Friday, February 19, 2010

The Family Home Evening Treat Dilema

Okay, so when I first started these, I mentioned everyone's idea of "healthy" can be different.  This is not the healthiest idea out there, but it's been an improvement toward healthy in our family, so it might help someone else out too.  If you're going to bake cookies you might want to give this a try.

Our kids LOVE Family Home Evening.  We set aside one night a week (usually Monday) to spend time together as a family playing games, learning a Gospel concept or story, sing songs...and...it ends with a treat.  Being consistent with have a dessert-y treat was the key to us being consistent with having Family Night EVERY week because our kids look forward to those treats and will remind us that we HAVE to do Family Night.  Sometimes we're successful in making these treat healthy...like fruit smoothies...but a lot of times not.  Especially lately, we're in a bit of a hurry because my husband has night classes almost every night, so we have to get him off to class in time.

One of my biggest downfalls is homemade cookies.  I don't make them all that often...but when I do, I just can't get enough.

So the last month or so I've started doing something new...we bake just one cookie sheet full of cookies...
...and freeze the rest.  I freeze the dough usually in two balls, wrapped in plastic wrap and then put inside a freezer bag.


This is a great idea for us for several reasons.
  1. Mom eats a lot fewer cookies.
  2. We get THREE batches of cookies for three different weeks (not necessarily consecutive) for the price of one...so it's cheaper.  It's also a TON cheaper than buying ready-made cookie dough at the store.
  3. We get THREE batches of cookies for the price of only one mess in the kitchen.  (A big benefit when you have no dishwasher and 3 little kids.)
  4. Mom eats a lot fewer cookies.
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    5 comments:

    Katie Lewis said...

    Haha! SO TRUE! I remember Bryan's mom (I think) mentioning when we were out at his parents' house for Christmas once that we all had to finish off the treats before we all left back to our own houses or else she'd pick at them little by little and eat too much junk. I was still working at the time and didn't really get it, but now being at home all day I TOTALLY understand. A little nibble at something throughout the day turns out to be half the pan of brownies by the time your husband gets home! Great solution here Polly. :)

    alee said...

    This is great! Sometimes I still scoop the dough onto the cookie sheet like I am going to bake them and then stick them in the freezer for awhile. After they are good and frozen you have nice little patties/balls that you can place in a freezer bag and pull out however many you want at a time to bake...since there are just two of us at our home, sometimes I still can't justify making a whole dozen! :)

    Kathy Haynie said...

    I love this idea, Polly. Why didn't I ever think of that? I guess because I had a houseful of kids who were willing to polish off the cookies! And I love Alex's idea of making them into individual cookie blobs before freezing.

    BTW, you can put 2-4 tablespoons of whole wheat flour into the bottom of the measuring cup, and then top it off with white flour. It doesn't change the cookie much, but it does make it a little healthier.

    Anybody have "healthy" cookie recipes?

    Polly @ Pieces by Polly said...

    I'll have to look for some "healthy" cookie recipes...but when I make chocolate chip cookies I often put in 1/2 wheat flour and it works okay. These were sugar cookies, so they just have unhealthy white flour.

    emmalou said...

    That's great! Last night I made your refried beans recipe and loved it! Thanks, Polly!

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