Amazing Recipes, Hilarious Cooking Horror Stories and So Many Many Wedgies [The Best of YOU this week]

If you haven’t seen this video yet, it’s a must-watch for some amazing workout (and life) inspiration:

(If you can’t see this video in your e-mail/on your phone, please click through to my site.)

This week I had so much fun going through all your comments and hearing your best (worst) cooking disasters, recipes, workout pants rants and how long you can stand on one foot with your eyes closed. I’ve collected some must-read stories, tips and recipes from you guys in case you missed them! I’ve also decided to answer some of the questions that got asked several times in the comments here. Plus, you know, I had to include one more cooking disaster of my own… Hope you are all having a great weekend and staying warm if you’re in any of the blizzards!

Recipes

• Cookie recipe – Lori, at The Health Extremist linked to her fave grain-free sugar-free (but not sweetener free) paleo chocolate chip cookie recipe and it looked so amazing I had to try it rightthisverysecond. This happened:

• They flat-lined. I’m telling you if there is a way to screw up a recipe I will find it! BUT there was a silver lining. Because I hate wasting ingredients I ate these anyhow – they were so thin I rolled them up like a fruit roll – and they were freaking AMAZING. As ugly as mine were (and for the record Lori’s look perfect) they tasted just beautiful. I will definitely make these again. Although I’m hoping I can figure out what made them flatten into paper-thin discs so they look better next time. (Should I put the dough in the refrigerator first?
• I finally got Cassie’s “Faux Ho-Ho” (Thank you Lori for the name!) chocolate cupcake recipe for you. I’ve added it at the bottom of my post.

On my post about How to Make Athletic Clothes That Don’t Suck

• Lots of readers asked what my favorite clothes are, specifically which pants I have that don’t go see-through, don’t ride or fall down and don’t have that absurd center seam that separates my labia like the red sea. Honestly I haven’t found the perfect pants yet. (And the only ones I own without the center seam are dance capris from Balera that, while comfy, are super see-through.) The ones I wear the most are my Fila compression capris (super thick fabric and hold everything in), my Athleta capris (because I think the seams make my butt look amazing), my Old Navy capris (great value, fit well and I don’t feel bad when I have to throw them out).

On my post about my Coconut Flour Cooking disaster

• Lots of people wanted to know where I got my coconut and if it was expensive. I personally get mine from the bulk section of my local grocery store (Rainbow, for curious locals) for about 89 cents a pound. Readers also suggested the bulk section at Winco and Whole Foods.
• From Geosomin: “I can just replace gf flour 7/8c per regular cup of flour from a standard recipe and double the baking powder and usually you can get decent muffins with almond or coconut milk and margarine as long as they’re not too low fat.”
• My fave cooking disaster story was from Wendy T: ” I was a long time vegetarian and wanted to impress my husband (we were newly married) and a friend who had just arrived from Cuba. I decided to make hamburgers on the grill. Having never cooked or eaten a hamburger, I figured it couldn’t be too hard, right? I thought all I had to do was make little hamburger meat balls and they’d flatten out on the grill, just like when you bake cookies. Yes, I seriously thought that. Long story short, they didn’t flatten out like cookies. They stayed round little balls that were charred on the outside and raw on the inside. I now leave the grilling up to my husband.” I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time! Thank you Wendy!!

On my post about Scary Strong Women (or was it Strong Scary Women?)

• Cyndie had a great piece of advice for Sybil when she expressed a fear of going in the weight lifting area alone. I’ve always said the best place to get a gym buddy is at the gym. Cyndie’s advice is spot on: “I used to feel the same way! I was so intimidated by the weight room at my gym. But I go at the same time on the same days, and the same people are always there. After a while, I really felt like I belonged and now I’m not shy to ask the regulars to spot me, or to help me with my form. There is one woman who is a figure competitor who is really muscular, and I could see how she might be intimidating to men (she can lift more!) and other women. But when I asked her for help, it turns out she’s one of the nicest people, and really encouraging. Whew – long winded way to say – don’t be intimidated!”

On my post about the balance test and proprioception workout:

• Hay made an interesting connection I’d never heard before: “TIP: if any of you have children with speech delays of disorders, proprioceptive and vestibular exercises will get them talking! Seriously, help your children to do these exercises. […] Nobody’s exactly sure *why* this is, but for some reason, the proprioceptive region of the brain interacts with speech. The two share some kind of mysterious linkage, and one can help other. It might even work with developmentally normal children and adults. It might be an interesting body hack to try, Charlotte. Are you better at language tests (tongue twisters, learning a foreign language, etc..) after you’ve workout out? I’m sure this could be tested in a scientific way, but who wants to take a standardized verbal exam after every workout?? (Hay: I actually have tried this a little bit! I LOVE word games and found that after I did a hard bout of cardio I did worse on the games but after yoga (kind of proprio, right?) I did much better on them…)
• April has a cool time-saving tip: “When I’m working with my patients, I usually will ask them to try this in the AM and PM when brushing their teeth (left leg in AM and right in PM). I start them with eyes open (or stand like on a tightrope if balance significantly decreased), then when they can brush their teeth the whole time without touching down with eyes open, progress to eyes closed. Then they can add this to their day without adding any extra time. It’s an easy way to consistently work on proprioceptive training (if with eyes closed).”

And last but not least, the winner of the Brookside chocolate giveaway is: Laura. I’ve already e-mailed her the good news. Thanks to all of you for your sympathy, hugs and chocolate-loving on that post!!