Confessions

Okay, so most of you know I've been on a "clean up the Morales diet" kick recently. I'm actually eating spirulina. I ordered from a co-op. And last week I made "from scratch" cake mixes by mixing all the dry ingredients together and sealing them up in zip lock bags to be used later (sans preservatives and such that are in the store bought variety. Because let's face it, Carly is going to eat cake. The only question is whether or not she can pronounce all of the ingredients in said cake or not.)

And after about two months of trial and error, I have come to some conclusions. Some healthy substitutions are totally worth the extra time or money. Some, are not? Are going to take more time to acclimate to? Hmm...

Some things are really fantastic and I can't believe I've gone on this long in life without them. Such as coconut products. I mean the health benefits are amazing. And coconut oil bakes up much lighter and fluffier without that sickly-nothing-natural-is-this-color of Crisco. Also washes off of measuring cups easier. Doesn't make your hands feel greasy for two hours if you happen to get a smidge on them. I'm sold. Also, coconut milk is dairy free - which means hello cereal again! (You never knew you missed something....) and it can also be added to smoothies because the juice won't curdle it. I also have coconut milk half and half but I'm not sure about it yet. Only used it once, on a bad cup of coffee, so its hard to tell for sure.

Chia seeds. Yes. Little protein-fiber buses!! And they completely dissolve in any liquid. All that nutrition in my smoothie? Or my cookies? Um, yes.

Now where I fall short here is whole wheat flour. If you're making biscuits, or cake, or anything that is supposed to be dense, holy Moses, yes. Use whole wheat flour. Every part of your body, including your taste buds, will say thank you! (It's the nonbleached factor that is key here.) But last week, I made two batches of my Lemon Sunshine cookies (from that post back in February?) - one from a white cake mix, one from a whole wheat flour-cane sugar granules homemade cake mix. And honestly, the prepackaged variety made better cookies - they were light, and fluffy, and my small group guys ate all but four of the first batch. The second, well, they were more scone-ish - heavier. And healthier - so maybe a breakfast cookie?

They were good in their own right, but certainly not comparable. They were two different cookies. And when I want something sweet and light like a cloud, I'm gonna use a pre-bought cake mix. But I figure, every once in a while....a cookie or two ain't gonna hurt too much. Besides, I did use coconut oil in 'em. :) I'll just have to make a batch and take it to work so as not to eat them all myself!

But this trial and error is a good thing I think. I want to do right by this temple - taking good care of the body God has blessed me with. But as long as I'm feeding good, clean things into most of the time, it's well equipped to deal with a little of the not-so-good stuff.

What about you? Any healthy trends you love or aren't sold out for yet?