Egg Yolk Only Sugar Cookies

Once again this weekend I was feeling the stress and so where did I turn, the kitchen! I had the best of intentions to be good and just bake and use it as a relaxer and not put any of it into my mouth, but after the second day and the crappy weather I caved and enjoyed all that I had made. And although I was rather frustrated and mad at myself for eating it all, I do have to admit that it was very tasty! (So at least I got that going for me!)

My parents were going to their home team or small group at church on Sunday afternoon and were supposed to bring the dessert. My mom had decided that she was going to make two different jelly roles, a lemon one and a chocolate one. Of course I volunteered to help! So Saturday evening after my vintage bike ride (my dads old bike from the 70's) we started baking. We made the lemon flour part first and while that was baking we made the lemon "jelly" inside. It turned out amazingly tasty and very fresh and lemony. Then we started on the chocolate outside part and mixed that up to bake. While these were baking I had found two new egg yolk recipes that I wanted to try. One was a yellow layer cake with chocolate frosting and the other were sugar cookies. With the vote of my mom and my brother we went with the sugar cookies. 

We started to mix up all the ingredients and because my mom always likes to cut the sugar we add 1/4 cup less sugar although we ended up making up for it with the sugar coating. I don't know why but the mixture turned out really dry and was pretty crumbly. Yet, we set out to make it work so we were going to. The only other thing that we changed was we added lime zest instead of lemon because we had just used the lemon for the lemon jelly roll. We then decided that we would make St. Patrick's Day themed cookies and be festive! So we rolled our finished balls of dough in green sugar. They looked pretty yet the only problem is that the added sugar made them even more dry. We cooked them on two different pans, a non-stick (dark) pan and a light pan. We thought that they would turn out better on a regular light pan but the opposite was true. The other odd thing about these cookies was the fact that once they were cooled they hardened up and were not longer soft or gooey even towards the center. That was a big disappointment because I think even sugar cookie needs to be soft. Yet, they still tasted good. I think they at least passed the taste test because although I never got an official ruling, I noticed that my dad was taking them by the handfuls to eat!

Egg Yolk Only Sugar Cookies
(this recipe is originally from the baking blog: cookiemadness.net)

They claim that this recipe makes the best sugar cookies! Thin with a crisp exterior
and a chewy, soft interior! (Although, I figured out the truth about this soft interior part!)

Cook Time: 10
Prep Time: 30

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 (slightly rounded – not quite ¾) teaspoon salt
2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter (if you use salted butter, use only
¼ tsp. salt), softened
2 cups, scant, granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon good vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
3 egg yolks

Thoroughly stir together first three ingredients. If you have time,
sift them.  Stir in the salt.

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the vanilla and
lemon zest, then one by one, beat in the egg yolks.

Slowly stir in the flour mixture. Mix well.

Form into 1 inch balls and place balls about 2 inches apart on a
non-stick or parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes or
until the cookies start to brown around the edges. Let cool on cookie
sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Next time I made these I will definitely be adding more egg yolks. I will probably add two more and see how they do. I will also possibly roll the dough into smaller balls and see how they do and maybe try cooking them for less time. Who knows, maybe the egg yolks will make it better all around! I guess we will just have to wait and see. 

Jelly Rolling

The other part of the Baking bonanza from this weekend were the Jelly Rolls. My mom didn't think that they turned out very good so unfortunately she ended up going with a store bought cheesecake because she is all about the presentation. I on the other hand didn't think they looked bad and I also thought they tasted really good. The lemon one had a very strong and distinct lemon flavor and there was nothing bland about that. It was light and fluffy because my mom had taken the original recipe's filly and mixed it with whip cream. Without the whip cream it would have had an even stronger lemon flavor and I don't think the texture would have been as pleasing. It made it much more light and airy in your mouth. It would be a great dessert to make in the summer time for lounging around by the pool or for a picnic.

The chocolate jelly roll we made with a cinnamon whip cream filling. Although the chocolate flavor was not very distinct I still think that it turned out good. I don't understand why the recipe only calls for cocoa powder because although it is cocoa it doesn't have a very strong flavor. Next time I think I would use some baking chocolate to give it more of a flavorful experience. The cinnamon whipped cream filling was yummy. It was also very light and fluffy and was not rich at all. The cinnamon flavor was unique and distinct because we used Saigon cinnamon which has a much stronger and bolder cinnamon flavor. Although, I think next time we make it I would use just a little more cinnamon to make the flavor even stronger.

