To Be A Vegetarian Or Not To Be?

I've been putting off going vegetarian because 1)I'm lazy and 2)I'll have to make everything from scratch because it's almost impossible to get vegetarian convenience foods here. SS said that he wouldn't mind trying though he wouldn't go completely vegetarian outside the home. (I don't think his meat and potato grandparents would understand.) So once we've eaten up all of the meat, fish, etc. that we have in the fridge and freezer (I can't afford to throw it away), maybe we'll try it. I'll have to pig out on bacon before giving it up!

I'm disappointed. I was all ready to celebrate being a year without chips but I miscounted somewhere along the line. It took me awhile to find the calendar I used last year and according to it I started on May 9th. So I still have some days to go.

Chipless Days: 354

Chocolatefree Mondays: 14

Chocolatefree Fridays: 5

Sweet Buns

I haven't been doing much lately. The last baking I did were these sweet buns I baked last month. Sugarless Friday was a disaster! I'm going to try instead to have a second chocolatefree day a week.

I'm thinking of asking SS to help me make a list of all of the meals that he would like to eat (that I'm willing to make) and rotate through that because it seems that everyday I have to come up with what supper we are going to have.

Chipless days: 310
Chocolatefree Mondays: 8

Pecan Caramel Turtles

On the I'm Knitting As Fast As I Can blog Susan mentioned that she had made pecan caramel turtles from the recipe she had found on the Stitch-N-Snitch blog. Susan had changed the recipe by using Riesen candies instead of Rolos. I was at the store the other day and saw that they had Riesen's on sale because the best before date was coming up, so I bought some, thinking of the recipe. I had a hard time finding the recipe because I thought that it was on one of the food blogs that I read, but it was on a knitting blog. I had to buy a bag of mixed party snacks so that I could get the pretzels. And pecans are very expensive here, so if I make them again after finishing these, I'll use some other nut because we didn't really notice the taste. But they are worth making.

Still struggled without chocolate on Monday. If it takes 28 times to break a habit, it will be the summer before I'm used to it. Next week I'm going to try to go Fridays without sugar. I decided on Friday because SS usually goes every second weekend to his father's and it won't be so hard on him because I'm planning on having him do it too. (He doesn't know it yet.) It will prevent him from eating his Saturday candies on Friday.

Chipless days: 283
Chocolatefree Mondays: 4

Runeberg Muffins

I didn't have any chocolate on Monday but I sure thought about it all day! I was watching a program yesterday about a woman who gave up sugar. I really doubt that I could do that but it might be something to aim for sometime.

Speaking of sugar, I made these Runeberg muffins yesterday. They have ground gingerbread cookies and raspberry jam in them. Yum. Much better than last year's that were swimming in butter. I reduced the butter by 50 g.

Chipless days: 276
Chocolatefree Mondays: 3

Much Easier

Way to go me! No chocolate again yesterday. I hardly even thought about it.
Someone had mentioned making this orange lacquered tofu on her blog, and because I have been wanting to try a tofu dish where I didn't puree the tofu beyond recognition, I thought that I would try it. But it was a disappointment and I won't make it again. Too much oil I guess.

Chipless days: 267
Chocolatefree Mondays: 2

I Did It

I didn't have any chocolate yesterday. But I'm pathetic. I had chocolate for dessert today – after my breakfast. I should have marked down how many times I was ready to get up and get some chocolate because it seemed like all the time! At least I realized what I was going to do and stopped myself. It isn't because I eat chocolate all day long but it seems like eating chocolate is connected to certain things I do. And when I've done them sometimes I'm ready for some chocolate.

Chipless days: 260
Chocolatefree Mondays: 1

Back to Blogging

Has it really been this long? Sigh. I'm still not eating chips but it hasn't made any difference in my weight. Maybe chips are caloriefree after all!

These are chocolate peanut butter cups I made for SS for Christmas. I've been trying to have a chocolatefree day for a week now and it isn't working. So Mondays are the day. I want to slowly work up to only having chocolate once a week.

Chipless: 258 days

Day 175: Thanksgiving Pie

We had a late Thanksgiving meal because SS was at his father's Thanksgiving weekend and Monday wasn't a holiday here. I made roast beef for the first time because SS wanted to try it. I didn't think it was worth all the chewing. I didn't see a pumpkin here so I made our ”pumpkin” pie from carrots. If I hadn't known it myself then I wouldn't have noticed the difference.

174 days without chips. I can't believe it. Not much good happening with the rest of my eating though. I should work more with this blog.

Day 132: Chocolate Chip Cookies

Well still no potato chips but my eyes have been wandering in their direction! I was on a course for 2 weeks and I didn't do much new cooking.

I did make these vegan cookies. I have never put cinnamon in chocolate cookies before. I don't know if I like it or not. I might try it again but only using ½ tsp. I used regular sugar, syrup and oil. I look for recipes that don't use vegan margarine as I can't get it here and I would rather use oil anyway.

Day 110: I'm Still Here

I haven't been very active! I also haven't been very productive with my steps! Though I still haven't eaten any chips and it has been 110 days! Good for me.

I've been baking though. Here are some coconut oatmeal cookies.








SS takes a snack to school everyday because his day is so long. I've been trying to come up with things that will last out of the fridge for about 9 – 10 hours before he can eat them on the way home. I've been making muffins and loaves. This is a pineapple loaf.





This is black currant jam. I didn't want to make any jam as we still have some from last year but I felt bad that the owner of the black currant bushes isn't able to freeze them herself because she still hasn't bought a new freezer because she is going to remodel her kitchen and doesn't know yet what color scheme she will use. Last year I made two batches. One had water as the recipes called for but when I noticed that the berries had so much juice I didn't use any in the second batch. I didn't use any this year either. But I did use jam sugar because the strawberry jam turned out so well with it but the black currant jam didn't taste as nice as last year's.