and have a pretty good idea what it's going to be like.

I'm also looking for some things that will add a little more variety to lunches. I seem to want a little something sweet after lunch more often than I do after dinner. Dinner tends to be a heavier meal and I'm satisfied when it's done, but lunch leaves me wanting a little something. The dark chocolate is great and I've really grown to love it, but it's nice to have something different.

I've been meaning to try these Almond Butter Pumpkin Brownies for a few weeks now, and I finally got around to it. I used maple syrup rather than honey, and I don't think I used as much. The verdict is that they are a little bland but pretty satisfying. They're reasonably moist, but still taste just a little dry to me (and my son), but they kick ass with a glass of milk.

I also finally got around to trying out Truffles. They are excellent! The ones I made with rum are little strong, but the orange ones are fabulous. These might prompt me to overeat them, so I won't be making them often, but it's good to know I can and they are easy.

The surprise recipe was a German style baked pancake with a lot of eggs that I thought might be very much like my mom's Finnish Pancake that I love so much...but it wasn't.  It was made with coconut flour and was more like corn bread. Not too bad with butter and a little maple syrup, but not worth making again I don't think.

Life's been busy lately so our attempts at meal planning have been kind of dicey, but we've been doing all right. It's always easy to fall back on your basic meat and veg dinner, so staying primal is pretty easy. We HAVE gotten better at cooking a little extra (and not eating so many seconds) so that we have leftovers for lunches.

I also made a fantastic chili for dinner last week and not only got lunch the next day, but froze three more pairs of servings for future lunches.

I think I'm turning the corner on the season change adjustment - I've had an easier time getting up in the mornings again, AND I've had a little more energy for longer and more intense workouts. I'm still sticking to the somewhat lower intensity in general, and I won't be killing myself anytime soon, but I'm back to what I think of as more "regular" workouts. (And I got this fabulous Roller Derby Workout that showed up today and I'm going to do tomorrow!).