Goodbye SweetHeart Goodbye!!!

Goodbye Sweetheart, Good-bye :)

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:

 a time to be born, and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot, . . .

a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance. . .

(Ecclesiastes 3:1-2,4)



How many celebrations have you attended?  Think, relish in these precious memories - weddings, birthdays, graduation parties, baby showers, celebrations for the any old odd reason - its a Tuesday, lost the last tooth, holiday gatherings).  Do you have an idea?  Are you laughing at the memories, the jokes that are retold still today about that occasion?  Now with those pictures in mind - how many sweets are present?  Be honest - no quick glances.  A lot right?  Pretty much every one of those memories has a cake battering (pun totally intended:) itself into those precious pictures.  Why? Because we want to make those memories sweet and special enough for those most delicious, outlandish, beautiful desserts.  Were these events about the cake?(I see some of you nodding - no these events were not about the cake!)  Would we have been disappointed as the host or the guest without that sweet treat?  Now you can nod. . .

We do like to celebrate with a sweet concoction to tie the event together.  We like the honoree to see we want to please all five senses - especially visual and taste.  We want this event to be filed under spectacular and fun and "sweet".  No one is grabbing the bitter melon to leave that nasty aftertaste of bitterness.  We want the event to end on a pleasing sweet note of aroma. 

I ponder this symbol of sweet gifts that we want to treat the occasion with a pile of sugar and to mark  that this day is worth the indulgence.  As I bid adieu to my co-workers of six years I picked up a few coffee cakes and orange juice and chocolate milk.  Even the healthy additions of fruit and milk are loaded with sweetness.  But why not? It was my last day and I wanted to thank them for being so "sweet" over the years.  This was a breakfast treat to say thanks.  They returned their gratitude with cupcakes.  Delicious, moist, mini  cakes topped with sugary mounds of frosting with even the selection of chocolate or vanilla.  Then just in case there wasn't enough sweetness a topping of swirly chocolate.  Remember first paragraph we want to especially delight the visual and taste senses.  I was touched my the gesture and of course showed my appreciation by diving in and even bringing a 1/2 dozen home.  (Don't worry these 1/2 dozen were shared with friends and when I say friends not just the me, myself, and I kind of friend :) 

Desserts are our go-to.  They say thanks and this moment is special.  They are easy to be made from scratch and even more simple to pick up from the store.  And say congratulations or farewell!  But another way to look at these sweet treats besides ahh sweet gesture wanting to treat me.  "Here is a pound to add to your frame as a reminder of us here."  And usually we respond through years of training - thanks for the extra pound I am going to carry this pound on my chest next to my heart :)  It is always nice to be remembered but maybe our indulgences for those special occasions have became a little too ordinary - and the occasional indulgence has become more of a daily excuse for excess.

I love the scripture that I opened with.  Ahh Ecclesiastes Chapter 3 you phrase life so eloquently - "there is a time to weep and a time to laugh".  Note how the scripture says that there is A time.  It doesn't say everytime or all the time we should laugh or weep.  Or in this blog eat every sugary treat offered.  Because you will be to many birthdays, many weddings, and many other "special" occasions.  It is okay to say no to the sweet treat offered.  It is okay to just cherish the memory without submerging yourself into the sugar induced coma.  I say all this to myself.  Because I like any excuse for indulgence.  It's "Janie's" birthday - happy birthday Janie pass the cake.  What its three o'clock Tuesday afternoon - where's the doughnut?  Happy Tuesday everyone!  You get the point? 

I loved that my co-workers took time and effort to say good-bye.  But the cupcake was gone within a minute.  The card that I had to read after work (My eyes might have started to water upon opening the card) will be cherished for a long while and the memories with my co-workers even longer. 

As the song goes:

Goodnight, sweetheart
Well,it's time to go
Goodnight, sweetheart
Well, it's time to go
I hate to leave you, but I really must say
Goodnight, sweetheart, goodnight

May your HealthFULL Journey include many special occasions worth celebrating and may you truly celebrate to your heart's content. Because there is a time indulge but also a time to abstain. 'Til we meet again. . .

 

Nothing Like a Sweet Date

Oh have I got a fancy snack for you when you are looking forward to a romantic nibble.  Or just a snack that will impress your friends. It can be a bit pricey but oh so worth it.  Have you ever tried a fresh date?  They are delicious pieces of fruit, especially if you have a sweet tooth.  And once you take a bite you'll have a hard time believing these little treasures actually have a lot of health benefits. 

First what is a date?  They are fruits from certain palm trees that look like an oversized raisin with some plumpness.  At least the Medjool kind do.  The dates tend to run a bit expensive.  I usually have found them close to eight dollars for a pound or a little over a pound (Roughly thirty - forty dates).  However, on one of shopping trips in search of our new produce we found I believe the package is 18 oz for 4.99.  Well for that price we had to try these sweet jewels.  Yum! 

