New Baking Goodies! & The Dessert Theory

Firstly I need to give you all a massive THANK YOU! Reading your comments really picked me up. Your kindness never ceases to amaze me. I'm sorry for the venty post but It really did help to get it out and let go of the frustration. I'm very grateful to have such supportive readers.

So to move on I decided to re-ignite my love for cooking with a little food related shopping. It looks like a lot but I went $2 shop shopping!

I made out with a small bread/loaf pan- it's a tiny 3 inches x 6 inches and will be well used seeing as every time I use the big one I have to give some away or freeze it because it's too big for us. I'm dreaming of baking banana bread and making lentil loaves in this little one. I also found the cutest mini casserole dish you've ever seen- It's a baby 3.5 inches x 3.5 inches and I'm thinking of making berry crumble with an oaty topping mmmm
I found a mini (4 inch) bunt tin- I'm thinking of making a low fat lemon cake... & a mini (4.5 inch) flan dish- I'm thinking about trying a tofu spinach quiche and I'm going to do a low fat low cal version of the ultimate chocolate coconut pie that's laughing at me from the fridge.

I also got a cute little (4 inch) heart shaped mini cake tin that I thought would be perfect to make something nice for my husband and a proper baby cake tin with some re-usable silicone casings because I make these regularly for people's birthdays, I find them much easier than bringing a cake that you have to cut and bring forks and plates- plus they're perfect portion control, two bites of deliciousness and they're gone.

And because there are times when hubby and I actually do eat the same things (usually desserts) or when I eat a larger portion than the cute little one above I got this cute pink casserole dish that's still tiny (6.5 inches x 5 inches) but not quite as tiny as the single serve one above.

And some pretty new place mats that are easier to clean! I don't know how but the boys manage to get crumbs in every line & fold of the other ones. These are also smaller which is nice. We had a couple of friends over for dinner on the weekend and our other place mats are so big that when the table's full they all overlap! 

I also embraced the tacky and got some HUGE glasses (500ml) to make getting my increased water intake in easier and a big (6.5inch) pink Knickerbocker glory glass to make an awesome fruit 'ice cream' sunday big enough to share :) I don't know about you but I love sharing food from the same plate/bowl, it's fun and you feel closer to the person you're sharing with. 
All in all I love the $2 store. So cheap. How can you not be happy? I can't wait to bake.


So I have a theory. Lets call it the dessert theory. I believe the key to my sanity and health is dessert. I know that may sound a tad crazy at first but hear me out. When I skip dessert I feel deprived and get into the restriction mode where I start feeling guilty for eating vegetables. But if I have a yummy healthy dessert I'm good, full, satisfied and won't spend the evening re-opening the fridge/cupboard just to check if yummy zero calorie food has magically appeared. This theory applies in the other direction though- if I have a dessert that is too high cal/fat/sugar it can trigger the 'what the hell I've already stuffed up' mode that will usually result in the consumption of copious calories, excess fat/sugar/carbs and a week long stomach ache. So the most important thing I can gather from my musings on desserts is- eat more fruit 'ice cream'! Forever is a long time and I really REALLY don't want to revert to bad eating habits so daily dessert is sounding like a good plan. Do any of you have similar experiences? Do you eat dessert when you diet? 
I'm re-thinking the Christmas menu at the moment- I'll let you know what I decide on and of course, there'll be photos of the results. Hope you're all having a great day! xxx