Sunday Weigh In

This week: -0.6
Total: -10.2

Exaggerated optimism first. WOW! I lost weight yet again! I've lost over 10 pounds! And I've lost 5% of my starting weight! 

But I'm not thrilled. I'd like to be losing more and faster - about 2 pounds a week. I've kept within my point limits, and that's good. But I haven't been exercising, so I've got to work that in. And I didn't eat really well this week, I had a lot of empty calories and too much impulse eating. Not enough nutrient-rich food. 

Eat less. Eat better. More move. That's all there is to it. 

I'm actually liking the eat less part. When I eat too much I REALLY feel awful with a full, bloated tummy. My tummy is troublesome on a good day, and it's generally been a lot healthier. 

When I plan ahead, I eat better. But that's hard for me to do consistently. There's a lot I could say about that, but I'll save it until I have a message and not a rant. 

Moving more? We went for a family walk at the beach today, and that was awesome. Gorgeous weather, good beach combing finds, and the father/son team played football the whole way out and back on the sand. Now if only we could do that every night. We live in paradise, we sure ought to do it more!  

Enough for Sunday. Enough for October. I'm ready to move ahead and do better in November. 

Moravian Cookies are a Keeper

The picture doesn't capture how amazingly thin I managed to roll these. The Cookie Book recommends 1/16" and I was nearly there. 

I got out a ruler and measured. I'm like that. 

They are indeed yummy and hard to describe. The flavors just aren't what we're used to in Betty Crocker Cookieland. 

Sherry is super sweet, but also has a sort of sassy kick. It's not sweet like whiskey or amaretto, it has a little more depth of flavor. The cinnamon/nutmeg combo just makes you think "apple pie", but these taste nothing like apple pie. So the cookie tastes interesting and unpredictable, and that makes you want to eat a few more while your mouth  figures out the flavors. 

In the oven they behaved like a two year old - they required constant attention. I kid you not, they could go from looking slightly undercooked to completely brown in 30 seconds. I overcooked two baking trays of cookies before I got the hang of it, but I saved those because they're still good with a cup of coffee. 

The original recipe left the cookies unfrosted, and I understand why the 2010 editors added frosting. They're really plain looking unfrosted. I still have some dough in the fridge and am thinking a simple powdered sugar glaze with colored sugar might be enough to dress the up. Or maybe even a simple egg wash before they go in the oven. The cookies can stand on their own taste wise - and they might even be better without the complication of icing - but they could stand a little spit and polish before serving. 

All in all, a keeper of a cookie. I'll make these again gladly. 

Moravia, whisks, and website design

I'm working on the Moravian White Christmas Cookies (December 1946). The dough is chillin' and I'm feeling good. I wish I'd taken pictures, because this was really pretty dough. There's a lot of beating that needs to happen, so today I'm very grateful for the Kitchen Aid stand mixer. 


The butter and sugar gets creamed until it is light (paddle attachment, 5 minutes) then four well beaten eggs (hand whisk, 2 minutes) get mixed in (whisk attachment, 5 minutes). The result is fluffy and light and really beautiful. Then flour, cinnamon, nutmeg alternating with sherry (wow!) are added (paddle attachment, 5 minutes) and that brings us to the Now. 


I should have taken pictures. It would save me a thousand words. Maybe I'll make these again over the weekend if the taste lives up to my hopes. 


While we're waiting for the chilling to occur, I want to share two things. Neither is trivial. 


First, my whisk.  

I bought this silly looking thing from the William Sonoma catalog over ten years ago. It was sort of a gag gift for someone else because it was so silly looking. Later, I was at the recipient's house and the power went out before she'd whipped the cream to go with dessert. I was handed the silly whisk and a bowl of cream and told to Whip It. Much to my amazement, I had whipped cream in no time. I went out and bought one for myself and have never regretted it. Turns out, you can't judge a whip by its cover. 

Secondly, Moravia. 

If you're smarter than me and know where Moravia is already, you can skip this part. But I'm a fairly well-educated person and I finally admitted to myself and my stand mixer that I didn't know where it was. 

According to Wikipedia, Moravia was a historical region of Central Europe in the the eastern part of what is now the Czech Republic. At times the Moravian Empire also included area that is now part of Poland and Slovakia. It's name comes from the Morava River. Today, Moravia is part of the Czech Republic. 

The Moravia Tourism website tell us that there are 8 sites in Moravia on the UNESCO World Heritage List. That's really something. 

If you're interested, the Discover CZ website has details on each site, but it's kind of hard to navigate that site. I took a class in library school on cultural differences related to  website design and information management, and the Discover CZ site would be an interesting case study of culture influencing design (she says having spent exactly 45 seconds on the site...). The layout is hard for me to navigate, but there's clearly an architecture to the information that makes sense. 

