SaffronTurtle

Okay so challenge summary time! This has honestly been a horrible challenge for me. Definitely my worst. Epic fail. All that shiz. While I actualy (surprizingly) did cook every week it was not at the same time and no habit was established. WEEK 1 SUMMARY QUEST 1 – COOK success (bone broth, coconut fudge) QUEST 2 – LEARN success QUEST 3 – DRINK success 7/7 WEEK 2 SUMMARY QUEST 1 – COOK success (dehydrated mangoes) QUEST 2 – LEARN success (chocolate black bean cake, coconut macaroons, kale and sweet potato salad) QUEST 3 – DRINK epic fail 0/7 (I decided to discontinue this quest due to changing circumstances) WEEK 3 SUMMARY QUEST 1 – COOK success (frozen tahini and berry tart) QUEST 2 – LEARN success (frozen tahini and berry tart as above) QUEST 3 – DRINK discontinued Overall Challenge summaryQUEST 1 – COOK 3/3 (But food didn't last all week and wasn't necessarily made on a weekend, hence:) B +2WIS +2STR QUEST 2 – LEARN 3/3 A +3WIS QUEST 3 – DRINK 1/3 Epic Fail Sorry for the disappointing challenge guys! And for the super short post. I'm short on time nowadays.

SaffronTurtle's Recipe #2 Black Bean Chocolate Cake We had black beans leftover from mexican the other night so I MAKE CAKE. Naturally. I scaled the below recipe to suit the amount of beans I had which made a massive cake. Strangely, no-one complained. Recipe was from this website: http://www.somastudio.net/2013/04/black-bean-chocolate-cake-flourless-and-gluten-free/ Copied and pasted from the above website: Ingredients:1-15 ounce can of unseasoned black beans OR 1 1/2 cup cooked beans, any color 5 large eggs 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon sea salt 6 tablespoons unsalted organic butter OR coconut oil 1/2 cup of honey or other sweetener + 1/2 teaspoon pure stevia extract 6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder 1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1 tablespoon water (omit if using honey) Mint Chocolate variation: 2 teaspoons mint extract (in place of 2 teaspoons vanilla) Preparation:Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 9 cake pan with extra virgin olive oil cooking spray, or just grease it with a thin layer of butter. Dust cocoa all over the inside of the pan, tapping to evenly distribute. Cut a round of parchment paper and line the bottom of the pan, then spray the parchment lightly. Drain and rinse beans in a strainer or colander. Shake off excess water. Place beans, 3 of the eggs, vanilla, stevia (if using) and salt into blender. Blend on high until beans are completely liquefied. No lumps! Whisk together cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder. Beat butter with sweetener until light and fluffy. Add remaining two eggs, beating for a minute after each addition. Pour bean batter into egg mixture and mix. Finally, stir in cocoa powder and water (if using), and beat the batter on high for one minute, until smooth. Scrape batter into pan and smooth the top. Grip pan firmly by the edges and rap it on the counter a few times to pop any air bubbles. Bake for 40-45 minutes. Cake is done with the top is rounded and firm to the touch. After 10 minutes, turn out cake from pan, and flip over again on to a cooling rack. Let cool until cake reaches room temperature, then cover in plastic wrap or with cake dome (I use an overturned plastic chip bowl). For BEST flavor, let cake sit over night. I promise this cake will not have a hint of beaniness after letting it sit for eight hours! If you are stacking this cake, level the top with a long serrated knife, shaving off layers until it is flat and even. Frost immediately before serving Frosting:1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted organic butter, 1/4 cup sugar 5-6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder 2 tablespoons half and half OR coconut milk 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract Pinch of sea salt Good-tasting pure stevia extract, to taste Optional addition for a glossy finish: 1 fresh organic egg yolk Preparation:Cream the butter in a small bowl until fluffy. Stir sweetener into butter with a spatula, then beat until smooth. Slowly blend in the cocoa powder (unless you want to redecorate your kitchen), vanilla, and sea salt. Beat in the half and half and egg yolk, if using. Add stevia, starting with 1/16 teaspoon. You’ll probably use less than 1/4 teaspoon. Just keep tasting and adjust sweetness to your liking. Review: Delicious, dense and rich. Frosting was definitely not healthy but the cake itself can be. I had planned to take a picture but alas, it was devoured by many hungry mouths. I didn't use the stevia but I am quite happy with how it turned out.

