Giving thanks that I don't have to cook on Thanksgiving

In honor of the Thanksgiving dinner that I will not be cooking this week, I will present to you some short Mark Bittman videos of some really simple, delicious, and healthier alternatives to mashed potatoes and stuffing. *Disclaimer: There is nothing wrong with mashed potatoes and stuffing. This is what I would be cooking if I was having dinner at my house. One of these days...

Braised Turkey

Herb Stuffed Duck

Layered Vegetable Torte

Butternut Squash Salad (raw)

Braised Artichokes

Walnut Torte

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

What to do at a BBQ

As someone who always ends up in conversations with people about the food we eat, I fully understand not being a burden at a party. Most people haven't wrapped their mind around all the damage that the standard American diet causes. But as someone who cares about what I eat, it can be challenging going to someone else's house and finding something that I feel comfortable eating. Let me preface this by saying, sometimes I really don't give a S-H-I-T (usually if I am starving) and I will eat anything that's there. I hardly ever eat much meat during the week, so when I am out at a party I am sometimes more inclined to eat it. But most of the time I am at least a little picky.

I wasn't always this calm, cool, and collected about not beating myself up about eating 100% healthy all the time. I would work myself into a mental knot about whether I should eat the chemical filled, preservative laden, over processed, but really good something-or-other. Then I would eat it and feel guilty afterwards. Meanwhile, I'm at a party, but not really enjoying myself because I know I'm literally eating garbage.

This is what you do. Bring something you can eat. Not only will you look like a courteous guest, but you will be able to load your plate with whatever you brought and pick at the other things.

The things that I am picky about are:

• conventional meat especially chicken (conventional chicken ABSOLUTELY disgusts me and if you knew how it was raised you would be grossed out too)
• conventional dairy and eggs (same as above)
• anything that comes out of a bag, box, looks florescent in color, originates as a powder, you get the drift

Most importantly, if there is absolutely nothing "healthy" where you are, pick the least bad things, and eat them anyway, and don't beat yourself up about it. You can make up for it tomorrow. I try to follow the 80/20 rule. 80% of the time I eat super healthy, and 20% of the time I am more relaxed about what I am eating so I can go out, have fun, and not drag a cooler of food with me everywhere I go.

Have fun this weekend!

1 Step Forward...2 Steps Back

This weekend I took 2 steps back. My plans got turned upside down and I ended up spending the majority of the weekend in the Hamptons with my sister, her fiance, their friends and his family. It is usually a pretty relaxing time when I go out there, but something was in the air this weekend. Everyone was in party mode. Maybe it was because it was a long weekend, maybe it was because the weather was beautiful, I don't know, but we sure had a fun party!

It was like I forgot about all of the "healthy" things I was supposed to be doing and found myself back in college. At least I was drinking like I was back in college. And I am still paying for it. I'm still trying to get ready for the week and Tuesday is almost over.

no sleep + lots of drinks = Jess is a disaster

The moral of the story is... I'm too young to drink vegetable juice straight through the weekend and not have fun. I'm not striving for perfection here. Plus I want to have some stories to tell my great grandchildren when I'm pushing 100. I'm trying to find the happy medium of lots of vegetables and fun times.

What did you all do for MDW? 

NYE: I'm not being pessimistic when I say it's OVERRATED!

I do this every year- without fail. Normally I am indecisive up until the very last minute. I hem and haw over where I can go to be the least uncomfortable about not having anyone to kiss at midnight. A few years ago it ended up being a very lucky drunk boy from Staten Island (shame). Luckily this year my boyfriend has the night off so I can calm my worried mind! (don't worry- the Staten Island boy was before I started dating my BF)


I am going to try not to go overboard, or spill a drink down my dress, or fall down stairs, and most importantly...I am going to relax, have fun and STOP thinking this night is such a big deal!

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas...I'm Out!

It is a mad house out there. I really feel for everyone who is battling the crowds to get their last minute shopping done. If you are one of those lucky millions who didn't plan ahead...keep a few things in mind:

• It is Christmas not Armageddon
• You stressing yourself out will not get things done any faster
• Nothing is ever perfect no matter how hard you try...SO STOP TRYING!!!
• Prioritize- do you really need more Christmas choch? do you really need to return something today?
• Keeping your sanity is much more important than having every present wrapped perfectly
• Baked potatoes are a great side that can feed any number of people and can be made in one step- put in oven 
• When you get home, put on some soothing music, drink a glass of wine (or double vodka on the rocks), and make a list- then scratch off half of that list and start moving
• You're welcome!

