See, I have a reason for not making donuts and sugar cookies (like I ALWAYS, ALWAYS do, every single Chanukah). First, I do believe that certain foods are associated with certain holidays. In our house, it isn't Pesach if there isn't rolled up eggies. Who wants to eat honey cake in June, or eat blintzes in December? It just isn't happening. So in our house, it has been a tradition for years .. latkes, donuts, and sugar cookies. I have a gazillion chanukah cookie cutters (Ok, about 20 of them are magen dovids, about 50 of them are menorahs and dreidles, and a few of them are those big Macabee guys whose sword or leg falls off when you try to pull the cookie cutter from the cookie dough.) I have this fantastic recipe that uses colored sprinkles (not the long ones, the little round ones that are hard little balls). It is so yummy, and I am not kidding when I say that the kids look forward to it all year.
So this year I just couldn't do it. I can't bring myself to do it because ... <whispers> ... i lost my self control! I just can't seem to stop from eating the sweets. I lost a lot of weight. I've struggled for years and years with my weight. I was rarely technically over weight. I was just at the high end of normal, and I hated it with a passion. I finally got wise. I kicked the sugar habit. I started eating healthy, exercised, and watched my portions. I dropped the weight and was thrilled. Then I had an issue, and stopped exercising for a while. The weight was staying off, so fine. But this past summer, I started eating sweets again. BIG MISTAKE! I've put on a few pounds. Not a lot, but enough to make me mad at myself, for all the hard work I've done. Now it seems like it is going to go down the drain. Or rather, show up in my pot belly. (Yeah, I may be thin, but I am telling you that my internal organs are packing on the fat.) I can't make donuts or cookies because ... I will hide them in the freezer and eat them myself.
Like I said, I did give in to the pleading and made the kids latkes. Now if you don't know what a latke, it is potato pancakes that soak up as much oil as possible. You can put them on a paper towel to try and blot them out, but forget it. The oil is just staying there. There is probably enough oil in each latke to fill a cup of a menorah.
I was sooooo proud of myself. I did not taste a single one while frying them. Not one. That was part of my problem, I reasoned. Don't stand around sampling them until you've eaten 5 or 6 without even realizing it.
And then ... and then ... I sit down to dinner and reward myself with TWO latkes. Yeah me. Wrong. They were yummy, so I decided to eat just one more. And then one more. And then one more. At that point, I stopped, but I was still annoyed. So much for myself control.
Come on, admit it ... your mouth is watering, isn't it? You can almost hear those sizzling in the pan, right?
So now I ask you ... since you know my horrible secret, can it really be a holiday without fattening food? Can you have Chanukah without donuts? Is the food what makes the holiday? Why have we reached the point where my kids told me that this is the worst chanukah ever since I was not making them the traditional foods? This came after I broke down and <gasp> bought the kids chanukah presents. (Shauly was shocked that I did. We give chanukah gelt, no presents. Well, he was shocked until he heard what they got ... they got bike helmets that they all needed.)
Why do we associate food with holidays, and more important, how do we break away from this? I've tried baked latkes in the past; they stink. They are not real latkes. Last year I made baked donuts. Guess who ended up eating them? And slipping the white whole wheat flour into the donuts and cookies makes it worse. (Some of them are starting to figure out that I am using a lot less white flour.)
*sigh* So, if you happen to have a really good recipe for a low-sugar, not fried donut, or a low sugar sugar cookie recipe, let me know. After spending several hours searching for some, I realized this ... if you take the sugar out of a sugar cookies, and the frying out of a donut, you will get exactly that ... a poor substitute for the real thing.
OK, enough. I am actually going to make some crackers and I hope that this will make everyone happy. Maybe I will use my chanukah cookie cutters!
Happy Chanukah and a Gutten Chodesh! Wishing everyone a g'bentched month, and we should all merit to celebrate the ultimate Chanukas HaBayis, the Bais Hamikdash Shleeshi. (I was basically saying I want Moshiach Now.)
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