Mommy & Evie Time

A few weeks ago, Evie & I were home alone together in the evening. We turned it into some 'Mommy & Evie Time'. The kids know this means they pretty much get to pick the activity and that they have their parent's undivided attention. (*mom benefit: usually I have the wonderful and amazing child that somehow disappears when the other sibling is around). 

I can almost always guarantee that making cookies will be at the top of the priority list. Sure enough, Evie remembered that we had bought the ingredients for her favorite cookies (peanut butter blossoms) and she was ready to bake! 

While I manned the oven, she unwrapped. This time, we happened to find a variety pack at the store. So, instead of just kisses in our cookies we had peanut butter cups and rolos as well. It was a fun variation. 

My little artist at work.

This is her second favorite part, after rolling them in sugar!

Traditional

With a rolo. Surprisingly good.

 While we waited for the cookies to bake there was a request for dancing. There was also a request for Evie to be the photographer rather than the subject. Wish granted. 

Saturday Night Fever....

....Karate Kid....oh yeah, I got the moves!

 After sampling our wares, (which were super yummy) we still had some time so we played games. Mr. Mouth was one of our games. 

Mr. Mouth, Mr. Mouth.....are you hearing the song from the commercial in your head now?

At first, we were both pretty sorry at this game....notice NO flies in his mouth. 

Then we perfected our technique, Evie got the hang of it sooner than I did. 

It was really nice to spend some time with Evie one on one. I forget sometimes how much sweeter and mature she can be when she isn't trying to one-up her brother. It's like wow, this is a GREAT kid. I know it's always a true statement but I am not always feeling it.....and it's nice to know it AND feel it! :D

Smoothie Time

“When I'm good, I'm very good, but when I'm bad, I'm better". 

― Mae West

This quote kind of defines my relationship with food. Hahahahaha. Anyway, I thought I would do a post about smoothies. I'm sure you know how to make a smoothie. But this is about how I make a smoothie. My goal is to avoid having them be a calorie and sugar bomb (yes EVEN fruit! I know it's natural but it's still sugar). With these variations you will be getting a meal supplement that provides plenty of protein (to fill you up) and not a lot of sugar/carbs that cause the bottom to drop out later.

The Big Boss which Eric says would be better if it was named The Big Hoss Hehehehehe

I have had a regular blender and two different 'smoothie blenders'. I much prefer the second option. A regular blender is just too big to make a single serving and honestly I could never pour it neatly into a go-cup.  I find more and more I am wanting to blend and go so when it was time to purchase another smoothie maker I took it up a notch. It has two cups, two of those lids for a straw and several other lid options seen here. (I got mine from a Groupon type deal, not Amazon.com)

So what do I put in them? I'm glad you asked. I put in protein powder. When shopping for protein powder there is a ton of factors to consider. I am considering MY top priority to be Sugar & Carbs. This Jay Robb stuff is low in both. And, BONUS, look at him! He is SO HOT! He is like almost as hot as Jacob Eric! Just kidding, the bonus is that it tastes good and comes in several flavors. I get it at Kroger (choc and vanilla only) but HEB carries all the fancy flavors like Pina Colada, Tropical Dreamsicle, etc. 

On a plain jane day I just put in almond milk, ice and protein powder (unsweetened vanilla, not the sweetened chocolate! That is Everett's. This pic just had both). Simple. Out the door. If it's first thing in the morning I have subbed in coffee for the almond milk.

If I am feeling awake like putting some actual effort into it I might do some 'add-ins'. These would be chia seed or flaxseed meal (which I keep in the fridge). I have also experimented with a handful of baby spinach and a handful of kale (NOTE: you are gonna need an actual VitaMix to do kale. NO GO. Spinach did fine).

Let me warn you to proceed with caution here. Eric is NOT a fan of the add-ins and if I put that stuff in I have to tell him it is a TRACIE smoothie. He finds this changes the taste/texture thing a bit too far for him. The add-ins are quite a nutrition/fiber boost but just know you may not like it either.

I encourage you to do your own research and find your own combination. Just know that for weight loss you  want to avoid yogurt or fruit or juice in the smoothie. Those taste great but you would then have to treat them as something from the dessert category, rather than a meal.

How do you make YOUR smoothie? What is your blender of choice?

Baking Frenzy

Table full of stress baking

When I get stressed I start organizing, making to-do lists, and cleaning things out. Notice I did not say clean, I said clean OUT. I never, ever, EVER do actual cleaning when I am stressed unless someone is coming over. I'm sure Eric would prefer that I did. But, alas.....