Well gosh has this been an interesting week. Apologies for the lack of presence here but a lot of have happened and changed and things will be different from now on. I've been given a fresh slate and a chance to start again at a new university campus and a new degree which I am UBER excited about, on very short notice I have organised and been accepted into the on-campus 'college' so I will moving out of home next week and going to live at the uni. From Monday-Friday anyway so I'm not fully moving out because I'll be visiting most weekends. My lifestyle will obviously change, I will have less time to spend on the forums while trying to balance all the social stuff with study and all the general adulting associated with becoming more autonomous. While I am very very excited about this change, there are challenge I have to admit I will now have to face. I won't be able to cook most of my own meals, I have heard the food provided has improved and there are healthy options so my idea of food goals may be more like, choose the salad over the potato or something like that. My sleep schedule is about to be messed up, the earliest I will ever get to bed will be arounds 11 (which in all fairness would be a massive improvement on where I am now) but I will also have to get up earlier and for classes and exercise. Which reminds me, the college has free gym membership (well not really free because I am paying for it but still) and offers classes. This begs the question, should I give up my established exercise routine of every second day to do these classes, get up way earlier to exercise then or try to do both? Haven't decided yet. I will have to learn very fast things like networking skills and time management, good study habits and budgeting. I also have a week to prepare and pack which is ok because I can always pick something up on a weekend home if I forget it. My mind is a bit scattered, can you tell? On my current challenge, I have all but abandoned the quest about drinking broth. I crashed and burned big time in this challenge, but priorities change. And it's ok to change my plans accordingly. I have been learning some more recipes, we had leftover black beans so I made a chocolate cake with them (which I will post in the mini if there is still time). DAY 11 - Thursday 11th February QUEST 1 – COOK N/A QUEST 2 – LEARN Success Cooked the black bean chocolate cake today. QUEST 3 – DRINK fail DAY 12 - Friday 12th February QUEST 1 – COOK N/A QUEST 2 – LEARN N/A QUEST 3 – DRINK fail DAY 13 - Saturday 13th February QUEST 1 – COOK Success My sister and I dried a whole bunch of mangoes in the dehydrator to make mango chip things which are really tasty and healthy. QUEST 2 – LEARN N/A QUEST 3 – DRINK fail DAY 14 - Sunday 14th February QUEST 1 – COOK N/A QUEST 2 – LEARN N/A QUEST 3 – DRINK fail I was thinking I would end this neatly challenge next week on week 3 so that my new challenge starts when I start living on campus. My goals I will have to simplify the hell out of so that I will actually accomplish them too. ughh. so many things to do. BUT never fear. all will work out. I'm going to go find that recipe and post in on the mini thread. See ya

I've had a very busy couple of days and my goals are suffering...I'm trying to juggle organising changing my uni course, accomodation on campus because I live far away, going for my driving test (which I passed!!), driving solo for the first time, (driving to) visit friends and purchasing a pet snake after waiting 6 months for breeding season. I don't even feel bad because this stuff is top-priority right now and broth can wait until I have time and I am not so stressed. DAY 8 - Monday 8th February QUEST 1 – COOK N/A QUEST 2 – LEARN N/A QUEST 3 – DRINK fail. I still haven't gotten any bones to make stock, I haven't been shopping. DAY 9 - Tuesday 9th February QUEST 1 – COOK N/A QUEST 2 – LEARN N/A QUEST 3 – DRINK fail still not yet.. DAY 10 - Wednesday 10th February QUEST 1 – COOK N/A QUEST 2 – LEARN N/A QUEST 3 – DRINK fail I will be deducting points now because 3 days in a row is not acceptable

