Oops! I skipped Thanksgiving!

And Halloween, if you want to get all technical!  Life has been CRAZY busy!!  Forgive me for not making time for this blog......you should be impressed by the fact that I'm currently typing this out at 1am.....in the morning......no one should see that time twice in one day!  LOL!

How am I doing on THM?  I'm glad you asked!  I'm doing well!  I struggled a bit with staying on plan over Thanksgiving and my weight has been a total yo-yo since my last blog post, but I'm staying the course!  I've discovered that I eat way too few E meals AND they are majorly wimpy!!!  So I've upped the carbs in my E meals and the scale is starting to move in a steady, downward direction.....just the way I like it!  NSV's - I'm able to cross my legs!!  (my fellow fluffies will understand that struggle!) and I can wear my size 18/20 sweatpants again!!  They are snug and would earn me a spot on People of Walmart if I wore them in public......but they fit and are comfy!  Coming from a tight 26/28, I'd say that is a big deal!

Now for the recipe of the week.....

It's my own recipe!!  Every Christmas I make German Pfeffernusse Cookies......think, gingerbread meets ginger snap rolled in powdered sugar.  They are little bites of heavenly goodness!!  They are a bit labor intensive, so I only make them once a year.  I was lamenting their loss since my original recipe is full of wheat flour and sugar and then I started to wonder if I might be able to THM-ify my recipe!  Good news!  I DID IT!!!  They are SO good!!!!  I hope you take the time to make them this Christmas!

German Pfeffernusse (Peppernut) Cookies - THM S dessert

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup xylitol
1/4 cup brown sugar substitute (I like this one at Gwen's Nest)
1 egg, beaten
1 Tbsp molasses
1 3/4 cup baking blend  (I use this one at Raye's Place)
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 Tbsp collagen
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp black pepper

2 Tbsp Water
1/4 cup xylitol/erythritol (I use 1/2&1/2) blended with a coffee grinder into powder

1)    Beat butter, sugar substitutes & egg until light & fluffy
2)    Add molasses and blend well
3)    Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl (not including the powdered sugar) and add slowly to the wet ingredients.  (Don't forget to add the 2 Tbsp of water after all the dry ingredients!)

4)    Place dough in the fridge for 30 min.
5)    Roll small pieces into a pencil shape and cut into 1/2" pieces.
6)    Bake on parchment paper or silpat @ 350 for 5-7 minutes.

7)    Cool slightly, then toss in powdered sugar

8)    Store in a tightly sealed container in the fridge!  Hope you enjoy them!

This cookie is such a wonderful, spicy, Christmas-y cookie!  I hope your family loves them as much as mine does!

This recipe makes about 160 bite-size cookies.  It uses a whole Tablespoon of molasses but that breaks down to 0.1g of carbs per cookie.....not bad!  You can enjoy 10 or 20 for only a carb or two!

Merry Christmas!
Dana

I have too many things to talk about!!

I've waited too long and now I have too much stuff to cram into this one blog post!!  Oops!!  Life got busy and I didn't make time to blog.  No real excuses!

Drum roll, please!!!!!
I'm on day 20 with NO sugar!!!  WooHoo!!!!!  I'm so thrilled!!  The first week was rough, but the second and third weeks weren't too bad!  I didn't even miss it!  This fourth week has been difficult......I think I must have some yeast dying off (or an alien or 2), but it will pass!  I've been taking Magnesium since week 1 and I really think that is helping my sugar cravings!

I also started a 30 day THM challenge last week!  I'm loving it!  I only had one off plan snack my first week....some wheat thins, so I'm counting week 1 a great success!!  My goal for week 2 is drinking more water.  I have always had a hard time drinking 8 glasses of water a day let alone more than that!  I've had 4 glasses today......I need to get busy!!

Ok.....recipe of the week goes to.....Mrs. Criddle's Cowboy Cookies!!!  YUMMMM-O!!!  They are WONDERFUL!!  I did alter them a bit so I'll post my altered recipe below, but the orginal is in the link above!

Mrs. Criddle's Cowboy Cookies  (**w/Dana's alterations)

1)   1 cup of room temperature butter (2 sticks)
2)   1/4 cup THM Sweet Blend OR 1/2 cup Gentle Sweet (I used Gentle Sweet)
3)   1 tsp vanilla (or just eyeball it!  ;)
4)   1 tsp baking powder
5)   1/2 tsp salt
6)   1/4 tsp maple flavor (this seemed weird to me but adds good flavor!!)
7)   3 eggs
8)   3/4 cup almond flour
9)   1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut flakes
10) 1/4 cup of old fashioned oatmeal ground into flour
11) 1/2 cup oat fiber**
12) 1 cup chopped pecans
13) 1 cup sugar free chocolate chips (I used Hershey's)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Cream first 6 ingredients.
Add the eggs and mix well.
Then add almond flour, coconut, oat flour and oat fiber and mix well.
Finally, add the pecans & chocolate chips!
Scoop about 1 Tbs of dough for each cookie.
Bake for 9 min (just until the edges get brown)
Let them cool for about 10 min (if you can wait that long!!)

These turned out like regular, bad-for-you cookies!!  They made my cookie-lovin' heart sing!

Ok, that's all I have time for today!
Blessings!
Dana

P.S. Here's my quote of the week!

A Yummy Midnight Snack....

Well, it's not really midnight.....it's actually about 3am.  My sweet hubby is out of town this week and I barely sleep when he's gone.  SO!  I thought it was the perfect time to do some late night snacking and baking!  (What else would you have done?! ;)

First, a snack was needed!  I bought some Light Wasa crackers the other day and as I opened the wrapper, my first thought was........cardboard.  These crackers look just like cardboard!!!  Uh-oh!  I've been following the Trim Healthy Mama eating plan for 2 weeks now and I've tried a LOT of new foods, all of them have been so yummy and NONE of them looked like cardboard!  LOL!  I was having flashbacks to my mom's "diets"......you know, rice cakes and tuna fish?!  YUCK.  So I plowed ahead thinking, "I'll try a bite, maybe it won't be too bad.  Maybe."  I spread Laughing Cow cheese on it, then sprinkled some nutritional yeast, sliced a juicy tomato and laid it on top.  Then I grabbed my Himalayan salt (love that it's pink!  so pretty!) and my Herbs de Provence and sprinkled it all over the top.  Here's what it looked like......

I took a bite......and........it was WONDERFUL!  Nothing like cardboard at all!  Thank goodness!  The cracker had a kind of nutty flavor, but the crunch!  Oh the crunchiness of that cracker was heavenly!  I'd been really craving chips.....crunchy chips, and these hit the spot!  This ain't your mama's diet!!  LOL!  (btw, this snack was considered a S Helper because of the carb content.)

After this lovely snack, I started craving something sweet and warm.  I've had several lovely smoothies lately, but no warm, soft cookies!  So off I went in search of a cookie recipe and I found one!  A Peanut Butter Chocolate  cookie!  The recipe is on page 387 of Trim Healthy Mama.

 

 



They turned out beautifully!  So yummy!!  I ate 2 and was totally satisfied!  They were SO delicious and I'm sure I won't get to enjoy many more of them once my girls are up and about in the morning!  I may have to hide a couple to savor with my morning cup o'espresso!

Happy snacking and sweet dreams!
Dana