An easy & good homemade gluten free pizza

Pizza & Nacho Cheese Doritos are the foods I miss the most.  I mean fresh, hot pizza with crispy pepperoni pieces.  I loved both thin & deep dish crusts.  I love a good pizza sauce.  I haven't found a good homemade one or a good store bought one (but I have some leads on some good bottled sauces).  I haven't worked with rice flour enough to make my own good crust.  Guido's Pizza over in Okemos has great gluten free pizza, but that is quite the drive and they aren't cheap.  Godfather's Pizza has a decent gluten pizza in Battle Creek and they do take and bake. But again, I'm not often out that way and it is quite a drive.  I have tried two different frozen gf pizzas and a frozen pre-made gf pizza crust.  All three were terrible.  I have been picking up the Chebe bag of crust mix for at the grocery store for a while now. What if I paid $5 for it and put all the effort into it and it sucked?  That would make me sad. (I think it was $3 and change at Meijer.)

Last night, I gave in and tried it.  I was happily surprised.  My complaint with the frozen crusts (and many other gluten free products) is the texture.  It is dry and sandy with little to no flavor.  When I opened this bag, I could smell the seasonings.  It was a pleasant surprise.  The directions were easy to follow and the dough came together as promised by the bag.  The flour had a pretty smooth feeling to it.  Take note GF producers, if the flour feels grainy and hard, the end product will probably not be that tastey. 

 

The crust rolled out niceley and did not fall apart and break up easily.  Places where I pushed too hard came back together easily.  As you can see, I am an easy and simple pizza topper.  Pepperoni and good cheese. 

This picture doesn't give you much perspective.  The cookie sheet is a smaller cookie sheet.  I think I ended up cutting 16 squares from the end product.  I ate the first 2 or 3 and then set about doing dishes and what not.  The family had eaten before I got home but by the end of the night only about a quarter of the pizza was left.  The crust could have been crispier but I wonder if that was due to my technique. I will definitely be buying and making this again. 

I don't recall the packaging speaking to whether it was organic or whether they use any genetically modified ingrediants.  I am planning to check more into those issues (so hopefully, I can keep eating it!)  Chebe's website can be found at http://www.chebe.com/.

I will be posting a review of Guido's gluten free pizza as well as a review of Godfather's gluten free pizza in the future.  For now, I would say that I would eat again at either restaurant!

Why I'll be writing about food

If you know me, you know I love food. So it really can't be much of a surprise that I am going to be writing about food.

A few months ago, I learned that I couldn't eat gluten anymore. Gluten was the source of years of digestive chaos. During the first few weeks of being gluten free, I had been doing a lot of reading and talking about being GF.  A few people had mentioned the idea that genetically modified foods were contributing to the increase food allergies.  The day the third person said this to me I came across this video in either my facebook or twitter feed. After watching the video, I started following Robyn on twitter.  I have learned so much about genetically modified foods and other food issues from her tweets.  Her book is in my To Be Read pile (TBR).  Her foundation - Allergy Kids - has a great section called "Do One Thing" with simple ideas for reducing genetically modified or chemical foods in your life.  Check it out.

We are starting to eliminate genetically modified food from our house and our lives.  The first step is to switch to as much organic as we can find and afford. As part of that effort, I am looking for local food.  One of the first things I want to find is a potato crop I can buy a share of.  I suspect it is too late in the year to get one this year.  I am hoping to at least get a good supply of potatoes.  My second goal is to buy a portion of a grass fed well cared for cow.  I am thinking about buying a cow through our local county fair.  I'll need at least 2 if not 3 families to go in on the cow with me. To be honest, I don't know anything about buying a cow.

 Local Harvest is a great web site for finding local food.  I have found a few farms that offer potatoes in the region. I am pretty close to picking a CSA to participate in (and to finding one that will let us join this late).  

Lasagna for sharing

Albion is not only the home of the Old Rugged Cross and Albion College.  It is also home to some nice old Victorian houses,

 some sad urban decay,

and some great food.

