My last media project was a monumental two month-long recipe test/development for TLC’s Kitchen Boss series. What exactly did that mean? It meant that on extremely short notice, I said yes to a new and wonderful gig, packed up my belongings in New York and scurried back to Cleveland. It also meant taking a little sip from the crazy cup.

In Cleveland, I would have my kitchen, my car, my resources and close proximity to well-stocked grocery stores- all good. But, it also meant collaborating away from location with production, while in production. The remote set-up initially made me a little bit nutsy , but ultimately worked out very, very well – hello to (often) working in pajamas.

It meant tracking down the host’s family members in New Jersey for “a little bit of this, a pinch of that, you know”, verbal recipes, and then creating real, workable, kitchen tested and written recipes. It meant much communication with a member of the kitchen styling crew, who could then track down (host), Buddy, when I had questions regarding unique baking instructions.

Aside from trips to the grocery story, one date and Thanksgiving dinner, I did not leave the house for the month of November. It meant working 80-110 hours a week to complete (and occasionally conceive anew and re-write) somewhere in the neighborhood of 140 recipes. Towards the end of  the job I wised up and took on a part-time assistant. Having Kate available to help with cleanup and grocery runs proved instrumental in preserving my sanity, revving up productivity, and allowed for transcribing to happen earlier, rather than later in the day when I was googly-eyed.

It also meant tasting and eating in a very short time, an insane quantity of pasta, bread, breadcrumbs, cheese, cheesy bread and cheesy breadcrumbs, meats and cream. There was an unprecedented amount of tomato product in my home. I glugged my way through gallons of olive oil. Friends and neighbors were called to pick up many of the tested creations for their own enjoyment and to “get it out of the house!“. My belly and brain were on position “stuffed” for seven weeks. The recipes are wonderful. They work as written. The results taste delicious. Just not all at once.

Since the KB job and a post-test vacation, I’ve taken a deliberate step way from sugar, refined, and many complex carbs. I’m not in love with exclusively ingesting a high protein-based diet, but it’s hard not to observe that my energy level is cranked to HIGH, focus is keener, and sleep comes deep and rich. I’m also back to the gym after a seven year hiatus and am adding cross-training to compliment my yoga practice. It’s doubtful I’ll be eating this way long term, but no sugar and low carb is a fine way to recalibrate between recipe tests.

I’m adding a large dose of complex carbs to this snowy morning because I just want some pancakes, dammit. A large stash of sprouted grain and coconut flours in the garage freezer was unearthed, so I turned to Janie Quinn’s Sprouted Baking for inspiration and griddled up the pancakes you see in the above photo (spontaneously captured by the beauty of iphone as my camera was not charged – oops), using the batter for her  Coconut Waffles. Supplementing the coconut oil called for in the recipe with grass fed ghee, and omitting the ingredient of shredded coconut, this sprouted spelt, rye and coconut flour stack is agreeably moist  and deeply flavorful in the way a buckwheat flour tastes of depth. A shallow puddle of local syrup, a crunch of toasted pecans and a pat of melting butter? Yes, please.

Just because I was home alone this morning, doesn’t mean I can’t gift myself with a beautiful-looking and tasting plate of food. This is precisely the premise behind friend and Washington Post Food Editor, Joe Yonan’s first release, “Serve Yourself: Nightly Adventures in Cooking for One”, which “celebrates the flexibility of single life and the freedom to cook the foods you crave when you crave them”. Amen to all of that.