Emotional Eating? Me?

My friend Julie posted very transparently about her struggle with food and emotional eating. As I was reading her blog post, I was scarfing down Dove Dark Chocolate with Almonds (drooling just typing those words). Julie’s post made me stop and think about why I was eating them….Not because I’m hungry – as a matter of fact, I’m full! Problem is, I’m sitting here in front of my computer, unshowered, stressing because our school schedule has been virtually non-existent for the last few weeks. But the chocolate in the drawer right next to the computer (gotta move that!) was calling my name LOUDLY! And it made me ‘feel’ better – until I read Julie’s blog.

So what is my solution to my schedule dilemma? They say that it takes 21 days to establish a habit. So, for the next 4 weeks I will post my starting and ending time for school. (OUCH!!) That will be some good accountability for me to get back into a good routine.

As far as the food…. In the past, a friend and I would share our daily food intake log with each other . That was very effective. Who wants to write down that you ate 4 bowls of chili – not because you were hungry, but because it tasted so good?? Or that you ate a piece of pound cake at 8:00 at night because it looked so good. Or that you got up in the middle of the night to eat something that you’ve been craving but you don’t want your family to see you eating. So, for some accountability, I have registered with MyFitnessPal.com. My pounds lost will show up in the sidebar – and I will be sharing my log with a friend. But, I will be starting tomorrow – no way am I posting how many pieces of chocolate I had today!

Now that I’ve sobered you up at the thought of watching what you eat, I thought I would share with you a man’s take on dieting!

Ingredient substitutions!

My friend Alice, in Spain, was bemoaning the fact that she cannot get unsweetened chocolate (chocolate crinkles), or marshmallow fluff (fudge). Here are substitutions for both!

For unsweetened (baking) chocolate: 3 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa plus 1 Tablespoon butter or margarine.

For marshmallow fluff:

Chocolate Craving

I woke up this morning craving a Chocolate Crinkle. It’s a FUDGY chocolate (duh) cookie rolled in powdered sugar and baked until it…….. Yep – crinkles! I do believe I still have some dough in the freezer left over from Christmas. Do I dare bake a sheet or two when it’s just James and me at home. (Sarah is at the Castle’s and Jim’s back up in Davison with his dad.) Will we have the will power to only eat a few????? They are soooooooooooo good! And you cannot hide the fact that you’ve had one or two the whole tray. It doesn’t matter how careful you are, it is inevitable that you WILL get powdered sugar on you – somewhere! Want the recipe?

Ta-Dah!!!!!!

Well kids! Here it is! Where shall I start? Photos? Nope, tried that – pics were WAY to big. I guess there’s a bit of a learning curve to this blog thing! Hmmmm, how about recipes I use create? I’ll do that soon. I’ve had requests for my chicken soup recipe. Words I like???????? Nah – not today. I don’t want to bore you right off the bat! Homeschool sites I love? Again, not today – too inclusive. AH! Christmas cookies!

I grew up making and eating a Christmas cutout cookie that is very different from a traditional sugar cookie. Want to know what I REALLY love about it?