Merry Christmas! I won't be writing until next week sometime.... taking the weekend off. I hope everyone makes it through this weekend and comes out on the other side with funny stories about their "normal" family, un-PC comments, gifts they can re-gift, and all 10 fingers. 

Christmas Dinner: Part 3 Dessert

Last but not least... ginger cookies (and a surprise bonus recipe)! I spent all morning slaving away in my kitchen to successfully make...dun dun duuuun...15 cookies. This little recipe was a tricky one.

The biggest lesson I learned is that I have decided that I am not going to bake any more (aside from bread and my banana bread which I will impress you with soon). For whatever reason, it stresses me out. I am ALWAYS self conscious about how it will turn out (which is usually pretty good) and worried about whether I am cooking it for the right amount of time. Most importantly, I don't enjoy it. I could cook for days and days and days and I love it. Baking on the other hand just doesn't satisfy me.

I had a conversation with my sister about all things baking on the way into the office today, and we decided that she would contribute the baked goods to my blog. She loves it, and wants a new hobby so, shortly after the holidays I will be introducing her to you, and passing the baked-goods-baton on to her.

Ok, back to ginger cookies. The recipe is pretty straight forward and I will teach you my simple tricks so they don't burn, or expand into one another making a giant cookie sheet.

DRY

• 2 c. whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper
• 2 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. ground cloves

WET

• 2 sticks organic butter
• 3/4 c. brown sugar
• 1 farm egg
• 1/2 c. molasses (robust or blackstrap)
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 325.
2. Grease cookie sheets with butter, or lay parchment paper down.
3. Mix dry ingredients in bowl.
4. In Kitchenaid (or use hand mixer), add in butter and brown sugar. Beat on med/high for 3 minutes. 
5. Add in remainder of wet ingredients. Mix well.
6. Add in dry ingredients.
7. Make balls and coat with raw sugar. 
8. Space balls 1 1/2" apart on cookie sheets. 
9. Cook for 10 minutes, check centers. If necessary cook for additional 2 minute increments until done. Should not take more than 16 minutes.

TRICK: Use teaspoon to make balls- they should be about the size of a big cherry. The batter should be sticky when making these balls, and they will flatten out while cooking BIG TIME! Also, if your oven heats from the bottom, move the racks in your oven as high as they can go with enough room to put the cookie sheets in (so the bottoms don't burn). If it heats from the top, put the racks at the bottom.

dry ingredients

butter and brown sugar

I made my ballz about double the size I would recommend

see? they ended up mushing together

The reason I only got 15 cookies was because A. I made the ballz too big, B. I burned an entire sheet of cookies (the one that was on the bottom rack was too close to the heat), C. the cookies were so big that they broke apart. 

they sure did photograph well though!

BONUS! My mom gave us her shortbread recipe a few weeks ago and since it was so simple I decided to out do myself and make it this morning. If you bring this to any dinner party/holiday, people will LOVE it. I promise. 

• 2 sticks organic butter (room temp)
• 2 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 c. sugar
• 1/2 egg
• a little milk (organic)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. In Kitchaid or Cuisinart, put in all ingredients. Use dough hook on Kitchenaid or dough blade in Cuisinart. 
3. Dough should be very sticky.
4. Press into heavily greased mold. (I used a tart pan w/ a removable bottom)
5. Bake for 30 minutes.
6. Let cool for 5 minutes and then score top into wedges. Once the top is scored, go around a second time and cut all the way through. 
7. Let cool until you are able to handle the pan without oven mitts. Carefully remove the side of the tart pan.
8. Let cool completely, plate, and wrap in saran wrap until time to serve. 

HOLY BUTTER!

I love recipes that fit on post-it notes

I ended up doubling the recipe for this size pan (9"), and it took almost twice as long to cook. After 30 minutes, the sides were already brown but the middle was still gushy so I turned the oven down to 300 degrees for another 20 minutes or so. The edges should be slightly brown and the middle should be firm and dry looking. By the time it cools fully, the edges will be flaky and the middle should be dense and moist. Flour & Butter & Sugar- oh my!

Usually I try to "healthy" a recipe up, but in this case...don't mess with this perfection. My mom makes this every year for Christmas and I look forward to it soooo much! And it's rather easy to make (much easier than the ginger cookies). 