SaffronTurtle's #1 Recipe Kale and Sweet Potato Salad Ingredients Salad 2 pounds sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks 2 cups finely chopped kale leaves, washed 1/2 cup thinly sliced scallions/spring onion substitute 2 medium celery stalks finely chopped 1/4 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley 1/4 cup pepitas or sunflower seeds, toasted 1/3 cup dried currants, raisins or chopped dried apricots 1 medium ripe avocado, pitted and diced Dressing 2tbs olive oil 2tbs apple cider vinegar 1tbs dijon mustard 1tbs maple syrup or honey 1tsp ground cumin <--- teaspoon not like the tablespoon I accidentally put in... 1/2tsp garlic powder sea salt to taste Instructions Boil diced sweet potato until tender but not falling apart, then roast in oven until delicious (about 40mins @160oC or 320oF for the metrics among us). (I experimented with microwaving them and the boiled ones were much more gooey in the middle and crunchy on the outside) In a large bowl toss to combine kale, scallions, celery, parsley, seeds, and dried currants. In a small bowl whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, mustard, maple syrup, cumin and garlic powder until smooth. Pour dressing over salad, season with salt. Add avocado just before serving. Taste Review This is my most favourite salad recipe usually reserved for Christmas dinner, mostly because it takes longer to prepare, I mean, it takes about 40mins to cook the potato, aint nobody got time for that. I used dried cranberries in this one and no avocado because I detest the stuff. I would also recommend cooking more sweet potato than the recipe says because if you are like me you will eat a third of the potato before it makes it into the salad bowl. Because delicious potato is delicious.

DAY 6 - Saturday 6th February QUEST 1 – COOK Success Made some paleo banana bread today, it had almond meal as a base and roasted walnuts throughout, it is SO nice. I don't however think it will last me the week when I live with four other people who also enjoy banana bread. QUEST 2 – LEARN Sucess In addition to banana bread I have procured a recipe for coconut macaroons today, haven't tried it yet though. I should really need to find some recipes other than sweets... QUEST 3 – DRINK Fail OOps. I ran out of broth and bones to make more today. DAY 7 - Sunday 7th February QUEST 1 – COOK N/A Didn't cook anything today. QUEST 2 – LEARN N/A No new recipes learnt today but I am reading some more of that book on the GAPS diet. QUEST 3 – DRINK Success I must have frozen some leftover soup with the chicken broth/stock because I found some and had that for lunch.

DAY 4 - Thursday 4th February QUEST 1 – COOK N/A Found a good butcher and bought some chicken frames to make so more broth! It's brewing now. QUEST 2 – LEARN N/A No new recipes learnt today. QUEST 3 – DRINK Success Had a mug of broth in the evening. DAY 5 - Friday 5th February QUEST 1 – COOK N/A Turned the broth from yesterday into a soup which I hope is nice. We didn't have carrots or celery but it's got onion, garlic and zucchini in it. QUEST 2 – LEARN N/A No new recipes learnt today but I am reading some more of that book on the GAPS diet. QUEST 3 – DRINK Success Will get in the equivalent of a cup of broth in the soup. I will be modifying this challenge a wee bit so that I can have broth in other forms because drinking it straight is going to get old real fast. Unrelated to this challenge but I've joined the Assassins mini as an acolyte and as part of the first task I made a new PB of 9 pullups. I'm so proud of myself, one of my epic-er goals over on my NF character profile is to do 10 pullups, I am so close!!

I heard Disney owns Starwars now, it's a pity they didn't chuck a few of these badboys into the Force Awakens

Holy moley Asa!! Congrats on the epic PB!

Roasted pumpkin and sweet potato also is DIVINE. *salivating* I didn't find that salad recipe with them in so I will have to ask my mum, the keeper of all recipes. Hey Asa! Thanks, Glad to have you along this challenge DAY 3 - Tuesday 3rd February QUEST 1 – COOK N/A Did make some jelly with some good gelatin and that cranberry juice. Tastes awful itself still but quite edible with honey. QUEST 2 – LEARN N/A No new recipes learnt today. QUEST 3 – DRINK Success I had an unexpected overnight stay at my grandma's house (husband's in hospital after complications with a recent operation) to keep her company so diet was eh but I managed to get my broth in this evening.

Sorry to hear about your chicken It's really hard not to get attached to them when they have such unique personalities.

