Turning the corner

This week is turning out to be so much better than I thought it would be.  Basically, my doubts and frustrations about meal planning from last week went right out the window and I've actually felt excited about this week's meals.  Everything got a little better after I worked a few things out, but it all really changed when I talked to Derek because I found out he's going to do the no-grain fast with me!!  And, we're doing it for 2 weeks together (3 weeks total for me)!  Before we talked, I was worried he would want to eat things for dinner that I couldn't have and that I'd just be a big downer on his meals for the week, but now it's not an issue.

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Yesterday, we sat down and came up with our meal plans for the whole week (every meal - not just dinners, like we normally do).  Then, we went grocery shopping and stayed under budget!  After shopping, (and here's where it gets really good) . . . Derek chopped all the vegetables!  I hate chopping vegetables.  He helped me cook up a storm all afternoon so we could be prepared for the start of the week.  We made my Greekified Oven Omelet and the Chicken Vegetable Soup.  It all turned out pretty well, and we're almost entirely ready for the week.  We're also making another soup for dinner later this week that will provide some leftovers for lunches by the time the Chicken Vegetable Soup runs out.

While I'm certainly glad to be able to have good food all planned out for the week, there's one thing that is really exciting for me.  I found a chocolate chip cookie recipe that Derek approves of!  (I shared the same recipe last week, in case you already looked at it.)  I thought they tasted really good, but since Derek is something of a cookie connoisseur, I was worried they wouldn't be good enough.  Well, he tasted one of my already-6-days-old cookies and thought they were great (success!).  Of course, that led to him deciding we needed to add the ingredients for vanilla ice cream to make ice cream cookie sandwiches.  (I would normally link to the vanilla ice cream recipe here, but for some reason it's not connecting.) 

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By the way, that's not my photo (because I haven't made anything yet).  It's just meant to give you a visual.  Anyway, the ice cream recipe is a great David Lebovitz recipe, so you should check it out sometime.  I replace the white sugar with coconut sugar for a low-glycemic, refined sugar-free version.  The coconut sugar darkens the color of the ice cream and gives it a warmer flavor (like a hint of caramel).  We will be making the cookies and ice cream soon, and I am very excited because I've been wanting to make cookie sandwiches for a year!

So tell me, have you used coconut sugar before?  What have you made?  Please leave me links or recipes in the comments section so I can try yummy things too!  If you haven't used it before, would you be willing to try it?