Monday, October 18, 2010

avoiding my newest addiction


it all started innocently enough. i was folding laundry while watching "ten dollar dinners" one afternoon and taking mental notes on how to stretch my grocery budget. i'm sure the meal looked delicious and i'm sure that i had in mind to try the recipe, but i tell you....the moment she began describing the dessert she was about to make, i sort of tuned out the meal portion of the program. now, if you remember, i am not a baker. i have perhaps 3 dessert recipes that i can bake properly and that is it. still, melissa made this specific dessert look really really easy. 5 ingredients; that was it!

the next day, while doing a few groceries, i found myself inexplicably drawn to the peanut butter and jam aisle where the nutella jars sit. i have never before bought nutella. i remember my little sister eating it for breakfast on her bread, which i always found quite strange. i have nothing against the stuff, i just never really had a hankering for it. until that day. i saw the jar and immediately recalled the recipe and my mouth started to water. so i bought it. then i went and bought a block of cream cheese as well. and then i went home and made the petite nutella pochettes. (fancy name, huh?) i made some with nutella inside and some with my mom's strawberry jam inside. and once they had come out of the oven and i had sprinkled powdered sugar liberally over each one, i took a bite. and it was good.

after that first bite, i knew i was in trouble. you see, not only is there a block of cream cheese in the pastry, there is also an entire cup of butter in there. yet even that knowledge didn't keep me from devouring 2 still-warm pochettes while standing at the sink. and it didn't keep me from making a nice big cup of coffee later in the day and enjoying 2 more pochettes along with it. that evening, as i lay in bed with an icky tummy (nearly always a result from eating too much fat during the day) i realized that there was only one thing to do to keep myself from gaining every single blessed pound back that i had just lost: share the wealth.

i brought all that was left of the petite pochettes to a family outing the next day and josh's family told me that they enjoyed them. really, i think they were all just stunned and perhaps a bit skeptical that i had managed to bake something edible other than muffins and apple crisp. i was happy that they were gone and out of the house and i vowed not to bake anything that delicious for a long time. i thought that my craving had been satisfied, that the temptation had been removed and that i should be able to just carry on in my healthful eating ways until last night, when i was seized with the realization that there was still a jar of nutella sitting in my cupboard. my mouth started watering all over again and i felt powerless over my legs as they walked me into the kitchen, where i grabbed a spoon, dug into the nutella jar and savored that hazelnut/chocolately goodness as it melted in my mouth.

could anyone use half a jar of nutella? i promise i didn't double-dip and i have a need to share the wealth like you wouldn't believe.


10 comments:

Claire said...

oh my goodness, I could not relate more. I can't buy the stuff anymore, I just can't. I will sit and eat the whole jar in two days. I close my eyes, cover my ears and run past it in the grocery store. :)

Melanie said...

Sounds scrumptious!!

Aria said...

I lived off the stuff when I was backpacking. Had a loaf of bread or those toast bread things and a jar of nutella in my backpack for those on the road days... so bad but so good.

Jennifer said...

Jennifer would say....nutella is evil, just read the ingredients, that's not 'food', it's non-food. it's only an edible food like substance with zero nutritional quality.
Make this instead, whack up 6 squares of bitter/sweet chocolate in your cuisinart, bring to boil 1/3rd cup of whipping cream. while machine is running add slowly the boiling whipping cream....enjoy. Yes I licked the cuisinart clean...even the blade. Beginners and people under 18, please don't try that last.
When you get stronger you can employ the 'it's just for the kids rule' where you can have it in the house and not be tempted whatsoever and yet feed it to the kids.
Oh and in the future don't let that woman tempt you again.
Mmmmm pupkin seeds.
k, bye...xox.

Unknown said...

Oh my goodness I totally relate! I'll have it on my toast & call it breakfast or steal a scoop at night...so good!!

kelly ens said...

DAAAAANGerous....

Neha said...

Now that makes me want to buy a jar this weekend....you just shared your wealth:)

M.R. Tumnus said...

Oh I have to laugh at your total honesty in giving in to temptation! Which of us has not done that? Cool whip is also an "edible oil product" and not really food but I sure like that cottage cheese salad I was writing you about and yes, I did keep some at home so I could consume it. Oh, could you post that nutella recipe? It sounds yummy enough to share.

Heather said...

Oh my goodness, you make me laugh. First, because I can relate to your baking talents - muffins and crisps all the way over here as well :)

And second, because, well, Kai and I have a slightly unhealthy relationship with Nutella as well. The stuff is great (hanging my head in shame).

lil said...

My DEAR SISTER JUDY,
The link to that recipe is in Heidi's blog. Do you see when you run your cursor over the words "petite nutella pochettes", that the finger cursor shows instead of the arrow? When you click on that, the recipe link will pop up!! They sound delicious!! Maybe I'll try them for my ladies' Lunch and a Movie I'm hosting on Friday!! We're going to watch "Silence of the North", the story about Ernie's aunt when she lived in northern Alberta and BC!!