The day after…

It rained all day yesterday.

And today….

Beautiful!

So green and lush.

The hummingbirds came out.

Hummingbird

Hummingbirds 2

Two of them come by, one about every 20 minutes.

Can you tell I’m procrastinating getting to work?

Don’t want to miss God’s creations.

They are better than chocolate chip cookies.

Quick rasberry chocolate chip cookies

1 sm package of raspberry or other flavored biscuits

1/2 cup coconut flour

1 egg

1/3 cup of olive oil.

1 cup mini chocolate chips

Macadamia nut halves (1 per cookie)

Mix together ( all but the macadamian nuts.). Spray baking sheet and drop dough by the spoonfuls. Press the macadamia nut in the center of each cookie and press cookie a little flat.

Bake at 350 for 8 to 12 minutes depending on size of cookie. Watch carefully until the are touched with brown on the edges. Remove from tray immediately.

And enjoy nature while eating a cookie.

Serve with a glass of cold milk (your choice.)

Fruit Pastry

I so wanted to try the new craze for fruit puff pastries made with honey.

I didn’t have any puff pastry on hand.

But I did have a package of crescent rolls in the fridge.

Then I couldn’t find my parchment paper.

But I did have some aluminum foil.

Searching the fruit basket, I pulled out an old rotten apple.

Then remembered I had some strawberries and a fresh mango.

At least I had some honey.

One out of four ain’t bad, but par for the course.

So I can’t follow a recipe worth a darn. Not from reading but from ingredients and I am not going to go shopping for the missing ingredients.

I just look at what can be substituted for items on hand and….

Wallah!

Fruit puff pastries

Fruit Puff Pastry

1 1/2 size pkg non-cooked pre-made crescent rolls (4 triangles)

1 small cubed or sliced mango

4 cubed or sliced strawberries

Honey poured from the bear to make rectangles.

Cinnamon

Line a pan with the aluminum foil, gently grease the foil.

Make smaller squares of honey than the two rectangles of pastry, (pouring directly from the honey bear) pouring it onto the greased sheet of foil.

Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Spread cubed or sliced fruit onto honey.

Place rectangle of two still connected crescent roll triangles on top of fruit.

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Reduce heat to 275 and cook for another 5 to 8 minutes then remove and let cool on pan.

Cut into serving slices and top with whipped cream. ( I used zero sugar whipped topping.)

Oh, that hit the spot!

Chia Pudding

Coming down from a sugar high, (all those jelly beans) I have been looking for different sweets that will fill up my sweet tooth.

I had this craving for the corn starch pudding my Grandma used to make.

The closest thing I could find that was easy to make as well as no cooking, was a Vanilla Chia Pudding.

This Pudding is delicious and so easy to make. Let it set then serve.

Top the pudding with sugar free whipped topping and some fresh fruit.

Chia Pudding

4 Tbsp chia seeds (either white or black seeds)

1 cup milk or substitute milk (oat, almond or rice milk)

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 Tbsp honey (or sugar sweetener substitute of equal value)

Mix it all together very well. Stir for about a minute the let sit. Stir once again then pour into lidded containers and place in the fridge overnight.

It takes about 4 hours for the chia seads to thicken the milk.

This delicious sweet is worth waiting for.

Grandma’s corn starch pudding

2 cups of milk

3 eggs mixed well with 1/4 cup of sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Mix ingredients together well in a sauce pan. And place on low heat.

In a cup take 2 Tbsp corn starch and 1/4 cup of water. Stir well then while stiring the milk mixture slowly pour the corn starch into the mixture. Turn the heat up to medium and continue to stir until it thickens.

Remove from heat. And stir every few minutes while it is cooling so that a crust doesn’t form.

Pour into serving dishes. Top with whipped cream and fruit.

Sooo good! Both puddings.

Peanut Butter Cookies

I decided to make some three ingredient peanut butter cookies without flour.

But I couldn’t make up my mind which recipe to use.

I had 1/2 a banana I hadn’t finished eating and also wanted to add chocolate chips.

Blew the recipe out the window and made my own recipe.