So, this weekend I suddenly decided to dump out my 'baking ingredient' container and see what was lurking at the bottom. I had the following that I thought I could work with: A bag of cherry flavored M&Ms (left over from Valentine's day clearance), several random packages of pecans (must have hit a sale), and some pomegranate infused craisins (I bought those for another recipe but didn't use them all). I also found unfinished packages of Baker's chocolate in unsweetened and semi-sweet.

I turned over the packages to see what THEY recommended I make with their products. Here is what I ended up making!

No-bake white chocolate craisin haystacks

Pecan Pie bars

Chewy chocolate covered cherry cookies

Much to my children's disappointment, they didn't like ANY of it. Not that they would even try the haystacks or pecan pie bars. But they were both completely disgusted by the cherry flavored M&Ms (go figure!). I caught Evie trying to 'wipe the taste off her tongue' with a napkin. *sigh*

Adults, however, declared them a success. I thought they all turned out pretty well for brand new recipes. Not only that, there was alot of substitutions going on. No corn syrup....hmmmm I have honey. No more butter.....I have coconut oil. No more white sugar....I'll just use this brown sugar. 

It really helped me work through some of my stress and I finally got my ingredient bin emptied, cleaned out, and washed up. Now THAT feels better. 

I think Eric forgave my lack of cleaning since by channeling my energy into baking I didn't yell at anyone and he had yummy treats to eat. He even invited me to watch a movie with him so we had a mini date night (The Mummy Returns)! Evie heard what movie we were going to watch and said 'OH, that was the movie where I was made!' Hahahahahahaha, what she meant was that we got her name from the character in those movies. She said she wanted 'to see what she looked like when she was in the movie' Hahhahahaha. We laughed, then we put her to bed :D 

So, what do YOU do when you are stressed? Do you ever look on the back of an ingredient package for a recipe idea? Do you substitute ingredients or are you a strict recipe follower?  

Please note: that this post violates my Disneyland Project 2012 challenge in every way and that I totally ate ALOT of what I made Hahahahahahaha. So, don't be looking for anymore updates on THAT particular project until school starts. As seen in this post, I have just not been able to keep any kind of schedule (or progress) during the summer.

Liquid Diets Work (Disneyland Update)

Photo above: My kids give me love even when I have a headache-eye-cover wrapped around my chin!

I had my wisdom teeth out on Friday. It was much less painful than I anticipated but the soreness is taking a while to go away. I can get away without pain medicine through the night now but, then, I'm even MORE sore when I wake up. I also look like a chipmunk. These are the negatives. 

On the positive side I am down another pound thanks to my liquid/semi-liquid diet. Hahahahaha. So, it got me thinking that this is essentially what Tracy Anderson wants you to do every other week of her metamorphasis. MAN! I don't think there is any way I could do this without the motivation of not actually being able to chew. Granted, the liquids on her diet are actually highly nutritional. Just everything is either baby food consistency, a soup, or juiced. 

Since my inadvertent foray into liquid diets I might actually get out some of her recipes and incorporate them into my diet. I can assure you though, that as soon as I can chew I'm gonna want to CRUNCH on something. For now, however, I'm pretty happy with my applesauce! 

Did you have your wisdom teeth out at a NORMAL age (say 20 years ago) like everyone else or are you a holdout like me? Have you ever done a liquid/semi-liquid diet for more than say an hour hahahahahaha and liked it? 

Lara Bar Love

When I tried Lara Bars many years ago I thought they were gross. That was before I did Jorge Cruise's Belly Fat Cure and learned to live with less sugar in my life. I totally credit his diet with teaching me that fruit really IS sweet and is also in the category of desserts as far as how much we should have. So, when I tried Lara Bars again recently as I began to explore the 100 Days of Real Food blog I thought they were FAN-tastic.

Then I thought, I bet I can make these myself. (Which is very Eric of me!) I started with this post which I found on Pinterest which has lots of great variations and recipes. However, following her instructions exactly left me with kind of a dry crumbly bar.

I decided to venture out on my own. After all, it's TWO ingredients. I could hardly mess it up too bad :D

Here is the way I did it. Eric declared that my Lara Bars were 'spot on'. It's so easy. I hope you will give it a try. The two ingredients you will need are pitted whole dates and cashews. (This is the basic bar, see the Pinterest post for ideas on how to change it up)

First put the cashews in the food processor and process until MOST of the nuts are very very fine and just a few are less than pea size. Kind of just before all of it is nut flour. I then emptied the nuts right back into the container and without washing the processor added the dates.

