Put a fork in me...Thanksgiving Day is done!

I can't believe Thanksgiving has come and gone.  Last week I was so busy cooking, baking and preparing that the week flew bye.  This year our holiday was a quiet one, just a few around the table, and that was just fine. 

Lots of leftovers, and way too many desserts...lots of homemade, yummy apple pies!  Pumpkin ice cream, chocolate dipped biscotti (thanks Susan), and chocolate cream pie. 

I came up with this crazy idea for a table runner.  Since usually the football games are on, I thought it would be fun to make a football field table runner.  Not that anyone was paying too close attention to the games, but it made for a colorful and unique Thanksgiving table. 

I really enjoyed making it, I felt like I was back in seventh grade on my hands and knees on the floor painting each yard line.  It felt great to be creative in this way.   To have a vision in your head, and then to watch it appear before your eyes.  Magical!  Very healthy for the soul. 

Whistle on the play...orange leaf down on the 30th yard line...oh no ref, it looks like just a decoration...ha!

Enough silliness...back to the food....Joe did a wonderful job on the turkey, it was moist, flavorful and made the whole house smell heavenly.  I think I was so busy with the side dishes, I forgot to take a picture of the poor bird!  Oops. 

I made lots of delicious food, but some of my favorites are my apple pie, cranberry orange walnut bread, and my mom's sage and onion stuffing.  It wouldn't be turkey day without all these fabulous flavors.

After turkey day, on Friday, I went to a really fun Zumba class called the 'Turkey Burn'.  It was a two hour class to help you burn off some of the pie overload.  It was so much fun, I really can't say enough about this type of exercise, the music, the teacher (Jeanine, you are a rockstar) and energy in the room is so positive and motivating.  A great way to keep the holiday spirit all weekend. 

I hope all of you had a beautiful Thanksgiving.  Keep making the time for your workouts, you're worth it, and continue to eat clean...I'm working on some recipe posts, and January classes, so stay tuned! 

Be well!

Staying Healthy through the Holidays

Besides doing online shopping, and trying to check off my holiday list early, I'm going to make a conscious effort to stay healthier this holiday season.  With all the hustle and bustle, and extra errands a girl has to stay focused on her real goals of health and wellness.  Here are my top ten tips, that I hope you will find helpful. 

1.  Keep up with your workouts.
               Carve the turkey, and carve out time for yourself.   I know you're rolling your eyes right now...but stick with me. That way you'll have energy to get all the shopping,baking, and partying done. 
               My group fitness classes and walks, are also a social thing, and it makes me feel connected with my friends and the community. 

               Exercise is a natural, drug free stress and depression buster.  Make that the number one gift you give yourself all year long, the rewards are unbelievable! 

2.  Stay present and enjoy time with friends and family. 

This is my nephew Ed...love you and can't wait to hang out with you and the rest of the family this holiday season!!  This is what makes the holidays, spending time with the ones you love.  Cooking traditional foods, that can bring you back to when you were young.  I made my mom's pumpkin bread today, and I treasure all the beautiful memories of her and all the time we spent preparing for the holidays in the kitchen.  I love you Mom, you are always close in my heart. 

3.  Get plenty of sleep.

     This one is for you Joy....sleep gives your body time to repair itself.  It makes you more alert and reduces stress.  On the weight loss front, a lack of sleep impacts the balance of hormones in the body, that has an affect on appetite.

4. Drink lots of water and herbal teas.
      
      Staying hydrated will help your whole body function better, and not to mention make your skin glow.  It helps with constipation and digestion, and weight loss.  Drink plenty of water during the day, and your body will thank you. 

5.  Meal plan and prepare healthy meals, so you have many options at my fingertips. 

            When you care for yourself, and are committed to staying healthy, you want to have a plan.       There's nothing worse than standing in your kitchen, starving and grabbing for everything and anything! 
Roast a ton of veggies, and pre-cook grains ahead of time and store them in the fridge, so you can prepare a meal/salad in minutes.  Buy prepared sliced fruit, salad greens, and have them ready to go. 

