DEC 7th Playing in the Kitchen, Yet Still On Plan

Hi Journal & Friends,

I'm enjoying putting out the Christmas decorations and seeing the twinkling lights. And yesterday I experienced my very first time EVAH making chocolate candies in cute little molds. Sugar free, of course. You can stop reading here, if you don't want to see food pics... there are days when I don't wanna see any either, so I'll understand. ;-)

To be honest (well, why have a blog if I'm not going to be honest, right?) I don't understand people who have the "martyr mindset", who think that just because they are trying to go from fat to fit and eat all healthified, that they can't eat the really IMPORTANT foods in life... like chocolate! mwa ha ha ha ha. 

Really, there isn't a holiday I can think of that most of the food can't be tweaked in some way, at least enough so that we can participate in traditions we cherish, and still stay on our chosen plans. Lest I forget, I put it in my own sidebar, where it can smack me on the forehead whenever needed: No Excuses! ;-)

Okay, so here's my first chocolate candy batch, still in the mold. That's the oh-so-cool Wilton chocolate melter in the background. I first heard about it from Lisa at Sugar-Free Low Carb Recipes blog. This was my first time trying it out, and I loved it.

 

And here they are, just pushed out of my nifty silicone mold. I like this mold cuz it has a variety of cute little shapes, and they are small enough to be a very moderate portion.

And finally, here they are all prettified on a plate. The light chunks are chopped macadamia nuts, and the peeking red bits in the center chocolates are freeze dried sugar free cherries that I got from NutsOnline, here.  Mmmmmm...

I'm definitely not a trained cook, and MOST definitely a newbie at making my own chocolate. Most of them didn't have that pretty shiny finish. So, nope, not gonna share a recipe. I kind of tweaked a couple together, and while the taste was very nice, the texture wasn't silky smooth. Was sort of powdery or dry, or something. Gotta work on that. I was going for almost a milk chocolate, and these are most decidedly very dark chocolate!

Jim made his famous Eggnog Cheesecake (also sugar free) for the holidays, and I'm dinking around with little chocolates. And I'm still on plan!! Who'd a thunk it! 

My next Tradition Tweak is to change our habit of getting a Dairy Queen blizzard when we drive around seeing the Christmas lights. I'm going to make our OWN healthy and sugar free blizzard in my handy dandy Vita Mix blender, and take them with us. A cold blizzard drink in the middle of winter... yeah, we're weird. And yes, we sing Christmas carols off key as we drive around and ooh and ahh at the lights.

Anyone doing any fun stuff for the holidays??

Ha ha ha... I just re-read this post, and it sounds like I am into kitchen gadgets. I suppose I am now! I have more gadgets and specialty pans now than I have room for! :-O

That's better than in years past, when I was into cruising through several fast food joints, and bringing some from each joint home to devour all by myself in secrecy. I'd stuff it in until I ached, and hated myself for doing so... then cried myself to sleep, as I vowed never to do it again... only to do it again, and again, and again. I'm SO grateful those days are a thing of the past!! (... ghosts of Christmas past... must have Dickens on the brain...)

So, I'll take innocent kitchen gadgets over that any day of the week! :-D

From Dr Phil's book: "You can't eat what's not there."

My verse for today: "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."

My quote for today: "Sometimes it is not good enough to do your best; you have to do what's required." --Winston Churchill

Enjoy the Journey,

Loretta

=^..^=

PS: Sorry for the messed up font sizes. Blogger is acting stupid today, and no matter what I did, it just won't work right. Oh well... in the grand scheme of things, it's no biggee.

DAY 842