Last Friday, we decided to go for a nice quiet dinner with just the two of us. We've been to Cascarelli's in Homer a couple of times, but never to Cascarelli's in Albion. Cascarelli's in Albion is over 100 years old. We really enjoy Cascarelli's in Homer and were hoping it would be as good or better in Albion.

The menu was pretty standard fare and pretty reasonably priced.  In Homer, they have this Annie's bread that is a buttery mess and tasty.  So we tried the bread sticks.  Unlike the Homer version, they were fried.  They were lightly sweetened and garlicly.  They have us a butter sauce and some Ranch.  I often measure a restaurant by their Ranch.  Cascarelli's of Albion knows their ranch.  It was a sign of good things to come. While we were enjoying our salad and bread and waiting for our food, we also enjoyed some live music.

The music was a man playing his acoustic guitar and singing. We were treated to some Bob Dillan, Gordan Lightfoot -- naturally, there was some Edmund Fitzgerald -- Johnny Cash, and some other good classic songs.

We shared the lasagna plate in part because we always fill up on bread and in part because I was feeling cheap. There was definitely enough for both us. I know it doesn't look like much but there two good sized portions in there.  There were also 5 or so meatballs.  The meatballs were great! The lasagna was okay.  I prefer less ricotta and more mozzarella. But there was plenty of sauce so that more than made up for the cheese issues.

We didn't leave room for dessert. Hopefully next time we will remember to leave room for dessert.  I think we will try to head over to Albion for dinner again sometime soon.  The service was great, the food was good, and the atmosphere was terrific.  Worth the drive!

A good end to a disappointing day . . .

I called the doctor's office today to find out when I'd get to go back to work. I thought my request to go back part-time next week was perfectly reasonable.  Turns out, it was perfectly insane.  I don't get to go back for another 2 weeks.

So to help me not do anything except sit on the couch and sometimes at the computer table, Berl made dinner again and did the dishes again.  According to the schedule, tonight was leftover spaghetti night.  Berl turned the leftovers into baked spaghetti using up cheese, sauce, and angel hair pasta from the fridge.  Then he raided the freezer and found some broccoli that we should have eaten sometime ago.  There are still leftovers for Friday.  It was quite delish! 

This week we have been working on number 7 from the list.  We have eaten at the table together for dinner 3 times this week. (7. Eat dinner together at the table 3 times a week at least 15 times.)

I have also started a good run on number 43.  (43. For two weeks, eat no take out or fast food.) I can't remember the last time I had take out or fast food.  I am sure I haven't had any since I got out of the hospital.  But I will have to double check this because that puts me 10 days already!  If I can make it through Sunday, I'll be set! I'll have knocked off a goal! Woo hoo!

Number 72 is to document the accomplishment of each goal with a photograph.  Hmmm, I guess I could take a picture of the dinner table for each goal.  Tomorrow night, I'll take a picture for number 7 and Sunday night's dinner will be number 43. 

A Food Experiment

Our household is embarking on a food experiment. I setup a monthly menu that is posted on the fridge.  With the exception of leftovers, foods are only repeated every 30 days (one of the goals is to get that 60 days).  There are a few no pasta weeks in there at Mom's request.  I am planning to add in one dessert a week.

Here is the next couple of weeks:

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
n/a	n/a	Hamburgers, Fries, Green Beans	Leftover Pasta & Sauce Garlic Bread Leaftover meatballs green beans	Taco Night Turkey Tacos (soft shell) spanish rice salad wax beans	Spaghetti & Meatballs (likely to change)	Leftover Tacos
Mac & Cheese Brocolli Oranges	Chicken Fingers (Kate makes these) Pears peas seasoned, roasted red potatoes	Turkey chili, Rolls, Apples salad	Pot Roast Mashed Potatoes Green Beans Gravy Bread	Leftover Turkey Chili (love this stuff!)	Leftover Pot Roast (hope it is good enough to eat twice!)	Daddy-Daughter Dance I'm working it, Kate and her Dad are attending it!
Homemade Pizza Salad Oranges	Pretzel Crusted Chicken Breast Salad Pears	Leftover Pizza! salad fruit of some sort	Spinach & Artichoke Calzones bananas Dessert?	Turkey Dogs Tater Tots Salad Fruit Salad	Leftover Spinach & Artichoke Calzones Salad fruit salad	ECHS Murder Mystery Event!
Turkey Dogs Salad Oranges	Italian Sub Stoup Salad Oranges	Grilled Chicken Breasts salad Beans Apples	Leftover Stoup Salad Oranges	Cheesy Penne Bake Salad bread	Salmon Burgers Cucumbers, Tom Wedges bananas	Leftover Cheesy Penne Bake salad broccoli