DAY 0 - Sunday 31st January QUEST 1 – COOK Success 1/4 Made a batch of bone broth and also some coconut chocolate fudge that taste like strangely salty coconut rough chocolate. Funny that no-one has touched my broth but the family has devoured half the batch of fudge I will have to bake more next time. QUEST 2 – LEARN N/A Quest hasn't commenced yet QUEST 3 – DRINK N/A Quest hasn't commenced yet DAY 1 - Monday 1st February QUEST 1 – COOK N/A Not Sunday, didn't cook anything unless you count my tastebuds from drinking concentrated cranberry juice with breakfast. QUEST 2 – LEARN Success I'm going to count the fudge and bone broth as part of this week's recipes, but today I am looking for a favourite salad recipe of mine with kale, pepitas and roasted pumpkin. Its hiding somewhere in the cookbooks. QUEST 3 – DRINK Success Drank a mug of bone broth for brunch this morning. DAY 2 - Tuesday 2nd February (today) QUEST 1 – COOK N/A Not Sunday, didn't cook anything unless you count my tastebuds from drinking straight cranberry juice with breakfast. QUEST 2 – LEARN N/A My goal today is to find a favourite salad recipe of mine with kale, pepitas and roasted pumpkin. Its hiding somewhere in the cookbooks. I want to try it once I get the ingredients. QUEST 3 – DRINK Success Defrosting some now so I should get this one done very soon. Also guys, If you find random grammatically incorrect dates like 2th or the 18nd of Feb please feel free to laugh at me because neither word nor my brain picked them up. I copy and paste the structure from earlier days and sometimes forget to check they are the right endings...

*Reserved for challenge summary and progress reports* WEEK 1 SUMMARY QUEST 1 – COOK success (bone broth, coconut fudge) QUEST 2 – LEARN success QUEST 3 – DRINK success 7/7 WEEK 2 SUMMARY QUEST 1 – COOK success (dehydrated mangoes) QUEST 2 – LEARN success (chocolate black bean cake, coconut macaroons, kale and sweet potato salad) QUEST 3 – DRINK epic fail 0/7 (I decided to discontinue this quest due to changing circumstances) WEEK 3 SUMMARY QUEST 1 – COOK in progress QUEST 2 – LEARN in progress QUEST 3 – DRINK discontinued

[saffronTurtle] Learns to Cook [February 1st to February 28th] Hello and welcome! In this challenge SaffronTurtle will attempt (with varying degrees of success) to get her diet squeaky clean. Or at least start down that path anyways. MAIN QUEST This quest is all about food; (hopefully) delicious paleo-esque food. Food has been a tough one for me in the past and I haven’t quite figured out a way to fix it yet. I hope that by cooking my own food I can control the amount of chemicals, sugar, wheat and dairy that goes into my system. I eat what I eat because it is easily accessible, therefore if I make and have healthier options on hand I can choose them instead. QUEST 1 – COOK A. +3WIS +3STR B. +2WIS +2STR C. +1WIS +1STR Cook a week’s supply of food each weekend. On either Saturday or Sunday cook something, whether it be a batch of healthy sugary treat substitute or a motherload of butter chicken to freeze and last me a week of dinners. Maybe both. I have to refine this quest but the idea is to have options there so that I can turn to them instead of unhealthy alternatives. Success/Failure will be measure weekly, ie. Did I cook this week's food? Yes/No. Score is out of 4 for the 4 weeks. QUEST 2 – LEARN A. +3WIS B. +2WIS C. +1WIS Find and make 1 new recipe each week. Bonus points if more than one recipe. The key here is actually making them; I have oodles of recipes on my computer and in books that I have just never made. The recipes must be dairy, wheat and sugar free. Suck. But not suck because my body will love me for all eternity. Scoring will be as with quest 1. QUEST 3 – DRINK A. +3CON +3STR B. +2CON +2STR C. +1CON +1STR I have recently been informed that calcium stops depositing in your bones at age 21, I’m 19 this year so I have a two/three year window of opportunity to pump myself full of as much calcium as I can so that my bones are nice and strong and don’t break when I’m out doing kickass things like parkour in the near future. So, as part of this challenge I will drink homemade bone broth every day. It’s not as bad as I thought, really. If I’ve learned anything food wise from the walking dead or any other apocalypse movie it’s that I need to a) learn how to hunt and skin/butcher, which I have plans to do, and b ) get used to eating parts of animals that people don’t normally eat. Including the bones. Waste not want not. Scoring for this quest will be marked daily and out of 28. EDIT: Now includes stat points! Max of 15 if I get all As.

