Holiday Treats

How is everyone's holiday season going so far? Things over here are going well.  I am prepping for a young one's pre-school Christmas party tomorrow and signed up to bring in wrapped treats.  I wanted to bring something in that was both a treat but somewhat healthy as we all know how many goodies we get this time of year.  So, I bought some whole grain pretzel sticks, melted some chocolate chips with a little bit of coconut oil, dipped them and then sprinkled some "snow" or unsweetened coconut on top.  I thought they came out good until.....I remembered the "no hard pretzels" guideline for pre-school snacks.  D'oh.

I don't know what even made me think of it but it would have been helpful had I thought of it before they were all done and wrapped.  C'est la vie!  Although I had to kick in a plan B for my little one's event, I do think these would make a good snack for older kids if you are looking for an idea.

Plan B?  Well, I had stumbled on this recipe for Soft Ginger Cookies over at Pennies and Pancakes yesterday coincidentally and I was tight on time but whipped up 1/3 of a batch and they came out great.  Yes, there is regular flour and sugar but they are made from scratch without any chemicals or preservatives and it turns out that Blackstrap Molasses is a good source of iron, calcium and potassium.  The sign up for wrapped treats is saved.  Thanks to Pennies and Pancakes because these came together really quickly and taste great.

 On the running front, I had gained some momentum with my half-marathon training.  In 4-5 weeks of training, I only missed one scheduled run and I was up to 7.6 miles for my long run and keeping weekly mileage of just under 20 miles per week.  The last 2 weeks were sort of a bust though.  The husband had to travel for work for a couple of weeks and I kept up with some running the first week, but the second week was filled with fevers, colds, very little sleep and all those lovely things that little ones get hit with this time of year while work is still busy for mom.  I only ran once this week.  Oh well...there really was nothing more I could have done but I will be back at it this week!  Hopefully, I do not feel the blip in training too badly!  I have about 9-10 weeks left until half marathon #1 of the year. I can do it. I can do it.

How do you handle training blips?  Are you ready for the holidays?