The only rules:

1. the occasional no pasta week, 
2. 1 veg and 1 fruit at every meal,
3. 30 days no repeats.

Possible future rules:

1. 1 no-meat day a week,
2. 60 days no repeats,
3. 2 vegs 1 fruit at each meal.

We'll see how this goes first.

So you can see I had very little "health" rules here.  I am not expecting this to result in any great health benefits except those you get from sitting at the table with your family and eating together.  Also I think for the most part this will be slightly healthier than eating out because the portions will be smaller and we can control the oils, the fats, the salts, etc.  Tomorrow is our first leftovers day.  We are trying to clean out the fridge before we have to clean it out.  Novel concept in our house.

This all started because Kate and I are notoriously difficult eaters.  Mom will often say that she would have started us dinner but she didn't know what we'd eat.  So here it is, this is what we will eat.  Plus, I am trying to be more frugal, you can see there are leftover nights all over the place.  There are very few eating out nights and those are planned ahead.  I have the calendar done through March 26.  I'll share it as we go.  Many of these recipes come from my Rachael Ray Cookbooks that I got for Christmas, there are also some internet sources, my 75th Edition Better Homes & Gardens, a Kraft Family Cookbook, and my Joy of Christmas.  I am actually pretty excited and wish we were starting tomorrow with cooking!  But also, the food is there and needs to be eaten while it can be done so safely!

Cheesy Penne Bake

I am finally mostly recovered from the bug that hit me last week.  I haven't been cooking, taking pictures, or blogging.  Today is the first day since probably Monday that I didn't have a nap.

I found a new addiction - My Kitchen Addiction. Tonight, we had her Cheesy Penne Bake.  It was really quite good - even Kathryn said she liked it! When a My Kitchen Addiction recipe calls for a large baking dish, she means it.  I ended up using another 8 ounces of colby jack.  Next time, I will double the mozzerella if not triple it since I also won't be using the ricotta.  We aren't really fans of ricotta cheese around here.

Cheesy Penne Bake (Printer Friendly Version)
+ 14.5 ounce box of multi-grain penne
+ 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
+ 1 pound sweet Italian turkey sausage, casings removed
+ 1 yellow onion, diced
+ 2 cloves garlic, minced
+ 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
+ 14 ounce can tomato sauce
+ 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
+ 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
+ Kosher salt
+ 8 ounces part-skim ricotta cheese
+ 8 ounces part-skim mozzarella cheese, shredded
+ 2 ounces parmigiano-reggiano cheese, grated

Prepare the pasta according to the package directions.  Drain and set aside.  Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the sausage and brown in the oil.  Once the sausage is cooked, add the onion and garlic.  Saute with the browned sausage until the onion is soft (about 4-5 minutes).  Add the crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce to the pan.  Season with the basil, thyme, and some salt (to taste).  Stir to combine all of the ingredients, reduce the heat, and simmer for 10 minutes.  Remove from the heat.

Prepare a large baking dish with cooking spray. Coat the bottom of the dish with one cup of the meat sauce.  Add one third of the pasta and top with one third of the remaining sauce.  Spoon half of the ricotta cheese over the pasta and sauce.  Sprinkle with one third of the mozzarella and parmigiano-reggiano cheese.  Repeat the layers of pasta, sauce, and cheeses. Top the cheese layer with the remaining pasta and sauce.  Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella and parmigiano-reggiano cheese on the top of the pasta and sauce.

