With Gratitude

You knew this post was coming. Thanksgiving is almost like a holiday made for food bloggers- an entire day dedicated to cooking, eating, photographing, and more eating. Some bloggers chose to write about the feast before the holiday. Others, like myself, were perhaps too entrenched in perusing all the Food & Wine magazines and cookbooks to carve out time to write a post (ha, pun intended). But I simply can't let the holiday go by without any mention here. That'd be unorthodox.

So with Thanksgiving behind us, many of us are stuck with leftovers, dreading to have dried turkey for the week to come. But that doesn't have to be the case! To borrow Mark Bittman's aptly titled article, use some "radical rethinking of Thanksgiving leftovers" and transform them into many more delicious meals!

A Mindful Thanksgiving

Amidst my "happy thanksgiving" text messaging frenzy yesterday, my fellow dietetic buddy Gigi K. wished me a happy turkey day and reminded me to "eat mindfully." As much it was intended to be a dietetic quip, it's a powerful reminder not only in the realm of healthful eating but also with ingredients selection.

Yes, the antibiotic and hormone-free turkey cost me a pretty penny, but I felt more at peace knowing the turkey was treated with some respect before it ended up on my dinner table. Also, the plethora of veggies used to make the dinner cuts down on the environmental impact that would otherwise incur with raising animals for consumption. Not only is it important to be mindful of our satiety cues, it's equally imperative to be mindful of the food's origin so proper thanks can be given to Mother Nature and those who had a hand in growing and harvesting for our feasts.

Crouton Stuffing with Carrots

Scarily Tasty Treats

Question: What's has dots of blackish blue with orange and is tasty?
Answer: Blueberry and Apricot Rice Mallow Treats!

I first learned to make Rice Krispie Treats in my 6th grade Home Economics class. Loved the overly sugary treats back in the days, but my versions of these crispy snacks have come a long way since then.

I've experimented with Khalua, freeze-dried strawberries, almonds, granola, green tea powder, and flax seeds just to name a few. The latest endeavor is with freeze-dried blueberries and dried apricots- totally matches the color scheme for Halloween but tasty enough for whenever!

A Sans Candies Trick or Treat

Many moons ago, I went trick-or-treating my friend from grade school. We were both getting some serious candy loot when we stumbled upon "Peanuts Lady". Instead of giving us handfuls of miniature teeth-rotting substances, she gave us, yup, you guessed it, peanuts! Handful of peanuts that were still in shells! I'm pretty sure I looked at my friend with a WTF expression on my face (only if that was a contraction in use those days).