Turkey Archives -

Anticipating Thanksgiving

Post author:Melanie
Post published:November 6, 2013
Post category:Dinners / Events / Family
Post comments:24 Comments

Before I go into the planned post, I just have to say…we got snow last night!

The reason I’m excited about this is because 1. It’s really pretty and 2. I know it isn’t going to stick around. I’m not really ready for permanent snow yet. It was kind of fun seeing that first thing this morning.

Anyway, I know Thanksgiving is still a few weeks away but if you’re anything like me, I go NUTS over Thanksgiving. We do the same thing almost every year. In the morning we participate in a 5K run/walk with a bunch of friends which is a blast, then we shower up and head over to either mine or Dana’s parents for a big Thanksgiving feast. Last year we actually hosted at our house and it went really well (minus the fact it took wayyyyyy too long to cook the turkey due to a fritzy oven), but I’m leaving it to the parents this year. 🙂

I love the intimacy of Thanksgiving; being with family, not stressing about presents, but just being together and enjoying each other’s company. It’s the best.

And don’t get me started on the food. Okay, get me started. I really want to talk about the food. Ever since I was little this has been on my top five of favorite meals. I only wish I could grow a second stomach just temporarily for the day so I could enjoy more of my favorite meal on the actual holiday. I know there’s always leftovers, but they aren’t the same.

My mom and I always discuss our Thanksgiving menu when the time rolls around and we joke about how I never want to deviate away from our standard spread. It’s just so darn good—why change a good thing?!

1. The turkey: my favorite part is the turkey breast.

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2. Mashed potatoes with gravy with some extra gravy over the turkey.

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3. Green bean casserole

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4. Stuffing

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5. Whipped sweet potatoes

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6. Cranberries

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7. Relish tray: pickles and olives (they are a must in our household!)

8. Some type of warm roll—I usually skip on this to save more room in my belly for other foods but the rolls are really good for leftover turkey sandwiches.

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9. Pie, usually pumpkin

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Don’t these lil babies look good?!

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For years, I would end Thanksgiving with a trip to my cousin Betsy’s house where we would get cozy in our sweats, eat leftover turkey sandwiches and watch White Christmas. It was always something I looked forward to to end out the wonderful loved one-filled day. This tradition still continues but I can’t always make it over there! I’m always there in spirit. 😉

The day after Thanksgiving Dana and I always go pick out our Christmas tree. I can’t believe in three weeks we will be putting a Christmas tree up in our house! Eeeeeee! I love this time of year.

My mouth is officially watering for some Thanksgiving food. Let the countdown begin to one of my favorite holidays!

Do you love Thanksgiving? Why?

What are your favorite Thanksgiving foods?

Do you have any Thanksgiving traditions?

A Minor Food Slump

Post author:Melanie
Post published:March 22, 2013
Post category:Breakfast / Dinners / Gluten-Free / Health / Home Life / Workouts
Post comments:7 Comments

Haaaaaaaappppy Friday!

You may have noticed that there weren’t too many food photos this past week. That’s because I went on a lazy hiatus this week with my meals.

Breakfasts have been my typical banana and peanut butter, lunches have been leftover meatloaf or whatever I can throw down during my lunch break…

…and dinners have been more leftover meatloaf! Lame!

However, yesterday morning I did attempt to be more creative and I made myself what turned out to be an egg pancake made with one egg and 1-2 egg whites. I cooked the eggs over too high of heat on the stove and they quickly turned from an omelet into a pancake. In the pancake was sautéed onions, green peppers, and kale, topped with avocado and Parkers Farm salsa.

It wasn’t my proudest breakfast moment, but it did taste alright and kept my tummy satisfied well until lunch.

Once lunch rolled around, I ate my usual breakfast of pb and banana (haha I just couldn’t go a DAY without it) and had a bunch of other random bites. I have got to turn this food slump around, because it is NOT exciting.

