Hi everyone!

How was your Thanksgiving? I feel like it came and went so quickly!

Our long weekend was a mix of relaxing, getting some random things done, enjoying the actual holiday, and severely stressing during the final minutes of the Michigan-OSU game. Let’s just say my heart rate was rather elevated, but as they say, all is well that ends well!

At least here in Michigan, the weather leading up to and on Thanksgiving was amazing! While it is getting colder and grayer now, we have had the sunniest November I can ever remember. That has been such a blessing!

We enjoyed several long sunny walks over the time off. This beautiful sunrise was from one of my recent runs! I’m always grateful for this field that allows me to see some of the early morning sun.

On to discussing some November meals, snacks, and desserts! 

As always, these posts are meant to inspire you in your own culinary and eating adventures! Each of us has our own nutrition needs, food preferences, and individual patterns/rhythms when it comes to eating… I recommend eating in a way that works best for you! 🙂

First things first — Thanksgiving! I made a salad to take to my aunt’s house. Mixed greens with roasted delicata squash, pomegranate, toasted pecans, goat cheese, and a cinnamon maple balsamic vinaigrette. This is one of my new favorite salads!

Thanksgiving also happened to be on Alec’s birthday this year, so I also made/brought this chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting. We had plenty of dessert options between the cake, several pies, cookies, and ice cream! BUT not complaining!!

What are your favorite parts of the Thanksgiving meal?? I tend to most enjoy the stuffing and cranberry sauce, and this year also liked my chocolate cake!

I think I would be fine with a plate that is primarily stuffing and cranberry sauce, with a bit of turkey (I suppose). Lol.

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving we went out to eat at Paesano, an Italian restaurant in Ann Arbor, to celebrate Alec’s bday. I had never been there before so it was fun to try something new! Alec had a pasta dish, I had a salmon dish, and then we shared a house-made cheesecake with a blueberry maple compote for dessert. Along with a decaf coffee for me!

Prior to Thanksgiving week I was testing my salad idea. Roasting delicata squash couldn’t be simpler! You cut it in half length-wise, scoop out the seeds (I use an ice cream scooper), and then cut down the line to create semi-circles for roasting. You don’t even need to bother peeling the skin off!

This ended up being a fabulous dinner for several nights, topped with chicken and eaten with a side of homemade naan to round out the meal.

We had a couple of our good friends from college over the other week. Shout out to my friend Hayley who finished hiking the entire Appalachian Trail!! (All 2,200 miles!). It was fun to see Hayley and her husband and hear about her adventure. I made my favorite turkey chili (but used ground beef) topped w/ shredded cheddar and cilantro; tortilla chips for scooping. Somehow my wooden spoon that I was using chipped while I was making the chili, so I was all paranoid someone was going to get a piece of “chipped wooden spoon” in their dish since I couldn’t find it anywhere. Thankfully that did not happen! The mystery of the wooden spoon remains unsolved.

I also made a large green salad w/ cherry tomatoes and bell peppers, drizzled with a red pepper vinaigrette. We had warm baked cookies in ramekins that our friends brought for dessert!

I have been LOVING these fruit/veggie juice blends I have been making on the weekends lately as a “pre-breakfast” drink. Into the Vitamix goes an entire grapefruit (skin cut off), carrot, 1/2 cup frozen blueberries, 4 dates, a bit of ginger, and ~2.5 cups water. This makes enough for 2 large glasses or 4 smaller glasses. I am obsessed!

Alec’s mom was in town a few weeks ago and for dinner one night I made my favorite roasted veggie bowls w/ tahini honey mustard. Always hits the spot and makes the kitchen smell amazing with all the spices / roasting going on! I like to double the sauce since it also functions as a great dressing for salads or sauce for chicken.

Speaking of which, we had these killer salads the next night w/ plenty of fresh chopped veg, baked salmon, and tahini honey mustard dressing. More naan on the side!

We also went to Pacific Rim earlier that week with Alec’s mom, where I had the ahi tuna dish that I love so much!

Prepping some snacks to have on hand… because I am all about satisfying snacking!! In large pan #1 are the coconut cacao bars from my beloved Run Fast Cook Fast Eat Slow cookbook. I eat one of these every day so they are now essential to have on hand! Sadly I ran out of enough cacao powder to make as much as I was planning (usually I make two 9×13 trays at once), so I made a DIY bar of oats, agave, peanut butter, chocolate chips, coconut, protein powder, and flax meal. Inspired by the energy balls at Juicy Kitchen!

I place the trays in the fridge overnight to harden somewhat and then slice them into bars the next day.

Smoothie bowl of frozen blueberries, avocado, cacao powder, chia seeds, yogurt, protein powder, dates, and almond milk. Eaten before the kickoff to the Michigan-OSU game. #Stressful. I also added some cacao-flavored granola once I got down to the last few bites. (Sometimes I like to eat it that way so that the granola doesn’t get lost in the liquidy mess of so much smoothie and I can’t taste it as much!). Always needing some sort of carbohydrate/crunch to go with my smoothie bowls.

Simple frittata dinner (broccoli, corn, carrot, + shredded cheddar) w/ roasted potatoes and a side salad.

And… we are back to snow! Ugh. It’s not even December. Missing the sunny days from last week!

Current favorite breakfast on repeat continues to be overnight oats w/ agave, plenty of PB, and frozen/thawed organic blueberries + raspberries. The best!

Everyday Enjoyment:

Michigan football: Let’s go!!!!! I will leave it at that to spare you.

Entering the Christmas season: Always such a quick shift from Thanksgiving to Christmas! I’m looking forward to more time to relax/unwind over Christmas and New Years’. Excited to have extra time to read, reflect on the past/upcoming years, spend time with friends/family, and enjoy the Advent season and all that that means.

Currently:
–> Listening to: Two new albums from two of my favorite artists! Chris Stapleton (Higher) and Patrick Droney (Subtitles for Feelings). And plenty of Christmas music of a wide variety!
–> Watching: We have randomly been watching this YouTube channel with tours of absolutely stunning homes which has been fun!
–> Reading: Soul-Deep Beauty for the Book Club, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (thanks to Layni! :)), Drawn by the Father (with Alec), and Heaven (slowly but surely finishing). So many books I am looking forward to reading soon!
–> Eating (other that what’s shown here!): plenty of dark chocolate, homemade raspberry applesauce, tortilla chips, carrots

What are you currently reading or listening to?
Favorite Thanksgiving food?
How do you feel about winter?

Have a great rest of the day!