Help!

I have a problem. Well, actually, I have several problems. And while they all need to be addressed eventually, the one I want to focus on in public is eating. Eating in itself is not a problem. We all have to do it or we die. Unfortunately some of do it for so many other reasons, reasons that have nothing to do with hunger.
I eat because I'm bored, because foods there,because I'm cooking, because I'm being social,because it taste good--and if a little taste good than a lot has to be even better---!
While this hasn't yet lead to any long term health problems and I am currently not very over weight, my habit of mindless eating takes up way to much of my time. I think about how it makes me feel, how I perceive the impact on my weight, why I do it even though I know I shouldn't....
Case in point...I went to the Y this morning and came home. There were cookies on the table that didn't get put away from last night, so I put them away, eating 2 or 3 in the process(well I did just go work out!). Then I decided I needed some eggs, with ham and cheese and that I should put it on one of those trashy but tasty frozen hash brown thingies I bought on a whim. Here's the clincher, the part that continual bites me in the ass.....I made a plate for Jasper. Which is good,'cause he needs to eat too.... only he didn't like the hash browns. I picked up his plate to put it in the kitchen and took a bite, then another...I was standing and not really chewing so it was calorie free right?(and if you stand on your head after sex you'll get pregnant!).

So I'm standing there eating the rest of Jasper's food and with each bite I'm saying things to myself like
"Hey you should just throw this away", "Look there is the garbage can, it's like 1 foot from you!"
"Womyn put down the hash browns! " "You don't even like them, your full! " and finally "Oh, well you've eaten it all now. Great you stupid loser."

It doesn't always happen like this, there are periods in my life where I am very disciplined and uninterested in scavenging off others plates. I did Weight Watchers and lost a lot of weight once. I didn't eat anything when I was first pregnant with Jasper( 'cause I threw everything up!) and when I thought I was dying I lost a lot of weight from general sadness. Those aren't very sustainable states of being though. Today I wonder if it might just be Winter or if it's my genetic make up. Either way it's got to stop!

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This post is for Leah.

Everyone needs a good dessert recipe for when your short on time and cash. These delicious and simple cookies are my answer to this dilemma. It's a recipe from my youth. And yes it hasn't escaped my notice that they look like something you might find in the backyard or in a diaper. These aren't pretty, but they are pretty tasty.

No Bake Cookies
2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
pinch of salt

in a large saucepan bring to boil over med heat stirring frequently
remove from heat stir in

1 tsp vanilla
3 tbls peanut butter
3 cups oatmeal Note: works best with quick cook oats!

drop by the spoonfull onto wax paper and let sit until cool and hard.

"What have you been up to?" you ask

Well, let's start with the Christmas tree. This year my dad let us borrow this wonderful tree. It's big and beautiful and fake. I love it. They bought it several years ago at Pella's Festival of Lights. Thanks Dad and Gretchen!

Tonight I made a delicious creamy jalapeno and butternut squash soup. Usually I'm not very good at winging soups, they often turn out bland and funky. This one is pretty darn good. Anyone want some? I'm the only one who will eat it :( I served it with some freshly baked home made rolls. Doesn't that sound good? It was. No one will know though, 'cause I'm the only one who will eat it. ;)

This was the scene that greeted me when I walked out of the kitchen after making the soup.I new he was being to quiet! The funny thing is that he's been eyeing that can of tea for a few weeks now. It seems like every time I turned around he had it and was heading for the toys. Now I know why! At least he was doing something constructive with it. He used the tea to build a road. My little worker.As for my creative pursuits. This is the scarf I'm currently working on. It's a simple stitch, but it's tight. I love it.

This is my latest bag. It was a costume order for a friend. She's giving it to her sister who owns a cool company in California. She asked if I could put the logo on it and make it feminine. I thought I was going to have a panic attack, but I did it. I think it turned out nice. You can check out the logo and the shop at www.my-alibi.com.

Cookies.

Jasper and I love to make cookies. He's actually a pretty good helper, all things considered. In fact he's getting to be pretty darn self sufficent. He can get himself a bowl of cereal complete with milk which I'm pretty impressed about.

So here is Jasper as he helps me make a batch of delicous double chocolate chip pecan cookies.

My mother in law gave me her kitchen aid awhile ago and I must say that I don't know what I did with out one. I still haven't figured out where the hell to store it though. It usually stays on the pantry floor with all the other miscellaneous gadgets and over sized food stuff. Anyone want to tackle my kitchen? It would definitely be a pat on the back accomplishment to get that sucker organized.

Anywho. Here is the recipe for the Double Chocolate Chip Pecan cookies. It's actually just a slightly modified version of the Ghirardelli chocolate chip recipe on the back of the bag, which is delicious as is. Like this,though, it's magnificent.

Double Chocolate Pecan Goodness

21 min 10 min prep

2 1/4 cups unsifted flour
1/2 cup ghirardelli baking cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
1/2 bag Ghirardelli double chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375°.
Stir flour with baking soda,cocoa and salt, set aside.
In large mixing bowl, cream butter with sugar, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla.
Gradually blend dry mixture into creamed mixture.
Stir in nuts and chocolate chips.
Drop tablespoon of dough per cookie onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake at 375° for 9-11 minutes or until golden brown.