Merry Christmas!!! 

WINNER: Word Up Wednesday Giveaway!

Congrats Anne!!! Her favorite hot breakfast is "pork roll and cheese on an everything bagel? just kidding! only once a year when visiting nj!!!! my realistic favorite hot breakfast would have to be whole wheat pancakes with caramelized bananas...yum". A girl after my own heart. I love caramelizing!!!


Since, everyone (including myself) is probably busy with last minute shopping, cooking, and visiting I am going to postpone the final giveaway until next Wednesday. 


So...Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Happy Whatever-Other-Holiday-I-Am-Forgetting. I hope you have a stress free, relaxing, and happy day with whomever you chose to spend it with. 


*Peace (in the Middle East)

Christmas Dinner: Part One

before

One of my favorite things about winter thyme is soup. The other one is homemade bread. I used butternut squash as the base of this soup as it can be made sweet or savory, but I chose to make it slightly sweet. I found the recipe somewhere AND the directions were like half a page long. They were actually quite cumbersome and a little confusing, but after making this I dumbed it down to a few short steps.

after

I think if people actually wrote the directions so they were easier to read, more people would cook. I took one look at the paragraph of instructions and almost didn't make it. Because you know what happens? You lose your place in the instructions...every time you have to look at them. ANNOYING! I don't know why people don't realize this- especially ones that are paid to design these magazine spreads. If you are going to tell people how do make something MAKE IT EASY ON THE EYES! Pretty please :)


Butternut Squash Soup (serves 4)

• 1 butternut squash
• 2 green apples
• 1 onion, sweet or Vidalia
• 1/4 stick organic butter
• 1 c. organic vegetable broth
• 2 c. water
• 5 sprigs thyme

1. Cut squash in half lengthwise and roast for 1 1/2 hours at 400 degrees. 
2. Chop onion and apple. Pull thyme leaves off twigs.
3. In pot on medium heat, saute onion until soft and slightly browned (approx 10 minutes).
4. Put in apples and thyme, saute for about 5 minutes.
5. Add in 1 c. water and 1 c. vegetable broth.
6. Bring to a boil, then turn heat back down to medium, let simmer for 15 minutes.
7. Scoop out squash and add to broth.
8. Put soup in food processor or blender and puree until smooth.
9. Add 1 c. water and honey to taste (if you want it sweet)

Because you have to roast the squash for so long, this is a good thing to start and then make something else while the squash is in the oven. On to the bread! I was going to infuse it with thyme, however, my little sis brought me some beautiful rosemary from her garden! Thanks poop face!

Rosemary Infused Whole Wheat Bread (serves 4)

• 1 c. organic bread flour
• 1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
• 1 c. water
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 pkt yeast
• 1 tbsp sugar
• a lot of rosemary
• drizzle of olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In bowl, put 1 c. water, 1 pkt yeast, and 1 tbsp sugar. Let sit for a few minutes to make sure the yeast is still active. (If it is it will have grown in size)
3. Add in all flour, salt, and rosemary.
4. Mix together.
5. Knead for 10 minutes (either Kitchenaid mixer or by hand)
6. Coat ball with olive oil and place in bowl to rise. Cover w/ a dish towel (a clean one)
7. Rise #1: 40 minutes, then deflate with fists folding it in on itself
8. Rise #2: 40 minutes, then shape into whatever shape you like...I used my french bread pan.
9. Bake for 35 minutes.
10. Optional: if you want a crispy glazed crust, whisk an egg and brush it on before it goes in to the oven and then half way through or you can put a pan of water in the bottom of the oven (or on the bottom rack) and the steam will create a great crust. 

Enjoy!

Thyme for Christmas!

OMG what is this you ask?

I actually got my SH*T together in time to make a pre-Christmas dinner to cook, analyse, and write about! If I was cooking Christmas dinner this year, this is what I would be making for everyone. But I'm not, so the only one's who will be eating this are myself and my friend Lauren. She's the lucky one because we were supposed to be going out to dinner anyway, but I wanted to do this and I figured I couldn't let all this great food just sit in my refrigerator.

Everything for this from soup to nuts took me about 5 hours to make. Some of you may be thinking...5 hours!! WTF? That is a long time! But if you have ever cooked a huge holiday meal, you would know it can and does take 2 days. So I pride myself in making an entire Christmas meal in 5 hours. Yes, you could make some of it the day before, but in total, this can be done in 5 hours. That means that if you were to do this all on Christmas day, you could start cooking at 10am and eat by 3pm. (Not that I would do that...I would actually start Christmas Eve, but you could.)

