Hey, guys! I’m starting a new blog, even though I don’t have time for it! Stay tuned!
Signing Off
July 19, 2010 at 12:45 PM (Uncategorized)
I’ve been having trouble with my eating habits again, lately; working in a donut shop apparently just invites binge eating (for me, at least), so I’m starting a 40-day regimen during which I’ll consume no dessert products, no white sugar, no white flour, etc., in the hopes that by cutting those out, I’ll cut out binge eating, too, and get in the habit of not overeating again.
Anyway, that little message isn’t really the point of this post. Instead, I wanted to let you (few) dudes who read this blog know that I’m retiring from blogging, as in the next few months I’m going to be putting all my effort not only into eating well, but also training.
“Training for what?’
Well, after a lot of thought, I’ve decided to go ahead and apply to one of the military’s Officer Training Schools (either Air Force or Marine Corps, I haven’t picked, yet). Admission is incredibly competitive, and I need to be able to put my all towards doing what I need to do to get accepted.
Anyway, thanks to everyone who checked in on ye olde blog and provided support over the last several months. It was good times.
Weigh-In and Warcraft
July 9, 2010 at 9:00 PM (Day to Day Happenings, Musings on Food, Musings on Life)
Tags: About Me, Dessert, Weigh-In Day, Work
YEAH LET’S DO THIS
Last Week’s Weight: 130.6
Today’s Weight: 127.2
Loss/Gain: 3.2 pounds
This Week’s Exercise Schedule:
07/02: 7-mile run/walk + 20-minute weightlifting session
07/03: Yoga
07/04: 5-mile walk + 40-minute weightlifting session
07/05: 7-mile walk/run
07/06: 2-mile walk, 1-hour weightlifting session, 20-minute arc trainer session, 10-minute rowing machine session
07/07: 7-mile run/walk
07/08: 45-minute aerobic tape
Huzzah, right in the middle of my maintenance range! Poifect, and not too shabby considering I spent most of my week sitting on my ass, mourning the loss of this week’s pay check. It was nice to do a bit of a sugar-detox, too, even though I only made it until Wednesday sans dessert. I broke upon sighting the Dairy Queen (hey, I hadn’t had my annual “IT’S SUMMER” Blizzard, yet. Although, I’m not sure the Blizzard was the best treat to break the detox with: I remember them as being really tasty, and although the ingredients in my Georgia Mud Fudge Blizzard [Pecan and brownie pieces with vanilla soft serve] were fresher than one of those feisty, up-and-coming rappers I can never understand, the ice cream itself just tasted like … cold. Seriously, no flavor to it whatsover. Has anyone else had this happen?).
In other news, my week off spurred to do two things, one of which was productive, one of which was not:
1) I got a new job! Not one to replace my radio job, unfortunately, which I have to do tomorrow and have built WAY UP IN MY MIND to be horrible, but one to replace my seasonal job once it ends. Huzzah! It’s at a local coffee shop (not a chain, but a legit, “we-bake-our-own-donuts,” coffee shop), and I’m looking forward to having a job that puts me amongst people for the day. ‘Twill be good for me. And, I get to keep my cemetery job until the end of the season. HOWEVER, the coffee shop people are going to begin training me on the days I’m not working at the cemetery, so it looks like I might be working seven days a week sometimes. Ah, well, it’s only temporary.
2) I re-activated my World of Warcraft account. Derp. I started playing two (three?) years ago after my ex-fiance turned me onto it, but I quit a few months back when I found myself hating scheduled gametime* and the repetitive nature of the game. So, why did I go back? I have no idea! Mostly, I think, because I may have given up being social just a little bit in Real Life. Le sigh. ANYWAY! On a more cheerful note, if you play WoW and want to do an in-game blogger meet-up (which is way cooler than a RL blogger meet-up, PSH), then drop a comment, ja? Of course, I’m not sure how long this WoW stint will last, so … act now, I guess?
