So, let me take a second to explain to you this no-grains thing. I’ve elected to do the “Paleo/Lifestyle” Challenge that is taking place at my Crossfit gym. Trying it for one month. Unfortunately the challenge kicked off when I was in Chicago for work (and New York), and not to mention Kiddo’s birthday. For a quick review of what the Paleo Diet (aka Caveman Diet) is, I refer you to this handy infographic courtesy of Greatist.com and Pinteresters everywhere.
Anyway, day one of the challenge I was sitting in the Chicago office with some fellow travellers and on a whim, I announced we’d be having lunch at the Billy Goat Tavern. The one made famous from an old SNL skit with John Belushi. C’mon. I’m never in Chicago and here I am blocks from the place (ok, an $8 cab ride but still, we did walk back so it’s pretty close). I won’t go into the details of the Billy Goat, but just know that if you’re trying to stay Paleo, it’s not the ideal place to go (“Um, can I have just the burger, no bun” isn’t going to cut it here).
No Pepsi, COKE!
Dinners that week include pasta with friends, seafood (and beer) with more friends, noodles with co-workers, more beer, and a little ice cream with brother. So, in all, not a great first week to be doing this. So, there was that.
Whatev. I came home from this business trip on a Friday, and on Saturday was the little one’s fourth birthday. FOUR. I can’t very well call her the toddler anymore.
The last three years we have made cupcakes, so of course cupcakes were in order. I found a paleo cupcake recipe and decided to go all in. Coconut flour, cocoa powder, honey were the main ingrediets, and they turned out surprisingly delicious.
Robot cupcakes, paleo-style
Even the husband had one (maybe two). They were actually more brownie-like in consistency, but I wasn’t being picky here. The frosting, not so much. My timing was off after I mixed coconut oil with the chocolate and so it just turned back into, well, a chunk of chocolate. So, I gave the kid a piece of the chunk of chocolate to enjoy with the cupcake/brownie.
I find if there is chocolate in there somewhere it doesn’t seem to matter what form it is in. It’s all good.
PS: Earlier this week all of us crossfitters taking part in this challenge had to report in on how they were doing (we are tracking via a point system where basically the more strict your paleo diet is, the more points you accrue). It should come to no surprise to anyone that I am in LAST place! I might as well sit down and enjoy a Paczki.