Once
upon a time, in a far far away land called “le Lac St-Jean” lived a
French Canadian family, my mother’s family. Every second year or so, my
mother would decide to celebrate Christmas with her family; which meant
music, tons of grandma’s food (yummy!) and skidoo rides very late at
night. Even though the road to get there was long, I didn’t mind; it was
worth it every time. During the train ride, we would talk about grandma’s “tourtière du Lac St-Jean” (wild meat pie), her amazing “pets
de sœur” (a.k.a, nun’s farts, a dessert) and also her “soupe aux
gourganes “(broad beans soup). We also anticipated the skidoo ride.
Believe me, for city kids like my brother and me, going on a skidoo ride
at 1:30 am was a thrill of a life time. All that said, what called my
heart the most was the Midnight Mass! I don’t know what it is about the
sound of a choir in a Cathedral, but ever since I was very little, it
has always made me feel really close to Heaven, so close it’s

simply indescribable.  

The
preparation to go to the Mass (just across the street) was an event in
itself. All the kids had to go upstairs and take a nap for at least an
hour. I have to admit, we were pretty obedient; those who did not
sleep, didn’t get to go on the skidoo ride that took place right after
Mass. Well, we didn’t want to be left behind that’s for sure! While we
were sleeping (or doing a really good job of pretending to…) the women
would get all the tables ready. Food was everywhere! Each mother also
had to lay down the winter gear for her kids, the pair of long mittens
that covered your entire forearms, the huge winter boots and the one
piece snowsuit; let me tell you, no one was cold. As for the men, some
would get the bonfire ready at the cabin in the woods, (our skidoo
destination) while others made sure all the skidoo’s had gas and were in
good mechanical condition. Everybody knew their part; the collaboration
was astounding.

Then,
just around 10:30 pm all the mothers came upstairs to get their kids
ready for the Midnight Mass. The beauty of that moment is that ALL the
girls/women: mothers, daughters, grand-daughters, nieces and aunts
(and grandma of course), were dressed in white, and the boys/men:
fathers, sons, grand-sons, nephews and uncles, (and grandpa of course)
were dressed in black and white; absolutely every member of
the family without exception. When I think about it my heart melts.
Once inside the church, we all sat together, waiting patiently for the
angels to start singing. You see, the particularity of that Mass, is
that all the members of the choir had angel wings attached to them. We
called it, the angel choir of Christmas. Some churches had the live
Nativity Scene, we had the angel choir. I loved it! I used to close my
eyes gently and keep them close all through the songs. I literally let
myself float on each note. I was way up there amongst the angels. When
the last note evaporated, I would slowly open my eyes with perfect peace
in my heart. 

After mass was
over, we all rushed home to get our snowsuits and mittens on for the
skidoo ride. The air was filled with electric energy, laughter and
giggles. Outside, the sound of the skidoos was so loud; we had
to look for sign language to communicate with each other. Within 20
minutes we were all riding along. After a while a glittery orange light
would be waving at us; it was the bonfire “telling us” we were almost at
the cabin where hot vanilla milk and ice cream with warm cinnamon
apples were waiting for us. That part of the evening was truly unique to
our family. After our little treat we would all go back home to feast,
sing and dance. Our celebration could last until the break of dawn; for
us, there was no Christmas morning.   

I
don’t go to Mass anymore, or wear white long satin gloves at Christmas,
but I did create my own little family traditions. Things have changed,
and sometimes I wish my kids and grandkids could live one of my
childhood Christmases, but life moves forward and brings with it new
experiences.  

Today,
I want to provide a recipe that you can incorporate into your Christmas
memories and if you like it enough, maybe it can become a new tradition
for you. This recipe is particularly good to have on hand for aging
parents who are burdened with diabetes. With everything else on the
table having one dessert that contains no sugar/carbs might be welcomed
not only by those who are protecting their ketosis but also those who
are monitoring their sugar intake! Enjoy!