In conclusion, I leave you with a family photo:
This is a picture of my character and my mother’s when both of us were around level 50 (I’m on the right; warlock win). Aww! Memories. Also, yes, my mother and I play WoW together. Isn’t that nice?
* For those of you unfamiliar with the game, you have bring together many players (sometimes up to 40) in order to complete higher “levels” in WoW. So, if you want to complete these areas of the game, you have to sign on for scheduled “raids,” as it’s really quite difficult to just put together a random group of people at a random time.
Cemetery Blues
July 6, 2010 at 9:10 PM (Day to Day Happenings, Musings on Food, Musings on Life)
Tags: About Me, Books, Daily Troubles, LIFE IS SO HARD OMG, Work
I enjoy my job at the cemetery. No, really! When I get up in the morning and say, “UGH BLERGH WORK,” it is just my horribly whiny knee-jerk reaction to the idea that I have to do something besides sit on my ass that day. And, when I get a phone call saying, “Nope, there hasn’t been any rain so the grass isn’t growing so there isn’t any work,” I’m reminded of the fact that I really need to shut my mouth, get rid of the negativity and just be grateful for the fact that I do have work. Oh, and just in case you’re wondering, I’m waxing reflective because I did get such a phone call this morning.
Yep … in light of this, I do realize that I really need to stop talking myself out of things/being so negative about work, social happenings,* things I have to do, etc. Honestly, I think I would enjoy my life a lot more if I just put a stop to mentally building everything up into a huge chore, because 90% I get to work/go to an event I was dreading and find myself saying, “Oh! This isn’t so bad.”
Anyway, with my surprise week off from work (which hopefully won’t turn into a two-weeks off from work) I’ve decided to catch up on my summer reading. Here’s what my “reading log” for the near future looks like:
1. Day After Night, Anita Diamant (I’m currently working on this, and I’m not sure how I feel about it, yet; when I went to a speaking-event featuring Diamant, she described the novel as being an introduction to the history of Israel and that it was for people who didn’t know very much about the nation’s origins. And yet, I feel that you kind of need some background in WWII/Palestine’s history to have a full understanding of the book.)
2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson (Everyone and their brother is talking about it, so I guess I’ll read it. Stop judging me.)
3. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez (I love Marquez’s style of writing and his inclusion of magical elements in a realistic setting, so I think it’s about time I read what is probably his best known work.)
4. Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel (I’ve actually had this book lying around for months, but since I bought it while I was still up at school and thus tied up with required reading, I never got around to reading it. Mmm, historical fiction focusing on the Tudors. I love them, don’t you? I don’t know why, but I’ve always been vaguely obsessed with Henry VIII and his unfortunate wives.)
I don’t know why, but I really enjoy planning out what I’m going to read next; it’s like, “Haha! Look at how intellectual my future is going to be! Suck it, stupidity!”
In other news, I went to the gym twice today, but I only made the second venture because I desperately needed to get out of the house (I enjoy my days off, but I hate being idle for extended periods of time; I feel like if I haven’t earned my time off, I can’t enjoy it) and also because I needed to burn off some PMS-anxiety (For some reason, I always get super anxious around my lady times. Right now, I’m obsessing about the prospect of not having work once my season cemetery job ends in September). Also, if I didn’t get out the house, I was definitely going to eat 100% of everything.
Do you have any bad “mental habits?” What are you reading at the moment?
* Yeah, most people probably find these enjoyable, but I’ve developed some kind of social anxiety, as I’ve mentioned before. Honestly, I worry a bit about myself; I can’t seem to get out of my own way to get out and do social things. Part of me says, “Well, what’s there really to do, anyway? Most people your age go to bars for social interaction, and you don’t drink!” But, on the other hand, I feel like I’m just making excuses for my anti-social behavior. WHAT’S A TEETOTALING LADY TO DO?!?
