Paleoista Holiday Tip # 11: Handling the Holiday Church Bake-Off- Who Said it’s Got to be Sweets?

If it’s for a good cause, should we deviate from our Paleo morals, throw caution to the wind and dive into the flour, butter, sugar and Toll House Chips in order to have a marathon bake-off to donate to our local church, temple or other worthy cause?

I, too, used to partake in a literal two-day bake-a-thon during which I’d single handedly make hundreds, if not thousands of eight to ten different cookies during the holidays.  As a college student, it was far more economical than buying gifts for everyone, and the recipients always appreciated and devoured the homemade goodies.

I changed the style and variety of my baking to mirror my own diet over the years.  When I was vegan, so were my  baked goods.  Then, when I first went gluten free but still ate other grains and dairy, the cookies and cakes followed suit.

When I went Paleo, I found myself significantly more drawn to cooking instead, and using my creativity to produce lovely balanced meals focused on veg, proteins, fat and fruit.

This is not to say one cannot bake Paleo goodies, in fact, I’ve tasted some amazingly decadent creations and made some up myself.  Rather, the point is simply to illustrate that there are other things one might want to contribute than the same old same old.

In fact, for those attending the bake-off, a little bit of savory might be a welcome addition.  Paleo aside, think of how you’d feel if you’d eaten nothing but sweet, sweet, sweet all day long;  something more balanced can be what keeps you from falling into a sugar frenzy by balancing the glycemic load of an otherwise very carby-skewed ‘meal’.

Why not experiment with items like home-made jerky or the spiced nut blend I mentioned in a blog the other day?  Both can last longer than a fresh meal and would be far from a sugar overload that even a dessert made with paleo ingredients might cause.