Friday, May 16, 2008

Pride and Prejudice



It is a truth universally acknowledged that a middle-aged woman in possession of a good(ly) sag must be in want of an exercise program. Yep. That would be me.

There's a myth that circulates around that women of spare frames are correspondingly spared sag. Please allow me to disabuse any reader of this notion. Gravity is no respecter of persons. This point was driven home to me when in the recent past, I raised my hand to wave and my upper arm waved harder than my hand. I looked in horror at what looked like a flapjack hanging from beneath my bicep. Where did that come from?? Gulp. Time to face the ticking clock. I'm turning into my grandmother.

So much for pride. Time to overcome the prejudice against exercise. Don't get me wrong...physical exertion doesn't bother me. I've never gone in for "formal" exercise because I figured that gardening as I do--I'm deliberating upgrading what I do to "farming"--that I didn't need to get all chummy with an equally aging Jane Fonda. When I'd go to the doctor and meet the ubiquitous question of "Do you exercise three or more times a week?" I always answered, "Yep" without a qualm of conscience. After all, what else is mowing an acre with a push mower, but exercise?

My gardening mentor gently pointed out to me the benefits of regular cardiac exercise. Not the least of which is an improved immune system and increased energy. Both of these caught my attention, given our little pneumonia stint this past Christmas and the fact that most days I fall face forward into bed, going to sleep before I've finished crashing.

So gritting my teeth and resurrecting a mini-trampoline that I'd bought for the benefit of the Hobbits, I acquired some handweights and burned off some of my favorite fast-stepping music onto a CD equal to the amount of time I wanted to...okay...give me a minute...I'll get it out...exercise. Some pretty amazing things are happening. And I thought I was in pretty good shape. I'm now enjoying being in better shape. And that energy thing? Yep. It's actually true. During crunch week a while back and the week thereafter, I gave myself "permission" to be excused from working out. And I felt like death warmed over on a cracker--gluten free, of course. As soon as I pushed myself to pick up those weights and start it all over again, my energy level rocketed.

Lots of things I can do with that energy. Gardening--rather, farming, getting the house whipped into shape, planning for that SAT essay prep class I have to teach this fall. What else? Oh, yeah. That would be cooking.

A while back I was playing with a biscuit recipe. What's Southern cooking without biscuits? This one turned out so nicely that Tool Guy refers to them as my "Bisquick biscuits." And he's not far off the mark on this one.

Almost Bisquick Biscuits

1 cup sourdough starter
1 cup dehydrated potatoes
2 T tapioca starch
2 T potato starch
1/2 t salt
1 t guar gum
1/2 t baking soda
2 t cream of tartar
1 egg
2 T oil
Coconut milk to equal 1 cup total liquid

Preheat oven to 375*. Fill muffin forms half way and bake for 15 minutes or until done.

When these popped out of the oven, I handed one to Dog for him to taste test. His eyes rolled back in his head and he mumbled through a mouthful about getting some ghee. I assumed that meant he liked them. Matter of fact, I don't think there was any left of that first batch for Tool Guy to try. We're working on that sharing thing, but every Hobbit has his priorities: Feed me.

My priorities these days including starting early with some weights, some jogging, and Steven Curtis Chapman "Live(ing) Out Loud" in my ears. Summer is coming on and there's grass to be cut. "Bring It On," because I'm ready!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

so.....dehydrated potatoes. any way around those? i have both potato FLOUR & STARCH. i also have potatoes & a dehydrator but that doesn't help me much for tonight. ;)

i've been curious about these though. i'll have to try them soon.

Loztnausten said...

Oh, the flour would do the job, since it is nothing more than ground potatoes...much like the dehydrated potatoes, which was my work-around for not having potato flour. ;)

Anonymous said...

well, in retrospect it def. seems a bit....obvious. unfortunately i am not great w/realizing assumed steps when it comes to cooking. using potato 'flour' vs. dehydrated potatoes = need to use less (probably 1/2 cup vs. 1 cup)...much less.

hopefully next round will work out better. ;) we ended up with "potato muffins" this time. at least the kids liked 'em.

Loztnausten said...

Oops! That's "cooking dangerously" for you! Glad you ended up with an edible outcome! And thanks for sharing your findings and experience. :)

Anonymous said...

Ok made them again this morning. Observations:

1) I used 1/4 cup potato FLOUR vs. the 1 cup dehydrated potatoes. worked perfect texture-wise.

2) next time i'll use half the amt. cream of tartar. not sure what our deal is, but it's all my husband & i can taste (kids had no complaints).

3) took 45 min. to cook! after 20 min, i upped the temp. finally upped it to 425 & covered w/tinfoil ...some of them still never seemed totally 'done' in the middle, but it was WAY past breakfast time. i did it in a stoneware muffin pan...not sure if that matters.

i think next time around we'll be golden! thx!!