The Return of the Calorie Count and Censoring Sex Crimes
July 2, 2010 at 12:02 PM (Musings on Food, Musings on Journalism, Musings on Life)
Tags: Binge Eating, Journalism, LIFE IS SO HARD OMG, Life Lessons, Radio, Ridiculous People, Weigh-In Day, Work
Hey, dudes/ladies, check out this adorable-as-all-hell travel mug I bought for myself at Newbury Comics on my birthday shopping trip.
I brought it with me on my grocery shopping trip this morning, and looked classy as a mofo.At the moment, I am drinking copious amounts of green tea out of it in an attempt to flush out the massive quantities of bloat I acquired in between yesterday and today; yep, I gained 3.4 pounds overnight, and am now 130.6. Peachy, no? Of course, yesterday, I was voluntarily going to count calories beginning today, but now that I actually have to, I am like, “NOOOOOO THIS IS SO UNNATURAL, LIKE TWIMOMS, SERIOUSLY THOSE WOMEN ARE WAY TOO OLD TO LOVE ON TAYLOR LAUTNER THAT IS BORDERLINE PEDOPHILIA AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.”
Blergh. Of course, I am sure it is just water retention and that it is nigh impossible to gain that much weight overnight. Regardless, I am sorry for the mad repetitive binge-oriented posts as of late; when I get stressed out about one thing, I tend to stress out about everything else in my life, too. It is like my stress is the common cold, and “fear of the return of binge eating”-thoughts are that kid in your class who has the really bad immune system and always gets sick, and all my other thoughts are like, “Ugh why does he come to class when he is sick, vacation is coming up I hope I don’t get sick,” but they do. And, when I do get stressed out about a thing, I tend to obsesses over it and basically repeat the same thoughts on it over and over like a broken record.
Anyway, yesterday definitely was a binge. I’m not sure why I seem to have intuitive eating down on most days of the week but not on celebratory days/holidays. Maybe it’s because while I was dieting, I gave myself a pass to binge on said days? Ah, well. I guess all I can do is chalk it up to a learning experience and just be better prepared as the next holiday rolls around.
“But, Elizabeth, you said you were stressed about a thing. TELL US.”
Oh, blog readers, you’re so thoughtful/concerned! Or just vile gossip mongers, you bastards. Whatever, I’ll tell you anyway.
As some of you may know/recall, I recently started working as a radio anchor/reporter. This is (was?) a pretty cool thing as it is what I went to school for, but something happened last Saturday that has me mild to moderately concerned: Long story short, I aired a news piece I had pulled off the AP wire* that was about a Massachusetts priest who had been arrested for soliciting sex. I got hell of chewed out by my boss (“We don’t air smut,” “That’s not what our audience wants to hear,” etc.), and was informed that the stations on which I broadcast news generally avoid stories on “sex scandals, rape, [and] child pornography.”
On the one hand, I understand the our news airs on entertainment/music stations and now dedicated news stations, but on the other hand I’m troubled that we’re a) censoring content and b) grouping together stories about sex scandals and rape. It just makes me uneasy, and my job feels trivial; are we only supposed to feed people fluff?
What are your thoughts regarding stories on sex crimes? Do you expect “softer” news when you’re listening to an entertainment station rather than a station dedicated to news/talk?
* For those who are unfamiliar with how news works, many media outlets (e.g., newspapers, radio stations, etc.) use stories by the Associated Press (i.e. the AP, an extensive news agency) in their broadcasts or publications, since most news sources don’t have the resources to send their journalists all across the country. For example, the company I work for would never send a reporter all the way to the G-20 summit in Toronto, so instead we’d use a story on it by the AP for our national news segment.
