Cookies, Cookies, Cookies!

I love cookies.

Well, I used to.

I was digging through the freezer when I came across some frozen cookie dough. Why do I do this to myself? I make a huge batch of cookie dough then freeze it. Well, tonight, when my guard is down. I find it. This is a triple chocolate cookie. I can safely say it is NOT an Eating Clean cookie.

By the way, I don't crave them (cookies) anymore. Could be due to the Clean Eating I've been doing. :)

Eating Clean

Have you heard about it?

I recently started reading Oxygen magazine, and came across an eating plan called Eating Clean. The basic, in a nutshell, concept is that you eat small portions of food throughout the day, you eat non processed foods, and you keep you options "clean". Since I am currently attempting to lose 20 pounds ~ I'm going to give it a try. I will definitely post all success and failures.

So Many 'Maters... So Little Time...

I ordered a flat of tomatoes at our last Bountiful Baskets fruit/veggie co-op day. My intent was to make pizza sauce, and can it. The flat of beautiful Roma tomatoes sat on my kitchen counter for a week.

Sadly, Friday night was "make it ~ or toss it" night. I got everything I would need for canning the beautiful Roma's only to find out that I didn't have any bottled lemon juice. Apparently, due to the acidic content of the tomatoes in order to preserve them properly you need lemon juice. Not just any lemon juice mind you, BOTTLED lemon juice. We live in a small town with only one supermarket. It doesn't offer 24 hour service.

So, I did the next best thing...I created sun dried tomatoes (in a dehydrator) ! I was able to get three full jars after drying. It was so easy!

Simply slice, blot dry on a paper towel, and put them in a dehydrator for 12-15 hours. I experimented a little and...

put bay leaves and Italian seasoning in one jar, garlic and red pepper seeds in another, and just garlic in the third. I filled the jars with a nice olive oil, and will let them sit for 3-4 weeks. I'll let you know how it tastes... for now... check out the color. Doesn't it look great?

Wondering what happened to the other half of the flat of tomatoes? I peeled them, bagged them, and froze them. They will become pizza sauce to make one portion at a time. I do love homemade pizza!