Happy Thanksgiving Y’all!!! Here’s a recap of our Turkey Day events.
First of all, I must say that I am thankful for my wonderful family! Even though we all could not be in the same location this year, I love them all so much and miss not seeing them except on the holidays. My beautiful sister arrived around 9:30 on Wednesday. We talked a bit while I baked and then she went to bed, exhausted from driving 8 hours.
Jana and Me
This year for Thanksgiving, I decided to make some traditional dishes with a slight twist. My aunt was trying to spend less time in the kitchen and more time with family. But I wanted a few traditional items and something I knew I could eat that didn’t have any dairy in it. So here’s what I made:
- Hummus
- Chestnut Stuffing
- Vegan Green Bean Casserole
- Blueberry Cobbler
The hummus I made is based on this recipe from 101 Cookbooks. However, I used a little bit of chili oil that we have in our fridge and a little bit if sesame oil. I also realized I didn’t have enough walnuts. So, it has less than 1/4 cup toasted almonds. This was ok, but tastes best if you follow this recipe closer than I did this time.
This year, the hubby wanted stuffing – not the cornbread dressing that I’ve grown up eating in the south but a bread based stuffing. So, I looked for Chestnut stuffing recipes everywhere and found this lovely one from Vegan Yum Yum. It was good, but I do like my traditional dressing. I also added a Bosc pear in here. I think next time, I wouldn’t add the chestnuts but maybe walnuts. I’ve never had them before and were a lot of work to prepare and my family didn’t really know what they were. And then I think I would add cranberries or a sweeter pear. But the flavor was good because I used fresh herbs and lots of veggies.
My favorite new recipe that I tried was this vegan green bean casserole from Fat Free Vegan. It was really great. I was worried about how this would taste, would it even be similar to the traditional recipe. But I think it turned out awesome and it was all gone. So, someone liked it. I wanted to make this for my sister but also so I could eat it as well, since I don’t do dairy. But I think making it overnight and then baking it right before we ate allowed all of it to meld together. It was yum! I decided that instead of boiling the green beans, I would roast them for about 40 mins. I think next time, I’ll roast them a little less, but I think they turned out well.
For dessert, I wanted to keep it simple since I was bringing several items. So, I turned to a blueberry cobbler based on this recipe from 101 cookbooks (can you tell I dig this site?). I just used blueberries and cooked it in a round ceramic dish rather than a tart pan. I’m planning on trying it in the tart pan next time. I think it turned out well.
Workout – Me and my sister got up early to get a workout in today because we knew there’d be lots of treats today. She headed to the gym and I headed outside to run.
Warm-up: 10 mins walking
Run: 30 mins
Cool down: 10 mins walking
Breakfast - I really wanted a smoothie, but I just ran out of time since we had a 2.5 hour drive ahead of us and needed to get on the road. So, we stopped at McDonald’s and I had an Egg McMuffin + egg. It was kind of dry, but satisfied my hunger. Felt like it was a pretty healthy choice given the options available. Here we are heading up to Port Orange, FL.
Jana, me, CraigMe & Craig
Jana in the backseat
On the way up to my Aunt & Uncle’s I called my parents to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving. I wish we would’ve been able to head up to Atlanta to see them this year or that they could’ve come down here too, but that wasn’t in the plans this year. Thankfully we were able to see them when we were in Atlanta for Craig’s 30th b-day back in September.
On to the most important part…our Turkey Day eats:
Appetizers - Cheese tray with triscuits & crackers, fruit tray with grapes and strawberries, the hummus I brought, veggie tray with broccoli, celery, carrots, a cream cheese dip and peanuts.
Appetizers
Main + sides: Honey Baked Ham, Mustard, mayonnaise, Rolls, Deviled Eggs, Cranberry Sauce, Potato Salad, Pasta Sauce, Butternut Squash Casserole, Green Bean Casserole and Chestnut Stuffing.
Lunch Spread
Lunch Spread Cont.
Green Bean Casserole & Chestnut Stuffing
Desserts – Pecan Pie, Pumpkin Pie, Apple Pie, Pistachio Pudding Pie, Blueberry Cobbler and Banana Bread - I thought I had a picture of the desserts in my camera, but I must have deleted it by accident.
Lunch: Here’s my plate – clockwise – Chestnut stuffing, Cranberry Sauce, Butternut Squash Casserole and Green Bean Casserole. So yummy!
My Plate
Glass of Wine
Seconds
For Dessert, I had some of my blueberry cobbler + pecan pie. The pecan pie was just ok – it wasn’t homemade so I can say this. I could tell it wasn’t homemade. I still ate it of course, but I’d rather have my mom’s.
Blueberry Cobbler & Pecan Pie
After lunch, Jana, Craig and me went on a walk around my aunt’s neighborhood. The weather was so beautiful. We walked about 2 miles and it felt good to let that food kind of digest. When we got home from our walk, we just hung out with the rest of the family and watched the kids play and swim in my aunt’s heated pool. Good times. Oh and I think we must have looked at the “Where’s Waldo” book for hours with my little cousins. They were a trip and it was great to be able to spend quality time with those you don’t see much.
Later on, we wanted to get out a bit and decided to see a movie. I don’t think we’ve been to the movies in a while. So, we saw The Blind Side, with Sandra Bullock. And this movie was SO good! I didn’t really know what to expect and wasn’t really wanting to see this right away, but I’m so glad we did. I loved it. It was a touching movie. We also had some popcorn…lots of popcorn actually. Don’t know what it is about movie theater popcorn but it’s like, kind of addicting. I know this stuff is terrible for you, but if you put it in front of me, I’ll eat it. Bad Lacey!
Thanksgiving Day was awesome and really filled with what really matters in life. Family and Great Food!!
Calories - probably a zillion!
Peace out.