Peanut Butter Cookies

1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

2 eggs

2 Tbls Honey

A hand full of chocolate chips

Mix ingredients well.

Spoon onto parchment paper lined cookie sheet.

I rubbed some olive oil onto the parchment paper.

Push extra chocolate chips onto spoonfuls of dough.

Optional: spoon 1 tsp chocolate hazlenut butter into centers.

Bake for approximately 15 minutes at 275 degrees F.

I ate 4 of them still warm.

I had to hide the rest in the fridge.

Mmmmmmm.

Sweet Cravings

Ice cream, ice cream, we all scream for ice cream.

Sweet cravings are one of the side effects of cutting out the sugar in your life.

And cutting out sugar and carbs leaves behind a void almost impossible to fill.

I gotta have me some…

Sweets!

Pulling the container of Cream Cheese Ice Cream out of the freezer really helps.

It’s the waiting that is hard. I gotta have it now. Patience is not a virtue I inherited.

Two things for me will snap the patience button quicker that anything else. Sweet cravings and lies.

I find myself liying to myself a lot when I diet, so to avoid the lies I have tried to make a life style change.

Liying about the sweets I inhaled and how it won’t hurt to sneak just one, I now realize that I need to include a sweet every once in a while. But, I need to choose the kind of sweet that will not cause head aches, high blood pressure or extra weight gain. I’m still working on that last one, weight gain. Loving food is another vice of mine.( confession is good for the soul, at least that’s what I have heard.)

Cream cheese ice cream is one of those sweets that tames the cravings for me. Just a couple of spoonfuls at a time works wonders with my good moods.

Cream cheese ice cream

1 block of cream cheese melted and whipped

1/2 cup heavy cream whipped (zero sugar whipped topping makes great substitute)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 plain or vanilla Greek yogurt

A handful of mashed fresh strawberries

(Substitutes, other berries, pineapple, another favorite substitute of mine is 1/2 cup sugar free chocolate pudding )

Optional: 1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped walnuts.

If you still need sweetening, add a little ( notice I said a little) bit of your favorite sweetener substitute.

Stir together until mixed well. Freeze.

More and more I find that my sweet cravings are worse at night when I’m trying to shut down my intense focus from work. I will take out the ice cream and have about 3 teaspoons full off the corner of the container and that’s all I need.

Then again. My taste buds will fight with me for more of that creamy flavor.

I gotta have more and I gotta have it now!

Zucchini bread

More vegetables for eating!

Check another one off my list.

Trying to keep up my goal of eating more vegetables, I can add zucchini to the list.

I dont really think that is supposed to be the way to do it, but… hey. I ate more (kinds instead of quantity) veggies. Lol

Still a work in progress.

Zucchini bread w/cream cheese frosting and nuts.

Zucchini bread

4 Tbsp melted butter

1/4 Cup almond flour

1/4 Cup coconut flour

1/4 Cup grated zucchini ( ooops, forgot to list this. Updated)

2 eggs

2 T greek yogurt

1 T cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 Cup walnits

Mix well. Place in microwavable bowl. Zap for 3 minutes. Then 1 min intervals until center is done.

Cool down and frost with your favorite cream cheese frosting

Ok. Veggies, here I come. Watch out!

J E L L O…

I had a great treat today. Bet you can’t guess what?

Sugar free Jello. With some zero sugar whipped topping.

Thought I would share an oldie but goodie with you.

Yum!

It juggles.

This is my treat for finishing my projects. More Dragons.

Cat dragons and shoulder dragons.

Craving a cinnamon bun?

Cinnamon taco?

Are you craving a cinnamon bun, now?

Just the word cinnamon brings that spicy sweet sent to my senses.

Then my gland start reacting… I start to salivate, and taste remembered delights.

Mom pulling a fresh baked tin of rolls out of the oven and sitting down with a cup of cold milk to counteract the steaming hot cinnamon bun.

What’s this? No roll?

Cinnamon taco ?

But, oh, so good!

Cinnamon cake?

No name cinnamon Bun

Take a soft street taco flour tortilla and spread cream cheese on it. (Make sure you cover ever inch.)