  

 

The problem with both of them were that they turned out sort of dry so they cracked and did not form a very good "roll". They also stuck to the towel when my mom tried to unroll them. I don't know why because she had enough powered sugar on the towel. Also, I don't know why they both cracked. One of my favorite Thanksgiving desserts is a Pumpkin Roll and that always works out perfect every time. We decided it was because of the pumpkin that gives it added moisture to stay together and stay rolled. So next time we make another jelly roll we are going to make sure and add an ingredient that adds a lot of moisture.

Both of these desserts were very light and not very rich at all. Which is definitely not my favorite thing because I would love to eat a double chocolate fudge cake with chocolate chips and chocolate frosting sprinkled with chocolate sauce and chocolate shavings!  My mom choose the lemon over the chocolate because she didn't think the chocolate one had enough flavor while the lemon one was very flavorful. Yet, I would give them both a thumbs up and would definitely make them and eat them again.

 They obviously couldn't have been too bad because as you can see this chocolate one is already half gone!

Chicken Stew and Cheesy Dumplings

Last weekend my mom and I’s mini cooking spree ended with an amazing stew. It was cold outside and we wanted something that would warm us up. So we decided to do something different than the usual chili or turkey soup. We choose Chicken stew and a last minute decision to make cheese dumplings too. After briefly looking for a recipe online I came across Giada’s recipe on the Food Network website. Well, we didn’t have everything that her recipe called for and also wanted to change a few things, so here is the adapted recipe that we came up with. (The amounts of the spices is an estimate because I usually just season things to taste).


Chicken Stew with Cheesy Dumplings

Ingredients

• Olive oil

• 4 stalks celery, cut into bite-size pieces

• 3 carrot, peeled, cut into bite-size pieces

• 1 onion, chopped

• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 1 (14 1/2-ounce) can tomato sauce

• 1 (14-ounce) can low-salt chicken broth

• 1 can of water

• 2 tsp basil leaves,

• 2 bay leaf

• 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

• 2 chicken breast with ribs and skin (about 1 1/2 pounds total)

• ½ bag (or 1 can) black beans

Directions

Heat the oil in a heavy 5 1/2-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add the celery, carrot, and onion. Saute the vegetables until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Stir in the tomato sauce, chicken broth, basil, bay leaf, and thyme. Add the chicken breasts; press to submerge.

Bring the cooking liquid to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer gently uncovered until the chicken is almost cooked through, turning the chicken breasts over and stirring the mixture occasionally, about 25 minutes. Using tongs, transfer the chicken breasts to a work surface. Discard the skin and bones from the chicken breasts. Shred or cut the chicken into bite- size pieces. Return the chicken meat to the stew. Take the bay leaf out and discard. Add black beans to the pot and simmer until the liquid has reduced into a stew consistency, about 10 minutes.

Bring the stew just to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Cheese Dumpling Recipe

* 3 Tbsp Shortening

* 1 1/2cups all-purpose flour

* 2 tsp baking powder

* 3/4 tsp salt

* 3/4 cup milk
Cut Shortening into flour, baking powder and salt until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in milk. Drop dough by spoonfuls onto hot meat of vegetables in boiling stew (do not drop directly into liquid). Cook uncovered 10 min. Cover and cook about 10 min longer. Makes 8 - 10 dumplings.

Cheese Dumplings: Add 1/4 cup shredded sharp cheese (about 1 oz) to the dry ingredients.

This dumpling recipe is a versatile recipe that you can add many different spices or things too. We choose to make cheese dumplings, which were delicious! Yet, in my business and tiredness I forgot the shortening when I was mixing the dumplings and I didn’t remember that I hadn’t put it in until half of the dumplings had already been dropped into the stew. As my mom positively pointed out, we had fat free dumplings now! At this point we were a little concerned how they were going to turn out, and if they would rise and get fluffy, yet they did and they were delicious. My mom had a hard time not eating them all!

Critique and assessment: The stew was delicious as well as the dumplings. The dumplings added a yummy mix of fluffiness and flavor when it soaked up the broth of the stew. Yummy! We had fun making this delicious meal and would definitely make it again!

Spicy Guac with Chile Pequin's!

Last weekend my mom and I got to spend some quality time bonding. It was nice and one of the things that we both enjoy is not only being creative but cooking and baking. We kind of went on a roll and made a bunch of different things. We made the Sunshine Sponge Cake, some fresh guacamole, fresh and homemade chips, Asian stir-fry, homemade french fries, homemade potato chips, and chicken stew with cheese dumplings. We were definitely on a roll that is for sure.

