Home Away from Home on Christmas

I wasn't in PA for Christmas for maybe the second time ever in life. I missed seeing everyone and keeping up the traditions we've had forever, but it was nice staying home, avoiding airports, and making new traditions.

On Christmas Eve, after I was done prepping for Christmas Day brunch (press cookies, egg bake, cinnamon buns, bourbon eggnog...), Shaun and I wandered around the Hotel del Coronado. We sat on the beach in the dark and then drove around looking at Christmas lights.

Christmas Eve at the Hotel del Coronado

Christmas morning, we Skyped with my family, had Shaun's mom and sister over for brunch - complete with cinnamon sugar bacon, Cards Against Humanity, and a yule log fire on the big screen TV. We stopped at a friend's house on Christmas night for wine and made friends with a drag queen.

Eggnog

Christmas Morning at Home

On the 26th, we spent our gift cards at the mall and had dinner with new friends downtown. On the 27th, we explored a new neighborhood and visited a new tourist attraction. All in all, a good holiday, despite a bad case of the Sunday blues today due to having to work this week.

Downtown San Diego

Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery

1st Annual Cookies and Cocoa Party

It's hard to get into the holiday spirit when it's always 70 and sunny in SoCal, so I hosted a cookie exchange for the first time!

According to my research, people are really organized with their cookie exchanges. I did more of a lazy hostess version - I told everyone to bring at least a dozen cookies in a Facebook invite. Then later, I said it was okay if they bought cookies instead of baked because I didn't want to be TOO demanding. At least I'm not the host that says you have to make 8 dozen, package up 7 dozen in matching gift tins, labeled, with recipe, and put the other dozen on a holiday themed plate for tasting and for voting. I just said 'bring cookies.' And it worked out really well! No one made the same kind, even though we didn't talk about who was doing what. We set them ALL on the table to snack on (we used gift tags as labels), and at the end, everyone grabbed a paper plate and piled it up with a mixture of no calorie treats, threw some plastic wrap on it (and maybe a bow) and probably finished them up for dinner like I did! Simple!

The best part besides the guests and cookies was the hot cocoa bar. And honestly I didn't even drink hot cocoa because we also had holiday sangria. But it was so much fun to put together. Two hours before the party, I made hot cocoa in the Crock Pot. I did about a cup per person. I set out pretty much everything you would want to put into hot cocoa and more - a few favorites were the Reese's peanut butter chips, homemade whipped cream, Chocolate Cherry Bailey's, and homemade cupcake marshmallows (custom recipe below!). I even made a sign. Gosh, I'm cute.

Since I got a little manic on Pinterest, I just had to make gingerbread dip with graham crackers. I also thought we needed something healthy to go with all the desserts, so I whipped up chocolate dipped clementines with sea salt (we are not going to call them Cuties - ever) and wine soaked grapes. Hey, it's still fruit!

All in all, a successful Sunday. Who wants to come to the cookies and cocoa party next year? Or next weekend?

Cupcake Marshmallows
(adapted from Butter Baked Goods and Martha Stewart)
2/3 cups water 
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1.5 cups sugar
2/3 cup light corn syrup
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp cupcake syrup (why doesn't Starbucks have this??)
powdered sugar to coat them at the end - around a cup
butter or cooking spray for your pan

Tools: Baking pan; saucepan, stand mixer, spatula, measuring cups, parchment paper, plastic wrap

Directions 

1. Prep your baking pan - I put parchment paper in the bottom and sprayed with cooking spray. You could also butter or spray the pan instead & skip the parchment paper - just be generous with the coating. 
2. In a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, pour in 1/3 cup of the water and  sprinkle with the gelatin. Set aside so it can soak. 
3. In a medium saucepan, bring sugar, corn syrup, salt and remaining 1/3 cup water to a rolling boil - continue boiling for 1 minute and then remove from heat. 
4. Turn the mixer on low and mix the gross gelatin to combine with the water. Slowly and carefully add the hot sugar mixture, pour down the side of the mixing bowl - away from the beaters. It's molten sugar! Mix on low. 
5. When it feels safe, crank up the mixer to high and whip for 10-12 minutes - the batter will become thick and expand. Scrape down the sides the bowl as it mixes. Stop the mixer and add the vanilla & cupcake syrup. Try not to face plant into it because it smells so good. Whip briefly to combine.
6. Transfer to the buttered baking pan and use a spatula to spread evenly.
7. Stick a buttered or sprayed sheet of plastic wrap across the top. Press down firmly to seal it up - this is also a good time to flatten out the slab and make it more even. 
8. I let it sit at room temp overnight - at least 3 hours though. 
9. When it's been 3 hours or more - sprinkle a cutting board with powdered sugar. Remove the top plastic wrap. Flip the pan upside down and it should come right out if you prepped your pan in step 1. Rub the slab with powdered sugar. Use cookie cutters (sprayed with cooking spray) or a knife to cut up. Roll each piece into powdered sugar so they're not so sticky to handle. If you use cookie cutters, you can cut up the scraps into smaller, misshaped pieces that are good for snacking.
10. Toss into hot cocoa. Store at room temp for up to a week in a sealed container.

