Party Survival Tactics

Been to a few parties recently? Likely to go to a few more? Holiday parties are notorious diet-busters. All sorts of carb-y food, the weight of "tradition," people handing you excuses to Indulge ("Aw, c'mon! It's Christmas! Live a little!"), plus the disinhibition that comes along with a little "holiday cheer," and it all ends up to waking up the next day with a carb hangover and three or four pounds of water weight around your waist.

So let's talk parties.

* If you're planning a party, how rough can it be? Your friends will happily devour all sorts of low carb goodies and never think "Oh, gosh, she's serving diet food!" Chicken wings, stuffed mushrooms, deviled eggs, roasted nuts, cold shrimp, a cheese platter, crudite (raw veggies) with a killer dip -- who is going to object?

* Feel you must have some sort of sugary treat at your party? Serve something you don't like. Or at least not your own personal favorite. I, for one, don't care a thing about frosted sugar cookies (especially the store-bought ones) and pfefferneusse, so that's what I'd serve. Likewise, I'm not a fan of eggnog, for which I have my father's killer recipe. Makes for happy guests, but no temptation for me.

* Supplement the sugary stuff with your very favorite low carb dessert! Make a sugar-free cheesecake -- or the yummy cookies at the end of this article. Sugar? What sugar?

* Invited to a friend's party? Depending on the customs of your circle, you may want to bring a delicious and festive low carb treat to share. Ask the host or hostess, of course.

* It's always a good idea to go a party with at least a modestly full stomach.

* Once you arrive, scan the food table from a distance first, and get an idea of what will work for you. Then grab yourself a cocktail plate (assuming there are some available), serve yourself whatever low carb stuff is provided -- some nuts, veggies and dip, whatever. Now walk away from the food table. Do not park yourself near a bowl of chips! Go have a scintillating conversation away from the munchies, or join in the caroling, or plot how to get the most attractive person there under the mistletoe.

* One of the fastest ways to take on carbs is to drink them! Be wary of mixers, punch, eggnog, spiced cider, spiced rum, alcopops, and liqueurs like Bailey's, Kahlua, and Amaretto. Dry wine, light beer, and hard liquor are your best bets; mix with club soda or diet pop.

Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup butter -- at room temperature
1 cup Splenda granular
1/2 cup polyol sweetener -- Truvia, erythritol, Diabetisweet, maltitol, whatever you've got.
1/2 teaspoon molasses
2 eggs
2 cups shredded coconut meat
1 cup vanilla whey protein powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar-free semi-sweet chocolate chips (you've noticed the link to these on the left-hand side of this page, right?)

Preheat oven to 375.

Using your electric mixer, beat the butter till it's creamy and fluffy. Now beat in the Splenda and Sucanat.

Next beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating each one in thoroughly.

In another bowl, mix together the coconut, vanilla whey protein powder, baking soda, and salt till everything is evenly distributed. Now beat this mixture into the butter mixture, in three or four additions -- ie, add some, beat it in, add some more, beat that in, etc, till it's all in.

Finally, beat in the chocolate chips.

Spray your cookie sheets with non-stick cooking spray, or line them with baking parchment. Now drop the cookie dough on the cookie sheets -- I use a cookie scoop, which is like an ice cream scoop, only smaller; it holds 2 tablespoons of dough, which makes nice big cookies. If you drop it by smaller spoonfuls, you'll get more, smaller cookies, of course.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, then cool on wire racks.
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About 32 cookies, each with: 147 Calories; 10g Fat ; 6g Protein; 8g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber

(Note: You can also chop up sugar free semi-sweet or dark chocolate bars in your food processor, using the S-blade. Break 'em up into chunks, and pulse the food processor till most of the chunks are the size of chocolate chips. You'll get a fair amount of chocolate dust, and your cookies will be a bit darker because of it, but they'll still be delicious.)