LOWFAT AND THEY LIKE IT!

For the last five years or so, I've been very interested in eating less fat. I also love to cook, so you probably have figured out my family has been subjected to many interesting dishes. Some were keepers, some went straight into the garbage!

Here's a recipe I tried yesterday that everyone loved! Of course, they ate it as a dessert with vanilla ice cream. I liked it just fine without.

NO-FAT CINNAMON COFFEE CAKE

1 c. plain nonfat yogurt
1 t. baking soda
1/4 c. applesauce
1 c. brown sugar
2 egg whites
1 t. vanilla
1 1/2 c. flour
2 t. baking powder

Topping: 1/2 c. brown sugar
1 T. cinnamon

Lightly coat a 9 " pan with cooking spray. In small bowl, combine yogurt and baking soda; mix well and set aside (mixture will grow in volume). In large mixing bowl, beat applesauce with sugar until well mixed. Add egg whites and vanilla; beat well, about 2 min. In another bowl, combine flour with baking powder. Alternately add yogurt mixture and flour to applesauce mixture. Mix topping. Spread half the batter in the pan, then sprinkle with half the topping. Repeat. Bake in 350 oven for 45 minutes.

P.S. I added 1 chopped apple to the batter!

PARENTING CHALLENGES: VOLUME AND DENSITY

You know it's bad when your better half is out of town and there's Math homework!  I tried to help my son with his 7th grade Science work, which looked ridiculously like Math!  He had to find the volume of a cube measuring 2cm x 3cm x 2 cm then convert it to milliliters!  That was just one of the problems.  (Didn't help that he missed 3 days of school last week for a family funeral and All-State concert practices)  Might sound easy to you, but not to me.  Give me memorizing the Periodic Table of the Elements!  Let me identify 108 bones of the body!  We finally figured it out.  Or so we thought.  

He reported to me today he made 27% because he forgot to put the exponent at the end of each answer!  AAAAAAAUUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!

A TYPICAL DAY OFF FROM SCHOOL...

isn't really about doing a family activity anymore. :( Not when your kids are 13, 17, and 19 years old. We did actually all eat dinner together plus one friend. I will say I think everyone enjoyed the down time. My husband and I walked together this morning. Son #1 ventured down to Bricktown with a friend and did some filming for some random project he will not reveal yet. Then they monopolized the family computer for the next 4 hours, editing and adding tunes to their video. Son #2 slept late, hung out at the church with a friend, and worked on his treehouse for a while. Our college girl didn't have a holiday today. I actually went with some friends to see a movie, which happens once in a blue moon, while my hyper husband rode around Lake Hefner on his newly acquired bike. With the newly acquired Christmas helmet, rearview mirror, and seat, using his newly acquired Craig's list purchased rack. Can you say obsessed?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay, I apologize. I really don't want to be married to a couch potato.

Oh the other thing I forgot to mention: Today I made the CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE DOUGH BROWNIES WITH GANACHE FROSTING featured on Bakerella's blog this month. Trust me, they're good.

17 YR. OLD'S IDEA OF FUN - DIET COKE AND MENTOS BOMBS

So I've been waiting for a boring week to share with you one of the things my 17 yr. old did on Christmas break! Not once, twice, but three times he went with friends to the store and bought Diet Coke and Mentos. Have you ever seen a Diet Coke and Mentos bomb? Well don't tell the men in your house about it or they're sure to go try it. One of these "bombs" when shaken up and thrown down onto the driveway shot over our 2 story house! Spewing Diet Coke all over my house. We still haven't had a good rain yet! I'm not really complaining too much, though. If that's the biggest mess he ever makes, then, I'm okay with that.

ONE OF THE GREATEST JOYS AS A PARENT...

is watching your kids perform.  Perform well.  It is a wonderful blessing from God and reminds me that I need to do well and put a smile on my heavenly Father's face.  It also makes me think that all those years of playing, singing in the car, reading, just trying to be a good parent, makes it all worth it.  

Here's our miniature Sonny and Cher - our son and his 7th grade friend - the only boy/girl act in the school talent show!  They sang "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" in these wonderful 70's clothes rented from OC's costume shop (thanks, Darrel!).

If you are wanting some cheap entertainment, the show runs one more time - tonight, Friday, Jan. 9, at Santa Fe HS!

OPENING NIGHT 09 - ROLLER DERBY GIRLS SCARE ME!

So we did something we've never done before for New Year's Eve...went to Opening Night in downtown OKC!  We went with some friends from church, and had 5 teens with us.  It was very interesting...alot like the state fair...lots of good people watching.    

Thumbs up:  Edgar Cruz (guitarist), Crystal Bridge, fireworks at midnight!

Thumbs down:  Roller Derby girls, Blue Devil something or other band, walking through some kind of private party with a banner proclaiming it to be a "Brown Suga" party, being stuck on the 4th floor of a parking garage in line to get out for a while!  

I'm thinking it was an interesting experience and not one our teens will want to repeat on their own anytime soon!