I’ve mentioned before I enjoy the food blog PaleOMG. Juli, the blogger, is young, down-to-earth, often hilarious and sometimes a bit neurotic. She seems to pretty much have her s*it together at the ripe old age of 26, having been through the types of food issues that so many women have, and being willing to share her story. It took me most of my life to realize this in myself, and I’m still struggling. Also, her recipes are good, with her Almost-5-Ingredient-Pizza-Pie being among my favorites.

Anyway, she co-wrote a cookbook, The Paleo Kitchen, with fellow blogger Civilized Caveman, who I’ve read, but I enjoy less.

So, they have this cookbook. AND they were coming to Seattle in support of said cookbook. To not just any bookstore, but the independent bookstore that’s a couple miles from our house, Ravenna Third Place Books. The one the kid and I have been frequenting on a regular basis this year. So, I really felt like I should be there. Not only did I decide to go, but I was going to BUY the book AT the bookstore, and not on Amazon like I normally would. You see, I had recently finished this book about Amazon (borrowed form the library, but read on my beloved Kindle), and it kind of turned me off on supporting Amazon. So in solidarity to my indie bookstore (I bought the last couple of Harry Potters there, even showed up at midnight to pick my copy up), I bought The Paleo Kitchen there, for full price. That plus some books for the kid and a Theo chocolate bar (it’s hard to find that Chai Tea flavor. Third Place is one of the few places that carry it, so I can’t help but buy a bar when I’m there, you know, for just in case.) and I was out 50 bucks. Gulp. Supporting the indies, I kept muttering to myself.

Anyway, I showed up, got great parking, bought the book, took the kid to dinner in the back at Vios (there is a restaurant, IN the bookstore. They serve Greek-inspired food. And espresso. And gelato. This place is my dream. Oh, and there is a pub downstairs, but that’s another story of another time). By the time we were done with dinner the front of the store was packed for the author presentation. I ended up hanging with the kiddo in the kids section, and just listening to them speak. It was kind of cool, because readers often feel like they know a blogger personally, especially one like Juli, who seems to share a lot more than just food tips and recipes. That was kind of neato. Not neato? The lame questions that were asked.

What I loved that George said was about substitutions. It irritates me when, right after Juli or George have posted a recipe, the comments start popping up … “I love this recipe for Slivered Almond-Almond Flour cookies, but I’m allergic to Almonds. Do you have a substitution idea?” Here’s an idea, if you’re allergic, then find another recipe! Anyway, George basically said, if we say to use coconut flour, it’s because it’s the best ingredient for the recipe. If you tell me you made the recipe but swapped in one thing for another and it didn’t work out, it’s because you didn’t make the recipe. It’s like, yes, they MUST get annoyed with all those questions, and his statement there kind of made me thing. YES! So annoying.

People kept asking a variation of “What’s your dream food, your favorite cheat, etc etc” Poor authors sort of kept saying the same thing over and over … I kind of wanted to tell the crowd of chicks (it was, like 95% women. just a sprinkling of males in the crowd) … IT’S A LIFESTYLE. They don’t miss that stuff because they’ve made a lifestyle decision.

Well, anyway. I can yell all I want, but I’m just like those girls, I suppose. Deciding to chow down on one last doughnut before starting another bout of clean eating (tomorrow, I swear!) I’m heading into dangerous territory where my poor eating habits are beginning to affect my workouts, and my overall well-being. But I love those darn sweets. Did you not read that sentence where I bought a chocolate bar at a bookstore? Don’t judge, okay. And just because it’s paleo doesn’t mean it’s not high-calorie. It’s just a different kind of calorie.

So. Clean eating starts tomorrow. Which means less paleo-izing to satisfy a sweet tooth.

So I best be testing out these recipes today, right! Here are a few pics of the first two recipes I tried from this cookbook. They are both dessert/sweets (see paragraph above). It’s been a little warm, and I’ve been a lot lazy, but the pulled pork is next on my list to try. Until then, have a look-see:

Cinnamon Chocolate Swirl Banana Bread. I didn’t swirl the topping enough. but it was yummy regardless. This is one of those few instances where I’m not going to say something about being disappointed with the paleo-version of a dish. This one, was pretty close to the real thing.. Not too eggy, as paleo breads can be. The banana bread was probably the best paleo bread I’ve made … could have been sweeter but I ran out of bananas.

No-Bake Tropical Escape Cookies. These were tasty, though I wouldn’t trade them for an actual tropical escape. They tended to crumble a bit, though. Had to eat a two-bite treat in one big bite to avoid having them fall apart. I ate a lot of these.

This was the first recipe I tried, and it was super easy, especially when entertaining a little sous chef.

All in all, it’s a good cookbook. I wished each recipe had some additional perspective on what they were thinking/inspired by to create the recipe. It was pretty straight forward in the recipe portion, with bios/paleo info in the beginning. An enjoyable read, and the photos are impressive.

Though I might have been happier had I saved some money buying it on Amazon (No! That’s wrong, keep your moral high ground, aaaaaaaaahhh!)