Yet, there is just something about cooking and adding the ingredients and trying new things and seeing how all the little ingredients that you might think don't matter can all come together and meld and mix and create and amazing dish. I just love to cook because it makes me feel like it is a creative expression and an easy and fun way to show and share love with others. There is just a joy of pulling out some cupcakes from the oven or taking the lid off a pot on the stove and seeing a finished product.

I definitely enjoy utilizing others amazing recipes yet one of my favorite things to do is come up with my own or somehow modify existing recipes to make them unique to me and make them my own.

The guacamole is something that I never measure anything, I just go by taste. I use fresh avocados, fresh limes, basil, cilantro, garlic, salt, tomato, onion, jalapenos, and sometimes a random ingredient to mix it up or change the taste. I also really enjoy spicy foods, so I add cayenne pepper to mine. This time I was able to add a new and different ingredient to it, the chile pequin pepper. My dad has a friend that grows them and uses them to make fresh salsa. My dad was telling him that I really enjoy spicy things, so he gave him some for me to try and use. I had never heard of the pequin pepper before so I did some research on it, and this is what I came up with:

It is a hot chile pepper, that is known as the "bird pepper" because birds like them and often eat them. The pequin is the smallest chile pepper. It is typically 0.3 - 0.6 meters tall, with bright green, ovate leaves and small fruits that rarely exceed 2 cm in length. Like most chiles, they start out green, ripening to brilliant red at maturity. You can eat the pequin right off the vine. Yet, they are often dried and used for spice and to add to salsas, sauces, and soups. The pequin peppers are very hot. Some people say they are often 7-8 times hotter than jalapeños and on the Scoville scale they rate at 30,000-60,000 units. Their flavor is often described as citrusy, smoky, and nutty.You can find pequin peppers in Cholula hot sauce.

Now you know more than you ever wanted to know about these little tiny peppers! Yet, they added an interesting unique ingredient to the guacamole that made it spicy and totally delicious!

Golden Sunshine

A box without hinges, door, or lid, yet inside a golden treasure is hid?  What is it?

This was a riddle that I have remembered since I was a kid because I always thought it was so interesting and most people never quite figure it out. Have you? 

Well, I guess I will make it easy on you and just give you the answer, it is an egg! Currently in my diet for one of my meals I am eating a cup of egg whites, so one might assume that I go the easy route and just buy egg beaters or egg whites that are already separated. Yet, this would just be waaay too easy and who wants to make my life any easier in all of the craziness, right? So I actually physically separate all of the egg whites individually. I like to do this because it is cheaper and it is healthier. I don't eat anything processed or fake and unfortunately most of the egg white products that are out there are pasteurized and processed and have added things in them. I go through about 7-8 eggs a day to fill up a cup. That means that every day I have 7-8 egg yolks that I usually just throw down the disposal. I always feel like I am wasting these especially in the recent perspective of the events in Haiti. I just feel like I am wasting precious food that could be used for something. 

So I went on a mission. I wanted to find yummy recipes that involved only egg yolks to try and use them instead of just throwing them away. I found some custard, crème brulee, cakes, cookies, ice cream, hollandaise sauce, mayonnaise, and a couple of other random things. Many of the things that I wanted to make I didn't have all of the ingredients and neither did my parents. Yet, I found a cake recipe for a Sunshine Sponge Cake that I was able to utilize the most egg yolks and had all the ingredients. Also, I knew it was something that people would actually eat and I thought it might bring a little sunshine to the cold, rainy, and snowy weather we have been having.

Sunshine Sponge Cake

Makes 1 - 10 inch cake

Ingredients:

• 1 2/3 cups cake flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 10 egg yolks (at room temperature)
• 3/4 cup hot water
• 1 teaspoon lemon extract

Directions

1. Sift together cake flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
2. With electric mixer, beat egg yolks until slightly thickened; add hot water gradually, beating until mixture is very thick and light (about 10 minutes).
3. Add flavoring to egg yolks, then add sugar gradually, beating constantly.
4. Fold in flour, about a fourth at a time (I do this by hand) folding until well blended.
5. Pour batter into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan.
6. Bake at 375°F for 40-50 minutes until done.
7. Remove cake from oven and invert pan.
8. Let cake stand for an hour until cool.

*The only ingredient that we didn't have was the lemon extract so instead of the lemon we used vanilla extract. Also, instead of the whole cup of sugar we condensed it and only used 2/3 cup of sugar.

