the blur called thanksgiving

On Wednesday, we traveled to Gainesville for the day before heading to see James' family in Augusta on Thanksgiving Day.

We all chipped in to make several batches of my Grandma's infamous dressing, which is absolutely different than stuffing.

Ellen and Whit had the task of dicing the onions. Of course, we've all heard about ways to avoid crying while dicing--chew gum, hold bread in your mouth, etc. But apparently Ellen has heard that if you hold a spoon in your mouth, it holds back the tears. Unfortunately, this didn't seem to work for her. I'll spare you the pictures of her red-eyed. Whit never teared up, despite holding nothing between her teeth. Maybe smiling constantly is a new trick.

I got down and dirty mixing up the dressing...

as my Grandma oversaw the effort, threatening to whack us with her wooden spoon should we step out of line :)

In the end, we managed to successfully make two large dishes of dressing and countless memories.

Thursday morning, James and I said goodbye to the Pilgrims and Lil'grims as we headed to Augusta.

Let me aplogize now for the lack of pictures. It seems I took the idea of vacation to the extreme and literally barely lifted a finger.

In Augusta, we enjoyed a gluttonous Thanksgiving dinner, thanks to Mrs. Hobson's homecooking. As crazy as it sounds, my favorite dish was the green beans with tomatoes and bacon. Maybe it's the bacon that had me wanting seconds, but it was certainly delicious. Besides dressing, I also contributed a Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake, which was rich, but not overly sweet.

After dinner, we played cards and Mexican train with James' grandparents, who are always the highlight of our trips to Augusta.

In the middle of the night, the Hobsons experienced a slight plumbing problem that left squishy carpet and saturated hardwood floors. (Luckily it was clean water!) So Friday was filled with water-damage specialists and plumbers trying to correct the issue.

We attempted to watch the Iron Bowl, amid the men pulling up half the hardwoods and setting up massive fans to dry out the carpet and flooring.

This turn of events caused us to cut our trip short by a night and head back to drier footing in Atlanta. Of course, on our way home, we made a late-night pit stop at a sportsbar to visit a friend who was recording a band. I caught a second-wind and managed to stay out past midnight, but when we got home later the smoke that saturated our clothes was stifling. I can't believe they still let people smoke inside!

Saturday morning, we were up and at it for a morning workout at CrossFit Addiction, and then headed to the Browns that night to experience another tasty Thanksgiving meal and watch the Dawgs play.

It was a great end to our Thanksgiving break. Now, it's time to see how many hoilday events we can pack in before Dec. 25. On the horizon is a tacky Christmas sweater party, tickets to Ovo, my work holiday party, girls' night out, a friend's birthday party, a friend's graduation party and a friend's home-brewing Christmas party. And I'd really like to host a get-together at our place, but I'm not sure there are enough weekends left!

indulgence, at its finest

While James competed in the CrossFit Dahlonega Challenge (and got first place in his division, I might add), I spent the weekend with my family in nearby Gainesville. Make yourself comfy, because this is going to be quite a lengthy post.

Friday night, when my sister Ellen and I made it to Gainesville, we analyzed my mom's kitchen makeover. Before, she had cream-colored walls, stenciling and somewhat used furniture in the sitting area. But after putting in hardwood floors, she decided it was time to ramp up the kitchen a bit. Because blue makes her happy, she chose it for the wall color in the one room in the house that makes her the happiest (or that's my take on it). Apart from painting the walls, she replaced the curtains, armchairs, rugs and accessories. She did a great job, though we did start to notice her affinity for birds. I counted 13 birds or bird paintings throughout the area.



For dinner, we had grilled chicken, julienne veggies, including peppers and bell peppers straight from my dad's garden, artichoke bruschetta, baked potatoes and pumpkin crisp, which I force-fed my sister. She had little faith in me because of a pumpkin dip I made 6 years ago that wasn't to her liking. But I think I've convinced her my taste has improved.

As a result of getting up at 5 a.m. Friday morning for work, I crashed fairly early Friday night. So when I woke up refreshed at 5:45 a.m. Saturday morning, I quietly set myself to good use and tackled Southern Living's Cinnamon-Pecan Rolls that my mom had earmarked as a must-try. I can't remember ever making a Southern Living recipe that didn't come out delicious. I'm sure they have a team of people that seek out and test new recipes--what an awesome job.

This recipe took quite a while from start to finish. But I had nothing but time on my hands since everyone else was asleep. Plus, it was nice savoring some Dunkin Donuts coffee, complete with Vanilla Spiced Rum creamer and whipped cream topping. It looked and tasted like a million bucks, and I promised myself I would never buy these at home, or it could get dangerous. To say I indulged a bit this weekend is an understatement.

 

Between five of us eating breakfast, we couldn't even eat half the skillet of cinnamon rolls. Maybe that's because we had it alongside bacon and eggs. But somehow, we managed to waddle out the door for a short girls yard sale adventure with the Williams women before 9 a.m.

We hit up two nearby houses and came away with a trunk full of loot. The best deal was a $3 pair of Seven jeans. But the most fun buy, at least for me and my mom, was a forest of wooden Christmas trees that were $1 each.

When we got back, we immediately started updating our trees using old stencil paint from my mom's kitchen and old green paint they once used for the shutters.

I brushed on green needles for texture, then added snow.