I put the menu together with two things in mind: first that each dish would be simple and second that all of the flavors would go well together. I've always liked Christmas dinner better than Thanksgiving because I feel like the menu for Thanksgiving is traditionally the same thing: turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and pies....lots of pies. You can be A LOT more creative with Christmas dinner.

Butternut Squash Soup w/ Rosemary Infused Bread

Stuffed Wild Cod w/ Cranberry Sauce & Artichoke Salad

Gingersnap Cookies w/ Vanilla Ice Cream

I purposely chose a lighter dinner because I feel like it shouldn't be nearly as heavy as Thanksgiving. You could easily substitute the fish for duck or pork. I used a bunch of different spices...thyme (had to incorporate it in somehow!), rosemary, garlic, cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger. Some are quintessentially Christmas, but I was mostly striving for warm, hearty flavors.

For the sake of not writing a novel, I am breaking this up into 4 different posts. Tomorrow nights will be the soup and bread, then the stuffed cod (or roast duck) with cranberry sauce and artichoke salad, and last but not least the ginger snaps with vanilla ice cream (no I am not making the ice cream...maybe one day, but not today).

The soup, bread, cranberry sauce, and cookies can be made the day before. The fish (or meat) and the salad should be made the day of. I also suggest starting with a glass of wine and putting on your favorite music (big band works wonders for me).

OUTCOME: I forgot to serve the soup...it was in the microwave ready to be heated up....but by the time Lauren and I started blabbing about everything we needed to catch up on I forgot about it. Oh well... nothing is perfect and things go wrong. Life is messy, but that is no reason to get worked up. Right?

This sh*t ended up everywhere!

Also, the fish was good, however, I think the meal would have been better with a piece of duck. I thought initially that duck would go best, however for the sake of not including any meat, I chose to use fish. So I will be writing about both, because I have made a duck before and it is easy.

Always go with your gut. It will lead you in the right direction. 

Pressure Cooker

Yesterday at 5pm I looked at the week ahead on my calendar because I started the habit of planning my workday two days out. Usually it changes at least a little but I find that it helps me stay productive if I can see at a glance the chunks of work I have to do. Well, when I clicked over to next week I nearly had a heart attack. OH S-H-I-T! MY FIRST TEST IS ON MONDAY!!!

I am not one to put things off, but the last month of work and Christmas trees has completely taken my focus off of school (Remember? I am studying to be a Certified Holistic Health Coach). My memory told me that the first test was in January, not December.

I had been planning on doing school work this weekend already, however this changed everything. I checked how many weeks behind I was (4) and I scrambled to find my class schedule to see how long the test was posted for. Whew- as it turns out the test is posted for 2 1/2 weeks...oh my god! lifesaver. I was about to go into hyper-psycho-cram-for-this-test-mode.

This is a great example of how far I have come in the past year. A year ago, my anxiety-ridden-self would have panicked to the point of helplessness. I would have mentally defeated myself before I even tried to start studying. Now, I did not work myself into a downward spiral. After I spent 2 minutes freaking out, I took a deep breath and started chugging along. I made a mental list of everything that I absolutely had to do over the next two weeks, blocked out time for it, and filled in the rest of my calendar with "STUDY TIME". I now feel better about this situation.

No Christmas tree or decorations, no Christmas cards, no bullshiting. I just need to buckle down and study.

Sometimes pressure is the best motivation. Good thing I just made a ton of food that is in my refrigerator/freezer. Wish me luck! (I can't wait for January!)


What keeps you stress free, especially during the holidays?

Word Up Wednesday Giveaway

Ok people. It's time to take it up a notch. It's been a few months since I started writing this blog and it is time to start giving free stuff away so that I can get you to post comments. And since Christmas is coming, I'm sure everyone would love to get something for free.

Just kidding, I'm not giving away soup.

SO starting today, each Wednesday in December I will be looking for my favorite comment. That means if you make a comment on any of my posts (new or old) you will be in the running for one of my free giveaways. The winning comment this week will be based on any of the following:

• creativity
• the use of thyme
• makes me laugh
• teaches me something

The first winner will be chosen next Tuesday 12/6 at 10pm. SO it give some thought and get a little creative with your words. Get it? GOOD! The first winner will receive...

