Play. Eat. Sleep.

I realize I may be doomed to turn into some sort of demi-Paleo hipster, who was into eating insects before they sold out and became all mainstream.

But I have a bag of cricket flour, and big plans for it.

Link contains recipe for Paleo "cricket fudge".

Okay, this is kind of cool.

Having said I'm British and unable to get my head round treating sweet potatoes as a sweet food in the way that US-ians seem to, of course I was immediately seized by perversity and set about trying to do just that -- and more specifically, trying to see if I could use sweet potatoes to make sweet fruit muffins without the use of any added sugar/sweeteners.

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300g sweet potato, peeled and cut into chunks
62.5 g coconut flour
62.5g tapioca flour (apologies for the fiddly measurements; I doubt you have to be this precise -- basically, you want 125 g of flour in total, roughly half-and-half coconut and tapioca)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp coconut oil
3 large eggs
250g berries (I've been using a mixture of blueberries and blackberries, which works well, but obviously you can go with whatever you fancy)

Optional: 40g whey protein powder.

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Boil the sweet potatoes for 10-12 minutes (until tender to the point of a knife), then mash them with the coconut oil.

Mix all the dry ingredients together, then add the sweet potato mash and work it in (I resorted to hands rather than implements for this).

Beat the eggs and mix them in.

Stir in the berries (this is a really gorgeous moment if you're mixing blue/purple berries into bright orange batter).

( Cut for photo )

I aimed to end up with some of the berries squished and mixed through the batter, some whole.

Spoon the mixture into muffin cups. This makes about nine muffins.

Bake at 185 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes.

Results: ( Cut for photo )

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Note: these are mildly sweet rather than very sweet, in a nice fruity-muffin type way.

I like them as is, but if you have a sweeter tooth, you may find you want to add a bit of sugar/honey/your sweetener of choice (maybe a sprinkle of coconut sugar on the tops of the muffins before baking would add nice crunch?).

See what you think, and let me know -- I'm curious as to how other people find them.

This is a recipe in progress, but I was really pleased by this latest iteration. I've been looking for a new portable carb source for climbing sessions, and also I'm British and unable to get my head round treating sweet potatoes as a sweet food in the way that US-ians seem to.

Also, I have a bag of tapioca flour and wanted to see what I can use it for.

Ingredients:

300g sweet potato, peeled and cut into chunks
62.5 g coconut flour
62.5g tapioca flour (apologies for the fiddly measurements, as I was converting from a different type of flour; I doubt you have to be this precise -- basically, you want 125 g of flour in total, roughly half-and-half coconut and tapioca)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp coconut oil (I used one infused with five spice powder, but I doubt this is essential)
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tsp curry powder of choice
3 large eggs

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Boil the sweet potatoes for 10-12 minutes (until tender to the point of a knife), then mash them with the coconut oil.

Mix all the dry ingredients together, then add the sweet potato mash and work it in (I resorted to hands rather than implements for this).

Beat the eggs and add them last.

Spoon the mixture into muffin cups (or just dollops on a sheet of tinfoil or baking parchment; it's pretty thick and holds its shape well). This makes about eight muffins.

Bake at 185 degrees for 30 minutes.

From The Guardian:

Barefoot running shoes - reviewed

Looks like there may be some decent discussion in the comments, too.

If you don't mind the odd pseudo-grain ...

Recipe stolen and adapted from the one here.

Ingredients:

1 cup buckwheat flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup water
1 handful rosemary, finely chopped
1 handful walnuts, finely chopped

Things you will also need:

baking parchment (the silicone-coated stuff, NOT waxed paper)
a rolling pin, or if you realize at the last minute that you have no rolling pin, a cylindrical bottle

Start your oven (200 degrees C).

Mix the dry ingredients together in the bowl. Then add the wet ones. Mix with a fork until it all clumps together, then knead it with your hands.

Roll it out onto the baking parchment, aiming for it to be about 1/4 inch thick. Score it into squares with a knife.

Stick it in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until it's slightly brown on top (I went 23 minutes with this lot).

I suspect these could be even more excellent if made with garlic-infused olive oil.

X-posting to omnomnom.

This is my latest culinary discovery, and is making me very happy.

The basic ingredients you need:

Definitely:

eggs (four to six)
vegetables
your fat/oil of choice
a frying pan which is fairly deep and also oven-safe

Almost certainly, though you might be able to do without:

several cloves of garlic and an onion, diced

Optionally:

pre-cooked starchy tuber (e.g. sweet potatoes)
herbs/spices
pre-cooked meat
a handful of grated cheese

I will illustrate the instructions with examples from the frittata I made today.

In your pan, saute your garlic and onions in your fat/oil of choice (in today's frittata, 1 tbsp olive oil) over a medium heat.

While that goes on, beat your eggs, together with your spices (I used 6 eggs with a half tsp of turmeric, a pinch of red chili flakes, and a metric fuckton of paprika; this requires use of the hand-cranked whisk so as not to end up with hideous paprika clots).

Turn on the grill in your oven about now so it has time to heat up (I went for around 240-50 degrees C).

Add your vegetables (red and yellow bell peppers!) to the pan and continue stirring them round occasionally for a few minutes.

Once the vegetables look about as cooked as you want them, turn the heat down to low. Add any pre-cooked tubers (sweet potatoes -- I had a whole colour theme going here) and meat (wasn't using any).

Give the whole lot a final stir, then pour your eggs over the top.

Leave the pan on the hob for about five minutes. The underside of the frittata should be cooked while the rest is still runny.

Then scatter the grated cheese on top, if you're using it (I was -- nice matured cheddar) and stick the pan under the grill for about five more minutes.

Alternatively, if -- by way of entirely hypothetical example -- you had some kind of hideous oven disaster involving the glass tray under the grill shattering and having to remove extremely hot broken glass from all over the place and then having no way to keep the pan near the grill I MEAN PURELY HYPOTHETICALLY, you can bake it, which will take a few minutes longer but work fine.

When it's done, the frittata should be solid, golden and a bit puffed up. Cut it into slices. Eat for several subsquent meals.

This is one of those recipes that actually tastes better after it's been in the fridge.

From commodorified's awesome Cooking For People Who Don't blog carnival:

daedala: How to Buy a Lamb (or a Steer, or a Hog)

jesse_the_k: What's For Lunch? GF Low Carb E-Z-Cook

Having just tested them in the Peak distinct, I wish to report that Vivo Barefoot's Neo Trail shoes are the business for scrambling up and down steep, muddy sheep tracks through the bracken and heather between boulders.

The deep tread makes the soles a bit stiffer than I'd normally like in a shoe (and the Vivos tend to be a bit stiff for me anyway). But compared to a regular hiking shoe they're very sensitive, the tread grips really well, and I was way, way less worried about spraining an ankle on the paths -- which is usually much more of a hazard than doing so when climbing.