make a post about the noshies. I have a few minutes, so lets see if I can do it.

The other day, I exchanged treats with another good friend-we’ve been exchanging gifts family to family for 31 years. Sometimes crafty things, sometimes foodstuff treats, sometimes seasonal decorations, whatever. We don’t decide ahead of time, we just do what we feel. The past few years, we are older, of course, and it’s been foodstuffs because it’s easy to just make extra of what we’re making for our own households, then give it away. This year, I made up the afore-mentioned peppermint bark and snickerdoodles, and did up some candy-cane-dusted chocolate covered pretzels. I took photos:

The one on the left hand side is what we received, and holycowthisisaddictive. The photo on the right shows our gift with the lid on, and the snickerdoodles I shared; we have a few left over. Our gifts to give are packed up in boxes similar to the one we received. I’m sorry about no bark photo; every morsel of it is given away. It was dark chocolate, crushed candycanes, white “chocolate” layered on top, with more candy cane dust. Pretzels are pretzels.

OK, so. Yesterday I mentioned I ate a donut. The day before, I put a hurt (for me, anyway,) on the snack mix we received. I’m a nosher, and usually keep fresh veggies around so that when I’ve got enough calories, I can still nosh. I read the best thing in Yoga Journal one time: vegetables do not make a person fat. It’s the truth. Better for us raw, but even cooked, if it’s only veggies-no dip, cheese, butter, etc.-you can eat what you like, and they don’t make you fat. And as to dip, salsa is permissible, because, again, it’s vegetables. Raw carrots are delicious dipped in salsa, but likely as I did, you’ll have to find out by trying it, because I didn’t believe it, either. Anyway, I’m not including potatoes or corn as veggies; I mean veggies a person would eat raw. The thing is, they have lots of water along with all the wonderful nutrients, and even if a person eats a whole bag of carrots or bell peppers or turnips or celery, etc., it won’t make them fat. It would also take a long, long time. I read all this back then in a magazine I trust. Most people won’t eat that much at a time, and will lose their naughty craving well before they’ve polished off all the little carrots.

Well, I needed a nosh, went for the carrots and saw I’d picked up a package of a blend of various lettuces and spinach, and thought, cool! Chips. So, I spread out a cup (1 serving is a cup, fwiw. It fits on my sheet) and sprinkled a bit of water, then seasoned the leaves while I was waiting for the oven to heat to 375.

The photo on the right hand shows the raw leaves, and the seasoning I used. I like salt-free seasoning; veggies have flavor on their own that I enjoy plus plenty of sodium, but chips need a little oomph. This time it was Florida Hope Seasoned Pepper (which really needs to be in everything savory,) and a garlic salt called Justice that has shallots, garlic, onion, green peppercorns, chives, and green onion, but No Salt. It has the salty texture, though. It’s awesome on popcorn.

The photo on the lefthand is of the chips when I took them out of the oven (375 degrees, 15 minutes. Ovens will vary.) They are light, crispy, will not dip, but really solve that chips craving a person might get. And even with the water roasted out, you can eat as many of these as you can, and not get fat.

Well, time to see how this looks, and get it put up. I hope everyone has some fun exploring what they like to do to avoid overeating the delicious rich treats we have this time of year. And I hope Scottie maybe finds this a way he can get a little more nutrition in when he loses his appetite!

I need a tagline, the way Julia and Lidia have taglines. But I can’t steal those, of course. So, here’s to a great afternoon. Also, to anyone who’s made kale chips: this mixture does not contain kale, so the aroma kale produces turning into chips will not be present. Yay!