With the dates in the food processor (I dumped in the whole bag) process while gradually streaming in 1 to 2 Tablespoons of water. Process until the dates begin to clump up on the side and have a very thick brownie batter consistency.

I added all the dates I had processed into another bowl and gradually added the nuts, mixing with my fingers till I felt the dates had accepted the right amount of nuts. (I did NOT end up using all the nuts)

I lined a 9x9 pan with wax paper and pressed the mixture out flat and relatively smooth (these ARE homemade after all hehehehehe) then I popped them in the fridge.

I left them overnight to chill and then I unwrapped them and cut them up. I get 10 bars from this method. I'm thinking I ended up with at LEAST 4 extra bars for the same cost with this method (and I still have some nuts left for next time).

I was really pleased with the texture this time and I think that pulsing the nuts a bit more than last time and adding the water was the key to this.

To store the bars I just wrapped them back up in the same wax paper. Wrapping each bar semi-individually so the wouldn't stick together and put them in a smaller container for the fridge (I put the lid on after I took this pic). You could also store them in snack size ziplocks to pack in lunches.

Enjoy them. They are DE-licious and so so so easy!

Progress (Disneyland Project 30 day results)

So Exciting! Here are the results of one month:

4- total inches lost all over
2.4- total pounds lost
16- number of total workouts
4- number of missed workouts

So, I only discovered I really liked the dance cardio about halfway thru so that should help as I continue. I also admit to doing the diet (mine, not hers) only half committed, so that should help. I definitely think I'm on the right track.

Since last month's pic I have put up my frames on the picture wall. I have NOT, however, replaced the pictures so they all face the correct direction. Don't judge :)

In reviewing some of the pictures that I did NOT post (mostly my backside!), I think I have more weight to lose than I originally planned. That's ok. I am having fun learning about less processed foods and eating REAL food.

This week's discovery? Baby food!! Yes, the little pouches in the baby aisle with Spinach & fruit mixed together. Not sure how big a fan I am yet but it's definitely a place I never looked before!

What's new with you? Have you hung any sideways pictures or been sneaking around the baby food aisle?

Can't Teach Young Dogs New Tricks

So, my latest food craze comes from a lecture I went to on nutrition at my fitness conference. She had TONS to say about everything (dairy, wheat, dyes, artificial sweeteners, organic) and she gave lots of great resources. I have heard of many of them and have already read or watched quite a bit on this. (Think: Food INC. and Skinny Bitch)

But, it's a journey isn't it? Trying to figure out what you think is just a good idea, what you believe in, and what you will actually commit to? Even though Eric thinks I am just swapping plans constantly, I know that I am slowly refining what I bring into the house so that we can be both healthy AND happy! It's easier said than done. I feel a TON of responsibility as the grocery shopper about what I am teaching my kids about food. I feel responsible for the weight of Eric and I as well. Maybe I am taking on too much responsibility. But, I know that 90% of what they eat comes out of my fridge and my pantry and I'm the one that fills them.

So, I took ONE thing she said at the conference and tried to apply it. It was this: "Just eat real food". So, I am back to reading labels and trying to tweak where we are. Force us ONE MORE baby step in the right direction.

Successes:
1) They both happily ate the almond milk ice cream sandwiches at dinner last night!
2) They both accepted natural peanut butter on their Ezekiel English muffins (Eric & I already like Ezekiel).
3) I love a Lara Bar and a Wasa bread with natural peanut butter for a snack (and I'm gonna take a shot at making my own soon).

Fail:
I tried switching Evie to Muesli. She has been eating 1/2 and 1/2 quick oats with a flavored Quaker oats packet. Yeah, that did NOT go well. She resisted, she cried, then she threw it up.

Ah well!

So, no, everything isn't organic (still working on that). Everything isn't wheat free (tried that, it was a bust). I plan to keep eggs. I AM trying to eliminate cow milk without turning to soy (due to hormone concerns). No, I won't give up cheese. And, NO, I have yet to say goodbye (with success) to diet soda. Baby steps, baby steps!



What are you doing for more healthy eating? How do you handle all the conflicting information? What do we DO when words like 'cage free' and 'free range' are being diluted by folks meeting the minimum standards?

 Photo from here, here, and here

You Get Out EGG-xactly What You Put In (Disneyland Project Week 3)

Yep, We did all the usual celebrations this week. And I have the results to show for it.