Hey, we have the same bodyweight workout guy!! I'm using a modified version of his structure and progressions from startbodyweight.com but I didn't know he had this website too. Do you plan on doing the full 10 week program or the first four weeks for this challenge?

I'll put this here because it makes sense to put it at the end but it is also at the beginning of the thread. CHALLENGE SUMMARY Quest 1 - Hydration 28/28 A Quest 2 - Maintain Exercise Habit 12/13 B Quest 3 - Cold Turkey Diet Change 23/27 B Life Quest - Gratitude Journal 28/28 A Which reminds me I didn't make any stats for this challenge...Oh well. Next time. They're not in my signature anyways. I think I managed to do a good job this challenge, it was difficult because I was trying to establish 3 goals while experimenting with going cold turkey on removing bad foods. Probably a bad idea. Definitely a bad idea. But, I did learn things from it. 1. I need some form of sugar to wean me off from what I normally have. Hence, I have made some paleo coconut chocolate fudge for when I really need a fix. 2. Most or all of my successful habits, ie. the ones that have lasted for longer than the challenge I started them in, began as placeholders. Like doing only 5x reps and building from there when I started exercising. So while I really want results now I have to be patient and simplify the habits to their most basic basic form. 3. It is ok to adjust habits if things change or they are not well written/thought out. 4. Planning my meals is a big issue, not knowing what I am going to eat and trying to make sure I have the ingredients is important and something I have to work on. I need recipes, a shopping list and a plan. 5. In future, if I skip a day it's still a pass if I don't miss the next day. If I skip and make up for it the next day twice or more I start losing points. I'm going to finish up my next challenge and start a new thread today (I didn't realise we didn't have a break between challenges, oops). Thank you for being so amazing and supportive this challenge, you guys are seriously the best. I look forward to stalking your threads next challenge!!

Yes please!! You're a god SnowOwl. Thank you

Congratulations on finishing your challenge!

Lololol. You and me both. In my experience breaking habits is harder than making habits. I think that by abstaining from whatever nice feeling thing you are addicted to, you are constantly uncomfortable and only doing the thing is a relief. On the other hand when you're making a habit there is only much resistance when you actually have to DO the thing, then you're back to normal. I hope that made sense. I don't think it did. I will be sure to recount all my interesting tips and things I find out along the way here that way everyone can learn

Thank you SnowOwl! I really appreciate the help and advice. I have decided that my goal for the next challenge will be to cook the week's food the Sunday before, I think I will make an event of it, maybe rope in the help of a friend if I can bribe them with freshly baked paleo cookies or whatever it is I'm making for treats. I was leaning towards this one already as it makes the most sense, I can plan my meals so that they have less dairy, wheat, sugar etc, two birds with one stone kind-of deal. I'm glad you agree I should do it first. Most of my dairy right now comes from milk in hot chocolates and yoghurt, which I can swap for coconut yoghurt, I'll have to add that to my list of food habit changes. I don't cook much with milk or with anything at all now but I guess that is about to change! I'll keep that tip in mind. It is extremely reassuring to hear that these sugar craving do subside and your perception of what is tasty actually changes once you get to having less sugar. It would be so nice to not have an internal battle with myself every time I see chocolate. That would free up so much willpower that I could spend on other things. I like your idea of subbing pre-made treats for homemade ones, do you have any favourite recipes? As part of my conversation with my aunt she has forwarded me on some e-books about the GAPS diet, bone broths, gelatin and homemade treats. The GAPS diet seems quite full on. I haven't finished them yet. Today I am building a list of really basic recipes for a meal plan and sourcing a local, organic butcher so I can get bones for broth (which I feel is going to be a large part of my diet in the coming weeks). Today is the last day of this challenge in my timezone so I will post/edit in a summary at the beginning of the thread very soon. This evening. [DAY 27] January 30th Quest 1 - Hydration Success Quest 2 - Maintain Exercise Habit N/A Quest 3 - Cold Turkey Diet Change Success Life Quest - Gratitude Journal Success [DAY 28] January 31th Quest 1 - Hydration not yet Quest 2 - Maintain Exercise Habit Success Quest 3 - Cold Turkey Diet Change not yet Life Quest - Gratitude Journal not yet

