Linzer Cookies / Linški piškoti

I broke down crying during my workout yesterday. Okay, it was the real thing, called an 'ugly cry'. It felt like everything is piling up around me.  Why? One thing is, that this is my forth week (well, that's not a lot in comparison with my whole life) when I'm avoiding food that is high in energy and low in nutritional value. I replaced it with food that has high nutritional value and low energy density. Anyone who has ever tried to lose weight  knows that it's difficult, that you have to really make an effort, that you will have moments of crisis and you have to persevere, no matter what. I am making different decisions now, and this is what you should do if you want to achieve a change. So ... I make a lot of good decisions in one day. Each meal, that is the way it should be, presents a  good decision. Every time I'm hungry and would love to eat something that just tastes good, but it's not good for achieving my goal and I decide that I will eat something which will bring me closer to my goal, I make a good decision. Every time I decide to workout, I make a good decision. It seems to me that this is why many people give up because they say: '' Well, I've been good, I haven't ate anything fattening in two days, I can eat something like that today. '' Or: '' I had a really long workout today, I can reward myself with a pizza.'' Because you made a lot of good desicions, because even just one day  means that you have done many things differently than usually. And then you're back to the old way of eating. So you fail again. I think you have to be rigorous, disciplined (and I'm not), and just cut out everything that's not okay. I'm therefore very strict at this moment, but I won't eat like this my whole life. I mean for God's sake, I even started weighing my food!! But I realized, that this is necessary at the beginning, because then you have a real idea about how many calories do you eat in a day. Believe me, almost everyone lies to themselves and we ALWAYS think that food have less calories than it does in reality. So, I cried because everything piled up around me. Continuous thinking about food, dealing with every single meal, feelings of hunger, workout, just this week they decided to change pipes in our area and our building was without hot water for 3 days. I can't stand cold showers and I am aboslutely covered with sweat after workout, so I can't imagine going to bed without taking a shower plus I had to wash my hair. Living in a small apartment is already very complicated and stressful. In addition to all this, my father had surgery today and I was feeling very stressful and worried because of this.  On the one hand it was a little bit funny, when I cried and worked out at the same time, thank's God I exercise at home =). Nevertheless, I didn't stop. Precisely such situations are critical for the fact that most people give up. But you can't, you have to continue, for YOU. Frankly, I share my critical moments with you, because I know that this could be helpfull for someone who is also confronted with some challenge. We all encounter obstacles, we all have problems, I think it's better if we drop our masks and be more GENUINE. Linzer Cookies were the last fattening thing I baked. Oh ... cookies. These cookies are one of my favorites because I like sandwichy things. Different textures, something that is made of different components ... hard, soft, hard ... with a really good strawberry jam made with the hands of nuns and monks from Italy. I was surprised by the final result, because they were perfect. I succeeded! With love, Neja

