What do you notice about this breakfast of mine?

Here it is:

Does it look SWEET? 

A couple of weeks ago I was watching Good Morning America and Katie Couric was on talking about her new documentary movie which talks about the evils of sugars, as I understand it.  I don't think sugar is evil, but I have been working to reduce it in my diet and that of my family.  Katie Couric invited viewers to join her in a ten day "sugar fast" starting the next Monday and I decided to do it.  No sugar, no artificial sweeteners.

This is what I found:  there is sugar in a lot of things I like to eat.  I didn't go hard-core and scrutinize every.single.label for sugars, but if something obviously had sugar in it, such as cold breakfast cereal or commercial yogurt, it was off my menu.  No desserts, no adding a sprinkle of sugar to my oatmeal, or jam to my peanut butter sandwich.  It was quite an adjustment.

This is what changed:  I ate more carbs and fat than I usually do.  I substituted a bowl of muesli (minus the chocolate chips I love) for a bowl of ice cream.  Instead of a drizzle of syrup on my waffle, I spread on some butter.  No sugar on hot five-grain cereal?  Who cares when you can pour a bit of cream over it instead?

What didn't change:  I still feel the same.  I can't say eliminating sugar magically made my back pain go away or made my hair thick and luxurious.  However, got some new ideas for expanding my diet and how to eat things with less sugar.

So for breakfast today I'm having a chocolate chocolate chunk cookie Sophia made last night, a donut hole she bought in a package two days ago and saved one for me, and a marshmallow crispy treat I made from a Pioneer Woman recipe and saved in the freezer, waiting for the ten day fast to be completed.

You'd do the same, right?

Will this suffice as dinner?

I hope so, because these with a glass of milk are what I believe the girls had for dinner (I was at Stake choir rehearsal).  I guess they are what I had too, minus the milk.

Christmas Eve

Today the girls had a cookie baking party hosted by . . . me.  I invited a couple families of school-aged children to bring their favorite cookie recipe and come over.  Luckily I thought to make a batch of cookie dough for spritz cookies so they would have some cookies to shape and decorate as soon as they got here.  Those are the green ones in the picture.

We also made some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (the guests were amazed at the huge container of chocolate chips I have--it's about 5 pounds) and some lemon cookies (minus the lemon because I didn't have any, but plus lime juice and orange zest).

I made a pot of hot chocolate and piled a plate with cookies.  We ate those, then the kids played outside, then took plates of cookies home with them.  My girls thought it was very fun.  You can see the cookies on the plate Caroline made for Santa.

Dh took ds to the airport in the big city.  He's going to spend Christmas with his mother and sisters.

I took the girls and went to Costco.  I know, I know.  But it wasn't as crazy as I thought it was going to be.  The main thing I needed was some tamales for dinner tonight.  I picked up a few other things as well (huh--just try not to).  The girls tried some fun food samples and had a good time.

When dh got home, he took the girls to Best Buy.  Elizabeth has been saving money for a number of months and has enough to buy an iTouch or a Kindle Fire or something like that.  She's leaning toward the Kindle, and today is the day for the purchase.

Tonight we'll enjoy a delicious tamale dinner (I know it'll be delicious because the tamales were being sampled at Costco ;-) ), then dh and I will negotiate about going to the late night church service at the Catholic church in our neighborhood.  Last year a man sitting near us fainted and the paramedics worked on him in the aisle during most of the service.  Maybe it would be a little less "interesting" this year.

Merry Christmas!

Naughty dh

Look what dh is making for Sunday evening:

Chocolate chip walnut cookies.  Sigh.

But!!!  Tonight is the first high-powered choir rehearsal for our Stake Conference and early prep for the Stake Christmas concert.  Have I *perhaps* mentioned how much I like singing in good choirs?

Family Home Evening

This afternoon Caroline asked to give the FHE lesson and started looking through old copies of the Friend magazine for lesson ideas.  She chose a story from the Jauary 2011 Friend called The Cookie Solution, in which two boys become friends because one extended a hand of friendship to the other over a batch of homemade cookies.

It reminded me about making my own friend out of a potential enemy about 17 years ago.  That was over three ripe pears, not a batch of cookies, but it was a friendship that extended to the end of my elderly friend's life.

Sugar cookies with frosting

Well, we cheated. I found sugar cookie in a refrigerated roll on sale for a dollar, so bought a couple. Instead of slice-n-bake though, Caroline rolled it out and used cookie cutters. 

They had two friends visiting (one is just out of the picture).  It's amazing how the day goes BETTER with the addition of some friends.  It made everyone happy.

The "A" Family Bakery

Last night I had my Messiah choir practice so dh stayed home with the girls and made chocolate chip cookies. They are slightly caramalized and have crunchy edges. Absolutely delicious. Not that I'm eating near the number I'd like, of course--gotta keep to my diet. :-)

Today I made bread for general use--sandwiches, snacks, toast for breakfast, etc. This batch made two large loaves and they are 30% white, 60% whole wheat, and a 10% mix of oats, ground flaxseed, and sunflower seeds. I don't know if I've ever made better. As I was getting ready to close up the cookbook my eyes fell on a recipe for rye bread. Quite some time ago my mom brought me enough rye flour to make a loaf of bread but I never did anything with it. Miracle of miracles, the flour was right where I thought it was and it was just enough for the recipe. The dark brown color comes from molasses, coffee powder (we don't drink coffee so I used some coffee substitute powder), and cocoa powder. It called for optional caraway seeds and I knew I didn't have any, but I thought I had some dill seed which is similar. I'm sure I had some at one time, but I must have used it up, so I made the bread without any seeds. It is good but doesn't have the characteristic flavor I think of when I think of rye.

We are set for bread and cookies for a few days. I love it when we have the energy to bake like this. It's only been about 2 months since the last time I baked bread but it seems like a long time. After having the first bite of the crunchy heel of fresh bread dripping with honey, I have no idea why I waited so long.