Well guys, my “100 Days Without Sugar Challenge” is officially over. Holy cow.
I think I did pretty well, for the most part.
If you’ve been reading my blog, you know I definitely still ate sugar; just not the yummy, decadent, addicting, mouth-watering forms of sugar.
I really love and miss that kind of sugar. But, because I love it so much (and am addicted to it), I’ve found it’s much easier to just stay away from it as much as I can.
I’m not one of those people who can take a small bite of something or just have one small cookie and be satisfied. That is actually a form of torture to me.
I would rather stay away from sugar most of the time AND then when I do decide to have sugar, have as much as my little heart desires!
Yes, that’s the way I roll.
Soooo, with that being said I’ve decided to take today and tomorrow “off” and eat whatever the heck I want! Woohoo.
So, this morning I walked into the kitchen and found this….
Yes, a “gigantic” bag of wannabee Cocoa Pebbles, which just so happens to be my favorite sugar cereal on the planet.
Kev told me he bought them a while ago, but has been hiding them from the kids (and probably me!) so they wouldn’t get eaten all in one day. I decided they would be the perfect breakfast to start off my “reckless abandon” weekend.
It was delightful.
That’s all the damage I’ve done so far, but I’m sure the weekend will also include some chocolate chip cookies and a few other treats of some sort. Yum.
Oh, and in case you’re wondering, I’m going to go back to a strict and healthy diet on Monday. I’m going to avoid refined sugar, white flour and most processed foods. However, I’m going to allow myself one “cheat meal” and one treat on the weekends.
Sounds like the perfect plan for me, especially as we’re heading into the holidays.
Oh, and I have a million and one “healthy treat” recipes that I’ve been dying to experiment with too! Can’t wait.
Anyway, moving on…..
I haven’t blogged for a few days because I’ve been feeling a little bit crappy. My two youngest kiddos have had a terrible cold (i.e. cough, fever, nose issues, etc.) the past week or two.
AND I think I’m getting a little bit of that lovely cold. Oh, the joys of motherhood!
I’ve just felt tired, achy, sore throat-y, headache-y, nose problem-ish and just pretty “blah” in general. I’ve been loading up on the vitamin C, so I hope it will be short lived.
I decided not to go to my crazy class at the gym this morning either (gasp!) because I was afraid I would faceplant on the floor.
So sad.
However, I had a fun day yesterday! I went to lunch at Cafe Zupas with some of my great friends from my neighborhood. I love them all so much. 😉
I ordered the Turkey Spinach Artichoke sandwich (yum!) along with a 1/2 Mangoberry salad (my fav!)
It was so good and I was thoroughly stuffed.
Last night, Kev and I decided to take our daughter (and our cute 3 year old) out to dinner because she got straight A’s on her report card. She worked so hard and we’re so proud of her. 😉
She chose to go to Winger’s and it was great!
I ordered the Cobb salad and it was wonderful…
I took off as many of those tortilla strips as I could without being too OCD. Tortilla strips are good, but are not worth the calories, in my opinion.
I also just used a little bit of the ranch. It was a great salad, but I was stuffed once again!
Yes, I went out to eat twice yesterday and ate entirely too much food.
Lovely.
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Well, since it’s my “sugarful” weekend, I thought it was appropriate to share a wonderful “mental health” recipe with you guys!
It’s a family favorite recipe for “Homemade Oreos” and YOU WILL LOVE THEM!
These are one of the desserts I made for my Parent’s 50th Anniversary party too. Several of you guys asked me for the recipe and I’m so sorry that I’m just now posting it. 🙁
Oh, and I don’t think these taste like real Oreos at all; they just look like them. I think they’re are SOOO much better than real Oreos though.
Ingredients:
Cookies:
- 1 Devils Food Cake Mix
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup shortening
Frosting:
- 1 (8 oz) package cream cheese
- 1/4 cup butter; softened just a little bit
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons milk
**I typically find that I have a bunch of frosting left over, so I either freeze the leftover frosting in a freezer bag or double the cookie recipe. One batch of frosting doesn’t make quite enough for two batches of cookies, but we don’t mind eating a few of the chocolate cookies plain…they are still yummy!**
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In large mixing bowl, combine cake mix, eggs and shortening.
- Roll into small balls.
- Place small balls on baking sheet lined with parchment paper (or use cooking spray.)
- Place two trays in the oven at once (one on top rack, one on bottom.) Cook for 4 minutes and then switch the trays places.
