Didn’t focus very well but you get the idea.

Goat Mac Rocks

Day Seven…

Fail but still a success.

Task Seven: Make gluten-free and cow-dairy-free mac & cheese

The mac & cheese itself was tasty but I failed at using only goat dairy. It was mostly only goat dairy — except for the butter. Because I don’t really think of butter as dairy, I think of it more as it’s very own food group that should really be used in just about everything. It’s also one of those foods that makes me wonder who the hell first figured out how to make it. I don’t know about you but when I see heavy cream I don’t think to myself, “I wonder what would happen if I put this cream in a large cylindrical tub and beat the crap out of it.” Although in all fairness I would never have looked at a cow feeding her calf and thought, “hey I wanna drink that!” Milk is gross. Butter is heaven.

There are actually a lot of foods that make me wonder how anyone came up with them. Coffee is a good example. Once upon a time someone, probably in Colombia, looked at a coffee bean and decided that if he or she roasted it, ground it up and poured hot water over it the end result would be a magical elixir that would make mornings bearable and create an empire of chain stores that are, often literally, on every street corner. Speaking of Colombia, have you ever seen a coca plant? How the hell did that come about? I can see where you might think to make tea out of it but to grind it up and refine it into powder and snort it up your nose? Seriously, who thinks of these things?!

Coca Plant. I know looks like tea, right?!

And then there’s my favorite: the artichoke. I’ve been eating artichokes for as long as I’ve had teeth but it wasn’t until just a few years ago that I actually saw the plant. Again, not something I ever would have thought to eat. For starters, it’s not the friendliest plant out there. It’s actually a variety of thistle which is why it’s so spiny and obnoxious. And have you ever tried to eat an entire leaf? If you haven’t, don’t. It’s not delicious. Luckily someone out there, some glorious and adventurous individual, thought it might be fun to eat thistle and discovered that if you cut the stems, trim the leaves, throw it in some steam, etc. it is actually one of the tastiest things on the planet. I would like to hug that person but I imagine that he or she is now long dead. But I bow in reverence to his or her descendants.

Why? Why would anyone think they should eat that?

Oh yeah, the mac & cheese. I have to say I’m rather impressed with myself. My recipe needs some refining but for a dish I threw together with limited direction it was pretty darn good. Except, of course, for the aforementioned butter use. But, let’s be honest, I’ll use butter next time too. It’s just what I do. I didn’t want it to be just chèvre so I also threw in some goat gouda and smoked goat cheddar. I also used some almond milk yogurt which will be eliminated next time: too sweet. I had to throw in some cayenne to cut the sweetness. It did have kind of a bizarre, grainy texture which could be the result of the quinoa pasta or could be the smoked goat cheddar. But once the mushrooms and bacon went in I didn’t care so much. And Erik liked it. But, like I said, that guy will eat anything.

So now that I’ve eaten enough mac & cheese to kill a small goat I’ve decided to give myself an exercise related task to balance things out. This one is inspired by my friend Jena who told me about a class she sometimes goes to where they do yoga with weights. I didn’t go to the actual class because it’s also hot yoga and I hate hot yoga, but I was intrigued by the weight part. She’s a strong girl so if it’s tough for her I expected it to be nearly impossible for me. I’ve already tried it but you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to hear about it. Assuming I’m able to type tomorrow… Ouch.

And hey, it’s almost Friday!!!