Thanksgiving – Page 3

Going to work after a holiday week is always hard. Combine that with the first really cold day this winter and a grey, rainy sky… and you have a tough Monday.

The icing on the cake is that I have to be on the first flight out to Detroit tomorrow. Rock City.

I’m lucky to have a great job… but rainy days and Mondays always get me down.

Enough with the complaining!

Quick, name 5 things you love!!

My new grey sweater
The fact that my pants are still loose after T-giving
Peanut Butter-Sunflower Seed Granola (recipe below!)
The Avett Brothers: Live Volume 3 album
The Honey dog

This day also calls for a “funny.” Auto-correct-style.

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Now that that’s out of the way. I made some rockstar granola, thank you The Best of Clean Eating cookbook.

Take note: granola was meant for peanut butter. How have I never made it with PB before?!

It was especially tasty on top of Greek yogurt this morning. With a sweet potato-blueberry pancake crumbled on it for good measure.

As if being delicious isn’t enough, this Peanut Butter-Sunflower Seed Granola is lower in fat and sugar and higher in protein than most grocery store varieties.

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Peanut Butter-Sunflower Seed Granola

(from The Best of Clean Eating)

3/4 C Sunflower seeds (raw, unsalted)
1 1/2 C Oatmeal (uncooked)
1/4 C Flaxseed (roughly ground)
1/2 C Dried cranberries
1/2 C slivered almonds
1/2 C Unsweetened coconut
3 T Crunchy peanut butter
2 T Cacao nibs
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/3 C Agave syrup
1 tsp Vanilla

Preheat oven to 300F. Combine ingredients in a large bowl and stir until blended. Make fruitless effort not to eat raw mixture.

Press mixture onto parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 40 minutes. Let cool for 10 mins. Store in air-tight container.

Serves 12.

Nutrition info:

Calories: 124, Total fat: 13g, Sat. Fat: 3g, Carbs: 25.5g, Fiber: 9g, Protein 7.5g, Sugars: 12.5g

We finally made it back from our Thanksgiving tour of the Southeast! I only got one speeding ticket fast driver award. Is 80 mph really that unreasonable on the interstate?!

If anyone knows a lawyer in Shelby, NC… the cop suggests I get one so that I don’t get points on my license. 🙂

Anyway, we did make it to Charlotte and had a great meal with my cousins, aunt and uncle. We walked in the door at 430p and started cooking Thanksgiving dinner and drinking red wine.

My uncle is a great bartender

Our fancy menu

My cousin Steve handed me a chef’s jacket to wear in lieu of an apron. Rockstar.

Steve and me cutting up the butternut squash

I cubed the squash, tossed with EVOO, fresh rosemary, nutmeg, and cinnamon, and roasted it in the oven. It ended up on this spinach salad:

Spinach salad with toasted almonds, raisins, and roasted butternut squash

Steven made a butternut squash, mushroom, and gruyere phyllo appetizer:

Cheesy appetizer goodness

The sides were: Sweet Potato Casserole, Wild Rice with Figs and Shiitakes, and Spinach Shiitake Bread Pudding.

Sides

The savory bread pudding was one I found in Food & Wine from Jean-Georges Vongerichten.

It was really good, but next time I would make it all in one large pan rather than ramekins like the recipe instructed. Recipe here.

The bread pudding deserves a close up

I swear we had meat too! Beef Tenderloin with Cherry Compote and 2 Roasted Chickens.

Steve did an awesome job – I didn’t sample the beef, but the chicken was perfect!

Steve appreciated the fact that he couldn’t take a bite until I took a pic!

And now for the important part. Dessert.

My aunt made pecan pie, complete with homemade crust. Crust is one of those things that I forget how good it is homemade until I have it. This one was perfection.

Mom served up the Kentucky Derby Pie while Steve served up his homemade peppermint ice cream at record speed.

Steve’s bionic serving arm

I had a little taste of my Flourless Chocolate crack Cake with sea salt and a bit of ice cream. I typically don’t even like mint ice cream, but was is GOOD.

Then I cleaned my sister’s plate and ate my cousin’s pie crust.

Chocolate cake would be my last request if I was on death row

Whew. I’m full just remembering this meal.

Because we didn’t get enough food on Thanksgiving, we woke up the next morning and raided Dean & Deluca. (It couldn’t be helped – it was right by our hotel!)

If you are in the neighborhood, don’t miss it. Try the chocolates. And the wine selection. 😉

Armed with a provisions and Christmas music, we got back on the road…

… to Thanksgiving meal #2 with my grandparents.

Grandmother made Pumpkin Pecan Biscuits. She’s promised to send the recipe.

I’ll be making these all winter

We had homemade muscadine wine!

2010 was an excellent year!

My grandparents are really into healthy eating nowadays, so our (post) Thanksgiving dinner #2 was a refreshing one. Thank god.

Salad Bar

Sweet potato, biscuit, salad, grilled chicken, black beans, and wild rice

It is really neat to have grandparents into eating local, healthy food. And a much-needed break after all the rich food!

Not that it prevented me from a few dessert nibbles.

We also got to play with my grandfather’s kitten, Squeaky (it squeaks instead of meowing!).

I miss having a cat!

It was great to see everyone, but after all of that driving and eating I was ready to get home.

This morning I got up and went to a 10am kickboxing class… and got a much-needed butt kicking. Hurts so good.

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Unbelievably, I cooked tonight too – a mile-high lasagna pie… pics tomorrow! 🙂

What was everyone’s favorite dish this year? Mine was the roasted butternut squash salad – that squash was tasty!

Rainy Days and Mondays + Granola

Thanksgiving Recap

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