Včeraj sem se med telovadbo zlomila. Okej, jokala sem na polno, medtem, ko sem izvajala vaje. V tistem trenutku sem ravno ročne uteži dvigovala. Zakaj? Ker teče že četrti (no, šele, v primerjavi z mojim celim življenjem) teden, ko se izogibam hrane, ki ima visoko energijsko vrednost in nizko hranilno vrednost. Zamenjala sem jo s hrano, ki ima visoko hranilno vrednost in nizko energijsko vrednost. Vsak, ki se je že kdaj lotil preoblikovanja telesa ve, da je težko, da se moraš res potruditi, da boš imel krize in da moraš vztrajati, ne glede na vse. Sedaj sprejemam drugačne odločitve in to je tisto, kar moraš narediti, če hočeš doseči spremembo. Torej…na dan sprejmem veliko dobrih odločitev. Vsak obrok, ki je tak, kot naj bi bil, pomeni dobro odločitev. Vsakič, ko sem lačna in bi najraje segla po nečem, kar je sicer dobro po okusu, ni pa dobro za dosego mojih ciljev in se odločim, da bom pojedla nekaj, kar mi bo cilj približalo, sprejmem dobro odločitev. Vsakič, ko se odločim, da bom telovadila, sprejmem dobro odločitev. Zdi se mi, da ravno zaradi tega ogromno ljudi obupa, ker si rečejo: ''Ijoj pa zdaj dva dni nisem pojedel/la nič redilnega. Saj danes si pa lahko že privoščim.'' Ali pa: ''Saj sem res dolgo časa telovadil/a, saj lahko pojem eno pico za nagrado.'' Ker se ti zdi, da si že ogromno naredil, saj že en sam dan pomeni, da si naredil veliko stvari drugače, kot si jih navajen.  In potem si spet na starem načinu življenja. Tako ne prideš nikamor. Mislim, da moraš biti strog, discipliniran (in to jaz nisem) in kar na enkrat odrezati. Trenutno sem torej zelo stroga ampak ne mislim se tako prehranjevati celo življenje. Mislim madona, živila sem začela celo tehtati!! Ampak ugotovila sem, da je to na začetku potrebno zato, ker imaš potem realno predstavo o temu, koliko kalorij sploh zaužiješ. Verjemite mi, da večinoma sami sebi lažemo in živilom VEDNO pripišemo manjšo količino kalorij, kot jih imajo v resnici. Jokala sem pa zato, ker se mi je vsega nabralo. Stalno razmišljanje o hrani, ukvarjanje z vsakim obrokom, občutki lakote, telovadba, ravno ta teden menjajo cevi v okolici in zato smo v našem bloku 3 dni ostali brez tople vode. Ne prenesem mrzlih tušev in med telovadbo sem totalno prešvicana in si res ne predstavljam, da se ne bi stuširala pa še lasje sem si morala umiti. Življenje v majhnem stanovanju je že tako zelo zakomplicirano in stresno. Poleg vsega skupaj je pa še moj oči danes imel operacijo in sem se logično še zaradi tega ogromno sekirala. Po eni strani je bilo kar malo smešno, ko sem hkrati jokala in telovadila, še dobro, da doma telovadim =). Kljub vsemu, se nisem ustavila. To so ravno take situacije, ki so kritične za to, da večina ljudi obupa. Ampak ne smeš, moraš nadaljevati, ZASE. Iskreno delim svoje kritične trenutke z vami, ker vem, da bo to nekomu, ki se prav tako spopada s kakšnim izzivom, lahko pomagalo. Vsi naletimo na ovire, vsi imamo probleme, lažje nam bo, če bomo odvrgli maske in bili PRISTNI. Linški piškoti so bili zadnja taka redilna zadeva, ki sem jo spekla. Oh…piškoti. Ti piškoti so eni izmed meni najljubših, ker so mi všeč take sendvič variante. Različne teksture, nekaj, kar je sestavljeno iz različnih komponent … trdo, mehko, trdo … z res dobro jagodno marmelado izpod rok nun in menihov iz Italije. Bila sem prav presenečena nad končnim rezultatom, ker so bili popolni. Super so mi uspeli! Z ljubeznijo, Neja