Here is another one of my favorite cookies. It's from the Kitchen Parade website. I've copied the recipe for you, but you should check out her site as she has tons of tips and WW friendly foods. In fact these scrumptious morsels are only 1 point each.

BANANA OATMEAL COOKIES
Oatmeal cookies with a banana twist
Banana ripening: 2 weeks Hands-on time: 30 minutes Time to table: 1 hour Makes about 30 cookies, easily doubled
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 very very ripe banana
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour, fluffed to aerate before measuring
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1-1/2 cups oatmeal (old-fashioned or quick, not instant)
1 cup coconut, preferably unsweetened
Preheat oven to 350F.
Melt butter in a small dish in microwave, 10 seconds at a time. Transfer to mixing bowl. With an electric mixer, thoroughly mix in sugars, banana, egg and vanilla.
(Caution: Incoming unorthodox shortcut. See ALANNA’s TIPS.) Scoop the flour, baking power, baking soda and salt onto the butter mixture without mixing in. With a fork, lightly combine the dry ingredients on top, still without mixing in. Now use the mixer to combine the flour mixture and the butter mixture. Stir in oatmeal and coconut.
Drop dough by tablespoons onto a baking sheet lined with parchment. Bake for 11 – 14 minutes until set and golden. Cool 5 minutes before removing from tray but do remove or will stick.

NUTRITION ESTIMATE Per Cookie: 98 Cal; 3g Tot Fat; 2g Sat Fat; 16g Carb; 1g Fiber; 58mg Sodium; 11mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers 1 point

Massacre of Rainbow Brite

I decided to tackle the crayon in the dryer issue yesterday. When I'd taken the last load out and noticed the crayon embedded on everything I'd been to upset to pay much attention to the inside of the dryer. I just assumed it had some crayon on it since everything else did. I started the cleaning process by doing a bunch of research on the internet. Most postings suggested using comet or WD4o. First, I have a gas dryer, so flammable and fire seemed like a silly idea. Second, I'm paranoid of chemicals. So....I decided to go with the good old stand bye of baking soda and water. Armed with a bowl of baking soda paste, rubber gloves and sponge I headed to the basement to clean up the crayon. I almost had a heart attack when I opened the door!




It wasn't a crayon, someone had murdered a pink pixie in my dryer! I'm kidding, no fey were harmed , but really this was insane. How the hell was this going to get cleaned?

Elbow Grease! After the first five minutes of scrubbing I was sure I could get this all off....if I wanted to live inside the dryer for the next day. Being the lazy person that I am...I mean the industrious person that I am, I decided to let my brother do a load of laundry and see if all the baking soda left inside plus the wet clothes would finish the job.




IT DID! And it didn't ruin any of Skyler's clothes either, which was a bonus.

Just FYI knitting is a good past-time. It's something that is not checking your facebook for the umpteenth time or watching 5 episodes in a row of Smalleville. This something requires a bit of brain power , some coordination, and foresight. If I don't get carpel tunnel first, I surely won't get Alzheimers.

Anyway. Today I'm stuck in the house for the second day in a row.
Here are the things I need to do but probably won't:

1. Figure out how to get crayon out of the dryer and if possible off the last load of clothes I dried. Yes, I washed a crayon. A red crayon. It ruined some of Sylvia's favorite pants, which is awful. Awful because finding pants that Sylv likes to wear is kind of like being shoot in the foot, tied to a chair, and forced to watch the Disney channel. This also includes shopping for shoes and underwear and socks....shirts are easy. So. If anyone knows any tricks to getting crayon off clothes 0r the dryer I would love to know. Also, if anyone wants to take Sylvia shopping.........
2. Straighten up the back entryway. It's become a catch all. Not to long ago I placed several shelving units on the porch, lined the shoes up, swept, and gave everyone a lecture on keeping it clutter free. No one listened to me. In fact, I did not listen to me! Damn you Mia! I have several boxes of stuff that I've tried to sell to antique shops around town and now need to list on ebay. Instead of doing that I've added these large boxes full of fragile stuffs to the pile of crap on the back porch. So....shoes everywhere, boxes of glasses and plates teetering on the corner of shelves, some recycling, and other miscellanous ness needs to be figured out.
3. The built-in in the dining room runnuth over with knick nacks. Clean it. Organize it. Throw shit away?
4. Light in the laundry room has been broken for about a month now. The whole mechanism needs to be replaced. How the f#$%# do you do that?
5. I need to wedge a block under my bathtub, 'cause if I don't someday there will be a Money Pit scene in my home.
6. Make the next two weeks meal plan, figure out a grocery list and go shopping.
7. Go through and purge Jasper's toys.
8. My 'corner' of the dining room is getting a bit out of hand. It's where I throw all my lists,bills, magazines, craft supplies, sewing machine, books. Umm. I need a better system.

Hmm.....I think it's time for a glass of wine and a nap.