Weigh-In Day: Week of June 25th/Body Snark
July 1, 2010 at 4:26 PM (Day to Day Happenings, Musings on Food, Musings on Life)
Tags: Adventures/Special Events, Binge Eating, Daily Troubles, Eating Out, Healthy Living, Overeating, Ridiculous People, weight maintenance
Ugh, dude’s my eating habits! They are hell of terrible. I weighed in at 127.2 today (Good!), but I fear that a great evil is returning to the land … the evil of …
Binge eating. (HOLY GOD, BAD)
But, I’m not sure if I should be legitimately concerned; I splurged three days this week to celebrate my birthday (which is today, actually, but for some reason I thought I should celebrate this weekend since I was working today, and then today rolled around and my mom and were like, “BOO ANTI-CLIMATIC BIRTHDAY LET’S CELEBRATE AGAIN!”), but I’m not sure if any of those days on which I splurged were actually a “binge,” or if I would have even splurged (binged?) today had I not weighed-in within my maintenance range this morning. But, on the days I splurged (BINGED?!?1?), I never ran out to buy extra stuff because I just thought, “SCREW IT! I’M OUT OF CALORIES!” but I did eat past the point of being full, and if I were in a store, I would impulse-buy a candy bar and chomp it without really thinking. Though, at the beginning of the week I was also only 124.6 pounds, and I’m not sure if I would have overdid-it had this not been the case/had I not been celebrating my birthday. Blergh. On the other hand, I know I am entirely in control of what I stuff in my face and I know I don’t want to go back to dieting and I KNOW that even though I splurged I am still within my maintenance range (and that’s part of the glory of maintenance, some weeks you eat more and some weeks you eat less but it is OK to eat more some weeks), so what am I really concerned about? Still, I kind of feel like normal people don’t gain 2.6 pounds while celebrating special events. Hm. Baby steps, I reckon.
I do have to give myself kudos, though, for taking some steps to not overeat:
a) When eating out and sharing an appetizer, I took what I deemed to be an appropriate portion off the group plate and then didn’t go back any more.
b) If I could eat healthfully, I did; I tried not make the days on which I splurged (BINGED?!?2?!?!@!? OH MY GOD I DON’T KNOW) into an all-day eating fest, and would start with something healthy like oat bran.
c) I tried to think about what I really wanted. Whereas before if I were having a “splurge” day I would just get everything and anything, I legitimately tried to keep my snacking to a minimum while out celebrating/shopping so I would have room for dinner at ze restaurant we were going to.
And, so on. OH, MAN, LOOK AT THAT LIST, SO IMPRESSIVE.
Regardless of whether I binged or splurged, though, I’m going to go back to counting calories and do a sugar detox (ie.e, no “dessert products), just for the next two weeks. I know I don’t really need to, and I’d like to get to a point where I don’t have to follow a celebratory event with calorie counting, but I just want to play it safe and make sure I don’t continue overeating. Also, every once and a while when I overdo it on the sugar, I kind of like to put a little distance between myself and the desserts and have a nice stint of clean eating to get my system back in order, you know?
In other news, a funny thing happened on my way to the forum.
Wait, no. A funny thing happened while I was out shopping (at the mall, no less, even though I detest crowds of people.) Long story short, my mother and I stopped by Eddie Bauer while we were out and decided to pick up some summer clothes. I happened to try on a dress and attract the attention of a salesperson, who began engaging my mother in the following conversation:
Salesperson: “Oh, my goodness! She looks so good in that dress!” (Aw, that’s nice.)
Mum: “Yeah, it looks really cute on her!”
Salesperson: “Ugh, she’s so thin! Look at her.” ( … OK.)
Mum: “Ha, yes, I used to be that thin at her age, too, though.”
Salesperson: “Ugh, yes, me too. Ugh, I hate her, she’s so thin! Let’s stop looking at her.” ( … WTF?)
It was just … odd. And, in this vein, I’m tired of “thin” being used as a compliment. In fact, I’m tired of size-related adjectives in general being used as compliments or insults. In my opinion, body preference is kind of like someone’s taste in movies or books or art; to each their own, ja? So, why OK to hate on or compliment someone for being overweight or underweight? For all that salesperson knew, I could have been a recovering anorexic, and her comments could have triggered a re-emergence of my eating disorder. And, not to be corny, but bodies can be beautiful at any size: Why has one shape become the standard for attractiveness? Can’t beauty come in a variety of sizes? And, why do we assume that all women want to be twigs? Likewise, why do “real women have curves?” Are chemotherapy patients who can’t keep weight on not “real women”? And, maybe some women pride themselves on being overweight or voluptuous or muscular.
