Cookies

The past couple days my sleep has been exeptionally sweet. This is good for me but has wreaked havok on my hopes to resume early morning workouts. As I mentioned in "Today Takes the Cake" my evening capacity for workouts is limited. That day I got 14 minutes. Yesterday was much better.

When we first got home from work my husband was in a "Let's do something fun" mood that I don't like to squelch. I needed to get a workout in but when he mentioned a movie, I figured I could do this on my exercise bike which is stationed in our TV room. There is a local production of "My Fair Lady" being advertised and this reminded me of my responsibility to culture my family and suggested renting this classic. Ever challenged to find suitable movies for the family, we tried to find it. Calls to Blockbuster and Rogers revealed that it isn't available. Not on Youtube either. We ended up at our local library but it was out so we put a hold on it.

We left the library with reading material and now the family concensus was to spend the evening reading instead. I still needed to exercise so I went downstairs and put on the P90X Plyometrics DVD workout. It was a lot of jumping and it didn't take long for my right knee to begin twinging. I didn't want to give up so I pulled out my mini-trampoline and did the rest of the workout on the soft surface it provided. By the end of the 58 minutes I was sweaty and my legs were trembling. Great workout!
 
I'm happy to report that I haven't had any further cake episodes. The eating is back where it should be. Tonight I made a recipe from my Biggest Loser Cookbook called "Peanut Butter-Oatmeal Cookies". I've had enough experience with healthy recipes to know that I shouldn't expect it to taste like the buttery, sugary versions that I am used to. These "cookies" don't look like much but I had one after dinner and it was a pleasant treat. My family was unconvinced, went in search of the Oreo cookies left over from the cake making, and had a milk & cookie fest. I left the room and stayed out!
 

Peanut Butter-Oatmeal Cookies
 
24 pitted dates
2/3 cup old fashioned oats
2 Tbs natural peanut butter
 
Place dates in a food processor and process until very finely chopped and stick together. Transfer to a small mixing bowl. Add remaining ingredients and stir (or use hands if preferred) until well mixed. Using a small scoop or spoon to portion, shape each scoop into a ball, then squish flat either between you palms or wax paper. Repeat until all the "dough" is gone. Serve immediately or stack between sheets of waxed paper in an airtight plastic container. Refrigerate for up to 5 days. Should make 8 cookies. Enjoy!

Now, I'm going to get on that stationary bike...