Strawberry jam of the Carmelites monastery / Holyart

Recipe from: American heritage cooking

The Recipe

Ingredients 2/3 cup almonds (or ground almonds) ½ cup packed light brown sugar 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled ½ teaspoon baking powder ½ teaspoon kosher salt ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature 1 large egg 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 2 tablespoons powdered sugar, for dusting 1 12-ounce jar preserves The process Preheat the oven to 350°. Spread almonds on a rimmed baking sheet and toast in the preheated oven until lightly browned and fragrant, about 6-10 minutes. They will continue to cook outside of the oven so make sure to take them out as soon as you can smell them! Let cool. While your almonds cool, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Set aside. Process the almonds and a ¼ cup of the brown sugar in a food processor until they are finely ground. Be sure to pulse so as not to make almond butter. In a large bowl, beat the butter and remaining ¼ cup brown sugar with a hand mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to low and gradually add the ground almonds, then add the flour mixture in several additions. Mix until just combined being careful not to over mix. Divide the dough in half, shape into disks, wrap securely in plastic wrap, and refrigerate 2 hours or until firm but not hard! If you want to prepare the dough the night before, just allow the disks to warm up on the counter until they are still firm but not soft. Preheat oven to 350° and line 2 baking sheets with parchment. On a lightly floured surface, roll out each piece of dough to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut out using 3 inch cookie cutter and place on prepared baking sheet, spacing them 1 inch apart. Using a 1 inch cookie cutter cut out the centers of half of the rounds, re-rolling the scraps. Bake the bottoms and the tops (the ones with the holes) on separate cookie sheets! Bake, one sheet at a time, rotating the cookie sheet half way through, until the edges begin to brown, 8-10 minutes. Cool slightly on the cookie sheet and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. When the tops have partially cool, dust them generously with powdered sugar. Spread about ¾ teaspoon of preserves on each cookie without holes. Place a powdered top on each bottom and press gently to stick them together! Keep in a sealed storage container at room temperature for up to 5 days. Store between layers of parchment paper. After 4 days they begin to dry out.

Sestavine 100 g mandljev (ali mletih mandljev) 110 g  rjavega sladkorja 310 g bele moke ½ žličke pecilnega praška ½ žličke soli ¼ žličke mletega cimeta 225 g masla, sobne temperature 1 jajce 1 žlička vanilijevega ekstrakta 2 žlici sladkorja v prahu, za posip Marmelada (kakršnakoli) Navodila Pečico segrejte na 175 ° C. Če boste uporabili cele mandlje: Na pekač s peki papirjem položite mandlje, razporedite jih tako, da se ne prekrivajo in jih pecite 6 – 10 minut, da bodo rahlo porjaveli in zadišali. Še vedno se bodo kuhali od znotraj tudi po temu, ko jih boste vzeli ven iz pečice, zato bodite pozorni na to, da jih boste res vzeli ven iz pečice, ko bodo zadišali. Pustite, da se ohladijo. (Ta korak lahko izpustite, če boste uporabili že mlete mandlje.) Medtem, ko mandlji hladijo, zmešajte skupaj moko, pecilni prašek, sol in cimet v srednje veliki posodi. Mandlje zmeljite v multipraktiku in jim dodajte polovico rjavega sladkorja. Bodite previdni, da jih ne boste mleli tako dolgo, da bo nastalo mandljevo maslo. V veliki skledi stepite maslo in preostalo polovico rjavega sladkorja, približno 2 do 3 minute. Dodajte  jajce in vanilijo. Zmanjšajte hitrost in postopoma dodajte  zmlete mandlje, nato postopoma dodajajte mešanico z moko (nastavek zamenjajte s tistim za gnetenje testa). Razdelite testo na pol, oblikujte dva diska, zavijte ju v prozorno folijo in pustite v hladilniku 2 uri. Če želite testo pripraviti en dan prej, potem diska pustite toliko časa na sobni temperaturi, da se rahlo zmehčata, ampak ne premehka, testo naj bo čvrsto. Pečico segrejte na 175 ° in na pekač/a položite peki papir. Na rahlo pomokani površini razvaljajte vsak disk posebej. Če je testo tak, da bi morali dodati preveč moke, da bi se ga dalo valjati, raje uporabite prozorno folijo in testo razvaljajte čez folijo. Iz enega diska z modelčkom izrežite spodnje dele piškotov, iz drugega diska pa zgornje polovice-z luknjo. Posebej pecite spodnje dele in posebej zgornje. Če nimate dveh pekačev, potem pustite, da se pekač popolnoma ohladi, preden boste nanj položili druge polovice. Pecite en pekač posebej, 8-10 minut. Pustite, da se ohladijo. Ko so zgornje polovice ohlajene, jih bogato posujte s sladkorjem v prahu. Na spodnje polovice namažite marmelado in nanje položite zgornje polovice. Hranite jih v zaprti posodi za shranjevanje pri sobni temperaturi do 5 dni. Shranite med plastmi peki papirja. Po 4 dneh se začnejo sušiti.