/end rant
Gah, I wish I were better at organizing my thoughts. But, you get the jist, right?
Have you ever been the victim of “body snark?”
Recipe Review: Secret Ingredient Sugar Cookies
June 25, 2010 at 11:27 AM (Musings on Food, Product Reviews)
Tags: I Love Food, Recipes
I’m a horribly socially awkward person. I spent the majority of my college years on a circuit that ran from my room to the gym to class before going back to my room. It’s not that I don’t like people—it’s just that being around 90% of them turns me into a babbling idiot. So, when I started my new job, I knew I need something to divert my fellow employees’ attention away from my inability to form a coherent sentence, and that “something” was a delicious, sugary baked good.
I wanted something simple (as, for all I know, everyone at the station could be riddled with allergies to random food products) and I also wanted to try a new recipe from my large stack of “recipes-to-try” (damn you, internet!). So, I picked up the recipe for Secret Ingredient Sugar Cookies that I had seen on Cookie Madness some time back and ran with it.
To begin, let me just announce that the “secret ingredient” isn’t anything weird, like sushi or ketchup or something else that would appear on Iron Chef; instead, it’s vanilla pudding mix, and for some reason I thought this would make my sugar cookies soft and cake-like, even though Anna says in her post on these cookies that they are, in fact, light and crispy. I am bad at reading, and indeed these cookies had the texture of a traditional peanut butter cookie: Crispy on the edges and a little crumbly in the middle. Personally, I prefer a soft, chewy sugar cookie, so I was a little disappointed in this regard, but the cookies were still good—just not my kind of cookie. Also, the taste was not super sweet. Instead, they tasted a bit like a combination of shortbread and a sugar cookie, with a little bit more emphasis on “richness” rather than “sugariness.” Regardless, my co-workers enjoyed them (I was in the kitchenette at 9 a.m., and the weather man was coming back for a second cookie already) and I would probably make them again if I were looking for a slightly more sophisticated sugar cookie.
Secret Ingredient Sugar Cookies – Makes approximately 42 cookies
1 stick (8 oz) salted butter, softened
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1.7 oz. vanilla or lemon pudding mix (I used vanilla, as mentioned previously)
2 cups (8.5 oz) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Sprinkles (optional)
1. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, oil and sugars until the mixture is light and fluffy. (Note: I almost had a panic attack when I started making these cookies, as my mix looked like cake batter. This may have been because of the heat [it was very humid that day], but despite the fact that my batter never achieved a “light and fluffy” consistency, they still turned out fine.)
2. Add the egg, pudding mix and vanilla to the butter mixture.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cream of tartar and baking soda before gradually adding those three ingredients to the creamed mixture. Beat well.
4. Spoon the dough onto ungreased baking sheets so that the cookies are about two inches apart. If you’d like, flatten the cookies with your palm and sprinkle sugar or sprinkles on top of the cookies.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 to 15 minutes (Note: Mine only needed seven and a half minutes to bake) or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks.
Nutritional Information (per one cookie):
Calories: 90
Fat: 5.1 g.
Sat. Fat: 3.4 g.
Cholesterol: 10.9 mg.
Fiber: 0.2 g.
Protein: 0.8 g.