@peelout, Thank you! @Maeghaan, It is definitely lots of fun! Although not something I would like to do every weekend. I though sober Halo was entertaining but this was some next level shenanigans. [DAY 26] January 29th Quest 1 - Hydration Success Quest 2 - Maintain Exercise Habit Success Quest 3 - Cold Turkey Diet Change Success Life Quest - Gratitude Journal not yet Today I had a chat with my aunt who does a lot of work in nutrition and gut health and scientific things I am clueless about and she has recommended a bunch of things I should start changing to fix, well, every physical related issue I have from bad skin to lack and energy and focus. Holistic healing and stuff. So now I have I guideline for how I want to progress food-wise in following challenges!! I'm really pumped about this. From my conversation these are some possible habits I can choose to implement in the future challenges: Reserve a day on the weekend for cooking the next week's foodLearn to cook something new each weekSubstitute cows milk for rice/coconut/soy milk --------> Eventually phase out dairy Substitute processed wheat bread for sourdough/gluten-free bread --------> Eventually phase out wheatSubstitute cooking vegetable oils for ghee/butter/coconut oilTake fish-oil supplements dailySubstitute drinking chocolate for cocoaMake a batch of water kefir every second dayMake a batch of kombucha each weekMake a batch of coconut yoghurt every weekThere are more but that is the jist of my brainstorm I had just now. This challenge's food goal was an experiment but by no means a sustainable change. Cold turkey is not going to be making lasting lifestyle changes that I am looking for. In terms of my goal/s for next challenge I realised today I have a month left before uni starts and establishing a study habit would be pointless until I am back at uni. So I have more options again. I will have to have a think and try prioritise which ONE goal is most important to focus on next.

Thanks AsaPond, we had a ball. Much drunken Halo was played. Headaches and sleep ensued. I am sorry I haven't had much of a presence here! Trying get back into the rhythm and maintain my habits. [DAY 21] January 24th Quest 1 - Hydration Success Quest 2 - Maintain Exercise Habit Success Quest 3 - Cold Turkey Diet Change Success Life Quest - Gratitude Journal Success WEEK 3 [DAY 22] January 25th Quest 1 - Hydration Success Quest 2 - Maintain Exercise Habit N/A Quest 3 - Cold Turkey Diet Change EXEMPT (I will give myself marks out of 27 instead of 28) Life Quest - Gratitude Journal FAIL (I forgot to do this ) [DAY 23] January 26th Quest 1 - Hydration Success Quest 2 - Maintain Exercise Habit FAIL (I slept for basically the whole day and focused on repairing) Quest 3 - Cold Turkey Diet Change Success Life Quest - Gratitude Journal Success [DAY 24] January 27th Quest 1 - Hydration Success Quest 2 - Maintain Exercise Habit Success/Make-up for yesterday Quest 3 - Cold Turkey Diet Change Success Life Quest - Gratitude Journal Success [DAY 25] January 28th Quest 1 - Hydration Success Quest 2 - Maintain Exercise Habit N/A Quest 3 - Cold Turkey Diet Change Success Life Quest - Gratitude Journal Success Now that that speed-bump in my plans has passed I can focus on finishing well and on expanding on the details for the next challenge.

[DAY 20] January 23rd Quest 1 - Hydration Success Quest 2 - Maintain Exercise Habit N/A Quest 3 - Cold Turkey Diet Change Success Life Quest - Gratitude Journal Success I have decided the main focus of my next challenge will be building a study schedule for when I go back to uni with the other goals supporting this 'main goal'. One thing I have never understood is why we are encouraged to do 3-4 changes each challenge, istead of focusing all out attention on one. All habit change information that I have read warns against making too many changes too fast and failing at them all..

Thanks guys, I figured that I wanted just one perfect week so I really gave it my all! Heads up though, I'm going to a party on Monday so I'm giving myself exemption of the diet challenge for that night on the condition that the next day is SPOTLESS.