Bake the casserole for 30 minutes until all of the cheese is bubbly and has melted. The top should be golden.

The Worst Biscuits

Chili & Biscuits

So this is an old post I started last week. Last week, as you remember we had Kim's Chili last Tuesday.  It was quite delicious.  I made some biscuits.  While I was making the biscuits, I was distracted by a very tired and cranky Kster.  So I was not paying as much attention as I should have.  I accidentally used baking soda instead of baking powder.  And I didn't add the salt. I don't think this picture conveys how very flat these biscuits were.  Oh and awful, they were awful.  The chili, however, was delicious and lasted until Saturday.  Saturday for lunch I warmed up the last of the chili and stirred in some shaved asiago cheese.  Very delicious, we will be making this at least monthly!  Next month, I will add some jalepeno pepper to the recipe. The chili is a make again and the biscuits are a try again.

That Foster Cat (& brownies)

We have been fostering a cat since some time in July.  It is a big cat, about 16 pounds.  Not declawed. It loves my couch and my bed.  As in loves to scratch them up.  We are front declawing our 2nd cat so that I can keep her in the house.  I am fully aware of both sides of the declawing arguments and have really thought a lot about this.  This cat (mine) also HATES having her feet touched.  So our monthly claw trimming is an event.  She generally doesn't even like people, she sleeps with me, and insists I pet her at night.  But the rest of time, she is out of sight.  But, back to the foster cat, I was rummaging around in the bottom of our storage drawers in the kitchen.  I found what the lid I needed to cover the brownies (details to follow) and walked away.  I forgot to close the drawer.  I covered the brownies and sat down to finish my pumpkin posts (here and here).  I heard the cats playing with plastic and making digging sounds.  I turned and saw my cats in the open drawer.  I shoo them away and come back to blogging/surfing.  Five minutes later, I hear the same noises and see my cats sitting on the kitchen floor staring at the second drawer.  Then I find this:

He was trying to rock the drawer open.

I opened the drawer for him.

 

I feel like I should wash all of those kitchen linens.  But I must admit, I don't want to.

Prior to the foster cat adventure, I made some fudgy brownies.  They were heavier than I like but not bad.  The frosting was very good. The recipe is from my Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook 75th Anniversary Edition. I'll be using the frosting recipe again, though, I'm not sure if I'll make these brownies again.  Notes: I didn't sift the powdered sugar.  I mixed the cream cheese right into the chocolate in the saucepan and then stirred in the powdered sugar.  And as you can see below, I didn't chop the unsweetened chocolate.  None of these changes were on purpose.

Fudgy Brownies with Chocolate Cream Frosting (printable version)

1/2 cup butter

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)
1 recipe Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting (see below)

1. In a medium saucepan melt butter and unsweetened chocolate over low heat.  Stir constantly.  Remove from heat to cool.

2.  Grease a 8x8 or 9x9 baking pan.  Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

3. Stir sugar into chocolate mixture in saucepan.  Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each just until combined.  Stir in the vanilla.

4. Mix the flour and baking soda together in a small bowl.  Add the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture until just combined.  (If adding nuts, do so now).

5.  Pour into prepared pan.  Bake for 30 minutes if using an 8 inch pan, 25 if using a 9 inch pan at 350 degrees. 

6.  After they have cooled, frost with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting.
In a saucepan, melt 1 cup semisweet chocolate chip pieces over low heat, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat, allow to cool some.  In a small bowl, stir together 2 3 ounce packages of softened cream cheese and 1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar.  Stir in melted chocolate until smooth.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

It is pumpkin night! 

Next we have the Pumpking Whoopie Pies, I found this recipe at what megan's making. These also went  to the church potluck.

These were a pretty gooey yummy treat!

