And that is Xmas visitor munchies
“who wants tea or coffee?” people sorted out
while you make this face…
Sugar-free Christmas Biscuits. – Hazaa to you!
“Yeah, Auntie Val…they ARE homemade
I know – I am rather awesome, I won’t lie…”
Sugar Free Xmas Biscuits
Worth it for the smell when they’re cooking.Ingredients:
Four tbsp honey
160g unsalted butter, softened
Yes. Actual real butter.
250g plain flour
Pinch of salt
2 tsp of bicarbonate of soda
1 tbsp of ground ginger
1 tsp of mixed spice
One medium egg
Method:
Preheat your oven to 180c (gas Mk 4).
Melt the butter and honey in a small saucepan over a low heat.
Pour into a large bowl and allow to cool.
Beat your egg and stir into the liquid.
Sieve your dry ingredients and slowly stir in.
Roll in your hands until you have a smooth dough.
Dust a clean surface with flour and roll out very thinly.
Using a festive cookie cutter, cut into the desired shapes.
^^^HERE’S SOME GOOD ONES^^^
Place on a greased baking sheet and place in the middle of your oven.
Bake for just 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
Put in a tin.
If they don’t get eaten by then, they will last a week
in an airtight container.
Which they will, so that was purely theoretical.
So, anyway, how is going?
I spoke to a woman today,
for whom…it is not going so well.
Long story (as they all are)
but the upshot of it is – she’s in a no-win situation.
Now I don’t know about you
but I am usually of the opinion
that I can come up with an ingenious solution
to most things.
If someone presents you with a dilemma
then, you normally can quickly give
your best fix.
Right?
But for this lady
there just isn’t one.
She and her family are facing a shitstorm
they can all see it looming
and there isn’t a thing that any of them can do
about it.
They are just waiting..
And brilliantly she said to me:
(actually she attributed this
to the fact that she practices Mindfulness daily)
“We are just going to ride it out.
And deal with things as they come”
How BRILLIANT is that?
Whilst most people
would go to pieces
and lose the plot,
Start shouting at everyone,
sobbing “why me?” between mouthfuls of chocolate
Ben & Jerry’s…
this superb chica
is going to keep calm,
breathe,
and make the best of whatever life throws at her.
Because:
“I’m no use to anyone in hysterics, am I?”
Blew my mind for about ten minutes.
This is SERIOUS messed-up sh*t she is dealing with
by any measure.
And it made me think about perspective.
Every little problem in my life pales into insignificance
compared what this lady is dealing with.
And then, there’s;
Ebola, Middle East Unrest, War, 80s, the fact that every TV star I liked
when I was growing up is an evil sexual deviant *shudder*
(please never ever tell me anything bad about Brucie
as that would be the last straw)
Incurable illness, Poverty, Inequality, Climate Change,
Water Shortages, Credit Crunch,
Tragic news of ill mothers and newborns meeting
heart wrenching, preventable ends…
The stuff we see on the news every day
is SO big
and SO awful
and SO massive
That it almost becomes like a fiction..
A REAL fiction.
Did you see that story…?
wasn’t it awful…?
Anyway – have you got all your Christmas
Shopping done yet?
What did we do there?
We, quite rightly, put all those things into the folder
marked ‘things that I cannot do anything about’.
And there is this other folder, on the mental shelf
entitled…”things I am going to do later.”
If there is one thing I can convince you of
because I have proved it to myself time and time again
is that procrastination…pretty much ENSURES failure.
Every time.
That’s what everyone else does.
When someone says: “I will try to get along to your class”.
I already know not to put them on the register. They ain’t comin’…
The World is full of people who are going to just
have a last tiny little bit of that cake
pack in the fags soon
get back to exercise after Xmas.
MORE Real Fictions
stories we tell ourselves..
to let us off the hook of doing anything about it now.
Now is what is going to make it happen. Now is what makes it PERFECTLY OK to make biscuits
and have one with your tea..
and enjoy the festive season, being Mindful and measured..
Making a weekly meal /exercise planner NOW
(You could use these ones below)
you’ll know you have exercised and had brilliant nutrients
and that a biscuit isn’t something to deprive yourself of.
According to the British Dietetic Association
the average person put on 5lbs over the festive season.
Anecdotally, that seems a bit low
Still not nice when you look at it…
Incidentally – 5lbs of muscle on the other side
#justsaying..
So two things you KNOW you need to do.
Not Fiction.
Swap the crap for better food at every opportunity.
Burn some extra Calories off every day.
You could do that today.
Damage Limitation.
Don’t say I don’t love you…
(incidentally, I have the usual flurry of people
already getting in touch to start their Annual
‘New Year – New Me’ regime…..
but the ones I know WILL succeed
no question
are the ones that want to start BEFORE Christmas