Holiday Hiatus

My lack of posting effort on this blog, ironically, dwindled over the fall until I completely forgot about it over the holiday season because I was, of course... baking. Oh, God. I swore to myself I was only going to have nibbles of anything I made, I was seriously cutting down the pop and chips to a bare minimum, and snacking on veggies the rest of the time I got a cookie craving. Like New Year's resolutions, that didn't last beyond my first batch of holiday sweets. Taste-testing turned into seconds and thirds. Portions got suspiciously larger, no matter how small a plate I used to cram everything on. How did this happen?! If everything didn't look and smell so good, I could have breezed through Christmas without any extra pounds gleefully blinking on the scale. It doesn't help that I've been neglecting my hours at the gym, either. I went on Sunday morning this past weekend to work out with my mother. Needless to say, there was a lot of hurting on Monday....

So! Resolutions need to be made here- and not specifically the New Year's kind. I figure if I actually write them here, for the few people I'll let see, I'll be better held accountable for what I say I'm going to do as far as better habits. Since this blog relates to food, I can't see why I shouldn't broadcast here my changing attitudes to what I eat and what I do to improve (and maintain!) my health. After all, if you can't enjoy what you eat without guilt, where is the fun in food? Moderation is key, right? Right? Plus, I volunteer for a breast cancer organization, and there's always an emphasis on healthy eating as a key part of prevention of not just cancer, but all kinds of other things that negatively impact your body and your life. Yes, I love to bake. Yes I, like Hammy from Over the Hedge, "like the cookie". I enjoy food. However, I don't enjoy my eating habits, which have to change. Here's my plan to start implementing those changes:

"I like the cookie."

1. No more soda pop. Certainly no more Coke for the rum. If I drink rum, it will be no more than one or two glasses a night, and with orange juice or chocolate milk.
2. Each time we get vegetables on grocery day, I will prepare a platter to keep a veggie tray in the fridge at all times.
3. No more chips. Non-buttered, non-salted popcorn is healthy, but sweets should be saved for weekends.
4. My baking efforts will be cut down to once or twice a month. This doesn't mean I'm going to stop blogging my favourite recipes- far from it!
5. Drink more water (ugh) and start up a food diary again (double ugh).

These are just what I can think of off the top of my head. I find it's sometimes best to start with a few things, and then add more as they become automatic habits- which worked awesomely for me in 2010 when I started personal training. Unfortunately, like many good things, my newly acquired good habits fell off the wagon eventually. Maybe keeping this in my blog will get me cracking at them again. My final resolution is to work out no less than three times a week- and my mother and I are back to our near-daily 45 minute walks four to five times a week.

As I'm looking at this post window, it seems like a lot. It seemed like a lot back when I did it the first time, too. However, I know now that it's more than feasible, it's absolutely possible to achieve. And really, don't we all have to start somewhere?

Butter Tart Squares

I never had a taste for butter tarts when I was younger, and when my mother asked me to make butter tart squares for church, my first response was to wrinkle my nose and go "Bleh!" like a ten year old staring down the last mouthful of steamed veggies on their plate. Clearly time has done something to my taste buds, or this different form of butter tarts made them more appealing this time around, because I found myself sneaking a couple after trying a teeeeeeeny, tiny, itty-bitty piece to make sure it was edible and up for being served in public. Surprise! They were yummy, and I was just a little bit impressed at how I'd managed not to muck the recipe up either. I made them again recently for a family friend having a gathering, and the squares went over well then too. Say what you will about my apparent 180 concerning these butter tart squares- I still will never reconcile with turnips.




Butter Tart Squares

Ingredients:

Base:
2 T. sugar
1 1/2 c. flour
1/4 c. margarine

Topping:
2 eggs
1 1/2 c. brown sugar
1 T. vinegar
1/4 c. margarine
1 c. raisins
1 tsp. flour

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (Farenheit)

1. In a medium bowl, combine sugar and flour. Cut in 1/4 c. margarine (using a pastry blender, not a mixer).

2. Press into 9-inch square pan. Bake 10 minutes.

3. Combine all remaining ingredients until well mixed.

4. Pour over baked base.

5. Return to oven, bake 25-30 minutes. Edges should be browned, and center of squares slightly firm.

6. Cool and cut into squares.

Pumpkin Spice Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting

My favourite cookie of all time would never have occurred to me to bake as a cookie. I'd heard of pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bars, and of course the classic pumpkin pie, but this pumpkin spice cookie recipe I came across was something totally different. Even better, this is an easy-peasy recipe that there's just no mucking it up, no matter how hard you try. Bonus: most of the ingredients are stuff you'd probably already have in your kitchen cupboards, so it's not an expensive undertaking. I first baked these just last fall, and they were such a hit with my family on that mid-October night, that I think maybe two or three cookies of the batch lived to see morning, and even those were gone by lunch time. I suspect the cream cheese frosting spread on the cookies while still warm out of the oven were the reason for it. Here's the step-by-step on how to make these deadly cookies... perfectly enjoyable any time of the year, as I'm typing this blog in the beginning of July.

Pumpkin Spice cookies with Cream Cheese frosting

Ingredients:

2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1 T. pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp. each of baking soda and baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 c. of butter, softened*

3/4 c. brown sugar, packed

1/2 c. sugar

2 T molasses

1 egg

1 c. pumpkin

Optional: 1/2 c. each of raisins and chopped nuts

*Instead of microwaving butter to soften, take it out of the fridge a couple hours before mixing ingredients. This softens the butter without heating it up, which can have not-so-desirable results with the egg in the batter... such as starting to cook it.

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (Farenheit)

1. Combine flour, spice, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

2. Beat together butter, brown sugar, sugar, molasses, and egg until light and fluffy. Blend in pumpkin. Beat in flour mixture until just combined. Stir in raisins and nuts.

3. Drop batter onto greased baking sheets.

4. Bake 10-12 min., or until firm to the touch and lightly browned.

Cream cheese frosting:

Half a package of cream cheese, softened

1 1/4 c. icing sugar

Optional: orange food colouring for a Halloween look

Beat the cream cheese and icing sugar until smooth. It will look crumbly at first, so keep beating on medium speed- it will eventually look like a shiny glaze. Colour with food colouring if desired. Spread on cooled cookies.

Cookies can be refrigerated.

Welcome to my humble little blog

As a first time blogger, the idea of updating and maintaining a blog sounds just a little daunting. I don't usually have anything to write or say that I haven't already posted on Facebook, and even then, I don't post every little nuance of my life online. There's such a thing as being too informative (and Facebook posts have a way of coming back to haunt you)! Having said that, I've read a couple of blogs posted by people I know, and I admire their intelligent, humorous writing while being totally honest about themselves. I'm not quite as brave, so I decided to pick something I enjoy and write about it. If you've read this far, you've already guessed from the blog title (as if the subsequent one-liner beneath didn't give it away), that I'm going with the hobby approach and blogging about my baking triumphs and mishaps. Lots and lots of mishaps before the triumphs eventually follow. Much like life, don't you think?

This is the beginning of my baking blog.