Today is a new day!

Today is a new day!  For breakfast there was the yogurt.  Bryers Crème Savers Strawberries and Crème.  It was only 240 calories.  I did drink 8 ounces of water with the Crystal lite on the go package in it.  I have my dried fruit as well.  For lunch today I plan to go to the gym and work out on the bike for about 25 minutes.  That should give me just about enough time to work out and get dressed to go back to work.  How much water are we to drink in a day.  64 ounces?  Seems I have a long way to go.  The crystal lite almost seems too sweet.  I have another pack but I think I will wait and use it tomorrow.  Plan water will be what I will be drinking for the rest of the day.  I have a cup of hot sugar water in keeping with the Shangri La diet.  Odd.  We will see how this all works out.      

A Sunday Full of Danish

It was not such a good day today for food.  I had to work so I ended up having a fried danish for breakfast with green tea.  I bought three since the bakery had to have a sale of at leat $5.00 to run a credit or debit card.  With the 2nd one I had coffee.  For lunch I did just a litte better.  I had broccolli and tortellini salad and 6 BBQ chicken wings.  I did do something that was worthwhile.  I did go to T. J. Maxx and found a pilates band workout by Everlast for $7.00.  I did but it.  My excersize "things or devices"  are multiplying rapidly.  However, they get used infrequently.  Man is it hard.  

 

I am still reading the diet book I got inthe mail.  I plan to start on tomorrow.  I have my canola oil and sugar for sugar water ready.  Shangra La it is!         

Pepparkakor Swedish Gingersnaps

I was in the one of my favorite stores at lunch on yesterday just browsing, World Market and at the check out there was an open tin of cookies. There were the Pepparkakor Swedish Gingersnaps.  I have had these before and they are wonderful.  Great because they are not so sweet.    I ended up buying a tin for $9.99. I almost wish I had not.  While very low in calorie, they are so addictive.  These cookies almost melt in your mouth and make you feel like you are eating nothing at all.  A serving size is 6 cookies and the calories are about 100.  No more will I buy these cookies.  Not until Christmas.  They are dangerously good!   You can make your own.  There are recipes for them everywhere.  Here is one I found.   

Pepparkakor (Christmas Ginger Snaps)

Pepparkakor, or Swedish ginger snaps, are more spicy than sweet -- but they are delicious, especially warm from the oven. The dough should be rolled thin to make the eventual cookies crisp. Thinly-rolled dough can be a bit hard to work with in larger shapes; choose smaller cookie cutters for easier handling. In Sweden, the cookies are traditionally cut in heart shapes.

These cookies are often hung on the Christmas tree with short lengths of red ribbon. To make Pepparkakor ornaments, cut a small hole into the cookie before baking. Cool completely before hanging.

Ingredients:

·  3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, cut into small pieces

·  1/4 cup water

·  1 1/4 cups brown sugar, firmly packed

·  1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

·  1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

·  1 1/2 tsp ground cloves

·  2 cups flour

·  1/4 tsp baking soda

·  2 egg whites

·  1 tsp vanilla

·  about 4 cups sifted powdered sugar

Put butter into a large mixing bowl. Combine water, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in a saucepan. Heat to boiling; boil 1 minute, stirring. Pour hot spice mixture over butter; stir to melt butter.

Sift flour, measure 2 cups, and sift again with baking soda. Add to spice mixture; stir to blend thoroughly.

Cover dough tightly or wrap in waxed paper or aluminum foil. Chill in refrigerator 12 hours or overnight.

Cut off small, workable portions of dough. Roll each out very thin -- about 1/8-inch thick -- on a lightly floured board. Cut into shapes with fancy cookie cutters.

With a flexible spatula, lift cookies onto greased baking sheet. Bake in a moderately hot over (375 degrees Fahrenheit) about 8 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on wire racks. Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

(From "Best of Scandinavian Cooking," by Shirley Sarvis and Barbara Scott O'Neil/ Hippocrene Books, 1997.)

Back to the Treadmill

Well, will, wee. Me and the treadmill have become aquainted once again. I spent an hour and 15 minutes on the treadmill on saturday. It felt good. I was able to listen to the entire Black Eyed Peas cd. Then I was done. One entire length of a cd is the required time on the treadmill at least 3 times a week. It felt good but I was really tired afterwards. That is a great cd to workout to. Peppy music with a good beat! I highly recommend it.

I also just received a copy of the Shangri-La Diet by Seth Roberts in the mail. I have just begun reading it. Once I get done I do plan to try it and tell you all about my results. So far, very interesting with some really different concepts and ways of looking at how we eat that I had not thought about before.

You can chase a butterfly all over the field and never catch it. But if you sit quietly in the grass it will come and sit on your shoulder.
~~Unknown~~