Here is the recipe as found at what megan's making:

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies (Printable Version)
adapted, slightly, from Rachael Ray

Cookie:
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
1 cup canned pure pumpkin puree
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1-2/3 cups flour

Icing:
1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
4 ounces cream cheese, chilled
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 pinches of salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

a few shakes of cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350°. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter and brown sugar until smooth. Whisk in the eggs, pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, 1 teaspoon vanilla, the baking powder, the baking soda and 3/4 teaspoon salt. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the flour.

Using a spoon, drop small mounds of batter, spaced evenly, onto each baking sheet. Bake until springy to the touch, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.

For the icing: using an electric mixer, cream the softened butter with the cream cheese. Add the confectioners' sugar and the remaining 2 pinches salt, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, and cinnamon; mix on low speed until blended, then beat on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Spread the flat side of half of the cakes with the cream cheese frosting. Top each with another cake. 

 

Happy Baking!

Pumpkin Bars

This is what 5 hours of pumpkin looks like.  Yesterday, I spent 5 hours, washing, seeding, scraping, baking, and peeling 2 pumpkins.  It wasn't hard, just time consuming.  Each pumpkin took up 2 cookie sheets and each cookie sheet needed to bake for about 50 minutes. 

Turns out the pumpkins I bought were much larger than we needed and possibly the wrong kind of pumpkin.  I'm not sure what kind of pumpkin I bought, but I don't think it is a pie pumpkin as those are much smaller than these were.

The average pumpkin pie seems to take about 2 cups of pumpkin.  I don't know how much we have, but I think it is way more than 2 cups.  So I decided to make pumpkin bars for the Harvest Dinner today at Mom's church.  I found the recipe at My Kitchen Cafe.  I think I've mentioned how much I love My Kitchen Cafe.  It was originally a Paula Deen recipe.  I am also a big fan of Paula Deen. 

The bars turned out wonderfully.  I don't have a picture of the final product. After 7 hours in the kitchen yesterday, I went to bed without frosting them.  Mom frosted them this morning while I slept in as long as I could and still make it to church on time.  There were none left after the potluck.  Mom and I both had a piece.  We both really enjoyed it.  I think I might make some later this week for the students.  This was definitely a make again!

Pumpkin Bars (Printable Version)
from Paula Deen

Bars:
4 eggs
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil (can substitute 1/2 cup applesauce for 1/2 cup oil)
15-ounce can pumpkin
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

Icing:
8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy. Stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth. Spread the batter into a greased 13 by 10-inch baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting. Cut into bars.

To make the icing: Combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugar and mix at low speed until combined. Stir in the vanilla and mix again. Spread on cooled pumpkin bars.

Dinner

Tonight for dinner, we are having Kim's Chili. Mom is getting it started for me when she gets home from subbing at a high school about 20 minutes away.  We are adding some chili powder.  I am starting with this recipe and then overtime making it more exciting.  I know that I like this particular recipe because Kim has brought it into work a few times.  But I would like a more interesting chili.  I am also making homemade cheesy biscuits from the Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook. This doesn't really count as cooking a meal for friends and family, but it does count for trying new recipes.

Kim's Chili

2 lb. Ground beef
2 cans chili beans (do not drain)
2 15 oz cans tom sauce
2 15 oz cans diced tom
Garlic powder
Salt
Pepper
Chopped onion

Cook all together and enjoy!
Printable Version of Recipe

Daring Baker Challenge!

I am so excite this is my first month as an Official Daring Baker! Yesterday, I was nervous that I wouldn't like/wouldn't be bake to make whatever was announced today. But it looks delicious and I think I can pull it off! I'll have to take a look at the calendar and plan a Saturday after with Kate! We will definitely be posting some pictures!

The Roast Chicken

So after a week of thinking/planning/talking about this roast chicken, I finally made the roast chicken with much help from Mom. I completely forgot about the biscuits until it was too late and ended up doing canned biscuits. We also ended up using a Reynolds bag instead of the Joy of Cooking recipe. It turned out nicely. Here is a picture of the bird before it went in the bag.

I actually did all of the dinner dishes after dinner! 

