Look at that picture above. I mean, look at it. Doesn’t it look good? Like, don’t you want to plow into those chocolate pancakes like nobody’s business? I do. I saw them and wanted them for breakfast right now, yesterday, git in meh belly.
The funny thing about this is that I found the picture this morning when I was looking at random people’s Instagram accounts. The woman’s name was ‘strongisthenewskinny, and I always appreciate it when people focus on health and strength over losing weight and appearances, so I clicked over and started looking at her account, came across the pancakes and wondered what the heck they were doing on an account that was supposedly for healthy eating and living. Obviously I had to investigate further and when I did I found out that the pancakes are completely healthy, with spelt flour, coconut oil, rice syrup, cacao and all kind of other healthy food alternatives.
My initial response was that of frustration. Of course the pancakes were going to be full of all those really hard-to-get ingredients that we don’t have in our cupboard. Upon further reflection, I realized that we do have a lot of those weird flours, sugars and grains in our cupboard, I just don’t know how to efficiently use them. I realized that when I learned to cook, I learned how to cook with the science of white flour, butter, water and sugar, not with the science of gluten-free, wheat-free and alternative sugar substitutes. I know what happens and can predict the outcome when I put butter, milk, flour and bouillon in a hot pan – I will get some gluten-y gravy. If I did the same thing but substituted almond flour, I would end up with a literal hot mess!
What I realized this morning was that if I’m going to actually change the way I eat long-term, and if I really do want to be a person who eats healthy foods- like those healthy, yummy, chocolate pancakes like it’s not a big deal- then I’m really going to revise the way I approach the kitchen altogether. I’m going to need to relearn to cook and become fluent with the science behind what happens with these newer-to-me cooking materials. I need to be fearless and I’ll need to take risks.
It was actually quite a relief to understand why looking at recipes like this can be an alluring frustration for me. They really are easy recipes that are simple to do, it’s mostly just learning how ingredients function together, trusting the recipes, being open to new things and making sure that I have supplies available in my pantry.
Isn’t it nice when you kind of figure a puzzle out?