Sugar
I wrote this in 2002 but I looked it up in old email so I could post it here to share with a friend.
I believe refined sugar to be unhealthy in a number of ways. This idea must be catching on because I heard a radio ad this week for sugar. The message was simple: eat sugar, only 16 calories per teaspoon or whatever. It made me laugh out loud!
Not only do I maintain my lower weight vs. higher when I scrupulously avoid sugar, my moods are more even (I think) and best of all, I lose my cravings for sweets. When I go a week or more without sugar, I no longer miss it. Then I can give myself a small treat, once a week or a few times a month, and still be fine.
The holidays, of course, are laden with sugar. I have made it through Halloween more than once with little or no sugar. The Halloween excess almost makes it too easy to sit out. It is no challenge.
This Christmas I was saving myself for mincemeat pie, but a neighbor caught me off guard by delivering a box of See’s candies with NUTS. I cut them all in half for all to share and sample, of course sampling quite a few myself. Fortunately they were not as good as I remembered.
Then a tin of chocolate chip cookies materialized under the tree on Christmas Day, from Sara. I would have preferred oatmeal, but nonetheless I started munching on those cookies. Mike did, too. They were a bit too sweet, and I guiltily ate around some of the chips and threw them away. I remember how crazy I thought Mike was ten years ago when he suggested making chocolate chip cookies with NO chips. Now I understand.
I was weaning myself from the cookies. I planned to finish the mincemeat pie for desserts — no one else likes it. Mike finished the chocolate chip cookies and said, “Oh, there is some other kind of cookies in here.” I asked what kind but he had not bothered to look.
When I looked later, I discovered pure treasure: Hello Dollies. I thought Nana just called them that, but I’ve seen the recipe in cookbooks. I wonder if Sara or Mother blessed me with these? I ate four at once, for lunch. After running errands, I ate three more. I will eat a proper dinner, but until then, I’m on a HD & water diet. Could you make HD into a complete meal by hiding protein powder between the graham-butter crust and chocolate layer? There is plenty of sugar and fat, other carbs, and trace protein in the nuts.
My only problem now is what to have for dessert: mincemeat pie or Hello Dollies?
Hello Dollies These are also known as 6 Layer Bars - because the 6 ingredients in the recipe are layered one by one in the pan. You can't get much easier than that, and they are so good, too. Ingredients: 1/2 cup butter 1 1/2 cups graham wafer crumbs 1 cup chopped walnuts 1 cup chocolate chips 1 1/2 cups flaked coconut 1 can sweetened condensed milk (Eagle Brand, 300ml) Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Melt butter in a 9 x 13 inch cake pan. Remove from oven, and spread the melted butter evenly over the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle the graham wafer crumbs evenly over the melted butter. Sprinkle walnuts over the graham wafer crumbs, then chocolate chips, then coconut. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over top of the coconut. Return to oven and bake for about 25 minutes, until lightly browned on top. Cut into small squares when cooled.
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