Guest post & recipe review from Lillian’s Test Kitchen

But even once I figured them all out, managing myself around food didn’t really become any easier. Rather than a source of comfort and a social glue, food had become something that kept me apart from my friends and family. I always needed to have a special meal. And even with a special meal, I didn’t feel comfortable eating with everyone else, partially because it made my difference so obvious (which I wanted to avoid) and partially because by this point, after years of food being so complicated and punishing, I so much anxiety around food, that the experience was rarely enjoyable anyway. At a certain point (about three years ago) I just couldn’t take it anymore. I was tired of seeing food as the enemy. I was tired of feeling deprived, always being around food that I couldn’t eat and wanting what I shouldn’t have. And I was very tired of always getting sick. So I bit the bullet and started making my own food. I realized, that if I wanted to eat it, I’d have to make it. And that single thought changed everything.I decided to call this blog/web show Lillian’s Test Kitchen, not only because it is an experiment in cooking (I make other people’s recipes, like Kelly’s incredible recipes here on The Spunky Coconut, for the first time ever, on camera), but also because it is an experiment in lots of things, from dealing with the emotional issues that come up with food and food allergies, to asking health questions I don’t know the answers to, to finding new unknown bands to feature on my fun mini episodes, to finding out if coconut sugar and honey are interchangeable in that pancake recipe. I’m just trying to be open to everything the world offers me as long as it doesn’t make me unhappy and I’m not allergic to it. I have found the experience to be challenging, rewarding, humbling, and scary. But I guess that’s normal when the point is to try things for the first time and not know what I’m doing or what is going to happen next. And that, along with being healthy, and finding joy with food and life with dietary restrictions is what Lillian’s Test Kitchen is all about. Now, lets have a good time and eat some frosting. 🙂

Vanilla Coconut Cream Frosting (Paleo, GAPS)