Results: Up 0.2 pounds (measurements scheduled for next week). This is really quite amazing when you think about the week I have had. Surrounded by birthday meals and Easter treats.

Perspective: However, I can't deny that spending time with these great kids and this perfect husband aren't worth a few ounces of weight gain. I don't want to present to my kids that control freaking about diet and exercise is healthy. Balance, Moderation. That's what I'm going for....and struggling with.

How do I feel about things: Upbeat to be honest. I have noticed two things. First, my pants feel more comfortable even though I haven't had a lot of weight loss (That's the power of Tracy Anderson!). Second, my portions are starting to get smaller on their own. I'm having a lot of times when 'my eyes are bigger than my stomach' and I can't finish what I thought I wanted to eat.  I am happy with any type of progress and it motivates me to keep on keeping on.

Struggles: First, Avoiding cravings. It's helping to keep things out of the house. Second, fitting in the workout. I thought 5 days a week would be no problem. However, it's proving to be challenging. I am quite sore and just EXHAUSTED when i do 2 days of the muscular structure and cardio in a row and it gets hard to want to do that third day before my schedule rest day. When I caved and took an extra day off this week, it put me behind my schedule and I'm not sure I can make it up. Third, the fatigue is putting me behind in my housework. That was another reason I took the extra rest day this week. I simply had to commit a day to just doing what needs to be done around here. Maybe it's just a matter of building up my endurance. Maybe I'm becoming chronically dehydrated or vitamin/mineral depleted from increasing my cardio and not eating enough nutritionally dense foods (read vegetables). I will continue to work on this and try to find balance. Otherwise, I'm not sure how I can ever incorporate this into a lifestyle change.

Question: For those of you that exercise first thing- Was there an adjustment period? I can't seem to work out on an empty stomach. What do you do? Do you eat first? Does it get easier? It would be great if I could work out first thing before the kids got up. Just not sure how to make it work. Right now I'm stuck with afternoon 'rest time' and that's a 'slump' time for me as well and I have a hard time using that for my workout time. Any advice would be appreciated.

Below: Eric displays his mad multitasking skills- dying an egg WHILE reading the paper. :) I have so much fun with this guy!!!

Going Down! (Disneyland Project Week 2)

RESULTS: I lost 1/2 inch off each arm and each thigh. I can feel the thighs! I LOVE it! Down 1.2 pounds! Whoo HOO!!





WORKOUT: You know how your mother always said not to wear yourself out or you would get sick? (see mom, I was listening!) Well, that's what happened this week. Through trying to help out and owing a favor I stupidly scheduled myself to teach 5 hours of yoga in 2 days. WHAT? Yes, and since I was stuck at the YMCA between classes I went to a Balletone class as well (Nice class, btw, I might try to get that teaching certification). So, that makes 6 hours of working out in 2 days. Not smart! By Wednesday night when it hit me it felt like I had the flu from the neck down and a migraine from the neck up. I spent 24 hours in bed sleeping and woke up Friday feeling better but still not ready to hit the mat. A bit scared of the mat if I'm being honest.

Saturday morning though, I was CRAVING my workout and did MS and dance cardio (on the trampoline). It felt GREAT! Sunday evening brought another opportunity to work out and I completed my 10th and final workout for level 1. I will not lie, I was rocking it! I was doing all the reps, I was powering thru, I was ALMOST not feeling any of my familiar Tracy MS pain. It told me this-- I'm ready for the next level. :)

DIET: Not a stellar week. Everett had his birthday  = cake & cookies in the house all week. Then when I had all that out of the house, they called and said I had to bring the snack again for Sunday School. WHAT? Apparently, I was not supposed to bring it last week (cookie binge) and had to do it all again this week (another cookie binge). I guess if I wasn't so cheap I would have just bought snacks and avoided the temptation but, yeah, I'm cheap. And I make super yummy cookies :D

Photo from here

I'm Not An Engineer

I'm not an engineer, but, I play one on the night before birthday parties. I get to make the cakes!

In the past, perhaps coincidentally, our children have chosen a cake from a source with instructions like Family Fun. Eric and I have spent many happy evenings doing these cakes together. It is something we enjoy and it saves us a nice bundle on the price of the cake. (Eric has his 'George Banks' moments and I'm not opposed to saving a buck!)

This year Everett picked one out of the book in the Target bakery (pictured below- but he wanted Lightning with Francesco and a 'winners circle' theme rather than a 'pit stop' theme with Guido). I snapped a pic with my phone. I showed Eric. He said 'No problem' (foreshadowing folks, foreshadowing). I gathered the supplies and on the appointed evening we tucked the kids in bed and met up in the kitchen for a fun cake creating evening.