The cake did not end up cooking for the entire time and was well done. I think that the time should be a little less. Also, I think that the pan needs to be greased because it was definitely a pain trying to get it out. The cake tasted good but it was not very sweet. It was more like a bread. My mom and I decided that with the lemon it would make it lighter and probably would taste better. Also, the egg yolks that I had were not fresh; they were a couple of days old. They probably would have risen more and gotten more fluffy and light had they been fresh.

I think I am going to try making this cake again, but with egg yolks that are fresh and make sure they are at room temperature. Also, I will probably use lemon extract and some fruits and nuts. It would be a very good breakfast bread. I also might try and make it with some whole wheat flour (just to make it healthier).

My dad, who is definitely a sweets guy, didn't like it too much because it is not very sweet. Yet, by spreading jelly, honey, or peanut butter to it gave it some more zing. Well, the cake didn't shine as bright as I had hoped but it wasn't awful and I got to use 10 egg yolks that would have usually just gone in the trash! So maybe next time the sun will shine brighter (and sweeter)!

Nothing helps a bad day like baking some Christmas cookies!

Wow, what a day! Really have a couple years leading up to today. I had my annual well woman's exam (to say it the appropriate way) this morning along with a check-up of my PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome). Needless to say it wasn't fun as usual and didn't get any good news. Well, I take that back, we did decide that my body actually ovulated this month indicated by the extreme doubled over pain that I had a couple weeks ago. So on the surface it doesn't sound like much of good news, but really that means my body is still actually ovulating so my future kids can be possible! So that is a definite YAY!
On the downer side, the doctors are really concerned with my thyroid levels still being abnormal and low and the fact that I am taking 150mg of thyroid medicine already! So, they are recommending me to see a specialist. Not too thrilled with that! Yet, getting some answers and steps forward would be rather nice.
And of course nothing makes sense when it comes to me, so although I have a lot of the PCOS side effects including androgenism, my testosterone levels are low. Everything that I have going on is pretty my completely counter productive to me competing! :( that is definitely a bummmer and super frustrating! Also, the doc recommended that I get on birth control to help the effects of the androgen's and level out my hormones and force my body to have a cycle at least 4 times a year. She is really concerned with me getting endometrial cancer if I don't. Also, the other lovely side effects of the PCOS is a muuuuuch greater risk of insulin resistence, obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. Once again all lovely and counterproductive for my pro card. :(
Needless to say, after my 2 hour least favorite doctors appointment of the year, I was not a very happy camper. No no you could pretty much say I was more like a camper trapped in the woods with no winter clothes or blankets in the middle of a blizzard, definitely frustrated, angry, and upset!
Honestly, I am just tired and worn out! I'm tired of putting in so much effort, of trying so hard, of not being able to eat "normal" food, of feeling so crappy, of looking at a cookie and gaining 5 lbs, of doctor appointments, and blood work! I am just frustrated, tired, and wore out! I feel like I need a break from life!
One of the MANY doctors I have seen along this journey to health told me, "You should just step outside yourself and really take a look at what is going on and you will probably feel better." Today I actually thought about her advice seriously for the first time and wished that I really could step outside myself just to get a break!
Luckily, I have the BEST chiropractor in the world and he sat with me while I cried about it! (Definitely didn't mean to start bawling in his office, but it seemed to be the BIG theme for the day) Although I am not sure there is anything anyone could say to make me snap out of my craziness today, it was definitely nice to feel like there was someone there who truly cares about my health and healing. Thank you Dr. Brian Hooten! You are the BEST!
Today was definitely a down day in this journey and I think unfortunately in order to truly be able to appreciate the great days you have to have the bad ones too. I am so glad to finally be laying in my bed ready for bed and ready to wake up and start a new day! God is so good and I am just so thankful that He loves me and like His word reminds me we start fresh everyday! Tomorrow WILL be a better day! What a great and amazing God we have! Wow! When I can take my eyes off of my problems and look and focus at God's character and many blessing in my life and in this world, it really puts things into perspective for me! Also, of course some baking with family helps a little too! My mom and I had fun baking Christmas cookies and had some sweet treats and fun laughs in the process! It definitely made my day much better and I had fun doing it! Thank you mom! :)
As I fall asleep I am trying to remember that tomorrow is a new day filled with ALL of God's blessing.....

Brittany Albrecht

My first Gluten and Dairy Free Thanksgiving SUCCESS!