To tell you the truth, this entire week has been one of those weeks where everything seemed to take twice the effort; preparing meals, workouts, work, daily chores…everything. I really think that it has to do with the cold weather around here that keeps droning on and on. I am so ready for warm weather. I feel like I did pretty well this winter without feeling any symptoms of seasonal affective disorder, but now that it’s technically spring, I am realizing I have had enough of the cold and I know I’m not alone on this one.

Out with the cold and in with the warm please!

I did try to get snazzy with my workout yesterday afternoon. I was feeling sluggish and slightly under the weather after work, so decided that a calm 30-minute yoga session might be nice.

I rolled out the yoga mat and started flipping through the selections OnDemand looking for some yoga, but ended up scrolling across a 45-minute session called Grace and Gusto which combines Pilates and ballet. Being that I used to dance and miss it dearly, I decided to give it a whirl.

The verdict: It was fun and different and was the perfect pace for my mood (not super fast). It didn’t include a lot of jumping around, which was what I was looking for, and the instructor did a great job of combining both ballet and Pilate moves into the session. I was glad I did it and it reminded me that I need to step outside of my comfort zone more often and try new workouts.

As for today’s workout, my tentative plan is to go for a run. We will see what kind of mood I am in though! I seem to be kind of a rollercoaster lady lately.

My goals for the upcoming week are to jazz up my meals and to reenergize my motivation for more intense workouts. Who knows, maybe my body was telling me to lay low this week, but I’m ready for amp it up again!

Question of the day: Have you tried any new recipes lately? Any new workouts?

One of My Favorite Meals

Post author:Melanie
Post published:November 23, 2012
Post category:Blog / Dinners / Family / Friends / Home Life / Sweet Treats / Workouts
Post comments:2 Comments

Thanksgiving 2012 was a success!

The day started off with a pre-run breakfast of banana with peanut butter and cinnamon and a cup of coffee.

Then off to Hale to the Bird 5k for a gorgeous morning run. It was mid 50’s and absolutely perfect running weather. I ran my fastest 5k ever yesterday and am super pumped about it!

Photos courtesy of the beautiful Amanda 🙂

I was a co-sponsor of the event and Beautifully Nutty made it on the back of the shirts! I was a whole lotta excited about that!

After the race, Dana and I made our way home to get the turkey in the oven, look through the Black Friday ads, and have a couple of snacks to hold us over until dinner.

Dinner Time

Our guests arrived at 2:00 pm and we enjoyed delicious appetizers, drinks, and company. I also opened up birthday presents from my mom and dad and Kevin. Now my birthday is officially over. Bummer! I guess three weeks is long enough. 🙂

The turkey took a lot longer to cook than I expected (ahem 5 plus hours in the oven–are you kidding me?!), so when it finally came time to eat everyone was pretty darn hungry.

But you know what, it all worked out. Here is our lovely Thanksgiving meal…

Ta da! My very first turkey!

Cornbread stuffing, gluten-free (recipe to come!), and cheesy broccoli and cauliflower.

Mashed potatoes with a few lumps which is my FAVORITE. One big dog sitting by our feet while we ate just in case something were to drop. Sorry, no luck there pup.

My pretty plate. To the upper left of the photo is homemade cranberry sauce. Cranberry sauce often gets neglected. It was good though!

I cleaned my plate and then had two more bites of mashed potatoes before calling it quits. I wish I could temporarily grow a second stomach just for Thanksgiving so that I could eat a little bit more of this delicious meal. This is one of my favorite meals of all time.

Birthday Dessert

When dessert rolled around everyone sang “Happy Birthday” to me and I blew out my birthday candles! I feel like my birthday is not complete until that song is sung. I love that my mom always harmonizes when she sings it.

For dessert I had a piece of mom’s homemade french silk pie (she made it gluten-free for me) and a small piece of pumpkin pie (minus the crust). Both were delectable!

With only a few minor set-backs during the meal preparation, I would say it was a very successful Thanksgiving. I am so thankful for my family for keeping my stress level under control when things don’t go as planned.

Now it’s time to start thinking about eating up those leftovers! I hope you all had a happy and healthy holiday and were able to enjoy time with family and friends.

Catch up with you all soon! xoxo