This was pretty much the first time it occurred to us that we had a picture and no instructions. As we looked at the two 13x9 pans of cake we began to wonder HOW we were going to create a tall sloped grandstand from these. (Imagine us both with our heads tilted quizzically to the side). Eric had two years of architecture at Texas Tech and I waited for him to take charge-- cutting and stacking cake........silence. Eric now proclaimed "Yeah, I have NO idea how to do this".
Let's just say that in the end the ratio of cake to icing was....um....weighted heavily on the icing side. But, it all came together.

The important part is that it held together until after a certain small boy blew out the candles!. Everett was thrilled with his cake and that is all that matters, in the end.

As for Eric & I, we will be forcing steering our children in the direction of cakes with instructions (for goodness sake!) and I think we also might be ready for the Amazing Race!

Photo from here and here

Nothing to Report (Disneyland Project Week 1)

So, no weight loss this week.

And.....I think I know why! I was doing REALLY well Monday thru Friday. Stayed under my WW points. Temptations abounded but I stayed strong. I took Chick Fil A to my dear friend and her new baby and didn't eat any myself! At the movies on Friday I was so good and ate my protein bar and mixed nut snack with NO cravings at all for movie snacks.

Then something happened. I woke up Saturday morning crabby. I couldn't seem to shake it. I was unhappy but I couldn't find any reason to be unhappy. Then I had some sugar and carbs. In fact, I went on about a 12 hour carb and sugar spree!  This may have involved 2 cupcakes, several cookies out of a batch I made for sunday school, an entire bag of microwave popcorn (with FULL butter and salt) and half a chocolate bar. I tell you what- I felt quite happy after that.

I think I had some carb withdrawl (ya THINK, Tracie?) and I'm not at all surprised it happened since I have made a huge decrease in the sugar & carb catagory. But, fortunately, by Sunday afternoon the cravings had passed and I was back on track finishing out the week strong. It cost me, though. I weighed in this morning at EXACTLY where I started (to the tenth of a pound, really....I couldn't have lost 0.1?? sheesh) 

OH WELL! I am not deterred because I feel great.

Muscular Stucture Work: I feel slimmer (will take measurements after I complete 10 workouts and pictures at the 30 workout mark per Tracy's instructions). I feel the muscular structure video working every day. I have yet to even complete all the reps. I just do the moves (usually slower than her) for as long as she does it then switch when she switches.

Cardio: I actually really like the Tracy Anderson Dance Cardio that came with Metamorphasis. I was SO shocked by this. I had read alot of negative comments regarding injuries (knee, ankle, calf pain, shin splints) and I can now see EXACTLY how that happens to people. It's essentially 30 straight minutes of jumping jacks and just jumping rope without a rope. So I will not be doing it every day as she recommends. I will work up to 4 times per week at most probably.

Diet: No reason to change anything at this point. I am doing a Think Thin bar for breakfast, a 1/4 cup mixed nuts for am snack, a frozen meal for lunch (whatever brand is on sale, just checking for as close to 5 sugars and 40 carbs as I can), a slice of cheese with 3 slices ham/turkey rolled up for pm snack. Dinner is with the family watching my portions or default is a protein smoothie.

Please feel free to post any questions. I will be happy to answer them!

Photo credit here

Shield Your Eyes! (Disneyland Project Begins)

Well I have had my fun. I have stuffed my face with every imaginable delicacy that Boston had to offer (Holy cannolis, batman!). Now it's time to get serious.

I have taken my before pictures (Shasta wanted to be included) and my starting weight and measurements. So begins week 1.

I actually tried out the 30 minute muscular structure (MS) work yesterday and I was sweating like a DOG. This was not even the cardio (eek!!) just the arms, abs, and legs portion. DANG! Honestly, it felt good to be doing the moves again. She is amazing that Tracy Anderson girl. How can a little leg lift hurt so bad??

This morning I tried to do the ol' Proverbs 31 thing and get up early to do the workout but that did NOT happen. I mean, I DID get up. But, I felt kind of nauseous and faint so I turned it off. Took the pup for a walk instead. No problem there. Will have to leave the MS work for afternoon/evening, I guess. I had not ever tried it in the am before and I guess that doesn't work for me.

So, just for reference (and because it annoys me when other bloggers don't give this info): I am 5"4' tall and my weight is 136.8 in this photo. I am wearing a Land's End size 6 swimsuit. (They size generously so that would probably be about an 8 in the real world).