Well, Thanksgiving meal was an overall success. Unfortunately, I was only cooking for 3 people so we have a TON of leftovers! Yet, I would say that nothing I made was awful and everything was edible and tasty! There were a couple of things that I would change in most of the recipes if I made them again though. I accomplished my goal of a dairy and gluten free (except the special stuffing I made for Brett, my brother)! I did not stick to making everything egg free or sugar free. This was honestly due to the fact that I was really sick of going to the grocery store! Almost everything was sweetened with a natural sweetener such as agave or sucanat though.

After my kick-butt workout/bootcamp in the morning with Jerome, I came home and I ended up spending almost the full day on Thursday in the kitchen cooking. Of course there was one trip to the grocery store on Thanksgiving day to top off the I believe 5 total trips for this one meal. Luckily though I had my sous-chef in the kitchen with me on Thursday! He was definitely very excited about the whole process (as you can tell!) We had a lot of fun cooking and of course joking around!

Obviously, Thanksgiving was not a day that I was concious of my diet! I pretty much just snaked all day though and then overinduldged when we finally sat down to eat! It was definitely a carb loading day!!

I was excited about making everything from scratch though. I did not use anything canned or fake. Everything was all-natural and fresh. I even roasted my own pumpkins for the pie and all the other dessert pumpkin dishes I made. They were definitely tasty! Although it wasn't exactly easy to "gut" the pumpkin and take all the seeds and junk out. It took me forever and was a second shoulder workout for the day! I shouldn't switched arms halfway through to even it out.

Of course we couldn't cook the meal without our aprons. It is a tradition that whenever my dad and I cook together (which is usually for a holiday) we always wear one of my mom's aprons. Except we always have the wrong holiday on! Well, for Thanksgiving we had the Christmas aprons on. I mean after all in their house the Thanksgiving decorations usually come down that day and the Christmas ones start going up, so we were just getting a head start on the next holiday! ;)

I think I must have peeled a million potatos between the potatos to make the mashed potatos and the sweet potatos! My shoulders got a serious workout for Thanksgiving! Maybe I should start a cooking workout routine/video.....hmmm.....the ideas!

I love cooking with my sous-chef, my daddy! We always have so much fun! Also, I am sorta a messy cook. Ok, to save all the comments that I know will come from that, I am a REALLY messy cook. I some how find a way to get stuff everywhere including all over me! Plus, I am slightly ADD so I am always doing a million things at once, so there is always 1,000 things out and going.

As much fun as I have cooking, I HATE to clean! So it is definitely nice to have my personal dishwasher/helper putter away of things!

Thank you Daddy! I love you! :)

My dad is totally goofy! It is very rare you can catch him for a picture without him doing something silly! This was him being very sophisticated adding the butter to the mashed potatos! He did definitely did a fabulous job! Although, he couldn't quite figure out just how to put his apron on properly!

The only major problems I had were with the desserts. On Wednesday night I was trying to put together as much as I could to make the next day easier. I decided to make the Pumpkin Cinnamon Cheesecake (Gluten free and dairy free of course) so that it would be chilled for the next day. Well, the recipe called for it to be baked for 45-50 minutes. Well due to the fact that I had to make some of the substitions in the recipe to make it dairy free and didn't even get my first choice at what to use for a substitution, I don't think it cooked the same. I cooked it for 45 minutes and I went to check on it to see how it was doing and it was still pretty much liquid. I didn't really know what to do so I just cooked it longer and longer and longer. Probably not the smartest decision, but hey by this time it was already past 11 and I knew I had to get up early to get my butt kicked and then cook the whole next day!

So anyway when it was all said and done I was up until 12:30 an night waiting for this cheesecake to cook. Needless to say it definitely did not turn our quite as I had hoped or planned. I still think it tasted alright and was definitely edible and sweet, yet the presentation wasn't the best! Oh well, better luck next time! Next time I will use a better substitution for the dairy.

We decided to do the turkey in the bag to make it easier and faster. And boy did it turn out yummy! My dad thought that there were going to be a lot of leftovers that went to waste or that we would have to freeze, but I have been eating leftover turkey all week and it is delicious and almost gone!

This picture to the right is the only picture that I could get of Brett! He isn't much of a picture taker or a smiler! But at least I got this one however accidental it was!