Too Much of a Good Thing
June 18, 2010 at 2:56 PM (Day to Day Happenings, Musings on Food)
Tags: Adventures/Special Events, I Love Food, Intuitive Eating, Weigh-In Day
Hey dudes, GUESS WHAT
I totally didn’t count calories this week! WHOAH. It was pretty odd, considering I’ve counted points/calories/some kind of numerical figure connected with the patron star of food for the past … six years? But, it was really freeing to just kind of sit down for a meal and say, “OK, what do I want?” I’m not going to lie, though; on a couple of days when I had extra chomps, I freaked and tallied by day’s intake to say where I stood. However, at the end of the week, I had no idea how much I had eaten on most days/how many “bonus” calories I had left/etc. I do still a tally bit during the day, though—that is, at meal time, I might do some quick math to make sure my lunch falls within a certain range, just so I know whether to cut back a bit later after a particularly large meal. I think this is OK, though, as there’s a difference between nitpicky/obsessive calorie counting and ensuring you’re not overeating. I have, however, set up some rules for myself, since I didn’t want intuitive eating to turn into “eat whatever I want” eating:
1) I can eat as much as I want, but I can only eat when I’m hungry.
2) I can eat whatever I want, but desserts/sweets should be saved for after dinner. (This is mostly because if I eat a sweet thang mid-day, I tend to crave sugar for the rest of the day. Or, I crave sugar AND eat copious amounts of it for the rest of the day.)
3) Large desserts (e.g., a pint and a delicious Warm Delight product)/restaurant meals that I make/purchase for myself should be limited to once a week. (This isn’t me trying to be restrictive, but rather just trying to keep myself in a position to be flexible in case I’m invited out to dinner/given a delicious baked good spontaneously/etc.)
Regardless, I was a little cautious this week with my eating … maybe a bit too cautious. Although, I always ate if I was hungry, and continued eating after finishing a meal if I wasn’t satisfied.
Last Week’s Weight: 127.2 (Yep, I was up a little bit last week after my binge, but I was OK with this, seeing as how I was still in the bottom portion of my range.)
Today’s Weight: 124
Loss/Gain: Three pounds
This Week’s Exercise Schedule:
06/11: 7-mile run/walk + 20-minute weightlifting session
06/12: Yoga
06/13: 5-mile run + 40-minute weightlifting session
06/14: 7-mile run/walk
06/15: 1-hour weightlifting session + 2-mile walk
06/16: Yoga
06/17: 45-minute aerobics tape
… derp. Dang, and I took an extra rest day this week, too! Also, I am not oblivious to the irony that when I’m not trying to lose weight, I lose copious amounts of el-bees. Jeeze. I’m not really sure what to do at this point, though; I know some people say that you can never be too rich or too thin, but when I start to drop below my range like this, it’s like there’s a little voice that goes, “Well, how thin can I get?” And, I don’t want to play that game, especially since I don’t like how I look when I start to get into my lower 120s. Also, I’d like to get back into my goal range, as otherwise I get too accustomed to being a lower weight and it’s disappointing when I get back up to a normal weight. It’s like my mind adjusts to seeing a thinner self, and any extra pounds (even when they still put me within my goal range) are, well … extra. Does that make sense?
Anyway, normally I’d go on a weight gain diet at this point (MMMMMMMM), but I don’t want to go back to calorie counting after just a week of intuitive eating. So, considering that there are several food-related events coming up (my birthday, a surprise party for a person who shall go undescribed and a week in which an aunt and her family are visiting from Texas), I think I’m just going to let things lie for the time being and worry about putting weight back on only if I find myself still below range after the aforementioned happenins’ … and quite frankly, I highly doubt I’ll have anything to worry about after the next few weeks.
Recipe Review: Debbie’s Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies
June 14, 2010 at 4:09 PM (Musings on Food)
Tags: Daily Eats, Other Blogs, Recipes
I am of the opinion that the introduction of people to the Internet is one of the worst things to happen, ever. Have you ever played World of Warcraft or gone to 4chan? Seriously, it’s like anonymity just triggers something in people that makes them feel the need to say things like, “My balls are moist” every five minutes in a public forum. Would you ever go to the grocery store and yell, “MY BALLS ARE MOIST”? No! But, apparently, it is totally OK to do so on the Internet.
Every once and awhile, though, the Internet is responsible for something beautiful, like the union of myself and Debbie of Words to Eat By‘s recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies.