I have my foods and my workouts mapped out. There should be no reason for failure. Disneyland- Here I come!!

The Disneyland Project 2012

I am about to go on vacation. I get to go visit my sister in Boston. I can't WAIT. I love my sister SO much and I also love being in Boston. This will be the first time one of my visits may involve snow. So, I may have to amend that to 'I love Boston in the Summer' afterwards!

When I get back I will have just 19 weeks until our Disneyland trip! I have decided to make a committment to Tracy Anderson's Metamorphasis during that time. The program I ordered is 18 weeks so I think that works out perfect.

DISNEYLAND PROJECT 2012

Time: I will commit to 1 hour 5 days a week. I will do the workouts Monday thru Friday. I was recently inspired by this quote by Brooke Burke in Fitness Magazine: "I don't think you need more than an hour to do cardio and full-body toning. I don't have three hours a day to devote to my body, but I do have an hour five days a week".

Muscular Structure: I already have several of her DVD's and I love the way they make my muscles feel when I do the workouts. The Metamorphasis DVD's are only 30 minutes. I chose the Glutecentric option (just in case you were curious I got it thru QVC and went through ebates for 2.5% cash back). I had already ruled out Abcentric and Omnicentric for myself. But, I admit I was quite confused about the two remaining choices. I finally happened upon a crazy little 'test' to help you determine: Stand facing a mirror and reach around behind you and 'lift' your butt with your hands. If your saddlebags disappear- you are glutecentric; if not- you are hipcentric. Clever eh? (Are you running to the bathroom to try it like I did??)

Cardio: For the other 30 minutes I plan to do alternating cardio routines. Some days (like a Zumba class) might take an hour. But, I'm allowing myself to quit after 30 minutes if I want to. I don't actually plan to use Tracy's dance cardio at all. I will do 'dancing like a crazy woman in my house to my ipod', some Zumba classes, some 'treadmill skipping' routines that are a variation on Tracy's (you can see me doing this at the YMCA), and walking outdoors with my pup.

Diet: I will be going back to what worked for me and that is Jorge Cruise and the Belly Fat Cure (this is a low sugar/low carb plan where you try not to exceed 15g sugar and 120g carbs per day). I will be logging everything I eat and tracking my weight and measurements in my Weight Watchers online account (possibly ignoring the WW points since Jorge and WW don't seem to get along!).

See you After Spring Break!!!

Can't Catch Me..I'm the Chai Gingerbread Girl

Quite a while back I saw a Facebook post from a foodie friend of mine (Hello out there Crystin N.!!). She shared a recipe that her friends were raving over. I thought right then that I should save that one. I am VERY glad I did.

In my post Valentine's Day stupor, I was QUITE over that too-sweet-milk-chocolate taste and smell. (Is it just me or as you eat more dark chocolate do you start to be able to smell a difference in the chocolates??). I thought it was an excellent time to try out this recipe.

One thing stood out to me when I first read through-- it did NOT call for molasses. I love gingerbread but I hate working with molasses!! It's a pain to measure. It's a pain to get the top of the jar cleaned off so that next time it isn't superglued shut. It's a pain to clean up the measuring cup that is now coated in molasses. (wow, I didn't realize I had a molasses 'issue'!!) In the end, I usually just buy a mix in order to avoid the molasses thing altogether. Shhhhh....don't tell.

So, that left only one trick to this recipe-- peeling & grating the fresh ginger. I had done it once before. It's not very hard at all. It's kinda like trying to peel a really knobby carrot :) So, then, once it's peeled just use a fine grater to get the amount you need. You can see my unpeeled ginger in the first picture and the peeled and grated amount added to the bowl in the second one.

The dough IS very sticky (just as described) but I just sprayed my hands with non-stick spray and spread it into the pan. The recipe says optionally to sprinkle with sugar but I happened to have this cinnamon-sugar + vanilla and I thought that might make a nice upgrade. It DID.

These were a huge hit with the adults. (My kids wouldn't even try them so I can not report any kid reviews). I REALLY liked the flavor combo of the chai tea and the ginger (by the way: I just cut open a chai tea bag I had in the pantry to get the amount needed for the recipe). The ginger was not too strong either. This was my biggest fear going in. I LOVED that you could see the hairy ginger pieces and the tea leaf bits in the final product (top picture).

These would be excellent with a vanilla or caramel ice cream-- maybe next time?? Mmmmmmmmm....I need to make some more! ENJOY!