$20 to Whole Foods

The FINE PRINT: Unless stated, I am paying for the giveaway prizes. The Word Up Wednesday Giveaway will run from 9am Wednesday to 10pm the following Tuesday in the month of December. Each winner will be announced Tuesday evenings around 10pm. The winner will be contacted via email. If you use "Anonymous" on the post I cannot award you the prize (for obvious reasons)- so use your name and make sure to leave  your email address somewhere in the post so I can contact you. Posts on Facebook & Twitter do not count. Good luck! 

'Tis the Season to Get Fat!

it was blueberry and cherry pie mania yesterday morning....
the most amazing tasting pies by my beautiful and talented sister

I am sure no one wants to talk about food today (including myself). Yesterday was a great day filled with lots of cheese, crackers, dips, veggies, champagne and pie! 

yummy apps

some of the deserts

my favorite part of the day!

the other app table...with my prized spinach & artichoke dip...
a huge favorite

Since yesterday marked the official start of the 2011 holiday season, I figured I should sit down with myself (and you) and hash out how I am going to not gain weight. I could twist myself into a guilt trip over every piece of cheese I inhale and every glass of wine I down, however I have been working on accepting things and not working myself up about what I can't control and what I shouldn't worry about. 

My health is definitely one of those things I was stressing about for a while. When I get an idea in my head (i.e. I can control my health by the way that I eat) I have the tendency to take it to extremes and then stress myself out because it is not working perfectly. Changing my eating habits is a perfect example of this. When I started learning about how the food that you eat affects you, I was like I NEED TO CUT EVERYTHING BAD OUT OF MY DIET RIGHT NOW! Which I did for the most part, but then I would go out to eat, and after the fact realize that I ate something "bad" and then I would feel guilty about it. 

It took me a while to get to the point where I realized that the stress of eating healthy all the time was probably worse for me than the actual unhealthy eating. I sort of eased into eating super healthy during the week and slacking off a little on the weekends. Holidays are no different for me- they are just another weekend. So, yesterday was a complete binge fest... and today I ate a little bit of the leftovers (including the giant make-your-own cannoli thing-AMAZING!), but tomorrow....back to normal! Green smoothies and salads, fish, eggs, fruits and vegetables. 

The 80–20 rule states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come 

from 20% of the causes. 

Has anyone else found this rule to be true?

Saying Thanks

1. That was not me who drank all of the gravy.
2. I am thankful that I have an amazing enough relationship with my father that [usually] we can work together [everyday] without wanting to kill each other. It's been 2 years now... longest job occupation since college!!!!! Woohoo!!!
3. Thanks mom for always listening to me when I need to vent... and cry... and curse. I love you!
4. Julie, you are my best friend, and you are doing such a great job of not freaking out today! She and my future brother in-law are hosting 30 people for dinner in their new house...I'd be majorly stressed out :/
5. Greg, I love you and miss you! I wish you were still living here with the kiddies- my favorite niece and nephew ever!
6. Babe...I love you and am so happy about everything. You are my best friend, beach buddy, and my love.
7. On to me! I am thankful that I have had the most productive year of my life. I finally feel like I am doing what I love and working towards something great. Next year is looking up too!

What are you thankful for?

Thanksgiving Contributions

Thanksgiving is quite possibly my favorite holiday. I love cooking, getting dressed up, eating too much, and sleeping it off. My mother and I drove to my sister and future brother-in-law's house today to help with the cooking and other preparations.

My contributions are my soon-to-be world famous spinach & artichoke dip and blackberry bread pudding. I have written about my bread pudding before as a great use for left-over bread. This time however I bought really great whole wheat bread from a local market. I would have made from scratch only I definitely didn't have enough time. You can see the recipe here, but I took pictures of the process.

mash up 1 banana

break bread into small chunks

pour milk/egg mixture into bread and mix

mix in blackberries..YUM!

On to the next one...SPINACH & ARTICHOKE DIP (w/ goat cheese)

I used to use sour cream or cream cheese, but now I use organic Greek yogurt

chop up quartered artichokes and mix with sauteed spinach
(saute in garlic and butter or olive oil)

add in the best thing ever made!

I want to eat this right now.

We aren't going to bake this or the bread pudding until tomorrow so all of the flavors have plenty of time to develop.

On to dinner (pizza) and then cherry pies!!!