Notice Ellen's white rose earrings? I got both of us a pair at Nordstrom's on clearance for $6 total. The junior's section has great, cheap jewelry.

The rest of the day was spent reading, making tomato soup and grilled cheese for lunch, visiting with my Grandma, napping, hanging out in the kitchen, picking James up from his competition and relaxing while my parents and sister and her boyfriend attended a reception Saturday night. I also watched HGTV, which I never watch at home since we don't have cable. And what do you know, Bang for Your Buck was profiling three kitchens in Smyrna, less than 10 minutes from our condo in Marietta.

Sunday morning, up early again, I had another decadent coffee creation and made three different quiches for breakfast.

Hopefully, I'll be able to detox for a couple days before we head to visit James' family in Augusta for Thanksgiving. I'm packing my new skinny jeans and boots, though I don't think I could have picked a worse time to debut them. Everyone knows it's impossible to feel skinny during Thanksgiving!

shepherd's pie

When I studied abroad in Oxford, England, one summer in college, I never managed to sample a true Shepherd's Pie, despite eating other lamb dishes. So I have nothing to compare to this version of paleo Shepherd's Pie. But trust me when I say that the aroma emitted while it's baking in the oven will make your brain question whether it could possibly be paleo.

Shepherd's Pie

Ingredients:

• head of cauliflower
• 3 carrots
• 3 celery hearts
• 5 oz. mushrooms
• 1 large onion
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 lbs lean ground beef
• 6 oz. tomato paste
• 1 to 2 tbsp coconut milk
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/2, 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2, 1/4 tsp onion powder

1. Trim cauliflower and place in large pot of water. Boil for roughly 20 minutes, or until florets are tender.

2. Meanwhile, dice carrots, celery, mushrooms and onions, and place in sauté pan along with olive oil.

3. Sauté for 10 to 12 minutes, then add in beef and brown.

4. Once beef is cooked, turn off burner and stir in tomato paste, oregano, salt, pepper, 1/2 tsp garlic powder and 1/2 tsp onion powder, and spread mixture into 13x9 casserole dish.

5. Drain cauliflower and transfer to medium mixing bowl, and preheat oven to 400 degrees.

6. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and add 1/4 tsp onion powder, 1/4 tsp garlic powder and 1 to 2 tbsp of coconut milk, depending on desired consistency. Then blend with hand mixer until relatively smooth.

7. Spread cauliflower mash over meat mixture in casserole dish.

8. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.

And enjoy! I should have made homemade gravy, but I thought about it too late.

paleo thanksgiving potluck

Like my mom, Thanksgiving is perhaps my favorite holiday of the year. I think it's a combination of perfect weather, a spectacular outdoor color pallet, home-cooked food and time with family.

To bring to end the second week of our 20 Day Paleo Challenge, we celebrated with a Paleo Thanksgiving Potluck at our place. James was in charge of the bird, which he rubbed with 21 Salute Seasoning from Trader Joe's.

Amanda brought some delicious asparagus with slivered almonds.

Convinced he couldn't make anything paleo, I assigned broccoli to Bair, who showed up with a fresh bag full from Publix, which I cooked for him.

Annie, who showed up a little too late for the buffet spread picture (below), made fantastic brussel sprouts, which we made everybody sample, even if they were convinced they didn't like them.

JZ, who had to work late and didn't have time to make his self-proclaimed awesome cauliflower mash, donated a watermelon to the feast.

And I made warm cinnamon apples in a crockpot and pumpkin pie with coconut topping for dessert.

Paleo Pumpkin Pie

Crust Ingredients

• 2 cups almond meal
• 1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon 

Pie Filling Ingredients

• 1.5 cans pumpkin puree (unsweetened)
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 3 eggs
• 3 tbsp stevia
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 3 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp sea salt

Coconut Topping Ingredients:

• 2 cans coconut milk (refrigerated overnight)
• 1 tsp stevia
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven. James had the turkey on 325 degrees in the oven, so that's what I had to use to cook the crust. You could probably set the temperature higher, just be sure to keep a close eye on your crust.

2. Combine all crust ingredients in small bowl and stir until texture is even.

3. Grease your pie dish, dump in your crust dough and spread evenly with your fingers so that crust extends over edge.

4. Just like a normal pie, cut along edge of dish with a knife to remove excess for a finished look.

5. Pop it in the oven for 15 minutes. If you notice that the bottom is rising or bubbling up as it's cooking, simply poke a few knife holes in the bottom to let the air out. I would suggest covering with tin foil for this part, as the very edge of my crust ended up a little burnt.

6. Meanwhile, fill medium mixing bowl with all pie filling ingredients.

7. Beat at low speed for 2 minutes.

8. When crust has cooked, fill with pie filling.

9. Turn oven to 350 and bake for roughly 45 minutes. Be sure to check your pie along the way, as each oven cooks differently. You can tell yours is done when the middle of the pie stabilizes and is no longer jiggly.

10. While pie is cooking, remove coconut milk from fridge and open with can opener, being careful not to shake up cans. Skim off the thickest top 2 to 3 inches with a spoon, and place in mixing bowl.

11. Add in stevia and vanilla, and beat with mixer for 1 minute.

12. Place bowl in freezer, and stir every 10 minutes or so until it reaches desired consistency.

Top pie with coconut topping and enjoy!