Cinnamon "Gingerbread Man" Ornaments

Somebody is gettin' Christmas crafty.

I'm not sure what got into me this year.  Last year, I didn't even have a Christmas tree.  This year, I put up the tree all by myself, wrapped gifts a month in advance, hung decorations and wreaths all over my house and even got into crafting my own ornaments and decorations.  My kitchen is usually adorned with wine colored decorations to accent my guilty pleasure/wine collection, so I filled the kitchen with cranberry decorations in a similar color.  My sage green living room is covered with decorative pine branches and pine cones.  Even my slate blue bathroom is decorated with a snowman and snowflake theme.  To say the least, I'm really getting into the Christmas spirit.

I made cinnamon ornaments when I was in elementary school, but like most grade school projects, I'm slightly embarrassed by the poor quality and lack of artistic ability that went into my crafts.  This year, I wanted homemade crafts that looked, at least, presentable.  I had gathered up a number of neat projects to do, but I started with the cinnamon because it seemed to be the simplest to accomplish.

Two ingredients and a cookie cutter later, I have a set of gorgeous gingerbread men that fit perfectly with the rest of my new Christmas decor.  An old dish cloth sacrificed itself to the cause when I cut it up into strips to form the cute little scarves.  It was super easy and has gotten me really excited to work on some more projects soon!

If you're concerned about finding all of the cinnamon needed, my suggestion is to look into bulk stores or over the internet.  I was able to find a store in my area that sold 4 oz. bottles of cinnamon for a dollar a piece.  You don't need expensive, quality cinnamon and you'll definitely want to refrain from grinding your own cinnamon from sticks because that's both a time and money suck.  Cheap and easy will work fine for this.

Oh, and did I mention how crazy delicious your house is going to smell???

















Cinnamon "Gingerbread Man" Ornaments

1 1/2 cups ground cinnamon
1 cup applesauce



Mix ingredients well in a large bowl.  Make sure the mixture is completely mixed and homogenous.

Determine how many ornaments you want to make and divide the mixture into even piles.

Use the cookie cutter of your choice to pack the cinnamon mixture well.  The more you pack, the less likely you'll have cracks in the final product.

Preheat oven 225F.

Using a toothpick or small dowel, make a hole in the top of the ornament where you'll want the string to go.  Decorate as desired.

Place ornaments on a lightly greased cookie sheet.

Bake for 75-90 minutes.  Let sit overnight on baking sheet to set.

Use string, yarn or ribbon to thread through the hole for hanging on the tree.

In the off-season, store in plastic bags to retain scent.

Za'atar Seasoning

Somebody give me a cookie.

OK, don't.  I'm leaving to go on a Caribbean cruise in almost a week and quite frankly, one cookie could probably start my steep dive off the low-carb cliff into a canyon of soft, doughy, bready goodness and cotton candy.

My website.  My poorly executed metaphors.  Accept it.

But, you know what I mean.

So far, I've lost about ten pounds, which is pretty astounding considering it's only been about three weeks.  I haven't measured my limbs for inch loss yet, but I anticipate, judging by my loose-fitting clothing, that those measurements will be equally impressive. 

I'm sure I could've done even better if I had really gotten strict, but frankly, I haven't.  The fact is, I like food.  It's a major part of my problem and the main reason I had to go on this weight loss plan.  Not only that, but I have serious issues dealing with social situations I put myself in.  Simply, I like going out with people who like to drink and eat.  My lack of willpower in those situations often leads me to overeating, or at least, indulging in a little cheat.  Call me crazy, but I've never been someone who could go to a restaurant and just order a salad.  I always want to go nuts in a plate of something I've never eaten before, and usually, finish the whole plate in one sitting.  I'm getting better every time, and really, that's the whole point of reshaping habits into healthy ones, but it's definitely been a hard three weeks changing my habits for the better.

I love my workout program and I can definitely see the effect of yoga and pilates, despite the fact that I've been too tired and lazy to do the program as often as I hoped to.  I still manage to walk everyday, mostly because I know that my dog needs it as much as I do.  Any other type of exercise I can get into my day on top of that is icing on the cake.  I'd like to try and make it a more frequent occurrence in my life, but all of my other commitments - work, school, homeowner, etc. - makes it hard.  If I do find the time, I'm often too exhausted to get my butt in gear.  But, I'm giving myself a little slack on that only because of the fact that I'm working on breaking and reshaping so many habits at once that I'm refusing to let myself get discouraged if I don't tackle every single thing all at once.

Focus on the positive.  That's my goal.

Regardless, I've got another fun, healthy recipe for you that seasons up some of my favorite proteins, like chicken and fish.  One of the things that has helped me the most while cutting out carbs is using a ton of seasoning to make me feel like I'm getting much more variety in my diet than I really am.  Za'atar is a middle eastern seasoning that incorporates some of my favorites with a couple ingredients I'd never used before.  I have generously coated meat with this seasoning and roasted up the protein in the oven.  The flavor is earthy, but not overpowering.  Next, I may try incorporating this into a vinaigrette for a nice salad.

Any other suggestions on how to use this seasoning in recipes???









Za'atar Seasoning

1/4 cup dried thyme
2 tbsp ground sumac
2 tbsp marjoram
1/2 tsp salt


Mix all ingredients together.  Store in an airtight container.