My Failed Detox

I decided to detox after watching the documentary, Fat Sick and Nearly Dead on Netflix last Saturday night (cuz that's what you do when you're 27 apparently). That night I threw out a macaroon and Shaun got rid of his leftover pizza (by eating half of it) and we went grocery shopping for about 10 pounds of fruits and vegetables.

In the movie, it's all about juicing and drinking all of your meals for weeks, but these people were obese and really unhealthy. Since I didn't want to lose weight, just feel healthier, I did the Whole Living Action Plan (I still had the January issue lying around and remembered it). We eliminated alcohol, caffeine, gluten, added sugar, dairy, meat, processed food, and did I forget anything? Oh yes, happiness. Week 1, we're only allowed fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds and oils which seemed like a great idea at the time. Week 2 you add fish, lentils, soy, and beans and week 3 you can add back gluten free grains and eggs.

Day 1 was easy because it was a Sunday. We had a smoothie lunch (berries with water/ no sugar applesauce) and then some delicious homemade broccoli soup for dinner. I might've added a little chicken broth, but I didn't want to throw it out and it was already open. I also made a pretty avocado salad.

Photo from Whole Living by Bryan Gardner

Day 2 - massive headache, smoothie breakfast (berries/water), leftover salad lunch, banana maybe, coconut water, another soup dinner (this time Butternut Squash) with grilled mushrooms/peppers - my skin looked healthier but I was very tired - they said that would happen as toxins leave your body.

Day 3 - What they don't tell you is that toxins leave your body by violently beating their way out of your head. Smoothie breakfast (carrot juice with mangos/pineapple - 700% of your daily value of Vitamin A), apple snack (I might've added peanut butter this day because I just needed something - although even that has added sugar), salad lunch, finally strong enough to do yoga after 3 days of weakness, yet another soup dinner (broccoli again) with mushrooms/peppers on the grill again. Tried to make kale chips, didn't work out. Shaun admitted to drinking a can of Coke which is most definitely not allowed.

Day 4 - Do not feel like working - fruit smoothie in a to-go cup (carrot/mango), raw apple, salad lunch, mixed nuts snack (makes me feel sick possibly because the almonds were flavored and had a bunch of crap ingredients), drank 7 cups of water. Then had a team dinner, so kind of gave up on the all fruits/veggies thing. Ate 3 pieces of sushi, had a mushroom salad, and okay fine, a Bellini. It was nom.

Day 5 - By Thursday I mostly threw in the towel. Smoothie breakfast (berry/water) with apple, then for lunch I splurged and got chicken on my salad. It made me feel amazing. I don't even love chicken, but I really needed protein I guess. Then I had two Girl Scout cookies. hahaha After the gym, we went to our favorite Jewish deli and I had a pickle, mashed potatoes (hello carbs!!) and barley soup. AND another cookie. Best day ever!

I forgot I have to fit into my bridesmaid dress in a few weeks, so I figured I should stop starving. If I normally ate really unhealthy, I could see how the detox would be a good thing to teach me how to eat. But otherwise, it's just sort of torture and makes you miss things you never eat anyway. My problem is that I don't love food enough (I blogged about that already) and I never know what to eat so I just eat a lot of salad. It's really boring!

I started a food diary using My Fitness Pal on Wednesday, which is great for anyone because it shows you if you don't eat enough protein, carbs, etc. based on your height and weight and how much you want to lose (or maintain). It recalculates if you exercise. All in all, I recommend a cleanse if you really need to re-learn how and what to eat and have really bad habits (fast food, lots of red meat, pasta etc). If you're already a health nut, it's not necessary. However, a food diary is good for anyone, because now I can see which nutrients I'm lacking and maybe eat less sweets and processed foods. It makes you double think your choices if you have to enter it into an iPhone app... and you know what? I still haven't had Starbucks all week which is a major win for me.

Have you ever done a fast or detox? What do you think about them?