I’m having a hard time being thankful this year.
Living without my father still feels like a nightmare that I’m waiting to wake up from and so it’s hard for me to be grateful for the things I am lucky enough to have, when I would give them all up in a second if it meant that I could have him back again.
Unfortunately you can’t trade happinesses like that. But god, if you’re listening…for the record, I would.
I have exactly one strategy when it comes to Skinny Jean Survival during the holidays and it is this – Operation: Avoid Leftovers.
If you need some healthy delicious eats to sustain you from now until Thanksgiving without piling on those extra pounds prematurely, then head on over to Marcus Samuelsson’s blog and check out my post about this Miso Harissa Delicata Squash and White Bean Salad with Swiss Chard Sesame Bulgur!
(I am submitting the Bulgur with Sesame Seeds, Carrot and Chard to this week’s I Heart Cooking Club!)
And for those of you who are interested, I have FINALLY figured out what I’m making for Thanksgiving:
Parker House Rolls
Sweet Potatoes with Bourbon and Maple
Roasted Carrot and Quinoa Salad
Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Pomegranate and Vanilla-Pecan Butter
Deep Dish Pumpkin Pie with Dulce de Leche Walnut Streusel
Deep Dish Caramel Apple Pie
My Grandmother’s (Un)Stuffed Artichoke Hearts
Cranberry Ginger Sauce
This third marathon was the marathon that wasn’t meant to happen. Until it was.
I say this because, my first third marathon was really supposed to be the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco last October, but then I got a stress fracture two weeks before and couldn’t run. My second third marathon was supposed to be the New York City Marathon this past November…but a little hurricane named Sandy threw a wrench in those best laid plans.
I do suppose the third time is a charm, however, because I ran the Philadelphia Marathon yesterday. And I can for sure say that even though, up until the minute before the gun went off, I was certain that it absolutely was NOT the race I was supposed to run…as I crossed that finish line in 4 hours 11 minutes and 48 seconds…I knew it was.
I’m not going to sugarcoat this for you. There’s enough of that going on right now between all of the candied nuts, seasonal M&Ms, and informercials about how crazy AWESOME and INNOVATIVE the new and improved Snuggie is going to be and how you absolutely NEED ONE for you, your kids, and your dog to get you through the holiday season.
(Okay, I made that last part up since I don’t own a television and thus am not privy to all of the nonsense that holiday commercials are spewing forth these days. But I’m sure it’s not all that far from the truth. And you really can get a Snuggie for your dog if you’re so inclined. I fact-checked it.)
My boyfriend has a “kale face”.
It’s a cross between disgust and horror and he makes it every time I tell him I’m about to feed him something with kale in it. Which is…approximately daily.
He started making it while we were on vacation this summer when I kept waxing poetic about my favorite leafy green and how I missed it SO.MUCH (no, really, you have no idea – I was inconsolable) and how I was probably going to buy five bunches of it when we got home and just…cuddle with it for a while. You know…before force feeding it to him for literally a week straight in order to cleanse us from all of the majorly not-Joanne-approved food we ate. Hence the face. And now it’s just become…a thing.
Why am I telling you all this? Well, I just really needed to drive home the point that kale and I are pretty much soulmates. So, even with all of this joking I’ve done about only serving a heart attack on a plate for Thanksgiving, you didn’t really think that was true…right?
Welcome to Eats Well With Others, where we take a vegetable-and-cupcake laden approach to life (always with a bit of laughter on the side)!
