I don’t know where the time goes. Lately, much of mine has been spent in the kitchen whipping up scrumptious *SANE stuff for you. I get the biggest rush getting down and dirty with a pile of veggies, a splash of coconut milk and a bowlful of almond flour, and it is especially fulfilling knowing that I might, in some small way, be giving you things that you can use to help you in your health and fat-loss goals. Every email, every comment, every Facebook interaction has been bringing happy stories of positivity & gratitude. I hope you know how much I appreciate this. It keeps me going when I’m having a tired moment, wondering if I am making an impact, wondering if there’s anyone out there, wondering if I should be focusing elsewhere. All I have to do now is head on over to my Marmalade inbox, up onto Facebook or Twitter or spend some time right here – and you all flood in. Thank you.
Now, back to last week.
Stuff I made and ate and wrote about, in case you missed them. 
Green Smoothie – Strawberry and Avocado – I caught the green smoothie train, and I thoroughly recommend you hop on board.
Leek and Cauliflower Soup – my favorite vegetable turned into a fabulous winter warmer.
Cheesy Scones (Biscuits) – yes. Yes you really can eat these.
Creamy Cucumber Soup – see cucumber in a whole new light. Smooth, warm and creamy. Who knew?
As you can see – it was a kind of liquidy week around here. I wonder if the arrival of Fall and a dizzying amount of rain swayed my recipe-making decisions. It has also been an extremely green week. Who knew those pesky green veggies could taste so wonderful? Green is good!
The SANE cooking highlight of the week in the Marmalade HQ kitchen, however, was the Cheesy Scones (Biscuits). Oh good lord. I bet you thought you’d never eat another scone in your life. I bet you thought that if you did, it would be weird because it would be made with some strange and funky “health” food & would taste like cardboard. I am quivering with joy at being able to report that these are indistinguishable from their wheat-flour cousins. Indistinguishable I tell you! And I don’t even have the words to describe how insanely (ha ha) happy I was when I pulled them out of the oven and ate one. If you do nothing else this week, please make these scones.
Last week saw me getting a detail on the car – in the pouring rain – because that’s how we roll in Seattle, laughing so hard in the studio with Bailor he had to fly solo for a while because I couldn’t speak, enlisting the help of a particularly handsome and strapping man to re-arrange my office furniture, and day-dreaming about my upcoming kitchen demolition. I spent an hour on the phone with my favorite person in the whole world, decided that you need SANE cookies and by jove I was going to make them for you, owned a checkout at Trader Joe’s for the first time in history, had a gobsmackingly good SANE Big Breakfast Adventure in Eastlake with two Aussie chums, and had 3 spectacular SANE cookie fails in the kitchen.
My Therapist told me I was ridiculous, my boss entertained me multiple times with his crazy British garb, the price of gas plummeted, and I accidentally rolled over my skirt hem as I scooted around behind my desk in my office chair. I do not recommend this. On Thursday I slipped over and dumped my friend’s coffee all over the floor (and me), went into the mens bathroom by mistake to clean up, and then spent the rest of the day sporting a designer coffee stain all down the left leg of my pale blue jeans. Did I mention that 3 hours earlier I burnt my arm on the iron that I was using to iron my now stiff and coffee-stained jeans with? Ah, Thursday. There’s always one.
I ran my dishwasher more times in one weekend than should be legal for a single girl to do, discovered that Vanilla Coke Zero is not the same as Cherry Coke Zero, and decided I might need to get a roommate to help me eat all this SANE food I am making for you. I must have eaten 2 lbs of almonds this weekend in the course of my cooking experimentation, as well as a considerable amount of soup, eggs, smoked salmon and lettuce. Lastly, I had to put Dougal on a time-out because he was being entirely inappropriate with Florence. (Note to any new readers: Welcome! PS. please don’t call Child Protective Services, they’re cats.)
Meanwhile, my glorious gal-pal Deanna, who owns the #1 Bed and Breakfast in Washington State – The Old Hen – made her TV debut, along with Joey Fatone of N’Sync on the Live Well Network. You can watch the episode right here. She ROCKED it. What a star.
Finally, as usual, The Bailinator and I were in the studio recording another crazy podcast. This one was particularly crazy as I struggled to stay focused on the job in hand. I blame Bailor. Completely.
EPISODE 18: Big People, Big Business – How Health is Bad for Business
You can listen to all the podcast episodes right here, or if you have an iTunes account you can head here.
All iTunes, Facebook and Amazon love is very gratefully received!
COMING ATTRACTIONS!!!
Stuff I made and ate and will write about in the coming couple weeks. You mentioned that you like a preview to the movie. I aim to please.
Leek and Pear Soup
Creamy Smoked Salmon with Pea Shoots
Cauliflower Cheese
Cheesy Pea Shoot Scramble
Brussel Sprouts with Leek and Poppy Seeds
Spiced Cauliflower Soup
“Goals are like the stars: They are always there. Adversity is like the clouds: they are temporary and will move on. Keep your eyes on the stars.” – Byrd Baggett
“Don’t wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what. Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful.” – Mark Victor Hansen
Happy Monday!
