This Canadian winter is getting on my nerves so much. I am starting to feel sad and helpless. Stuck in the house and can't drive or even walk the temperatures are so cold not to mention the wind chill factor.

I feel like gobbling down a box of Oreo Cookies..... Sometimes I am so grateful for my sleeve. But really want to eat the box of Oreo cookies!

I hear ya, sleeve sister. I am just not as motivated to make laps inside the house as much as casual walk around around the neighborhood on a pleasant sunny morning.

What I did yesterday both pleases and shames me. My gentleman friend is from the Mediterranean Island of Malta, and they have a lovely pastry there, called pastizzi. For lack of a better description, pastizzi is like a baked ravioli using puff pastry instead of noodle dough. When we would visit Detroit when he folks were alive, we would go to a little neighborhood market and buy frozen ones by the dozens and bring them back home to Chicago. Outside of Malta, Detroit, and Australia, they had almost impossible to find.

His favorite filling (and the most common on the Malta Island) has a ricotta cheese filling, although a corned beef / pea mixture is popular, also. I was sooooooooo bored yesterday (retired and post-stroke, so I really don't have anywhereI am medically permitted to go when I am alone). We had the perfect pastizzi storm in the fridge. There was ricotta, corned beef, peas, plenty of butter....the temptation was too great, and he has not had pastizza since 2011.

So, I got up early and started the process of making home-made puff pastry, which I had not done in twenty years because of constant yo-yo dieting. I made up some ricotta filling, some corned beef/pea filling, and experimented with bacon/onion/spinach filling and two dessert fillings - ricotta with lemon, and ricotta with dark chocolate, crushed unsalted mixed nuts, cinnamon and dark chocolate.

Oh man, I played in the kitchen all day. The fillings themselves are all bariatric friendly being mostly Protein. Since I am a year out and close to goal, I can justify the few carbs is the corned beef / pea mixture. But did I stop at eating the fillings? Noooooooo.

When I baked the pastizzis for his supper, I just couldn't resist the golden brown yummy deliciousness, and had one of each between dinner and bedtime. Well, I am having pastizzi remorse today and still can't go outside to walk it off because it is 18 degrees here and snowing AGAIN. I will have to do some extra squats and belly dancing, I guess!

But, talk about a happy man......he was so surprised when he came in from work - totally not expecting a surprise like that. He is the cook in this house, and quite skilled with the Mediterranean cuisine and has never made pastizzi himself.

So, two points for making the homemade pastizzi, minus four points for indulging in too many for myself. I need some summer sunshine or at least another 45 degrees to get out and go walking. I don't do cold.

Okay so now I don't want the bag of Oreo Cookies but a nice pastry called Pastizza I'll have the ones with the ricotta with lemon, and ricotta with dark chocolate, crushed unsalted mixed nuts, cinnamon and dark chocolate. Two please!

Ugh feeling your pain... from all of you and I've been bad with these new Dove Dark chocolate Covered cranberries, OMG!! LOL! I can't wait for better weather to continue with my walking and staying OFF the chocolate! Dammit! LOL!

Good luck my Sleeved Sisters! ♥

Well, we have had such a mild winter it seems hard to even call it winter... but I have a trip planned to a sunny climate in a few weeks. I think it really helps if you can swing something like that!

I got a really bad flu and was housebound for 5 days. i didn't get depressed, but, I didn't like it! You have my empathy for sure!

yeah my town had the most snow in all of Massachusetts we got 9+ feet in 2 weeks, 11+ feet in 3 weeks another couple inches tonight, i haven't seen anything but white or off white for weeks, we couldn't get to the gym for two weeks due to nowhere to put the snow, they had to call out the national guard to help clear the streets and we've had like 70 roof collapses so far, its ben a nightmare thankfully i haven't stalled to too much, but its damn hard when you cant get to to the gym i feel your pain.

Wow, those sound so good! My grandmother was English and used to make pasties - a Cornish staple of pie crust stuffed with bits of steak, potato and rutabaga, with butter, salt and pepper. Cornish miners would take them warm in the morning and in their pockets would keep warm til lunch. Sometimes, they were halved and an apple or berry pie would be in one end (we never did that). Man, those things were so good and hearty in the winter and that's what I'd always ask for when I went home to visit. Those would be more problematic to me than even oreos so good thing no one is making them around me. (And the pastizzi sound better still). What a nice thing to do for your SO!

I am from the Illinois prairie so I definitely know cold (no longer in the Illinois prairie), but I feel pretty darn bad for you poor NorthEasterners. Wowsers. I hope you're not snow drift diving.

Wow, those sound so good! My grandmother was English and used to make pasties - a Cornish staple of pie crust stuffed with bits of steak, potato and rutabaga, with butter, salt and pepper. Cornish miners would take them warm in the morning and in their pockets would keep warm til lunch. Sometimes, they were halved and an apple or berry pie would be in one end (we never did that). Man, those things were so good and hearty in the winter and that's what I'd always ask for when I went home to visit. Those would be more problematic to me than even oreos so good thing no one is making them around me. (And the pastizzi sound better still). What a nice thing to do for your SO!

I could go for one of those as well right now.....I just took an Ativan in hopes that it will settle myself down some......Have not went after the Oreo's yet. Had some pineapple spears instead. Dam this sleeve and my commitment to it.

Girl, bless your sleeve and your commitment to it!

I feel it too!! I was cooped up recovering from surgery for 2 weeks with a snowstorm every couple of days. And the food commercials were killing me!! I kept thinking- if it was springtime I could take my dog to the dog park or go for walks outside. At the supermarket today, I really had to pull myself away from the junk food aisle.