Donuts are not your friends.

(By Christine)

Did you make a resolution to lose weight in the New Year? Yeah. Me, too. In my house, I employ the old Weight Watcher methodology of decades ago – set your target for 10% of your current weight and don’t put a date to it. Slow, even progress works just fine. No one says you need to drop 20 lbs in 4 weeks. But you do need to move. Can’t lose weight eating Lean Cuisine on the couch all day. Sorry, it’s a fact.

Plus, in my world I need my own pace and goals. I can’t have a celebrity fitness instructor shouting at me from behind the flat screen TV. That doesn’t motivate me. It makes me hide in the bathroom.

So, in my quest to lose the few extra pounds that snuck back on the last time I successfully lost some weight, I started hunting for fun and healthier recipes and ideas to keep peace in the house while Mama empties the cupboards of sugar, fat and sugar.

I came across these little beauties in the Fairies Cookbook by Barbara Beery:

Baked Snowflakes

Ingredients:

Flour tortillas, room temp (white, wheat, or multigrain)
1 tbsp butter, melted (there are several non-butter sprays on the market that you could use)
Colored sugar (come on, you know you have some left over from sugar cookie land this holiday)
Powdered sugar

Preheat to 350 degrees.

Fold your tortilla into quarters and cut with kitchen scissors to create a snowflake pattern (warm your tortilla 15 secs if it has been in the fridge). Place on foil lined cookies sheet. Brush on butter. Sprinkle with colored sugar. Bake 5 to 7 mins until toasted on the edges. Remove and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

If you like fried dough or donuts, but want to lose the frying and the dough, this little number might do the trick as a replacement. I tested it in our house and I used one large tortilla (recipe says 10 fajita-size ones but this is a party book we’re talking about here) and also toasted up the leftover cut-up pieces to put on a salad later this week as “croutons”. I thought maybe cinnamon (very good for you!) and some sugar might be tasty on them as well. Obviously the less butter and sugar you use, the better for you. But honestly, I didn’t use much and it was really yummy.

Have fun discovering some new choices and eat up! Wishing you success as you move forward in your goals for 2010!

Editor's Note: This is Christine's second post for the New England Mamas. She has now agreed to join us as a regular contributor. Welcome Christine!