Empty Calories

     A few nights ago I was in bed thinking to myself how I should probably get serious about getting these last “5” pounds off (yeah, lets just round down and go with 5).  See, my favorite time to think about a new weight loss plan is when my belly is full and I’m about to go to sleep.  It just seems so doable at that moment.  Anyway, I came to the realization that the best way to get the weight off might be to give up all those empty calories I manage to consume through out the day.  You know the ones, a piece of candy here, a handful of chips there, throw in the occasional glass of wine, you get the picture.  As I was thinking about all those empty calories I started thinking about the memories that are attached to so many of them.  When the kids were younger they would ask to go to Krispy Kreme when they got their report card.  KK gave free donuts for A’s on your report card.  So there we would be, bellied up right under the “Hot Now” sign, loving every gooey, greasy, sweet bite of that donut.  Empty calories.  I thought about all the Girls Night Outs over the years.  Wine and appetizers shared with the BFF’s but mostly, lots and lots of laughs shared. LOTS of laughs.  Empty calories.  Then there was the swankiest dinner I had ever been to.  Several years ago Mike won an award and his company sent us on our first trip to New York City.  The dinner was on top of the World Trade Center at a restaurant called Windows on the World.  There were waiters in tuxedos with trays of champagne and hors d’oeuvres and then a fancy smancy meal to follow.  Lots of empty calories that night!  A few years later we took the kids to NYC and every time we rounded a corner and Michael saw another hot dog vendor, his eyes would get so big (yeah, we don’t have hot dog vendors in Huntsville Alabama) and he’d look up at us and plead for “just one more”.  Empty calories.  And then there was the week I spent in Italy at a cooking school. By the last night I had to go to dinner with my shirt untucked so no one would see that my pants wouldn’t button!  WOW, talk about your empty calories!  But you know, I wouldn’t give back any of those empty calories for any amount of skinny.

     I was also thinking last night about a scene in the movie, "Letters to Juliet".  Charlie, Gran and Sophie are in the car looking for Gran’s Lorenzo.  Charlie makes a comment something like, “Gran wouldn’t it be great if HE were your Lorenzo?  He becomes rich and then you meet up with him after all these years.  All that, and you get to skip the messy bits.”  To which Gran (Vanessa Redgrave – love her!) replies, “Charlie, life IS the messy bits.”  Life -- messy bits and empty calories. 

     I think back to my “messy bits” of life.  It’s those messy bits that have made me who I am today (like it or not my friends).  God in his infinite power and wisdom is taking my messy bits and stretching me, growing me and using them for something better than messiness.  My empty calories are entangled with memories I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world!  I suppose you can still make memories by eating carrots and hummus, but really why would you eat hummus with carrots when you could have warm, grilled pita bread?  Or Naan bread?  Or warm pita and homemade pimento and cheese or…...oh sorry, I got sided tracked thinking about all that food  those memories.  So I think for me, I’m going to continue to search the messy bits for reasons to be thankful.  And I guess I will keep my empty calories a little while longer.  Stretching, growing, making memories.  It’s worth the “5”  extra pounds.  :)

Speaking of empty calories….. here, go make some memories.

                                   Pimento Cheese with Spicy Crackers

                                    (Recipe from Karen Burke)

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

4 ounces sour cream

garlic salt (to taste)

6—8 ounces grated cheddar cheese (I like sharp)

4 ounces diced pimentos, drained

1 box lowfat saltine crackers (lowfat,haha)

1 cup vegetable oil

1 package ranch dressing powder

1-2 tablespoons red pepper flakes

Mix cream cheese, sour cream, garlic salt, cheddar cheese and pimentos together using a mixer.  Cover and refrigerate.  Layer crackers in a 9x13 glass baking dish with a lid.  Whisk together remaining ingredients and pour over crackers, whisking as you pour.  Cover and shake. Let sit for 5 minutes.  Turn over, shake and allow to sit.  Repeat a few times.  Remove crackers and place in a large Ziploc bag.  Leave for at least 8 hours before serving.