What Are You Resisting?

chocolate chip cookiesDoes this sound familiar?

You’re at a restaurant, watching the person next to you devour a pile of crisp sweet potato fries.

They look SO tempting.

In that moment – what would you do?

Would you reach over and grab one, without a moment’s thought?

Which of the following outcomes best describes you?

 

A)   You FIGHT the urge – you’d really like to sample just one.

B)   You CAVE – there’s no way you can sit there and not have a taste.

C)  You RESIST – as tempting as it might be, you remind yourself that it’s not worth the physical pain and discomfort.
Do you see yourself in any of these sceanrios?

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Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies

Mini Fudge (2)The other night, I dreamed I was baking cookies.

Except these weren’t your typical cookies.

They were actually teeny tiny – as in miniature versions of the real thing.

And I was baking them in a teeny tiny, miniature oven, in a teeny tiny kitchen.

Because of the limited space, I kept knocking things over and making quite a mess, as you can imagine.

(Regular size people don’t fit real well in dollhouses).

Dreams are funny, this way, aren’t they?

And it’s not like I normally dream about cookies – or food.

I don’t!

However, I do collect miniatures, like what you see pictured here.

They look like the real thing, don’t they?

Since we’re on the subject of cookies, I decided it was time to share another cookie recipe.

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It’s National Cookie Month!

Did you know we’re celebrating National Cookie Month?

A few days ago, a pretty card arrived in the mail, courtesy of my chiropractor.

Which is how I learned that it’s National Cookie Month.

And who wants to miss out on that?

The card went on to say that a different cookie would be featured in their office every week for the remainder of this month!

And to think – my next appointment isn’t until November.

(I was ready to pick up the phone and make an appointment right away).

Of course, there was nothing to indicate these cookies would be gluten-free, or allergen friendly – in which case, I wouldn’t touch them anyway.

All the more reason to open my cupboards and bake some cookies of my own!

On this particular day – and for whatever reason – I was craving chocolate.

And nothing but a plump Chocolate Chip Cookie was going to satisfy those cravings.

So, I creamed together the butter and sugar, added the gluten-free flour, ground nuts and quinoa – then reached into the cupboard for a bag of chocolate chips.

Imagine my surprise, when I came up empty.

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GLUTEN-FREE HOLIDAY BAKING

The holidays are here and I’m in the mood for baking cookies!

This is my favorite time of the year for baking. Sometimes I need to reign myself in so I don’t overdo it. After all, who is going to eat all those cookies in a 2-person household?

Fortunately for me, my husband has quite the sweet tooth, and he’s only too happy to sample what I bake.

This year, however, I’ve decided to cut back on the excess of sweet treats – a bit of a challenge, given the holiday tradition in my family which goes back to our German roots.

This tradition involves an individual plate of Christmas cookies – yes, every member of the family gets their very own plate of cookies on Christmas morning, to eat as they choose.

Growing up, this was often the most exciting part of the holiday!

My mother would assemble the cookie plates on Christmas Eve, and we weren’t allowed to see them until morning. We even had special, Christmas themed holiday plates – just for the occasion.

As an interior designer, I understand how the needs of our families often change over the years, and our traditional way of doing things evolves – as new ideas present themselves.

Or, as so often happens in our homes, we simply want to ‘freshen’ the look.

Which is why, I’ve decided to make two changes this year:

  • The first, is to bake less.
  • The second, is to switch from paper Christmas themed plates to a more eco-friendly, re-usable choice – fine china. (Mostly because said paper plates, which have been re-used year after year, are looking a little ragged around the edges).

One thing, however, will never change, and that is my homemade Lebkuchen cookies – which I bake every Christmas.

For anyone not familiar with Lebkuchen, it is a German honey-spice cake – a thicker, chewy cookie filled with traditional Christmas spices like cinnamon and cloves.

In my pre-gluten-free days, we always had store-bought Lebkuchen.

However, years ago I came across this recipe from Sunset magazine, and I have faithfully baked these cookies every year since – to serve alongside the store-bought version.

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