Treat of the Week!

I've been working hard at getting control of my health/weight since I came home, and on top of some weight training and running/walking I've also been eating better than I probably ever have. I still see myself as the size I was for Barbara's wedding, but it is crazy for me to think of all the friends I've made since I gained all this weight (specifically, two bid classes of zeta sisters and Ryan. Even Kayse and Mitch and I weren't all that close, but I like to think they remember me as I was the first week we had classes together instead of 30 pounds later).

Anyway, I've cut way back on carbs (really hard when you're also starting a running routine) and most snacking. I eat almonds now! I can do a plank for over a minute! I drink green tea!

So today, I decided to indulge in my sweet tooth, and made some sugar-free meringue cookies. I know there's some controversy over how "natural" stevia and truvia are, but they don't have the nasty chemicals in splenda and other sweetners, and you don't need nearly as much of it compared to if you used sugar.

The Recipe:
3 egg whites (whip them before adding the rest of the ingredients)
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
2 tbsp truvia
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

bake at 215 degrees for 55 minutes, then leave them in the oven for another 20 minutes (but turn the heat off)

Then you get these:

They're a little too dry, and actually I think they could use less truvia and more vanilla. Making them bigger probably would have helped with that. Next time I probably would put some fun food coloring in them too, but for the first time I wanted to follow the recipe exactly. I have two pans of this, and eating the whole batch is less than 100 calories, so it's something to munch on that is almost nothing in my calorie defecit.