Nope, I may be the last. I had no idea. This is sad. I'll have to see if I have anything not on vinyl of his. This takes me back waaaay too many years. I learned about him because of George, who also left us too soon.

Just wanted to say that we always got our tree the day after Thanksgiving and it lasted well past New Year's. We got them from a U-cut tree farm. We always cut an inch or more off before putting it in the water. So, from my experience, it wasn't that you got it too early (unless it had been cut way before you bought it), but that you didn't know to cut a slice from the trunk. So sorry this happened to you!! We moved 4 1/2 years ago and have been using a fake tree ever since. I really miss the fresh trees!

A couple of my favorites this year have been: 11/22/63 by Stephen King (I LOVE King,but know that many don't. This wasn't his normal creepy kind of book, it's a time travel based book) Blackout by Mira Grant (3rd book in the Newsflesh Trilogy) Divergent by Veronica Roth (I just bought the 2nd book in this series, Insurgent, but haven't started it yet) Little Bee by Chris Cleave (A Nigerian orphan's life intertwined with a British journalist couple's life) Before I Go To Sleep by SJ Watson (A woman loses her memory every time she goes to sleep, and the book has some twists)

If you do try the cookies with almond flour, please post your review. I have a ton of cookie molds that are just waiting for a lc cookie recipe that will work with them. I've debated many times about selling them, but I like them too much. Hope you don't encounter any more gluten!!

These do sound good. Have you tried almond flour in place of the regular flour? Sorry you were so sick. Are you positive it's gluten sensitivity? Is this the awesome cookie recipe that made you so sick?

Potatoes were definitely one of my downfalls. I do LOVE potatoes. But, it'll be a year in February since I last had one. Do you have any trouble getting back to the lchf woe after you've eaten carbs? That's a huge fear of mine, that I wouldn't be able to get back on track because of the cravings that would come back. Also, this weekend I'm trying several new-to-me cookie recipes in the hopes of finding one or two that would appeal to non-lowcarbers for a cookie exchange. So far, I'm disappointed. I want a really wow recipe and am just not finding what I'm looking for. I did find one recipe that I like a lot, but the cookies are too fragile for an exchange. The original recipe called for wheat flour and I subbed almond four. I'm wondering if subbing coconut flour instead might work.

Congratulations to you!!

None of our "group" is left? Anyone out there.......

...haven't heard anything from anyone since the board change over. I'm just wondering how everyone is doing. How did your Thanksgiving go? What are your Christmas/holiday food plans? Will you be doing any baking? Fill me in, please.

I think that Love Actually is my all time favorite Christmas movie. Not for young kids, though.

I make low-carb cookies. Right now, my favorite chocolate chip cookies are these. You should be able to find all the ingredients at a grocery store. Bob's Red Mill is usually carried at most stores. Maria's blog (where the recipe is from) is awesome! * Exported from MasterCook * "HEALTHIFIED" CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE Recipe By : Serving Size : 0 Preparation Time :0:00 Categories : Cookies Low Carb Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method -------- ------------ -------------------------------- 1 1/2 cup blanched almond flour 1/2 cup coconut flour 1 tsp aluminum free baking powder 1 cup coconut oil or butter 1 cup Just Like Sugar OR Just Like BROWN Sugar 1/2 cup erythritol (or Swerve) 2 tsp stevia glycerite OPTION: add 1 egg (for cake-like cookie) 1 tsp Celtic sea salt 2 ChocoPerfection Bars (chopped) Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. In a medium bowl, cream the butter, Just Like Brown Sugar, erythritol and stevia (add in egg if using). Cream for a few minutes until very fluffy. In a separate bowl mix together the almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add in the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth. Add in chocolate. Roll 2 TBS of dough into a ball in your hands (for uniform shape) onto a cookie sheet, then press down to they are about ¾ of an inch thick. Place cookies about 2 inches apart. Bake in preheated oven for 17-20 minutes or until golden around the edges. Cool completely on the baking sheet before removing and enjoy! I keep mine in the freezer (for portion control!:) Makes 24 cookies. NUTRITIONAL COMPARISON (per cookie) Traditional Cookie = 180 calories 25 effective carbs "Healthified" Cookie = 125 calories, 1.5 effective carbs VARIATION: Smoosh my "healthified" ice cream in between! This could also be used as a pie crust. Change it up by adding almond extract and shredded coconut. They can also be made into bars; just be sure to cool completely before trying to serve. Source: "http://mariahealth.blogspot.com" - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - NOTES : I used all Truvia for the sweetener. I used 3/4 cup to 1 cup total. I used butter and left out the egg. I used a Lindt 90% Cacao bar broken into small pieces instead of the ChocoPerfection Bars. The second time I made these, I used half butter and half coconut oil. They were even tastier! These cookies taste like regular chocolate chip cookies. They are awesome! Here is one I will be trying: * Exported from MasterCook * Candice’s Low-Carb Chocolate Chunk Cookies Recipe By : Serving Size : 0 Preparation Time :0:00 Categories : Cookies Low Carb Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method -------- ------------ -------------------------------- 1/2 cup unsalted butter -- room temp 3/4 cup granulated splenda 4 large eggs 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons coconut flour -- sifted 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1/3 cup(33g) pecans or walnuts -- chopped Chocolate chunks: 2 oz unsweetened baking chocolate -- finely chopped ** 1 teaspoon shortening or butter 1/4 cup splenda In small bowl add coconut flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. Cream butter & splenda until light and fluffy in mixer with paddle attachment. Add 2 eggs while mixer is running. Add Vanilla. Then add your coconut flour mixture. And then your last two eggs. Mix till just combined on low, then turn mixer on MED/HIGH and beat till mixture is completely smooth. By hand fold in chocolate chunks and nuts. Refrigerate dough for at least an hour before using in an airtight container. This will make it easier to scoop and work with. Preheat oven to 350F Line cookie sheet with parchment paper, or nonstick baking liner. Scoop with a 1 Tablespoon cookie scoop(#60), if you don’t have one, scoop 1 Tablespoon then roll in your hand to make ball. Press down cookie with palm of your hand, just enough to flatten slightly. Bake @ 350F for 12-15 minutes Chocolate chunks Line a small bowl with parchment, set a side. Chop Chocolate, put in a heatproof bowl with shortening or butter. Microwave for 30 seconds. Take out stir. Put in for another 30 seconds. Take out stir again & add splenda. Microwave for another 20-30 seconds till all melted and smooth. Pour chocolate mixture into prepared bowl and put in freezer for 10-15 mins. Take out and chop in chunks. ** I use bakers unsweetened chocolate, but if you don’t mind A LITTLE added sugar, then you can use a 85% cocao chocolate(like Lindt) just be sure to adjust your nutritional information. The Lindt chocolate would definitely create a more smoother/sweeter cookie. Unsweetened has a more bitter taste. Unsweetened bakers chocolate has 9g carb per square (28g/1oz) – 4g of which is fiber and 0g sugar and something like the Lindt 85% cocao bar (3 squares/30g) has 6g carb per – 2g of which are fiber and 4g sugar. So it’s really up to you what you would rather use and if you don’t mind the sugar. I do so I use unsweetened. Nutritional information for 1 cookie: Energy 78 kcal Carbohydrate total 3.14 g Sugars, total 0.29 g Fiber, total dietary 1.25 g Protein 1.89 g Total lipid (fat) 7.18 g NET carb per cookie: 1.89 g “I am SO glad I started experimenting with coconut flour. Love this stuff, SO many ideas I have now floating around in my head! Really I think the possibilities are endless.†“These cookies are SO good.. if I did not know they were low carb I would of never guessed! Hope you enjoy!†Source: "http://yourlighterside.com" - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Yep, we've got two. Annoying as all get-out.