Gotta run now to a Halloween party at the wee man's school. I'll update later on the cookies - with pictures! 

Sunday (on Monday) Weigh In

This week: -0.2
Total: -9.6

First impressions: good enough 

I wasn't hugely diligent with point tracking this week and just tried to eat well once I had an appetite. On Saturday I baked cookies for my uncle - about 4 dozen each of peanut butter and chocolate chip oatmeal. He loved them, ate them, shared them, and is raving about them to everyone, so it was worth every BLT point. And that night I went to a wedding with yummy food and yummy wine and yummy cake. It was bound to be an uninspiring week for weight loss.

Which is where the Untiring Optimism of WW comes it. I'm back on the wagon, tracking points and making good choices. I ordered the "fresco" tacos for lunch today at Taco Bell (I will not be made to feel guilty about The Bell, don't even try), and I had an apple for snack this afternoon. I ate a reasonable but small amount of dinner. And I even walked after lunch today.

I'm finally on the mend health-wise and I feel SO MUCH better than I have these past few weeks. I'm still only about 90% but I don't feel infirmed any longer.

So. That's that. More tomorrow :-)

Baking Detour - Breads

I've been channeling my creative energies this week into (1) knitting in front of the TV while my family watches baseball and (2) baking bread. 

If you own one book about bread, it should be this one. Yes, I want you to click the link and visit their site. Buy the book. Read the book. Love the book. Bake the bread. You won't regret it. 

Here is the challah: 

And here is the buttermilk bread: 

Tomorrow is cookie day, and probably more bread. I'm visiting my uncle on Sunday and want to take a lot of goodies. He loves peanut butter, so I have Betty Crocker's version of PB cookies chilling in the fridge. He also loves oatmeal, so I will make the classic Chocolate Chip Oatmeal cookies. I'll make some bread, not sure which loaf. Maybe both. He's ill and not eating a lot at the moment. I know these aren't spectacular choices nutrition-wise, but I'm going for high-calorie at this point. Eating anything is better than eating nothing. At least for now. 

I'll pick up with the Gourmet Cookie Book next week. My son is excited about the Moravian Christmas Cookies (1946) because they involve cookie cutters and icing. He's an easy man to please.

Date Bars YUM!

These were surprisingly FANTASTIC! I made these only because they came next in the book (1945), and I can honestly say that very little else would have motivated me to ever bake a date bar. 

But I will make these again and again (the home team testers loved them), and I will take them proudly into work. Or I will next time I make them, because they are all gone at home.And honestly, I'm thinking about entering them in the fair next year. They're THAT good!

I fed one today to a little boy who didn't much care for dates and didn't like walnuts in his food... and he came back for seconds and then thirds. That's how surprisingly good they are.

I had a Super Helper with this one. First we turned the graham crackers into crumbs:

 

Then we poured them into the pan and gloated over our success: 

And then we took bad pictures fast because we all wanted to eat them! 

They were so easy to make, and I would say they are nearly impossible to mess up. I made one lazy mistake that I will correct next time. The recipe calls for a 9x9 pan, and I used an 8x8 pan instead. I don't own a 9x9 pan and didn't think hard enough about the math.

9x9 = 81. The cookie batter needs to spread over 81 square inches to bake well. But like I said, I don't own one of these.

I have these:
8x8 = 64 (-17)
7x11 = 77 (-4)
9x12 = 108 (+27)

I also have these in round, remember Area = pi * (Radius squared):

9" = 63.5 (-17.5)

10" = 78.5 (-2.5)

The 10" round is closest, but I'd have to cut the date squares into date wedges, and that's just not cool. So next time I will use the 7x11... or I'll use this as an excuse to buy a 9x9 pan. 

Because I need another baking pan in my kitchen like a hole in the head. Yeah. Right.

Sunday Weigh-In

This week (week 5): -3.4 pounds
Total: -9.4 pounds

First impressions: YAHOO! 

While this looks pretty darn good, I've been living on toast and tea the last two days because I'm sick and have no appetite. So I must remain vigilant as I get healthier this week (knock on wood) and start eating normal food again. 

By vigilant, I mean mindful of the point/nutrition value of the foods I eat. I learned the hard way this afternoon that 2 Tablespoons of my peanut butter is 5 points, that's almost a one-fourth of all the points I get to eat today. And while I love, love, LOVE my PB, I don't know that I love it THAT much. There are healthier PBs out there, so I'll look into that when I'm at the store next. 

I know that WW isn't for everyone, but what you're seeing here is that it makes me think about every single thing I put in my mouth (except fingernails and other non-nutritional items that will go unnamed here). I need more awareness in that regard, and WW gives me the structure to develop that. 

Eat less. Eat better. Move more. (And then it's ok to bake the cookies.)