No cookies......

One of the things about being confined to our little house for a period of time, due to bad weather and illness, is the problem with food.  I am careful to avoid the snack aisle when I go to the store.  I might buy Andy a candy bar.  Or some of those single serving ice cream treats that Blue Bunny makes. (Haven't seen them yet?  I can tell you exactly where they are in the frozen food section.)  This Christmas I made no cookies.  NO cookies, you've got that right.  Zero, zilch, nada.  No Springerle, no ginger creams, no cat's tongues with chocolate sprinkles.  My grandmothers would be horrified....no cookies, they would exclaim, throwing their hands up in the air and releasing a cloud of flour and spices from the ample aprons that covered them from Thanksgiving until Christmas Eve.  I come from a long line of bakers and makers of delicious food...unfortunately it skipped a generation and now resides with my daughter, thankfully.

However, I have found that I make up for the lack of cookies in other ways.  For several days I have made waffles for breakfast that we ate with slices of ham and mugs of coffee.  Slathered with butter and syrup we ate every delicious bite.  And biscuits.  I can make biscuits.  And they are great with ham and beans.  Lots of jelly to go with those biscuits.  I wondered what to make for dessert tonight after making a skillet full of spaghetti sauce.  Something good for you.  Something that wouldn't add too many calories to the already calorific week that has passed in a sugar haze.  Ah.....tapioca.  That's indeed what I made.  I stood and stirred it for almost twenty minutes so it wouldn't stick to the pan.  I let it cool just to that warm stage.  And then, gilding the lily, I took out the Cool Whip and added about half a cup to the top of the bowl.  Oh my, nirvana for sure.

Spring is coming.  I will have to change out of my roomy winter pants and try to slip into those skinny-person jeans once more.  Perhaps by that time I will have gotten a handle on this making-up-for-no Christmas cookies thing and return to fruit and salad and lean meats.  But not just yet.  Maybe I'll bake a cake tomorrow...hummm.