Now  a lot of sites on the web recommended eating them raw.  As long as you remove the pit.  You can keep the dates in a cupboard but if you store them in your fridge they last quite a bit longer.  Don't be scared of depitting these fruits.  Just start to  slit the tip as if you were slicing lengthwise.  But just starting to slice.  And you can open the slit far enough to slip out the pit.  The pit looks like a piece of a pecan.  Don't be tempted to taste it though.  They are inedible.  Most recipes recommending slipping in a nut or a cheese.  As dates are awfully sweet it is good to have a salty component.  Also dates by themselves contain NO sodium.  So if you  like your snacks to have some salt you'll have to add that component. 

However, being it was New Year's Day yesterday and our favorite team was playing we opted for a fancier snack.  Since you already have to remove the pit, you might as well stuff the date.   We bought some Brie cheese. Just a little dab into each date.  Then we chose to wrap the dates with a little prosciutto. Oh so good!  Prosciutto is an Italian ham. But not just deli ham.  There is a special process of curing/drying meat depending on the region and the slices are usually pretty delicate we have found.  Just a little bit of that rich fattiness to cover this sweet date filled with a smooth delicate cheese.  Italy meets the tropics meets France; what a beautiful world.  We put them in the oven on 375 degree F for roughly fifteen minutes.  This allowed the date to gooey its sweetness and allowed the meat to release its saltiness and the cheese to soften.  So delicious for a romantic game snack.  I liked the warmth to allow the flavors to blend and to soften the date.  Just handling the date to pit them you can feel the stickiness.  By wrapping the date, the sweet wasn't overpowering and yet had a luxurious texture. 

Some great benefits of the date include extremely small amounts of fat, obviously no cholesterol, some protein and yes it is mainly carbohydrates but a lot of that is fiber.  Because of other vitamins and minerals it includes dates are actually low on the glycemic index as they help regulate blood sugar.  So for those out there who have a sweet tooth but are worried about blood sugars this might be a snack to try,  especially if you stuff the date fruit with a nut.  Also a date is a good source of potassium, calcium, iron, and copper. (See http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/dates.html and http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/food-nutrition/natural-foods/natural-weight-loss-food-dates-ga.htm for more nutritional information.)

This was definitely a thumbs up pick for my hubby and me.  I have a sweet tooth and I was a little worried for how sweet the fruit may be.  But with the way we prepared it, even my hubby who prefers spicy or salty over sweet enjoyed this find. 

May your HealthFULL Journey include fun discoveries and moments worth repeating. 'Til we meet again. . .

Junk food Junkie

My name is Suzy and I am a Junk-food Junkie. And I don't know why. I get these cravings and lose complete focus on everything else. I just am just fixated on getting potato chips and something sweet. (Little Debbies can you hear me calling?) And Ice Cream that is its own level of cravings. We were doing really well keeping out the junk food. Because I will totally confess, I cannot stop at one chip. I cannot stop at even one serving...or half a bag. So it really is just best to keep it away. Same with little Debbies, but that craving traces back to elementary school. You could buy a huge treat for a quarter from a gas station that was conveniently on the way home. And Ice cream, who doesn't love ice cream. I enjoy trying the kooky combinations. I sadly have to study the freezer when we go grocery shopping to make sure they haven't added new flavors. I know this is all a little too much information. But with this blog I am going for full disclosure and holding nothing back. How else can I expect to change my life (and improve it) than to air out the dirty laundry? But the truest form of junk food that frankly has defined my life.....Pop...or for those from other regions, soda. I can't imagine a time in my life that I didn't consume pop by the boat load. I have gone caffeine free, I have gone sugar free, and I have even gone caffeine sugar free. But I have not gone without. Recently I mentioned that water was becoming the drink of choice and LIMITING soda. However, a couple of rough days and late nights, Hello Diet Dr. Pepper. And yes I have heard the research, how diet soda is all chemicals, how it increases cravings, how it isn't even quenching true thirst, but it has been my friend and compadre many years. In our heyday I easily have drunk six to seven cans of soda whether it be sugar filled (roughly eight hundred calories) or diet kind (I do not want to know the chemical count). But for experimentation I had decided to give up soda for the Lenten season. It has been two and half weeks and I have to say there are days that I have the thought of a refreshing cola in the back of my head. A few days run down without my thirst being an issue and water has been the delicious filler. Eighteen days without a soda of any sort is definitely a record for me. At first my cravings for sugar were through the roof and now I am going through a salty (Sodium count can get high with soda)phase. I can't really explain it but I think I feel better without the soda. Once the cravings pass maybe I can be more descriptive and understand what truly feels different. This journey is definitely eye-opening and by Fully Understanding Life by Living I truly am appreciating new perspectives within new scenarios. I encourage you to switch things up. Because nothing changes your life more than allowing yourself the chance to view and experience things with a new perspective. Continue to enjoy your own HealthFULL Journey. 'Til we meet again. . .