Sunday, November 4, 2012

Halloween candy, freezer cooking and celebrating 80 years!

This past week saw a lot of food challenges. I rose up to meet some and fell so far from goal on others.

Lets start on Wednesday October 31st. Oh Halloween how you taunt me with your delicious fun size candy bars. I have three wonderful little ones so just not having it in my house is not an option. My dad will be quick to remind everyone that Halloween is for little kids and to let them be little. Not to say we don't have some rules about trick or treating.


Rule 1 - NO candy until we get home and mom/dad have a chance to inspect it. This is not a rule that will ever get bent, even though it would probably never happen that our kids will get a piece that could cause them harm. Sometimes I have to remove a piece that for whatever reason is not fully wrapped. This usually is the fault of quick manufacturing. Sometimes I pull candies that the kids could choke on or are really bad for their teeth. We do not have jolly ranchers or caramel suckers for this reason.

Rule 2 - All candy goes into the communal bucket. I know part of the fun is the trading but I was always the kid that could convince someone that a tootsie roll was a fair trade for a Resses (it is not). It would cause fights when the trade was over and my siblings saw that the tiny tootsie roll was just traded for a larger candy. Plus the boys are young and just see the candy and don't care about the brands.

Rule 3 - If we collect more than what can fit in the bucket, it is in the trash. I know I could donate it to organizations but I also know it will sit in my house a few more days and I will eat it. It is best to just go in the trash and take the trash out immediately.  I do this when the boys are in bed because they are still too little to understand why I have to do it this way.

Rule 4- One piece of candy a day, even on Halloween night. This is a rule that Losing It Daddy breaks but so far I have been very good at it. I have even gone a few days without anything. The boys love to choose their candy and we take turns on who picks first. We have candy choosing time right after Losing It Big gets home from school along with a piece of fruit or carrot sticks.


 Losing It Big was a fireman, Losing It Middle was Elmo and Losing It Little was part of a chicken. I got him to wear the chicken costume for 1 min, this picture. Then he would only wear the legs. Every year this has happened (Big and Middle have also had this costume) and every year on November 1st, the go and put the whole thing on themselves. I will never understand it and just remember my dad saying, "it is for the kids". So I just laugh and take my half a chicken trick or treating.



I was a runner. I thought I would wear a piece of each race that proved to be meaningful to me. I wore my headband from the color run I did with my brother, the color run bib I did barefoot (I did 2 races), the shirt from the cheesetown challenge, socks from Saint Patricks 5K, metal from mud run I ran with my sister and the new pants I got right after the trail run I did, since my old ones were falling off me. It made me feel strong and proud of all that I have done this year. I have to hang up my shoes for a few races because we should be saving our money for other things. This doesn't mean I am out though. I really feel I will be able to run all of St Patty's in 2013. I just have to remember to train for it.



On Saturday I spent the morning with some lovely women. I am a Great Lake Bay Mom and was asked to do a mini freezer cooking session with a few of the other moms. It was a great morning where we shared cooking tips and got to know one another a bit better. Plus we made some food. It was a learning experience for me since I am usually by myself cooking, so I had to remember to explain what I was doing. I started out slow but then was able to start to delegate for a few things. We made 2 breakfast items and 4 dinners:
Sausuage Cheese Muffins
Banana Bread
Apple Cherry Pork Tenderloin
Spicy Honey Chicken Breasts (we almost always sub breasts for other cuts of meats)
Taco Pasta
Breaded Chicken Breasts

*the banana bread was made to the point of batter and then placed in pans. When ready to cook, thaw and bake for 45 minutes.

That evening I traveled to New Lothrup to celebrate my grandfathers 80th birthday. It was at a family bar style restaurant and I choose (quickly) a burger and fries. I arrived late and just picked the first thing that looked good. When it was time for cake I decided not to have any because of the burger. I didn't really feel all that bad about it, and I LOVE cake. I actually didn't put much thought into it until I was driving home. I stopped for something to drink at a gas station and saw some "fruit" pies. For a brief moment I thought about getting one because I was so good at not having cake. Then I shook my head and thought about how silly that was. Why would I 'reward' my choice by making an even worse choice. So I ended the night with no sugary treats. YAY ME!!!



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