Sprinkle cinnamon lightly over it.

Smooth out that spicy goodness with a slight layer of honey.

Then zap it for about 20 seconds in the microwave.

Grab a glass of milk and remember the good times.

Traditions for Christmas

Decorated Christmas tree, stocking hung by the fire, caroling, Christmas cards, reading the Night before Christmas and the story of the Saviors birth, leaving out cookies and milk for santa, carrots for the reindeer, wrapping and unwrapping presents, Christmas family dinner, and plum puding!

There are thousands more traditions and each family has a different one. Maybe you don’t even celebrate Christmas.

Grandma always had us over for Christmas dinner and one of her favorite desserts was Plum Pudding.

She used to cook it in a 10 lb. Tin can in a pot of water on the old stove with waxed paper tied around the top. Once she got a newer stove she would still use the tin can in a pot of water but she would set them inside the oven and then she would get a piece of straw from the broom and use the side that did not touch the floor to test the pudding to see if it was done.

Yum! ?

Now we have toothpicks.

Plum pudding

1 grated potato

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup molasses

1/2 cup brown sugar

3 eggs

1/2 cup lard

2 cups flour

1Teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup dried plums, prunes or raisins ( whichever is handy or a mix of all. Cut them up if too large)

1Tablespoon cinnamon

1/2 Teaspoon vanilla

Mix thoroughly.

If you need more moisture add some water a tablespoon at a time or add more flour if too runny. Batter should be a little thin, easy to pour into the can.

update: I forgot the most important part. Take some lard and rub it all around the inside of the tin can. Make sure you dont miss a spot. Then pour some flour in the can and roll it all around while standing outside. You dont want to get flour everywhere. Make sure it’s good and coated in flour. Then fill the can with the pudding mix.

Cover can top with wax paper and tie with baking string. Cut off extra waxed paper. It smells something awful if it burns.

Save out a 1/4 cup of mix to make sauce.

Bake for 1 hour at 325. Make sure the pan of water doesn’t run dry.

Sauce

1/4 cup of batter

1 cup water

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

2 Tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 1/2 cup water (or 2 Tablespoon flour to thin sauce)

2 Tablespoons butter

1/4 cup sugar

Mix together in saucepan and heat while constantly stiring until thickened.

Whip up some heavy whipping cream with vanilla and a little bit of powdered sugar then when pudding is done. Use can opener on the bottom so that the pudding can be pushed out and sliced in rounds or scooped out.

Serve with sauce the whipped cream and a cherry on top.

Good luck. My grandma never gave me measurements. I had to guess at a lot of them.

If it doesnt work out you can always use the leftovers and add it to the bread pudding with all the left over breads and cakes that didn’t get eaten up.

Aren’t traditions wonderful.

We got high hopes!

We’ve got high Hope’s, we got high Hope’s. We’ve got hot apple pie in the sky hopes. (Changed a few words from Frank’s song.)

Apples always remind me of that old song and build my Hope’s up.

Hope’s af seeing the whole family again,. Hope’s of making it through the vacation and staying on a diet. Lol

Thanksgiving time and time for pie! Pumpkin pie and Apple pie. Yum on both but apple pie and ice cream, what’s not to love about Apple pie!

Since cutting out wheat flour, and sugar from my diet. My Hope’s have been dwindling. Especially for that apple pie and ice cream.

Apple pie without the crust.

I found some great substitutes and I am getting close to nervana.

Ready for the microwave.

4 peeled and sliced cooking apples

3 Talespoons butter

3 Tablespoons honey or agave (or sweetener of you choice.)

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon lemon juice (optional, adds tartness)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Place apple slices in microwavable bowl. Slice up butter and spread out on top of apples. Pour honey or agave over apples. Then sprinkle spices over all.

Optional: add lemon juice if you like tartness.

Microwave for 4 minutes. Remove and gently stir then return to microwave for another 2 min. Remove from microwave and add vanilla and mix well.

Serve over ice cream if desired, or add milk, or add to morning cereal, oatmeal, or cooked grains, or eat alone.

Delicious!

Crustless Apple Pie