Just say NO

     I can't say No.  No, I am not talking about when people ask me for something.  I have learned that it's good to say no when I am feeling too busy or over-scheduled.  What I can't say NO to is baking.  Sweets are a problem for me - always have been and probably always will. 
     Today I had a bunch of bananas that were starting to encourage fruit flys to come and hang out and party.  I knew I needed to bake with them.  I have a kickass banana bread recipe that my family gobbles up so I knew that I would please the girls to no end if I baked for them.  I also had some fresh strawberries from the St. Jacobs Farmers Market, and rhubarb too.  I love love love rhubarb...especially in a pie....with strawberries.  So after tidying and cleaning today and feeling pretty good about life, I pulled out the bits and pieces and started creating yummy treats.  I also made this yummy curried barley and chickpea dish and some sloppy joe baked potatoes.  I was on a roll. 
     The problems with the word NO don't just start when the baking is out of the oven...the problems start while the ingredients are still raw in the bowl prior to being baked.  I am a licker...big time.  I can easily justify missing a few tablespoons out of a recipe for my own personal gluttony.  My kids are all lickers too.  My favourites are chocolate cake batter and chocolate chip cookie dough.  I recall as a kid making the dough for cookies and never making the cookies....I just wanted the batter.  Some things haven't changed....I don't eat the whole bowl but there are definitely less cookies on the sheet than the recipe says there will be!

   So, today, in my throws of being superwoman, I baked some rhubarb bread, a rhubarb and strawberry crumble pie and a couple banana bread loaves.  The house sure smelled good when it was all said and done.  I told the kids they weren't to touch the stuff until after Mikka's soccer practice.  They were good kids and waited.  I came home - after running 5 k and feeling good and hanging out with Miks - to feeling like a complete glutton in a matter of moments.  No sooner had I opened the front door and the girls were begging for their treats.  I, being me, made a lovely platter for everyone and told myself to behave - not to indulge.  Yeah right. I was in there like a dirty shirt - stuffing my face with glorious numminess.  I now feel sick and bloated and mad.  I justified my eating like a hog cause I ran...how lame!  Now I need to just get the kids to eat all this stuff and get it out of my house before I eat it all.  I simply can't say no.  I know that come tomorrow morning I will again justify my partaking of it....for breakfast and then snack and possibly lunch too.  Sometimes I use the logic of 'if I eat it all fast now, there won't be any for later and then I won't be tempted to eat more then...'.  Yep - I am a bright one.  I need to learn to say NO...or stop buying bananas and baking.