I found this recipe back in the day, when I was still distrustful of anything/everything that came from culinary blogs, which I imagined were just written by people biding their time between food (or regular) porn sessions. Besides, I had been using the Nestle Tollhouse cookie recipe for years and didn’t really see any need to replace such a tried and true formula. But, Debbie had a lot of confidence in this cookie: She calls them “The Best Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies in the Entire World,” and after trying them, myself, I’m inclined to agree with the name.
These cookies fit my exact definition of a perfect chocolate chip cookie: Crispy at the edges, supremely chewy in the middle (I hate a poofy chocolate chip cookie) and rich in butter/vanilla flavor. Debbie produced the recipe by utilizing a few unique techniques, like chilling the dough before baking it. Look at these cookies; they’re gorgeous.
And they taste as good as they look (though, they taste much less blurry), so go make them right now.
Unbelievably Delicious Chocolate Chip Cookies – Makes approximately 24 cookies
Adapted from Debbie’s recipe for The Best Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies in the Entire World
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ t. baking soda
½ t. salt
¼ pound (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
½ cup sugar
¾ cup tightly packed light brown sugar
1 ½ t. vanilla extract
1 large egg, at room temperature, lightly beaten
5 oz. (140 grams) semisweet chocolate (Debbie uses 7 oz. of bittersweet chocolate in her recipe, but I prefer my cookies to be more batter- than chip-centric)
1. Combine the flour, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl and set aside.
2. Cream the butter and sugars together in either a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or a hand mixer set on low speed (This is important: According to Debbie, the speed at which you cream these two ingredients makes the mixture hold the flour differently and consequently spread out less). Beat the ingredients until the mixture is lump-free (about three to four minutes), then stop to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
3. Add your vanilla and the egg to the butter/sugar mixture, and resume mixing until the addition is just incorporated (about 15 seconds). Stop and scrape down the sides of the paddle and/or bowl again.
4. Set your mixing utensil/machine of choice to low speed and combine the flour with your butter mixture, and beat until just incorporated. Once the ingredients are combined, stop mixing, scrape down the bowl again, and add your chocolate chips until they are also just incorporated (If you’re using a hand mixer to make your cookie batter, mix in the chocolate chips by hand with a wooden spoon).
5. Refrigerate the dough for at least an hour (Yesterday, I had the time to let the batter chill for seven hours, and I think it made for the nice, chew texture.)
6. When you’re to bake your cookies, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line your baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpats. Spoon the dough onto the baking sheets so that the cookies are about two inches apart.
Note: If you’re going to be placing more than one baking sheet in the oven at a time, make sure you adjust your oven racks so that they are in the lower and upper thirds of the oven.
7. Bake for around eight to nine minutes (I think my oven is a little hot, though, so you may want to go with Debbie’s baking time of 11 to 13 minutes) or until golden brown around the edges. Midway through baking, make sure to turn the sheets halfway through and, if there is more than one baking sheet in the oven, switch the racks on which they are situated.
8. Remove baking sheets from the oven and slide the parchment paper or Silpats onto a work surface. Once the cookies are sufficiently set, place them on a cooling rack. Cookies can be stored for up to three days in an airtight container, but you should wait at least 20 minutes before placing them in said container.
Nutritional Information (per one cookie):
Calories: 140
Fat: 5.9 g.
Sat. Fat: 3.5 g.
Cholesterol: 19 mg.
Sodium: 33.4 mg.
Carbohydrates: 23 g.
Protein: 1.4 g.
Fiber: 0.6 g.
Down the Hatch/Tubes
June 10, 2010 at 2:40 PM (Day to Day Happenings, Musings on Food, Musings on Life)
Tags: Appetite Triggers, Binge Eating, Intuitive Eating, LIFE IS SO HARD OMG, Mental Health
It was like the perfect storm, but with more candy and less water.
I was set to go out to breakfast on Sunday, and the day before, a bag of ill-bought Reese’s cups depleted the calories I had been saving for said breakfast. Sunday, my frustration over my lack of self-control combined with sleep deprivation combined with stress combined with PMS to form … the perfect binge.