Zucchini Apple Crisp (by Rebecca Mascano)

Ingredients:

2 cups of zucchini sliced and without the peel

2 packets of Splenda

Juice of one lemon

½ teaspoon Cinnamon

¼ teaspoon of nutmeg

1 packet of Walden Farms Pancake Syrup

1 Ideal Protein Apple and Cinnamon soy puffs packet

“I can’t believe it is not Butter” spray

Preparation

Peel zucchini, cut lengthwise and then in fairly thin slices

Toss the zucchini in the bowl with the Splenda, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg and syrup.

Place the zucchini in a baking dish

In the bag, crush the apple and cinnamon soy puffs, sprinkle them on the zucchini

Spray the top with the spray

Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes

And dig in without guilt! 

If the weather keeps you inside this weekend and you

It
is funny how the time has passed and in many family gatherings,
including ours, we simply end up talking around the table but the
entertainment has subsided. The kids go to the family room and play
video games instead of board games, and they text their friends who are
in their respective families having their own Christmas gathering and
doing the exact same thing, playing video games…

In
my family, things too have changed since I was a kid. Today, my sister
is a full-on musician playing the organ and the guitar and she sings in
the locally renowned mega-choir called “Les chansonniers d’Ottawa”… my
daughter plays the guitar and the ukulele and sings with a voice that
makes the hairs on my arms stand right up it is so beautiful… and I
play several instruments and sing… and yet none of this comes to light
at our family gatherings.

My
mother and father would be the first to tell you that they miss the
music and can’t understand why it went away. Maybe it is because we run
through life and have so little down time to appreciate everyone’s
company so when we do get together we would rather talk than sing… we
need to spend real moments appreciating each other and understanding
each other… Believe me, I understand… but we must remember that our
kids will look back and all they will remember is that we sat around and
talked. Maybe that’s the reason why they leave the table and go play
video games.  

A quick anecdote…

Last
August, my daughter came to spend a weekend at our trailer. On Saturday
night we went over to the neighbour’s camp fire with our guitars and
sang a few songs. Everyone was energized. My daughter’s voice awed
everyone and then she pushed the limits by doing something that really
impressed everyone… she did the cup song! (If you are a movie buff,
this is the Beca’s audition in the movie Pitch Perfect)
Well I was so impressed that I asked her to show me the moves… We
almost drove my husband crazy from all the practicing… but ah, the fun
we had!  

Fast
forward two weeks later when my husband and I attend our godson Jesse’s
18th birthday. After dinner, the teens are showing us dance moves and
videos when I pipe up and say “do you know the cup song?”… Well they
get really excited and Jesse goes to the kitchen to get three cups: one
for his girlfriend, one for his girlfriend’s sister and one for
himself… That’s when I say “hey, where’s my cup?”… You should have
seen the expression of surprise on everyone’s face! So off to the
kitchen he went and handed me a cup… All four of us did the cup song
together and it was a blast! Two generations tied together in the same
activity!  

I
woke up this morning with this in mind and wanted to show you how to do
the cup song. If you have kids… teenagers especially, or young
adults… don’t worry, they know about the cup song! Imagine their
surprise when you suggest it and join in. You don’t need to have a great
voice (play the video in the back ground), you don’t need to play an
instrument either… all you need is a cup! Included here is everything
you need to learn, except the cup…LOL! There is a tutorial for you to learn the moves, the cover song so you get the moves with the music and the actual artist video of the song!

If
the weather keeps you inside this weekend and you are looking for
something to bake that YOU will be able to have, I thought of sending
you this cake recipe!  This is totally phase 1 acceptable so go ahead
and enjoy!

Pudding Cakes

I N G R E D I E N T S

1 package Ideal Protein Pudding

1/2 teaspoon Vanilla

2 Egg whites

2 ounces Water

Spices of choice for flavor (see below)

I N S T R U C T I O N S

1. Mix together egg whites, vanilla & water using emersion blender until egg whites are frothy.

2.
Pour out into bowl and sprinkle on spices of choice (see combinations
below…cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, etc.) and add 1/3 of

pudding package at a time.

