Blarg.
Yes, "blarg." That's how I feel today. My eyes are dry (nothing new), my throat is sore (as of yesterday at 2:30 am), and it's moved into the rest of me, making me feel, quite simply, blarg.
It's days like today that I'm grateful my job is slow sometimes. While I can't do what I really want (curl up under my desk and have a nap) I can just sit here, not using my brain for much more than breathing and appreciate the fact that I don't have to be on my feet or even talking.
I hate colds. Any kind of sickness is the worst, but feeling sick is just no fun. If I sound sick I don't care so much but feeling sick really gets me down. I'm fully blaming my husband for this. He informed me last night that he had a sore throat last week. Had I known I would have started in on the echinacea ASAP. Now I'm afraid it might be too late.
We're supposed to go camping this weekend. It's supposed to rain. I am not camping in the rain with a cold. It's certainly not my idea of a good time. Here's to hoping I feel better. I hate camping in the rain but I'd rather do that than camp in the sick. Blarg!
On another note, I don't think I ever really went into any details about our adventures in sugar-free living. After 4 (one work week with a holiday Monday) sugar-free days for me and nearly sugar-free days for Karl it was pretty good. I know we didn't accomplish much but it was still something and even Karl's more conscious about what he puts in his body now. He at least thinks a little bit about it. You will of course remember that I had candy for dinner last Tuesday. We can't be winners all the time.
I made two really yummy recipes during our break from refined sugar. I plan on making at least two more from the same website but I thought I'd share them with you. The first one I made was this, a coconut flour pound cake. It was special for a few reasons. First, gluten free (unless it was hiding in some of the other ingredients) and refined sugar free (I used honey and stevia because erythritol is crazy expensive), it was a first in the non-sugar and fancy flour baking realm for me. It was also my first anything cake made from scratch. Because opening a box and adding three ingredients does not make scratch.
The whole experience was crazy. It wasn't overly complicated but I was totally shocked by how many eggs it took. Ten? Seriously? My mom informed me that had I been making an angel food cake from scratch I'd need twelve, but still...
It was delicious, though. I think if I make it again I'll make it for more than just us, though, because there really was a lot there and, as awesome as it was, I probably didn't need to eat half of it over a weekend.
The other recipe I tried was for chocolate chip cookies. I adore chocolate chip cookies. I got my cookie passion from my dad but unlike him, I'm all about the chocolate in my cookies. This recipe was even more exciting because it called for dark chocolate. For some reason I probably wouldn't have subbed dark for regular had it not been called for in the recipe, even though I love dark chocolate and am starting to get kind of bored with the regular stuff.
The recipe was pretty simple and I had a friend helping me so it made it easier. She actually did my least favourite part of the cookie making process (the cookie forming) while I kept her six week old company. It was a pretty fair trade off, I'd say and made the whole process way less painful. I did make one mistake with the recipe, which was misreading ground coconut as coconut flour but I don't think it was a big deal. Almond flour is also twice the price of coconut flour.
The cookies were really good. The dark chocolate was amazing. The only thing about them that was a little odd was that they had more of a cakey consistency that what you'd expect. It have definitely had more cakey cookies before, though, and these were delicious. I probably enjoyed them more than anyone else and will likely make them again (for me) although I probably shouldn't eat them all myself since erythritol can make you a little... gassy, or so I've read.
The only other downside of the cookies was that I was very aware that they weren't cheap. I haven't bothered to do some basic math, nor will I, but they aren't the kind of cookies you bring to work for your ungrateful coworkers. They're the kind you share with special people and then eat the rest all by yourself.
One last thing I think you should keep in mind is that I hate baking. I hate it. I don't follow recipes very well and I don't have a lot of patience for things like cookies. Just when you think everything is done you have to spend twice as long putting them on pans. Ridiculous. I do love eating baking, though, and, for some strange reason, I've been motivated to make my own for the past couple weeks. So why the change? I'm blaming the absence of caffeine; once you give up caffeine you're like a new person.
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