Overall, Thanksgiving 2009 was excellent! I really enjoyed and am so thankful for all of the yummy food and the time with my Dad and brother. I am very thankful for all the amazing blessings the Lord has given me! Happy Thanksgiving! :)

"Everything Free" Cooking Doesn't Mean Easier or Faster

Well, it is now 10pm and I am WORN OUT! As you can see from my list I still have a ways to go tomorrow. I think the 3 trips to the store for missing ingredients sort of put a damper in the speediness of the preparing process.
I started with the gluten free and dairy free pie crust. There is a mixture of 4 different kinds of "flours". After all of that was mixed and rolled out, it went into the fridge overnight to chill and be rolled out and baked in the morning. My next task was the green bean casserole. It definitely takes a lot longer to make when your ingredients aren't out of a can. I had fresh green beans that I had to clean and snap. Then I had to slice an onion and saute it and slice up some mushrooms and garlic and saute them. All the while boiling the creamy part of the sauce. The green bean casserole is in the fridge ready to get the homemade "french-fried" (with almond meal) onions spinkled on top and put in the oven.
While this was all going on I was trying to cut and scoop out all the silly insides of the pumpkins! Wow, that proved to be my workout for the day! That took me FOREVER to get all the gunk out. But it is done and they are roasted! (And totally delicious)
The pumpkin cinnamon cheesecake is currently in the oven and I am getting to sit down for the first time in a couple of hours! Whew....finally getting to relax a little and watching one of my favorite shows, Man vs. Food!
Today was a day off from my training. I don't know why but I have a hard time resting. Yet, I am trying to train a lot smarter now, especially since I am in the off season and trying to deal with my health issues. So I am going to be trying something new, training really hard when I train, but training way less. Making it more about quality and not quantity. Another big difference in my training is going to be my cardio and how I approach that. I am going to go a month of solely HIIT or SIT cardio and only 20 minutes or less and only a couple of times per week. The hormonal response that this elicits in the body has much greater response towards my goals. Because I have had so many health problems, I have always had to work a million times harder than everyone just to get the same results, so this is a HUGE paradigm shift for me. I know it is the truth and it is right and I have researched the heck out of it, but of course I have a hard time not just going ALL out "balls to the wall" as they say! This month is going to be an interesting month and we will see how it goes. Some of my goals in this are to get healthy, lose body fat, gain lean muscle, and balance out my life more.
I sure hope I get the response that the science says and am happy with the results and the process. I am also going to try my very best to stay away from almost all the foods that I am allergic to and only have one cheat meal a week and eat clean the rest of the week. That will definitely prove to be difficult considering just HOW MUCH I LOVE holidays and baking. I am hoping that by writing out my daily struggles and accomplishments all of you will be able to keep and hold me accountable. My goal is to lose at least 10 lbs from this morning to the morning of Christmas Eve! (Might end up being more after tomorrow!)
Well, there is there timer for my cheesecake....time to wind down for the night because it is going to be an early morning tomorrow starting with a kick-butt workout with Jerome and then onto more cooking! :)

Thanksgiving (Everything Free) Cooking

Ahh...the adventures of Thanksgiving cooking. This will be the first year that I will be cooking the entire meal by myself. Not that I am concerned just have LOTS to do.

Holidays are by far some of my favorite times! I love al the food, family, friends, and traditions. Unfortunately (and fortunately) since last years holiday season I have figured out that I am allergic to just about every good and yummy food you can think of. So at first thought, the holidays started to make me depressed because I figured I wouldn't be able to participate in any of the enjoyable time with family sitting around a table full of delicious, amazing, and mouth-watering food. Yet, after I got past those thoughts, I realized I didn't have to be depressed because I decided to take matters into my own hands!

This will be the Albrecht family's first year of gluten free, dairy free, wheat free, egg free, and sugar free Thanksgiving. Or as some have joked, the healthiest Thanksgiving dinner on the planet!
My goal is absolutely for it to not only be healthy but also for it to be completely tasty and delicious as well so nobody misses the lack of all of those ingredients. I think the best part so far is when we asked my brother, Brett, if he had an requests. The first thing he said is stuffing. Yet, without much delay he quickly added, "Is everything gonna be gluten-free and crap, because I really like my gluten!" I guess we will see if he even notices!

The menu so far is:

Turkey
Stuffing
Gravy
Green Bean Casserole
Mashed Potatos
Sweet Potato Casserole
Pumpkin Pie
Cranberry Pumpkin Upside Down Cake
Pumpkin Custard
Pumkin Cheesecake (possibly)

It all sounds delicious yet obviously I have never made ANY of these without all of the above ingredients, so wish me luck because the Thanksgiving day preparations are about to begin.....
Brittany Albrecht