3. Fold pudding into frothed egg whites.

4. Pour into greased ramekin/muffin tray.

5. Bake at 350°F for 15 to 20 minutes until cooked through.

V A R I A T I O N S

Lemon pudding / poppy seed

Butterscotch pudding / pumpkin pie spice

Chocolate pudding / cinnamon

Vanilla pudding with instant coffee and cinnamon

Vanilla pudding / spice cake

Vanilla pudding / cinnamon and nutmeg

Yields: 1 Serving

Cook’s notes:

The
cakes will get VERY large while baking, and will deflate when cooling.
If you put too much batter into a small baking dish, your cakes will
literally explode in the oven. It is VERY important to only fill the
baking dish or muffin tin 1/2 way.

If you are part of the ”sweet tooth clan”, or the ”I am on a diet” clan, the next week or so will be a challenge. There are tons of interesting concepts on why we still eat what we shouldn’t. My top three favorite are: peer pressure, the need for reward and habits. So let’s take a look at them. 

Being part of the clan (peer pressure)

Don’t be fooled,
peer pressure doesn’t end at graduation; it is part of life and there to
stay. Being part of a clan (family, social group, friends circle) is a
human behaviour as old as our nature. Before the institution of prison,
the highest form of punishment was to be cast away, shunned, or rejected
from the clan. The expelled member had often brought shame and
dishonour to the group.

Because we are
social creatures, our need to belong is intrinsic to us. Jane Howard
expresses this very well. ” Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a
tribe, call it a family: Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you
need one.”  

That being said,
the strength of our bond to one another does not imply surrendering our
personal pursuits and values. I often say to my children: “it is not
what you say; it is how you say it that matters.” If you are under
pressure during a Christmas supper, you don’t need to sacrifice your
commitment to yourself. By expressing your present situation in the
right manner, pressure could easily turn into admiration and
inspiration. Being part of the clan does not mean having to blend at all
cost.  

Need for reward  

Have you ever
heard someone say: “I have worked all day, I deserve a piece of… or a
glass of… or just one….” I bet you did. As a matter of fact, you
probably said it yourself, more than once. I sure did!

What about this
one: “I’ve been dieting for 6 weeks, I’ve lost 15 lbs, I’ve done so well
I deserve to treat myself to a _________!” That is precisely where the
whole thing starts to unravel!

The worse one is
when a family member, often a spouse or parent says: “You’ve been doing
this diet for so long and you’ve done so well, you deserve a _________,
surely it won’t hurt anything!” The reason why it is even worse than the
previous scenario is that now, not only do you have to stand up for
yourself, but you have to be different from the rest of the clan!
Starting to get the picture?

Habits

They say it takes
21 days to change a habit. I don’t believe that anymore. If it was true,
addiction to substances would not be a problem any longer. Within three
weeks, an addict would be cured! … We ALL KNOW there is no such
thing.  

Habits are
conniving… they develop without a warning. Sometimes, they are so
dubious that it takes someone else to tell us we have ”a problem” or
”a lack of control”. Habits and addictions have a few things is
common; one of them is the way they creep in, and another is the way we
are often unaware of their presence and effects on our body and mind.  

The beautiful
thing is that good habits are as tenacious as bad ones. So why not trade
the bad ones for the good ones! It is the same process anyway.
Practice, practice, repeat, and repeat, that is all we need to do. If
you view your food choices (during your diet) as temporary, you are not
creating a habit at all. The old has to give way to your new choices;
then you have the birth of a habit.

So before you go to any family or friends gathering for the
Holidays, take an honest moment with yourself to evaluate if sweets or
food in general, are part of a bad habit. If the answer is yes, remember
that you will be faced with this reality over and over again. Make your
own decision and believe you have the strength to respect the vow you
made to yourself. Nobody said this was easy, but we all have the freedom
and the ability to transform our lives… to create new habits and life
patterns that will, in exchange, open the doors to new opportunities
and joy!

