Honey Thumbprints

(Oh dear, borrowed pic again. But, my cookies really do look just like these! This photo is pirated from World Market website. To have a gander at the beautiful pictures my professionally-talented sixteen year old does, go to Rachel Karrer Photography on facebook. Then, please send her many emails imploring her to teach her mother how to upload photos. Thank you.)

Okay, hysterectomy surgery is coming up three weeks from today. I went to lunch with Liz yesterday and she surprised me by telling me that it was only three weeks away. I knew it was coming up but I've been busy with many other more pressing things. Yes, blocking it out of my mind is probably what I've been doing.

The doctor's office gave me a packet from the hospital telling me how to prepare for this particular surgery. One of the many things I need to do is STOP taking all vitamins and supplements and any kind of pain or allergy medicine. The only thing I can take is my nightly blood pressure medicine. I have been on these meds since I was 26 years old. It's crazy but my precious doc admonished me..."You have a DISEASE, Jennifer, it doesn't care how old or young you are!" So, there it is. I've been worried about how to stay healthy on the build-up to my surgery date WITHOUT MY VITAMINS!!!

My friend Valerie said, "Just eat them in your food and don't worry about taking the pills." She encouraged me to eat lots of dark leafy greens and other veggies and fruits. I already drink lots of water. Miss Fran encouraged me (she didn't know I took her advice personally, she was actually telling someone else) to stop drinking so much caffeine. And, I knew that the white flour and sugar had to come to a stop. I have to admit I've been sneaking white flour in here and there. SOMEBODY brought a sourdough cheddar and jalapeno loaf to the fellowship lunch after church at Calvary Chapel on Sunday. I really can't resist jalapenos on anything, especially on some kind of cheesy sourdough bread. And yesterday, Liz took me to lunch at Piazza and we ate a delicious piece (okay, two pieces) of their awesome wood-fired pizza. Man, it was yummy. Thank you, Gabriel Dickinson!

But, I have been off white sugar since September 20th. Again. You guys know I "fast sugar" from time to time. Sugar makes me feel like I'm on speed. I can't think, I can't do anything without feeling like I'm jumping out of my skin. My body hates white sugar.

About two years ago the LORD gave me a dream. I was locked in a bathroom with a window that was a tiny bit open. Pretty soon this beautiful Siamese cat squeezed under the window. It purred loudly as I pet its intensely soft fur. The more I pet the cat, the more it purred. All of the sudden the cat turned black and had blazing yellow eyes and it snarled and bit me in the face and began to attack me viciously. When I woke up I heard these words, "The spirit of gluttony rides a horse named Sugar."

I wrote those words down and pondered them for a long time. Sugar is the gateway drug. My pal Rachel Wemple gave me a sticker that said that. My daughter took a picture of it and saved it on my cell phone as a reminder. My family hates it when I'm "on sugar". I'm a whole different person when I'm off of it. All of that being said, I thought it best to begin fasting a full month before the surgery. So far, so good. I keep it all in prayer. I know Who keeps me from temptation.

Mondays Rod and I go out for our coffee dates. This is a three year old tradition. Our marriage has never been better. Since he is unemployed and we have been spending tons of time together I declared as we pulled out of the driveway, "We have nothing left to talk about." He quickly retorted, "How can you ever say that about us? We ALWAYS have something to talk about!" He was right. We did.

Usually we go to Starbucks, not for the atmosphere...only for the strong coffee. I like to get a decaf Americano with room for lots of cream. Rod gets the same and as I have mentioned before...sometimes he gets one of those ugly, cold, tasteless "Old Fashioned Doughnuts" they sell. Yick! I'm never tempted. But, I do pine for something to dunk in my coffee. Yesterday afternoon I knew we were going and I was determined to make some kind of yummy treat that didn't have white flour or white sugar. Here they are, Honey Thumbprint Cookies. These little beauties are ab-fab. I found a recipe for whole wheat thumbprints online and then I tweaked the daylights out of it to produce a cookie that satisfied my sweet-tooth without punching a hole in my desire to eat healthy. I baked a batch up, let them cool and put them in a tin that we took with us to Starbucks. They didn't sell my husband one of those nasty doughnuts last night. Amen.

Before I give you the recipe. I have this on my mind...Wanna pray? If you do, here's a list of things you can pray about for me regarding the surgery: I'm afraid. (God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind. 2 Tim 1:7) I'm afraid of the anesthesia and the pain killers. I'm terribly allergic to anything with COdeine in it. I am pretty sure that includes: perCOset and oxyCOtin and anthying else with CO in the name. My husband and I have ministered to addicts for long enough to hear how these prescription addicts started out normal enough: one surgery. The IV, I'm afraid of the IV. When I gave birth to Rachel, the most painful part was the IV. (I'm being honest here, the IV pain made me sick to my stomach.) And I'm afraid of the demonic spiritual element wandering around in the hospital while I'm sleeping. After I gave birth to Rachel this male nurse or CNA or whatever he was came and lurked around our room and every time he came in I felt the heaviness of the enemy. It was a sick overwhelmingly horrid feeling. Other than those things, I'm good to go. No worries. So, pray that the LORD will just deal with all those nagging fears I have and I thank you right now!

And about those cookies (how can she put ALL these things in one blog post???)...here's the recipe I developed. Enjoy!

Jenn's Honey Thumbprint Cookies

use a liquid measuring cup and fill to 1/2 cup with honey, fill up to the 2/3 line with molasses (or just use 2/3 cup honey, I didn't have it, so I used molasses to make up the difference)
1 stick softened butter
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup rolled oats
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon orange juice
your favorite jam, I used Polaner All Fruit Raspberry (Would ya please pass the jelly?)

PREHEAT oven to 350
LINE baking sheet with parchment (love parchment, it's a mahvelous invention)

In a LARGE mixing bowl stir together honey/molasses and butter til smooth. Add vanilla and orange juice and stir til smooth again.

In a MEDIUM bowl combine flour, oats, cornstarch and salt.

ADD dry ingredients to wet and stir just til combined. The dough will be tender.

ROLL dough into 1" balls and place about an inch apart on sheet. Poke gently with your finger (I use damp index finger) to make a well for the jam.

ADD tiny amount of jam, just filling to the rim of the well. If you put in too much your jam will spill over during baking and make a mess of your cookies.

Bake for 7-9 minutes. Transfer to racks to cool.

I have to say, the first two batches were little puffy cookies. I like a flatter, more crispy cookie for dunking, so the last batch I flattened a little between my fingers before I placed them on the sheet and made the well marks. I liked these flattened ones better. But, it's up to you.

God bless you and healthy eating.
Love,
Jenn