When I got home tonight, the husband had baked pound cake muffins to take on our trip tomorrow. I stuffed a bite in my mouth before I could protest!! It was delicious – Chambord scented!
Before we got to cookie baking, we heated up some leftover salmon (from a catering event), seared some carrots, and I had a spinach salad on the side. It was a gross dinner 🙁
I got about 2/3 of the way through the salmon and realized it was just not. good. The breading was bland and the fish was dry. So in Fit From Within style, I rejected the rest.
The carrots were good, but not great. I cooked them in a drizzle of honey to caramelize the outside and some powdered ginger. Good flavor, but nothing special. They just needed more attention!
Spinach salad was……a spinach salad.
All together for ~300 kcal:
Cookies!!
When it comes to willpower, baked goods and the act of baking are my complete weaknesses. I CANNOT make cookies without licking the bowl (and who would want to!?!?). So I don’t bake often. I enjoy it, but I just want to eat what I’m baking and lick all the bowls, so I’m just better off sticking to savory dishes 😉
But tonight I had quite a bit of calories left – and it’s Christmas! – so I allowed myself to lick as I pleased. Of course I have no clue how many calories I consumed, but I stuck to licks (as opposed to bites, which add up!). I did well with the mixing bowl, closing my eyes and telling the husband to fill it with water before I could get to it. But I did get to the beater. I’d give myself about a B+. I resisted the bourbon balls until the end, but I did have a little too much of the glaze. Not a big deal in the overall scheme of things, but I just hope I don’t wake up with some weird sugar spike or ruin my run tomorrow from all the sugar!
Bourbon Balls
When I was younger, my parents used to have a big Christmas party every year and my mom made bourbon balls. I hated them then, but I tried one every year just to see if I liked it. Most likely from the memory association of happy times, I LOVE them now!!!
We followed a standard recipe – vanilla wafers, pecans, corn syrup, cocoa, Makers Mark, powdered sugar. We cut down on the sugar and pecans to reduce the calories a bit and I managed to get 40 balls out of a 30-ball recipe, so they are only 42 calories a piece! (I logged the ingredients and divided by 40 “servings” to figure it out).
In their box with parchment paper….
Peanut Butter Cup Sugar Cookies
The husband saw this recipe somewhere and as a PB cup lover, he had to try it. They are fantastic! Just take the dough, smash into a mini muffin tin, bake 1/2 way done, add resees, bake till chocolate is melty. Yum!
Sugar Cookies
We had lots of trouble with this recipe. We used the one from Cooking Light but the dough was SO sticky and melty (despite following the instructions to chill it) that we could barely get shapes out. We did a bunch of little biscuits and made a glaze and spinkles for the top!
And we also made some Christmas tree shapes and some circular ones too…..
What I Ate
My estimate while cooking:
- 1 bourbon ball’s worth of dough
- 1/2 a sugar cookie’s worth of dough
- 1 vanilla wafer
- 1/4 oz pound cake
- Lots of powdered sugar (which isn’t really that bad actually – per volume)
And then to eat:
- Half a PB cup
- 1 bite Xmas tree
- Half the biscuit cookie
- the small bourbon ball
~ 340 kcal worth of cookies. Yikes!
Recap
Total Friday Calories: 1864
-550 from spinning + walk
= net of 1314, 50 calories over
Tomorrow
Tomorrow we’re getting up at our normal time (5 a.m.) to go for a 5-mile run in order to leave for Tennessee by 8. We should arrive in time for lunch and are having Christmas dinner at 6 p.m. The husband’s grandmother has declared this to be an alcohol-free dinner (bummer!) so at least I won’t have to worry about alcohol calories – just the dessert! I’m hoping to be able to come back and give a good report!
We’re staying in a hotel, but I have no idea if I’ll be able to blog, so just count on a 2-day report on Sunday evening.
Sorry to keep you all hanging! I’ll get to questions and more on Sunday.
Adios!
Casey says
hey there- i just flew into charlotte tonight for xmas with the fam (im from wyo) any good dinner sugg?
Alex says
Okay, so peanut-butter thumbprint cookies (with the Hershey’s kisses) are probably one of my faves ever. So O.M.G. does the thought of PB cup cookies make my mouth water. Why haven’t I ever thought of such a thing?! So easy! So simple! And soooo delicious. I will definitely be making these this year, if only to eat one or two right out of the oven (and give the rest away, haha), all melty and yummy, mm-mmm!
Elle says
You guys are too cute with your Christmas cookie baking! That’s the FIRST thing I want to do after finals…but I totally agree that sometimes it’s so painful to resist that it’s not worth it. LOVED the shout out :). I booked the Sonoma Inn today, per you recommendation, and also made a reservation at the Girl and the Fig. Do you know the place? Any other dinner reservations? (We only have one other dinner there).
Jenn says
Hey Kath!
Congratulations on your decision to become an R.D. Your advice is so good already, I can’t wait to hear all about what you’ll be learning in your classes! I also wanted to tell you that I bought spaghetti squash for the first time today, and your video helped me prepare them just right! The only question I have for you is how the heck do you cut them so cleanly down the middle? I had the hardest time even with my sharpest knife! If there’s an easy answer that I’m missing, please let me know!
Alex says
Jenn,
I had this trouble too the first time that I tried to cut the spaghetti squash. Just pop it in the microwave for a little bit (I think I did it for a minute or two – I don’t remember because the instructions were on the sticker that came on the squash!), but basically you will feel that the skin is softer and thus easier to cut! Hope that helps!
Jenn says
Thanks Alex! I probably should have thought of that… ;o)
Kath says
Casey,
It depends on what part of Charlotte you're in!!
Google any of these names + Charlotte and you should be able to find websites and phone numbers:
Uptown: Blue, Arpa, Zink, Mimosa Grill
SouthPark: M5, Upstream, Zebra
Ballantyne: Villa Antonio, Table, Arooji's
Kath says
Jenn,
Alex is right – microwaving is your best best to soften the skin. Instead of cutting across, try stabbing right down the middle and then press the knife down through the outside and then turn it the other directions, stab down the middle, and push the knife down and outwards. Hope that makes sense!
My friend Roni shows how to cut a butternut squash on her blog here, and it's the same concept with spaghetti. She shows what I tried to explain above:
http://greenlitebites.com/2007/12/01/cutting-butt…
Tina says
Kath, you're my new addiction. I eat about the same food, same amounts, and work out about as much as you do. Needless to say…I love your blog! 🙂
Kath says
Thanks Tina. Now what are YOU doing up so early on a Saturday!!?
Jenn says
Thanks so much! That video helped me out a lot. I'm a college student and I'm moving into my first apartment this January, so it's time for me to learn how to cook and not rely on dorm food (yuck)! Your blog is a big help! Have a nice weekend!
Kirsten says
All your cookies look fabulous, but in particular the peanut butter cup ones. Oh my. FYI, I made the chocolate cupcakes from this month's Cooking Light and not only did they turn out FABULOUS, they are only 150 calories! 🙂