Everything turned out nicely! And our friend Connie joined Mom, Kathryn & I for dinner.  Mom made a delicious apple pear crisp for dessert.  She ended up baking it in the toaster oven because we ran out of room in regular oven. I don't have any lovely food pictures because I forgot to take them.  Sorry guys.

Here is Mom's Apple Crisp Recipe.  She used 2 pears and 4 apples for the Apple Pear Crisp.

APPLE CRISP

6-8 apples 1/2 c. butter or margarine 1 c. sugar   3/4 c. flour 1 tsp. cinnamon

Peel, core and slice apples and place in a greased baking dish Mix butter, sugar, flour and cinnamon with a pastry blender till well blended. Spread on top of apples Bake 375 degrees for 45-60 minutes Serve warm with ice cream.

S'mores Cupcakes!

So I just discovered the Serious Eats Photograzing site. Wow! So many beautiful pictures of so many delicious foods! Wow! I found these S'mores Cupcakes. I will be making these very soon!

I found out this morning that I was accepted for the Foodie Blog Roll! Now I have to try to figure out how to get the blog roll on my blog.

Dinner

So I signed up to be on a foodie blog roll.  I don't know if I've been reviewed yet.  If so, I hope they don't hold today's post against me.  This weekend, I decided I would make a roast chicken this week, a whole chicken.  When I bought my chicken, I wasn't really paying attention.  I thought it was a 1 pound chicken.  It seemed awfully big for a pound.  But it said 0.85.  Perfect, it is just Kate and I (sometimes Mom eats with us) so a pound would be fine. 

Berl came over tonight for dinner.  So I was going to make the roast chicken with mashed potatoes and broccoli.  At 20 minutes per pound plus fifteen minutes, we could be eating by 7:15 at the latest.

Turns out, it is actually 4.5 pounds and it was $0.85/pound.  Thankfully, I figured this out before I had it out of the package.  At 20 minutes per pound plus fifteen, it would have been much, much later than 7:15 before we ate.

So tonight, we had spaghetti & meatballs with broccoli and garlic bread.  None of it was homemade.  None.  But everyone enjoyed it and Berl helped with the dishes after dinner and everything is put away.  We did have some of that very delicious Apple Cider Pudding Cake with Edy's Double Vanilla Ice Cream after dinner.  The cake was homemade and still quite delicious.  It was more cakey than puddingy tonight.  Still great warmed up with a scoop of ice cream!

After dinner, I studied the Joy of Cooking section on Roasting Poultry (421) and Roast Chicken (424).  I feel almost ready for Saturday.  We will also be having Cheesy Biscuits Saturday (638).  I really do love this Joy of Cooking and might actually fork out the $30.00 for one of my own!

We're having roast chicken on Saturday night before Kate's play. 

Apple Cider Pudding Cake

Apple Cider Pudding Cake is in the oven with less than 5 minutes to go so this post will be interrupted by some deliciousness! Okay, I'm back! It is out of the oven cooling so that I don't scald my mouth.  It smells so good!
This is another recipe from My Kitchen Cafe. My pictures are never as beautiful as hers, but here you go! Here is the final product.  Check out my flickr photos of the process.

In The Pan

In The Bowl with Double Vanilla Ice Cream!

 

I made it!

Woo hooo! No candy or cookies yesterday. I did have a glass of chocolate milk with dinner (made with Quik) and a granola bar for dessert.  So I am going to do it again today.  No candy, no cookies -- there are peanut butter oreos upstairs.  They were there yesterday too and I resisted them!

Candy & Cookies

Today I am not eating any candy or cookies.  I am on a three day exercise streak as well.  So I am going to be keeping track of each streak (1) giving up processed sweets and (2) daily exercise.

update: 12:15 p.m.
Lunch is late. It didn't get ordered.  I am hungry.  Still staying strong. I am eating my grapes instead.

update 1:29 p.m.
Lunch had carrots in it, so I had my favorite. Jimmy Johns.  #4, with cheese cut in half, ez lettuce, no sprouts, no toms.  {In case you were wondering.}