A Little Hot Toddy…

Oh my undergrad years…it seems so long ago. Really its been like two years, but let me tell you grad school is just not the same.

One of my favorite memories, along with a million others, took place in my kitchen in Corvallis. We all know that kitchens should be the largest room in the house as everyone gathers there. My first college home was no different, we ate, we drank, we sang, played games and most of laughed.

Coming off of winter work out the majority of my judging team was pretty sick. I personally felt like death. After a day of classes and reasons in preperations for Denver, we (the eight girls on the team and a herd of other friends) decided that the only logical way to beat the nasty pre-Denver crud was to have a hot toddy. So I did what ever logical college student would do, I googled how to make one.

Well it was a success, I started feeling better along with the help of numerous over the counter medications we (the team) made it through Denver. We did however receive a string of texts from one of my roommates who had caught the nasty cold that we all had. She was left in Corvallis, which is one of the coldest, wettest places I have ever been, and walking to campus in January is never a good option. Well the roommate who shall not be named, informed all of us that she had consumed to many hot toddies prior to 8:00am and would be walking to campus due to the fact she was not legal to drive. So please use caution when consuming this recipe.

Necessities

Enough boiling or warm water to fill mug 3/4 full

1 Shot whiskey (be careful!)

1 T. Honey

1 Cinnamon tea bag

1/4 C. Sprite or 7-Up

Instructions:

Boil water.

Place whiskey, honey, and soda POP into the mug, drape tea bag into the cup.

Once the water boils or is to a warm enough temprature pour over the tea bag, stir and enjoy!

Healthy Cookies, Maybe!

If I can find away to cut fat or calories from a food item you bet I will! My first college roommate is a dietitian and loves to experiment with food. I will admit I am not as adventurous as she is, but this recipe I think will take me up a level or two in her book. She first turned me on to using apple sauce for an oil subistute, which I have embraced as well with this recipe and its soooo good!

I was reading a news blip on MSN that said that you can substitute avocados in cookies and cut the butter in half, I was intrigued by this. I vividly remember working a up sets of reasons in junior college staring at a case that the biology department had put together of the fat in foods. They had so nicely portrayed the amount of fat in avocados to that of a Burger King Whopper. I was disgusted by that, but knew that avocados were full of “good fat” or mono and polyunsaturated fat.

Well I think they are healthy, they really might not be at all, but they are sure good and I feel good about eating them! This recipe was given to me from my one of my many second Mothers, she still makes them way better than I do!

1 C. Butter or Margarine, softened or 1/2 C. butter

1 Avocado, softened (I would let it set out on the counter for a day or so before using)

3/4 C Brown Sugar

1/4 Sugar (I use Splenda)

1 Package (3.4 ounces) Instant Pudding (Chocolate or Vanilla), I also used the sugar free pudding

2 Eggs

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1 Teaspoon Baking Soda

2-1/4 C Flour (I used half white flour and half whole-wheat flour)

2 C (12 Ounces) Semisweet Chocolate Chips

1 C Walnuts, finely chopped (Only if you want too!)

In a mixing bowl, cream butter, avocado, sugars and pudding mix. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine flour and baking soda; gradually add to the creamed mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts (dough will be stiff). Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Yields: 4 dozen delicious cookies.

Side note, the avocado will make the batter really green, so I opted use chocolate pudding to cover that up.