A Box Of Oatmeal Cookies

Happy St.Patrick’s Day!

Cross Training means you do something different from the event you are training for.  At least that’s what it means to me.  Since I am training to run longer races, my cross training days are spent doing anything BUT running, however may involve the occasional jog here and there.   Tuesday was a 55 minute cross training day which involved the following mix:

• 15 minutes of rowing. – not my favorite.
• 40 minutes of Elliptical. – I like E.T.-ing
• 25 minutes leg workout using machines. – UGG!
• 48 minute walk with the Shane Man, resulting in 3.12 miles. We took it slow. – What perfect morning!

Today was a running day.  I get up way too early to talk about in order to complete my long run. It’s earlier than Shane wants to get up so the better part of the run is spent on the treadmill watching the Food Network then switching to News.  That can be depressing and totally un-motivating.

I switched running shoes for the treadmill because I noticed my big toe was beginning to bother me. Must be that getting older syndrome:  Your feet get bigger and your ears get longer. Basically, we all turn into Hobbits as we age …”Hobbits…are often depicted with large feet for their size”.  I just pray those big feet of mine don’t start growing curly brown hair 

My new sneaks are Newton running shoes. They are SO PINK!  I might just have to keep them in the house!

All in all a good run 11 miles on the mill and 5.27 miles outside.  At 14 miles I got tired.  Then I got a headache but that went away in about 5 minutes. My hammy started hurting.  At 15 1/2, I thought,”Hey!  I’m not tired.  This is alright, I’ll make it”.  So it was a good 16.27 miles for the books.

I have an announcement:   I received an award.  Yes ME!  I feel so special.

This is from Dawn at Florida Coastal Cooking.  Dawn has been posting amazing food photos all over our blog world and got on the FoodBuzz Top 9!  Good going Dawn!

What I have to do with this award is list 7 things about me.  Only ONE is true. Can you guess which one? 

1. I was born in Wylie, Texas
2. I can’t ride a horse and never want to.
3. I love raw oysters.
4. I began studying to become a yoga teacher.
5. I can turn metal on a lathe since I own a manufacturing shop.
6. My favorite dog breed is the Golden Retriever.
7. I have been a runner for over 15 years.

To forward this reward on to the next creative blogger, I choose, Kath of KATHEATS.  Kath’s blog is the first blog I ever read. I’ve been addicted to her posts ever since.  She is so inspirational and has such ability to motivate others.  Amazing gal with an amazing site.  By the way, the TRUE statement is revealed in my comment on Kath’s blog awarding her the blogger award.  Check it out.

Last weekend while perusing the aisles of Tom’s Natural Foods in Clinton, I came across a mix for oatmeal cookies.

I was surprised at the ingredients which looked identical to what I would use for scratch cookies.   There wasn’t one ingredient I couldn’t pronounce.  The mix cost $5.98.

The directions were really easy as well:

There was only one problem:  I thought they were awfully high in calories, fat and sugar for one cookie.    More about this topic at my EXAMINER SITE.

The nutritional stats indicated one cookie was 190 calories.  Since I messed up the photo, threw away the box and now I can’t read the rest of the values,

I can only tell you that I thought the numbers were high.  It turned out that those numbers were for one BIG cookie.  The nutrition was based on 21 cookies.  Those would be BIG cookies.  I made 48 cookies therefore reducing the calories to 83 and reducing all other stats.  WAIT! one more thing, I further reduced the fat calories by changing the ingredients as follows:
Instead of using 1 cup of butter, I used 1/2 a cup of butter and 3/4 of a mashed banana.

And the moral of the story is:   “Reduce calories, fat, carbohydrates by reducing portion size and replacing fat with an alternate ingredient such as banana, apple sauce, or pumpkin”.  But you knew you that already, right?

Look what I found while doing  a search on the McLaren cookies:  Rome Observer doing an article in 2008 on a local dietitian and nutritionist named Carol McLaren.

DEANSBORO – Carol McLaren, a local certified New York State dietitian and nutritionist, and a member of the Mohawk Regional Dietetic Association has developed a new food product, McLaren’s Oatmeal Cookie Mix.

The mix is also available through Nelson Farms, another local whole foods source.

The mix cookie has all the flavors of a scratch oatmeal cookie. Only one regret.  I forgot to add raisins.

What are some ways you reduce fat and sugar in your recipes?

Joanne