Because the holiday season is coming up I have been thinking about making cookies for Christmas. Back when I was in college I used to make cookies for my friends and family. I would often get requests for my cookies at various events. I only had a mixing bowl at the time and then upgraded to a cheap stand mixer that wobbled and shook but it took much less work on my arms to stir the tasty batter. And with my cookies in high demand I would have to make batch after batch of them.

If I had a Hamilton Beach® Stand Mixer at that time I would have been able to mix up a batch for up to 9 dozen cookies. Can you imagine having to mix that many by hand or with an inferior stand mixer. Nope, no thanks, I’ve done it and am not going back. Using an Eclectrics® Mixer is so much smarter because they have more power and great features. One feature that I really like hearing about is the 12 settings for precise mixing control. The inferior stand mixer that I had didn’t beat the dough as smoothly as I did by hand and the cookies tasted somewhat different. With 12 mixing speed settings I will be able to find the precise setting speed to mimic my hand mixing and produce quality cookies.

And have you seen the colors of the Hamilton Beach® Mixer? There are six modern and classic colors like Apple (light green), Pineapple (light yellow), Licorice (black), Sterling (silver), UltraMarine (navy blue) and Sugar (White). These colors are great compliments to your kitchen decor whether you are going for an all stainless steel kitchen or looking for kitchen with a retro feel.

And in case you want to make my special cookies that were the hit of the college campus here is the recipe.

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks, 1/2 pound) butter, softened

3/4 cup granulated [white] sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar – And here is the secret, add an extra 1/4 cup of brown sugar to make this 1 cup in total.

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 Cup semi-sweet Chocolate Chips

1 Cup White Chocolate Chips

1 Cup Peanut Butter chips.

COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in Hamilton Beach® Stand Mixer bowl. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition; gradually beat in flour mixture. Once completely combined mix an additional two minutes. Then stir in chocolate chips, white chocolate chips and then peanut butter chips. The order of the chips is critical. Make sure that each cup is stirred in before adding the next one.

Use a small ice cream scoop to make rounded drops of dough. Place onto ungreased baking sheets or silicone cookie mats (these work great.)

BAKE in preheated 375-degree [Fahrenheit] oven for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

What is really special about these cookies is that the extra brown sugar and extra beating make the cookies crispy on the outside and very chewy on the inside. The mixture of chips gives the cookie a distinct taste that is hard to describe but easy to enjoy.

I travel for my job, I travel a whole bunch and I eat horribly. Not bad tasting food but rather tons of things that were high in fat and calories. At least I did eat like that until I found out that I have type two diabetes. For five years I’ve traveled all over the country and when I was running late for a flight or a demo I would make the poorest choices around. I’d eat at those large chain fast food restaurants. You know the one, with that crazy clown or demented fake royalty pushing his burgers and all. I’m not saying that eating there gave me the disease because that is not how things work but all that garbage in my system contributed to making me fat. Ultimately it was my own fault and my own choices of course but my choice to eat fatty greasy food is what helped to put on 50 pounds quickly when I started traveling. I told myself that I could have a meal from those burger joints once in a while. Eventually it became something I did every trip and then multiple times on the same trip. I convinced myself that that was the best option for me because of how pressed for time I was.

I was wrong.

My lab results and bathroom scale proved that. So now I am eating healthier and making sure that I think about the things that I eat. I got some coupons in the mail for SUBWAY® the other day and it got me to thinking about Jared Fogle. I had been to SUBWAY® many times in the past and even wanted to try to do what Jared Fogle did. You know, the guy who ate at subway twice a day and also began a healthy lifestyle of walking and other exercise. The guy is inspiring because he was just some guy at 425lbs that decided to take a step in the right direction. Jared has even written a book, “Winning Through Losing” and you can read the first chapter of it on the SUBWAY® FRESHBUZZâ„¢ page. I was reading the first chapter and I can see how I was very much like Jared in grade school and high school. I would come home and polish off a sleeve of Ritz crackers or Premium saltines or even Chips Ahoy and Oreo cookies. And then I would play Nintendo for hours. I still like my Ritz but now I only have 5 at a time with some Smart Balance peanut butter on them to get some Omega 3s. I could certainly sympathize with Jared’s story about the pizza he ordered as a kid. I’d like to continue reading that book.

As a kid, one thing that I really looked forward to was a happy meal. I think about that now and while it may make my kids happy to have one and heck it may make me happy to have one on the road, I know it isn’t something I want to make me or my kids happy. All of the fat and calories in such a small meal is no good for me or my kids. Kids are becoming more and more obese and so are adults. I know I am not a model of health and fitness but I have a choice to stay fit and while my daughter cannot make her own choices on meals for quite some time to come I can at least make healthy choices for her. Healthy choices can include the new SUBWAY® FRESH FITâ„¢ meals for kids. There are many choices that kids and parents have for their SUBWAY® FRESH FITâ„¢ meals. And I mean many choices. Get this there are eight sandwiches to choose from with less than six grams of fat. Less than 6 grams of fat, that is a very significant number. And you can get great tasting sides like yogurt, Baked Lays, raisins, and apples, and to drink, ice cold water, 1% milk, or diet soda. Many choices and each one makes you come out a winner.

When Eva is old enough to eat a sandwich I can take her to SUBWAY® and we can order some SUBWAY FRESH FIT™ meals. One of the fun things about this Father/Daughter trip will be picking our fresh and healthy toppings for our sandwiches. I am a fan of pickles, lettuce, tomatoes, jalapeño peppers, and green peppers and you can load up on those and still be healthy. Mustard is also a tangy and delicious alternative to the added fat from mayo. But if you are not a mustard fan SUBWAY has some fat free toppings like the Sweet Onion sauce. That sauce is delicious. Today I asked Allison to take the coupons that we got in the mail and go to SUBWAY® and get me a 6 inch Sweet Onion Chicken Terriyaki on whole wheat, a Dasani Water and some Baked Lays. Here is my delicious lunch.

If you haven’t been to the SUBWAY® site in a while or ever before you have to see the SUBWAY FRESH FITâ„¢ website and you have to stop at Burger Town. With choices like “Muffin Top”, “Manboobs” and a “Spare Tire” you will certainly think over your next choice for lunches and dinners at fast food places. You can even compare how much fat is in the SUBWAY FRESH FITâ„¢ meals vs. the meals from McDonald’s and Burger King. The Sweet Onion Chicken Terriyaki that I had today has 5 grams of fat. A McDonald’s Big Mac has 30 grams. That is six times more fat. And you don’t even want to know how many calories or grams of fat are in a Whopper.

Get out, exercise and eat right. Adding some SUBWAY FRESH FITâ„¢ to your diet instead of greasy burgers and fatty sides is a step in the right direction.