Gluten-free Cupcakes and Other Successes

[spryng]

I finally made some non-spectacularly-sucky gf cupcakes last weekend, with a lot of direction from the internet. Why oh why can't I find a comprehensive, wholly scientific breakdown of all the gf baking ingredients? I have a better understanding than I did, but I would love to get that basic layer of knowledge down without making a crapton of shitty cupcakes first. :P

Anyway, pumpkin cupcakes with maple frosting were successful, if a tad overfilled, and a tad muffiny, but they didn't have that grainy or chewy texture that is usually associated with gf baked goods which means I've at least hit on a successful flour mixture. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, I bet a solid filling of some pumpkiny sort would go a long way towards making these stand out more. Hmm. Going to need to try that. But first off, gf chocolate cupcakes this weekend for Lora's boss, since he missed out on the non-gf blackberry limes she had me bake for her coworkers.

I was only supposed to be baking cupcakes as prototypes for the wedding, but it appears they have morphed into a fun non-paleo cheat. One of my not-so-stringently held rules is to only eat horrible things that I make myself, hence the plethora of cupcakes, but I haven't really been holding to that as well as I should. :/

In other diet-related news, I'm experimenting with intermittent fasting. It's a big thing in the paleo community and if there's anything I've learned from my own personal success with paleo (and watching others I know succeed, both online and off), it's to trust that community a little bit more than I would other dietary crackpots. So I've seen a lot on the benefits of IF - increased fat loss with lean muscle preservation, increased mood stability, increased insulin sensitivity, toleration for missing a meal (i.e., not getting horribly cranky and bent out of shape) - along with the lesser thoroughly scientifically researched possibilities of decreased rates of cancer, dementia, alzheimer's etc etc etc. Mostly I'm going for the shorter term benefits, which are more concrete and obvious, although if the longterm pan out, then more to the awesome. Plus, with so little time these days, it would be nice to train my body to skip breakfast occasionally. Oh, and not be so damn cranky when I get hungry.

It's also supposed to help training and workouts and, I admit, I've noticed my endurance and strength is much better in the morning before I've eaten anything.

Today was the second time I'd tried skipping breakfast entirely, i.e. a sixteen-ish hour fast. I actually made it to eighteen hours before the thought of food overwhelmed me. But I didn't get cranky! Hoorah!

Enough about diet (which I could talk about all day - I have to admit, I am a shameless convert at this point). Work is going swell - it's still a bit of an adjustment spending most of my day not doing whatever the hell I want, but at least it's interesting. Strength class is going swimmingly - I'm still stupidly happy about my 175 pound deadlift last week. And our crossfit classes are particularly interesting this month: so far we've had a 20min run and overhead squats. I'm pretty sure we're ramping up for a 5k workout at the end of the month. Super excited!

Lots of books are being read - someone I met at the book festival invited me to a queer reading group. I'm excited to be a part of a book club as well as to meet new peeps - hopefully it won't be disappointing like the sci-fi book club I tried to join way back when.

Not much is being written - I'm taking my netbook with me to work everyday and finding a corner to edit in during lunch, but the going is slow. I wish I had more time in the evening or mornings to write; looks like I'll have to just make the time.

Some things are being photographed. I want to do some self portraits soon, plus get started on the Tucson photobook I've been aching to do. Especially now that everything ever is in bloom.

I'm also supposed to be keeping to a 9pm bedtime, so I'd better run if I'm going to make that. Love you!

Comments

[rocket-jockey.livejournal.com]

For gluten-free baking, you can make a mix using 70% flour/meal and 30% starch by weight. A good list of flours and starches is included with this recipe post at Gluten Free Girl. If you want to avoid the Xanthan and guar gum in a recipe, you can substitute ground flaxseed or ground chia seeds for the gum one-to-one by mixing the seeds with a couple fluid ounces boiling water and stirring until the mixture thickens up before adding it to the mixture.

Glad you're getting writing and photography time in: I've been stalled out the last month.

[i-phoenix.livejournal.com]

I've just started dipping my toes into the Paleo thing (haven't had time or room in the fridge to buy the proper supplies, but that's what I get for having 2 roommates who eat whatever they damned well please, I guess)

Good to know that one of my friends is on this as well.

[spryng.livejournal.com]

Yup! Been doing it since August-ish. I've just been coy about mentioning it by name on LJ because I thought it was gimmicky at first. But really, it's kind of amazing.

[spryng.livejournal.com]

That recipe post has finally convinced me to get a scale. I'd been holding out, but that makes perfect sense that each gf flour is going to weigh differently and therefore need more or less accordingly. I also like the idea of subbing out the gums, because they're expensive and weird, whereas I already have a jar of flaxseed. <3 you for this.