There is something
to be said about remembering the birth of an event, an emotion or an
invention. When we remember, we give thanks to whom ever gave us that
tradition, that way of life, that method of expression, that piece of
human dignity and that view of the world. We get into a mode of
gratitude which in turn elevates our spirit, our mood and brings us in
touch with a kindness inside that doesn’t only belongs to us; it is the
thread of human kindness. Today I want to show gratitude for one concept
and one invention; together they created the Christmas tree.  

THE CHRISTMAS TREE

We would think
that the Christmas tree is a Christian concept but it is not. It is a
blend of human interpretations related to the cycle of life and later
on, Christianity. The celebration of a green tree seems to have
originated during King Tut’s Empire (1332 BC – 1323 BC). Throughout the
solstice of winter, the Egyptians would bring in their homes, green date
palm leaves to symbolize life’s triumph over death. In the times of the
Roman Empire, it was tradition to celebrate the solstice of winter by
decorating the homes with light and greens and to exchange coins for
prosperity, desserts for happiness, and lamps for our human journey on
earth. The German and the Scandinavian people honoured the evergreen for
its symbol of hope that spring would be coming back.  

As for the
Christian concept, it is a mix of two stories; the first one involves
St-Boniface a German missionary who became the Patron Saint of Germany
(675 – 754). It is said that St-Boniface got furious when he witnessed a
pagan ritual taking place around an oak tree. He cut the tree and from
it, a fir grew. For him, it was a sign from God. The fir was a symbol of
Christianity.

The second story
takes place around 1500 with Martin Luther. During one of his winter
walks he noticed a group of young evergreens. He was touched by their
beauty and decided to decorate them with candles to honour God’s
creation.

I could go on,
connect more dots, but this would not be an article, it would be a book.
The point is, by knowing and remembering where, who and why we take
part in certain rituals and traditions, we are able to truly be a part
of the celebration, in mind, body and spirit. The Christmas tree is more
than an illuminated evergreen; it is a symbol of hope, gratitude and
beliefs.

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS

Christmas lights as we know them today are the result of one man: Thomas Edison. In 1880, this great inventor was looking for a way to advertise his “incandescent light bulb”. It was two years
later that Edison’s bulbs were displayed in a tree. By the year 1900,
General Electric bought the patent rights and today we all enjoy
Christmas lights!

The story of
Christmas lights doesn’t stop there. In 1985, Canada launched the
Christmas Light Program which took place only on Parliament Hill. Today,
there are more than 60 illuminated sites in the National Capital
region. As the years went by, other provinces embarked in the program
and today, it is a National Event! 

Christmas
celebration doesn’t have to be about overindulging on food and alcohol.
It doesn’t have to cost you hundreds or thousands of dollars. Christmas
time should be the sum of what you value the most… And although we all
value food to the extent that without it we would be in a very sad
place, food should not be the reason we get together but rather what
allows us to prolong the time we spend together!

By putting the focus on the things that have real value, we free
ourselves from temptations such as desserts and rich foods, and we also
free ourselves from the feeling of missing out. The power of gatherings
lies in the belief we give them. “Phenomenology” is a philosophical
theory which expresses that, only what we see and believe in, is what
exists. The moment you stop believing in something; it withers, fades
and dies, and with time gets replaced with what you now value.

A friend of mine
and colleague at the time, comes into work one morning about 15 years
back, and tells me about all the excitement from the night before. My
friend is a bit shy and tries to keep off the radar as much as possible,
you know the type, but the previous night, this had been completely
impossible when all the firetrucks and the police cars arrived at her
house and blocked every access and the street…

You see, right
around supper time, after having cooked a wonderful dinner, just when
they were about ready to eat, they found both of their pet birds, dead
in their cage! A feeling of panick got a hold of them and they did what
every safety conscious individual would do in the same situation, and
called the city to report this, just in case it was related to a gas
leak!