- Cook for an additional 4-5 minutes.
- Place cookies on cooling rack and allow to cool.
- While the cookies are cooling, mix the frosting.
- Mix cream cheese and butter in medium bowl until combined. Add powdered sugar and milk and mix well.
- When cookies are cooled, spread frosting between two cookies (don’t be shy!)
- Refrigerate at least one hour and enjoy! Keep the cookies in the fridge.
These are so so so good! Well, I have a mile long “to do” list to get to today, so I gotta go! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!
Yay! Congrats you did it! Enjoy treating yourself; you sure do deserve it. There is so much temptation in this world. My clean eating got a little dirty yesterday. The grade 3 teacher made this chocolate and caramel bark. It was soooo sweet and good, I ate way too much.
Congrats to your daughter. That’s awesome!
Wow, Chocolate Caramel Bark sounds amazing!! YUM! Believe it or not, I’m kind of getting sick of sugar this weekend! I’m looking forward to clean eating again, yay!
I’m not sure about the Oreos. They sound great but I have a vegan oreo that I make and it gives me such a sugar rush that I’m up for three days straight. Which is good if I have something that needs to get done.
Congrats on all those sugar free days!
Oh my goodness, a sugar rush for 3 days….love it! Too much sugar actually makes me sick, but a couple of these cookies are heavenly! 😉
I’m totally the same way with sugar! I need to stay away or pig out, there’s no middle ground in my world. Those oreos looks sooooo good. Totally going to try that one 🙂
I’m glad to hear I’m not alone in my sugar problems, lol! If you make these cookies, I hope you love them! 😉
I can’t believe you went 100 days without sugar! That is crazy! I need to eat sugar every day! I eat dessert every night! I hope you are feeling better!
I know, it was a little crazy, but it was really good for me. 😉 I wish I could eat dessert every night and stay looking as good as you do!
Those homemade Oreos look amazing; however, like you I cannot just stop at one of any sugary treat,
These Oreos are really SO good, but very dangerous!
Good job Melanie! How was your weekend break? When you allow yourself to cheat do you still count calories? I had a mini cheat day today…waiting to get to my goal weight before really letting myself go, but then plan on a once a week treat and a bit of a cheat day on Sundays. 🙂
My weekend break was so fun and refreshing, but all the sugar made me SO SICK! This past weekend I didn’t count calories, but I felt so sick from the sugar that I don’t think I ate a crazy amount of calories anyway. Going forward, I plan to have one treat and one cheat meal on the weekend and I will still try to keep my calories within a reasonable range. I usually try to keep my calories between 1200-1500 when I’m trying to lose weight, but I might let myself go up to 2000 on my splurge day. I wish you the best with reaching your goal weight!
I hear ya on the sugar overload yuckiness! I congratulate you on keeping your goals so firmly in place! I am about 3 pounds from my goal weight. Hoping to be able to splurge a little over Christmas season without going too crazy. 🙂 I have to keep toned for my husband’s Christmas party…my dress is unforgiving. heehee.
Keep up the good work and the good attitude!
100 days is something to be proud of. You should post what you learned or observed – I’d love to read it!
Thanks so much! I plan to do a post all about my sugar challenge today. 😉
The way you are with sugar, I am with pizza. I would rather just not eat it than have 1 piece because I know damn well, I’m not stopping until I’m uncomfrtably full. So, I just steer clear the majority of the time. I don’t think I’d ever go 100 days without pizza, though, haha. Way to go!
Sadly, I feel the same way about pizza too! Pizza has got to be the best food on the planet! I really love sugar (obviously), but after going without it for 100 days, I can’t eat very much of it without it making me sick! I think that’s a good thing. 😉
The cookies look scrumptious! Good for you for completing your challenge! I’m just like you…I have the biggest sweet tooth EVER and I love to bake. My hubby doesn’t have a sweet tooth at all and he doesn’t understand why I’m the way I am….he’s so lucky because it’s hard to control it sometimes! That’s one reason I like to make my own desserts, so I can at least control the quality of ingredients! 🙂
My husband used to be just like your husband (not much of a sweet tooth) and I couldn’t understand how anyone could be like that! However, over the years my husband has become much more of a sweets person than he used to be! I guess that’s what happens when you live with a sweets-aholic; If you can’t beat them, join them! I love all your desserts though because you don’t have to feel as guilty indulging. LOVE THEM!