One More Christmas Meal

Since this is an odd-numbered year, Honey will be coming over today and staying with us until January 1st. Tonight we will have our Christmas meal with her.

This is what I traditionally make for Christmas and Easter:

Ham
Broccoli Rice Casserole
Curried Fruit
Rolls

At Christmas time I make Peppermint Pie for dessert.

Recipes:

Ham
I always get a butt end ham and cook it all day in the crockpot along with a can (including the juice) of pineapple slices. Discard the juice and pineapple as they will have absorbed a lot of the salt from the ham.

Broccoli Rice Casserole
1 small onion
1 pkg frozen broccoli
1 cup Minute Rice
1 can cream of mushroom soup
½ cup water
½ cup Cheez Whiz (I use more)
½ cup milk
1 TBSP butter
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Saute onion in butter. Add broccoli and rice and mix. Add remaining ingredients and stir. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.


Curried Fruit
29 oz cans (or equivalent) of the following fruits (or may vary as desired):
Peaches, Pears, Apricots, Pineapple slices, Mandarin Oranges
1 stick butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 TBS corn starch
1 TBS curry (We like curry, so I use more)
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Drain fruit and discard juice. Place fruit in large casserole dish. Combine brown sugar, corn starch, & curry. Sprinkle over fruit. Slice butter and place on fruit. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Rolls
These are store bought. My favorite right now with this meal is Alexia Ciabatta Rolls

Peppermint Pie
1 oreo cookie pie crust
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
red food coloring (optional)
1 8 oz tub of cool whip
1 cup crushed peppermint candies (about 12 candy canes)
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Beat cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk. Stir in extract, food coloring, and candy. Fold in whipped topping. Pour into pie crust. Freeze 6 hours or until firm. This makes more than will fit in the pie crust, but probably not quite enough for two. This year I had some little chocolate dessert cups so I filled those with the leftovers for little individual servings.

Food at Work

We are having food at work tomorrow. I am so SICK of food everywhere. Bleh! Like we aren't all going to be eating too much on Thursday. But I will participate. I may not eat much, but I'll be there. Just a few more days and I get a break from work and I will not have to be there for all the food that will be pouring in during December. Another reason that this is good timing for my surgery. :)

"Foods" I Don't Miss

There are some foods I have given up that I don't miss any more. It is now a habit to NOT have them, where as it used to be a habit to have them.

Soda
Gum
Cheezits (The break room at work used to be stocked with these and I would eat cupful after cupful. I finally had to quit eating them completely)
Extra caffeinated coffee (I have one cup of regular coffee in the morning, after that I drink decaf, if I have any more)
Donuts
Fudgesicles
Hot Chocolate packets (I put real cocoa in my coffee in the morning, so it is like have a mocha everyday. If I really wanted a Hot Chocolate I would make it with real cocoa instead of the processed packets - those contain transfats!)
Coffee Creamer (I use powdered milk)
Popcorn (Did you know those bags of microwave popcorn contain transfats?)

Food Rewards

What do you think of food rewards? After my post yesterday about my licorice reward, I was wondering what you might think of it.

I think we need to be careful with food rewards. They should not be a daily thing, as in, "I went for a walk today so I will reward myself with a double scoop peanut butter hot fudge sundae."

However, having a food reward can be an incentive to meet goals and give you an opportunity to "earn" a treat you wouldn't normal have and prevent you from feeling deprived. For example, my Monday weight is almost always higher than my Friday weight. We usually go out to eat once or twice on the weekend or I splurge a little. Well, when my Monday weight is less than Friday, then I treat myself to a fast food lunch that week. This only happens once every few months. Because I have a reward system in place I don't feel deprived of my Taco Villa Burrito since I will eventually earn one and since I have to cut back on my normal weekend eating routine, the calories all even out in the long run.

A Treat to Look Forward To

I have a goal this month to NOT eat any of the Weight Watchers snacks at my office. They are full of nasty high fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated oils and they are a trigger food for me. Once I start, I can't stop.

So, my reward for not having any this month will be a yummy Panda licorice bar. Only 100 calories and 0 fat. No HFCS or PHO. Only molasses, wheat flour, licorice extract, and aniseed oil. I already have my bar, now I am just waiting for Halloween to arrive.

Fruit Salad

Fruit Salad
Originally uploaded by charity.byar

I made this salad last weekend to take to my sister's house. It contains watermelon, peaches, pears, green grapes, and cherries with a honey, lime juice and cinnamon dressing.

I original saw the dressing recipe on a television spot by the local extension agent when I was in elementary school. The original recipe was just honey and cinnamon, but I added the lime juice last weekend and it seems to keep the fruit from browning too quickly.

It is everywhere!

Why is that there is food everywhere, all the time?

There is a bible study starting at our church this week and I've been trying to decide whether to attend. Apart from the time commitment (2 hrs, once a week for 7 weeks plus daily homework), there is something else that concerns me. The description of the class says, "This is a wonderful time of food, fellowship, and an awesome study experience for women of all ages." FOOD! Listed first. Like it is the most important part.

I do not need any food temptations, but the class name is intriguing - Discerning the Voice of God by Priscilla Shirer. Has anyone ever done this study?

Cheez-Its

I wanted to overeat Cheez-its yesterday afternoon at work. Instead, I made this list of reasons why I shouldn't:

1. I would miss the No Breakroom Food Habit
2. I would miss the No Flour Habit
3. I would overeat and then not want supper and we are going out with friends.
4. The scale would DEFINITELY be up tomorrow from the sodium.
5. A sick coworker probably sneezed on their hands and then reached in for some chips without washing up first.
6. The bag wasn't sealed last night so a mouse or roach probably got in there and crawled around.
7. Isaiah 55:2
8. Galatians 5:1
9. If hunger is not the problem, then food is not the answer.
10. I'm allergic to Cheezits - I break out in fat.

Food that does not satisfy

Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen to me, and you will eat what is good. You will enjoy the finest food. ~ Isaiah 55:2 (NLT)

I am just posting this scripture here as a reminder to myself.