6.  Wash your hands!!

 Wash those germs down the drain.  I do this all the time, I'm always washing my hands.  It's the first thing I do when I walk in the door.  Especially living in a city, touching subway grime, living closely with others, we come across lots of germs everyday. 

7.  Learn to say No...
   You won't possibly be able to attend every party invitation.  Try your best, and partake in the ones that truly make you smile. 

8.  Reduce your caffeine.

This is a tough one, I do enjoy my morning caffeine ritual.  Here's the run down on caffeine, it is very taxing on the liver.  Too much caffeine can slow down the livers ability to efficiently burn fat and cleanse out toxins in our systems. 

9.  Watch the alcohol.

  I know it's nearly impossible to expect to stay away from all alcohol through out the holidays.  However, all women can relate to bloating..and too much alcohol can cause bloating and sugar imbalances in the body.  And we all know, when we drink too much...we decide we can eat whatever we want...wrong!  Try and give yourself a one or two drink maximum, and enjoy the party and no hangover the next day. 

10.  Ask for help.
             This one is a tough one for me...this year is the first year I'm ordering some prepared side dishes for Thanksgiving.  Every year I kill myself in the kitchen, and work for days...I'm getting older and wiser.  I'm making the dishes I enjoy making and leaving the rest to Whole Foods.  Thank you Whole Food elves....I really need a hand!

Happy Holidays Everyone...stay healthy and safe!

Fall Colors and Fig Bars

Even though I live in the city...I'm taking notice of the fall colors all around me. 

And the colors that land on my plate.

A quick warm lunch, using leftover pasta, marinara, and roasted 'whatever I have hanging out in the veggie-bin' vegetables.  It was so filling and delicious, on a cold day. 

I'm getting so excited about Thanksgiving next Thursday.  I'm hosting a small group of family and friends, and Joe is getting ready to brine his turkey. 

Lately, I've been cooking and baking a ton...take a look at what I've been up to. 

Happy figs....or I should say poor figs, right before I chopped them up to make whole wheat fig bars. 

These bars are so good, a perfect breakfast treat, or lunchbox dessert!  I shared them with my Thursday morning exercise group, and they loved them.  Thanks ladies...you all make me smile.  I adapted the recipe from the vegan cookbook, 'Vegan Cookies Invade your Cookie Jar' by Isa Moskowitz & Terry Romero.  I added pumpkin, cinnamon and nutmeg for more of an autumn flavor. 

Speaking of pumpkin....let's not forget the pumpkin ravioli with brown butter and crispy sage leaves.  I had to test this recipe out for a cooking class, tough assignment, right?  It was warm, creamy and perfect for a chilly night.   This recipe takes minutes to put together, a great weeknight meal. 

And let's not forget the pumpkin spice cupcakes for another job I did earlier in the month. 

Good thing I can still fit into my jeans.  Most days. 

And my new apron....happy cooking everyone! 

To work off all that amazing food, a long walk down by the waterfront was in order. 

Hello New York....can you smell all these delicious smells from Jersey??

Butternut Squash Soup

After a long weekend of work and play, my body was telling me to slow down and fill yourself up with good home made comfort food. 

I decide to plan out my menu for the week, as far as dinners go, and then I always like to have a few lunch options that are prepared and ready to go in minutes.  Usually salad fixings or a soup.  Whether I'm packing them to go, or heating them up at home...I need meals to be ready fast. 

This week, I used my new cookbook from William Sonoma, 'Eat Well' that my brother and sister-n-law got me for my birthday. 

This book is beautiful, and has so many wonderful recipes with amazing photography. 

Since I was feeling a bit run down, I decided on the beta-carotene boost of butternut squash soup, it was simple and easy to prepare and luckily I had most of the ingredients. 

I was short on time yesterday, so I picked up the already prepared cubed butternut squash.  Major time saver! 