Within minutes,
they were surrounded and asked to evacuate their house. A thorough
searched went on for some time before they were allowed to return
inside. No gas leak was found and no reason was provided for the dual
death of the beloved pet birds…

Fast forward eight
or nine years and I am reading a report on the toxic gases emitted by
the Teflon coating in non-stick frying pans when they are heated up to a
certain degree. Although the emissions cannot be detected by our noses,
they contain at least 4 gases that are extremely toxic. One of them “PFIB, is a chemical warfare agent 10 times more toxic than phosgene (COCl2, a chemical warfare agent used during World Wars I and II)”
1 The Environmental Working Group has written a paper titled: Canaries
in the kitchen: Teflon offgas studies. You can read this report by
clicking here… 

What this report
brings forth are the various studies showing how over time and with
being exposed to high heat, the surface of Teflon breaks down and
releases toxic gases that are extremely bad for you. They are too
subtle for our noses to pick up on them, but they are deadly enough to
kill birds! Was this what happened to my friend’s birds? Who knows?

Fast forward yet
five more years and we have an alternative! I don’t know about you but I
really hate it when my food sticks to the pan, especially eggs! If you
like all the convenience of non-stick pans without the health hazards of
Teflon, you need to take a look at the OrGreenic Frying pan. Now, I would love to tell you that it comes in multiple sizes, the video certainly looks promising but I only know of the 10″ pan. You can check it out on this website to see all it can do. Done are the days when you have to baby the pan with plastic cooking utensils. This pan is made to last!

Here’s something you can take to the bank… last October, our coach Carolyne posted on our Facebook
something about the OrGreenic pan. My mother, who is one of our biggest
supporters, asked where she could get one. We told her that it was
available at Showcase (there’s one at the St-Laurent Shopping Centre)
where she promptly got one for herself. When I called her tonight I
asked if she still liked it and if it was living up to all its
promises… she simply said that she uses it everyday and couldn’t
imagine life without it! That’s proof for you!

So what’s the plan? Change
up the names of your food dishes this holiday season with something
that gets people’s attention. Start by using more descriptive words.
That way it leads people to think it’s tastier BEFORE they even try it.
 

You can always
trick your family into eating healthier. Because most reactions to food
come from our mind not our mouth, AND we have the ability to trick our
minds. If we think a specific food is going to be delicious, we are much
more likely to enjoy it!

Here is a great
example: ”Consider two pieces of day-old chocolate cake. If one is
named “chocolate cake,” and the other is named “Belgian Black Forest
Double Chocolate Cake,” people will buy the second. What is especially
interesting is that after trying it, people will rate the Belgian cake
as tasting better than an identical piece of plain old cake.” 1

Knowing how to
tease your family’s taste buds into liking the food you make with only a
few words on a piece of paper can be a big deal if you’re trying to get
your family away from the holiday cheese ball or chip bowls…

”This name game
is called “confirmation bias,” meaning that if you say something is
juicy, people almost unconsciously turn up their “juicy sensors” when
they taste the food. Once their taste sensors are activated, people become pre-programmed to think a dish tastes good.”2 

So here are some examples of words you could add to your meals:

Meats and Fish: 

Succulent Italian Seafood Filet instead of Grilled Fish Filet

Authentic Spicy Jamaican Chicken instead of  Spiced chicken 

Juicy Bourbon Steak instead of Marinated Steak

Veggies/Fruits:           

Succulent Spring Picked Beans instead of Simple Green beans

Cajun Red Beans with Rice instead of Beans & Rice (Phase 4)

Amazing fruit fury bliss instead of fruit salad (Phase 4)

Here is a mini list of words to help hype up your dish this holiday season:

finger-licking, tongue-smacking, delicious, tasty, tempting,
alluring, bitter, sour, sweet, honeyed, prickly, sugary, mouth-watering,
delectable, heavenly, savory, toothsome, divine, inviting, tantalizing,
luscious, enticing, appealing, attractive, vinegary, appetizing,
scrumptious, enjoyable, delightful, pleasing, satisfying, yummy, fit for
a king, lovely, tangy, flavourful, juicy, succulent, flavorsome, rich,
sugar-coated, syrupy, candied, spicy, peppery, piquant, thirst
quenching, moist, ripe, salty, zesty