I use a combo of erythritol and stevia glycerite. I use a lot of recipes from this blog: http://mariahealth.blogspot.com/ If you go here: http://mariahealth.blogspot.com/2012/03/lemon-bars-and-why-we-over-eat.html and scroll down a bit, she shows amounts for substituting. My family doesn't seem to notice I'm using a sugar sub when I use the erythritol/stevia glycerite combo. But, when I use Truvia (my other favorite sub) they can tell. I was ordering these online, but found out earlier this week that Super Supplements carries both of these items.

I was also going to suggest One Second After and The Road. I will be starting World War Z tonight and I have The Passage on my nightstand. I can also highly recommend the Newsflesh trilogy by Mira Grant. The 3 books are Feed, Deadline and Blackout. Feed would be a great book club read! Then, those who really enjoyed it could go on to read the other 2 books.

We got our pup 2 days after Thanksgiving 4 years ago. She's the best!! It'll all work out...

That is cute! Thanks!

Thanks! I've never seen that website.

Has anyone seen anything along those lines? Dd would love to be a writer. She does nanowrimo (or however it's spelled) every year. I'd love to find an ornament for her that has something to do with writing. TIA

Thank you!! Perfect stocking stuffer for dd!!

The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook was at Costco on Saturday.

I totally understand your excitement. Costco is my favorite store!! A Trader Joes opened a year ago across the street from our Costco.:001_smile:

I know you said you don't want to store your recipes on your computer, but here's what I do. I use MasterCook. I collect recipes that I think that I might like to try at some point in my life and have several hundred cookbooks within MasterCook. I also have my own personal cookbooks which I've named after my dd and then put Vol 1, Vol 2 etc. after her name. So, I have various "cookbooks" within MasterCook in which I have the recipes. The cookbooks correspond to where I found the recipe (Cooking Light, All Recipes, etc.). When I actually make a recipe, I make a copy of it and put it in my personal cookbook (whichever volume I'm on at the moment - right now it's Vol. 6) within MasterCook. Then, every couple or few years, I print out an actual cookbook with all the recipes that I made during that time period. I ask for recipes from other family members and include those, too. I print a master copy, take it to Costco, have as many copies printed as I need, add a cardstock cover and then the plastic protector over that and have it all spiral bound. These become that years Xmas gifts for extended family. I've put away a copy of each volume for dd for when she has a place of her own. I also get extras printed to give as gifts to friends who also love to cook. When dd was younger, I had her illustrate the cover and then after they were printed, she hand colored (with colored pencils) each cover. This sounds WAY more complicated than it actually is. I printed the first cookbook in 1998, so this has worked for me for quite a number of years.

This is exactly what I hate. This time of year I go to work in the dark and come home in the dark. And, I become a slug and want to get in bed at 6pm.

You know, after I posted, I started thinking what a waste of my hour it would be to sleep. There are so many other productive things I could do instead. But, I really need some sleep. Cutting hair sounds like a good use of your hour to me.

My plan is to sleep! I had a chance to sleep in to 7:30 this morning, but woke up a little before 5. My mind just went crazy stressing out about all kinds of things and then I couldn't get back to sleep. I'm hoping that I get to use my extra hour tonight to sleep in a bit.