Curried Butternut Squash Soup with coconut & lime


Very fragrant, sweet and spicy, the soup will warm you up, and make you feel great.  It's very simple, so feel free to experiment and add other nutritious add ons...next time I'm thinking kale and cannellini beans. 


yields: 6 servings
prep time: 15 minutes
cook time: 30 minutes


Ingredients:


1-2 tablespoons olive oil
2-3 shallots, sliced and diced
1 tablespoon of fresh ginger, grated or minced
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
9 cups of butternut squash cubes (I used two pkgs of pre-cut)
3 cups of vegetable broth (or chicken broth)
1 teaspoon thai red curry paste
3/4 cup of light coconut milk
2 teaspoons of lime juice
salt & pepper to taste


1.  Heat olive oil in large pot over medium heat.  Add shallots and cook until softened, 2-3 minutes.  Add garlic and ginger, and cook until fragrant, about one minute. 


2.  Add squash, salt, broth and bring to a boil over high heat.  Reduce heat to remain a simmer, cover and cook for about 20 minutes, or until squash is fork tender. 


3.  Put curry paste in a small bowl with the coconut milk, and whisk together until smooth and combined. 

4.  Add curry paste mixture to soup and stir to combine. 
5.  Pulse soup with immersion blender until creamy and smooth.  If you don't have an immersion blender, just transfer small batches of soup into a regular blender, and blend until smooth. 

6.  Add salt, pepper and squeeze of lime juice and enjoy a warm and delicious soup! 

Hope you all will try this soup soon.  This is Hoboken's restaurant week, so I'm looking forward to trying out some new places and supporting my community. 

What's cookin' at your house? Crack open your cookbooks and find something that inspires you!  Have a wonderful week!

Small Steps with some Spice

I snapped this photo while outside running the most boring errand of the week, no not cleaning the bathroom...the dreaded dry cleaner run!

At first, I saw all the beautiful pumpkins, then it suddenly went from a boring walk doing errands to new blog post idea.  I shot the cute little pumpkin steps, and as I looked at the photo, I kept staring at the steps.  It got me thinking about taking small steps...


Sometimes it's easy to stay cozy and safe in old surroundings, or places and jobs that are easy.  However,  it's when we take small steps outside of our comfort zone is when life begins to get interesting.  This new place can lead us to our true purpose and passion, and bring us great joy. 

 Everyday we take lots of steps, our feet move us in many directions.  Our energy that we carry into every situation is very important.  Just as in life, we make steps forward (and sometimes backwards) on our path towards a better life. 

 Whether your path is leading you towards better health, a new job, a new career or just a better life in general,  it's worth it to take small steps first in that direction.  Go ahead...put one foot out there and see what happens.  Send that message out in the universe. 

My path is always moving me towards healthy, delicious food, and sharing that with others.  I love talking and reading about health, wellness, and great tasting, healthy food.  Being in my kitchen, testing out recipes brings me such joy.  I hope you are finding what brings you joy in your life. 


Lately, I've been interested in adding more spices to my cooking.  Over the weekend, we took a road trip to the Savory Spice Shop, in Westfield, New Jersey.  The place smelled amazing, as soon as you stepped in the door. 


Not only did they have everything organized really well, but they had recipe cards next to the spices, so you could be inspired right away to try something new.  Remember small steps...

I picked up a Chai Spice packet that had a great recipe for a Sweet Potato Bisque Soup.  I'm hoping to try it out soon.  Stay tuned for the recipe and review. 


Our little day trip got Joe and I thinking about other road trips we could take to change things up, see new places, and try new restaurants in our local area.  Again small steps in a new direction feels good.  Joe even suggested that I blog about it...I like when he's thinking about my blog! 
  

What steps have you taken lately? Are you ready to try something new? Don't be shy...just go for it.  If you want something to happen in your life, you need to do it yourself. 

 Go ahead add some serious spice into your steps...
I'd love to hear what you're up to these days.