Dudes, I had gone ten weeks without bingeing. I thought I was golden. Then, WHA-BHAM! I consume 6,000 calories in one day. WTH?
Even now, four days later, I’m still hell of pissed off about it. Now, I’m not mad about any weight I may have gained (I was below range the last time I weighed in, after all, and it was just one day), but rather the lack of intuitive eating I practiced/the random eating I did. Basically, I went back to cupboard diving and ended up eating random, non-worthwhile P.O.S. foods like slices of bread. Plus, had I not binged and just had ONE thing, I could have had a pint of ice cream every day this week for the amount of calories I ate that one day. And, trust me, I would have much rather have had a treat per day than one day of stuffing myself and subsequently restricting. BUT, I ALWAYS FORGET THIS ARBDFHSDFSDJFH.
Ah, well. At least it didn’t turn into a multiple-day binge. In light of this, though, and the fact that I’ve been feeling really weak/rundown lately (like, “going to bed at 9 p.m. and feeling sore all the time”-weak) I was thinking of doing one of a couple of things for the summer, or until I’m done with my very physically demanding job at the cemetery:
a) Eat a bit more on a daily basis. Of course, this sounds like the most fun option, but I don’t want to get accustomed to a certain culinary lifestyle, so to speak, only to have to cut back come fall.
b) Indulge a bit every day. Quix left a great anti-binge tip on my last post; that is, indulge a bit every day in something small to keep from over-doing it like I did. And, the fact of the matter is, I am pretty restrictive on a day to day basis. But, I definitely can’t keep some things—like candy, evidently—in the house. What are you favorite small sweets that you keep around/can eat in moderation?
c) Exercise a bit less. I’m kind of hesitant to cut back on my exercise (for reasons I’ll go into another post coming up soon), but I feel like it’ll be easier to increase my exercise again than it would be to decrease my chomps come fall. So, I’m 90% sure that I’m going to go with this option and have a “taper week” every other week rather than every three weeks. I’d also like to allow myself some more splurges, but now my trust in my self-control is kind of obliterated. And yet, I’m thinking of finally giving up calorie counting, cold turkey.
After this weekend’s binge incident, which was essentially inspired by a “lack of calories” that should not even have been taken into consideration, because being at my maintenance weight means any calorie-oriented limits are merely guidelines, I’ve come to the conclusion that calorie counting while at my maintenance weight is keeping me from truly eating intuitively. I’m a little hesitant to give it up, though, as I feel like calorie counting is kind of like a speedometer—without it, I wouldn’t know I was eating too much/driving too fast until I gained weight/got a ticket. But, if I’m truly eating intuitively, I shouldn’t gain a massive amount of weight in between weigh-ins, anyway. And, getting rid of calorie counting would set me up to eat more according to true cravings/needs rather than according to numbers. But, I’m scurred. How will I know if I can consume certain “extras” in a day, like a glass of milk, an extra serving of rice or a cookie from a co-worker?* I know how to eat, though; it’s not like I’ll eat donuts on Monday, forget about it, and eat a pint of ice cream on Tuesday. I’ve also maintained my weight for about two months, now, and for most of that time I haven’t been calculating how many calories I’ve eating during the day until the end of the day.
What do you dudes think? Have any of you spent years calorie counting, only to give it up? I’m wondering, though, if I shouldn’t set up some rules for myself if I do give up calorie counting (e.g., only one “indulgence” per day, which I should be following, regardless—if I had followed this rule on Sunday, I’d be a lot better off, that’s for sure). Any suggestions?
THIS POST NEEDS MORE BOLD TEXT. OK, I’m done, now.
*OK, I would probably not eat this cookie regardless, unless it was a commercial cookie and I saw the package it came out of it. Homemade, though? Lord knows where that cookie has been/what the kitchen it was made in looks like. Gross.
A Woman's Intuition 