I'm on the slippery slope to 40 and I'm working my way to being as healthy as possible in mind, body and soul. I have an awesome husband and three fluffy kitties. I love to run, cook and help others, but I'm always looking for more ways to improve my life and the lives around me. I also have a weird sense of humor, so be warned.Thanksgiving Recap
I know, I was a bit of a blogging delinquent over the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend. One would think that with all this time off, I would do productive things on the blog. You would be mistaken.
However, we did do a lot of fun and new things!
Vegetarian Thanksgiving Dinner
This year, I was successful in making a (lacto-ovo) vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner! I made Post Punk Kitchen’s vegan chickpea cutlets (Flickr user phaederator’s photo of the process is above). I was skeptical, but they were delicious! Next time I make them, I’m going to tweak the preparation and run the canned chickpeas through the food processor to break them up more.
I also had great luck with PPK’s savory mushroom gravy. Didn’t miss that turkey gravy whatsoever!
The other “new” thing with this year’s meal was cooking Brussles sprouts! I’ve never cooked them before, and I certainly wasn’t sure if I’d like them. But, after doing a bit of research on the best way to cook them, this is how I prepared them:
- Cleaned and halved the sprouts.
- Heated a pan of water up to a boil, then added the sprouts and cooked for 3 minutes.
- Immediately drained and put the sprouts in an ice bath (to stop the cooking).
- Heated up a non-stick pan on high heat, added a bit of olive oil and sauteed the sprouts for 3-5 minutes or until slightly browned.
- Took the pan off the heat and drizzled ~1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar over the sprouts.
- Served immediately.
Guess what? I like Brussels sprouts!
The rest of the feast was rounded out with garlic mashed potatoes, roasted butternut squash and crescent rolls. Also, my waistline is reminding me that we had cheesecake for dessert rather than the traditional pumpkin pie.
Did any of that cheesecake go to waste? Of course not…it went to waist! 
Ba-dum-dum.
Tim did a 5k
Thanksgiving morning we went to downtown Minneapolis for the annual Turkey Trot 5k. Since the weather was so glorious, I convinced Tim to do the 5k with me! Granted, we walked it (Tim doesn’t run…yet), but it was so much fun!
I think Tim sees why I like doing these events now! He even talked about doing more in the future! Might just make him a runner yet!
General All-Around Laziness
The rest of the weekend we watched some anime and kung fu movies, I finished a couple of books that have been in half-read states for months, and picked up and started playing Persona 3 Portable again. It’s one of those games that I need a reference to follow when I play it, otherwise I’ll get lost. Which makes it difficult to play and save on the bus – especially when I’m dungeon grinding. Even using the reference, I spend 80+ hours playing these games.
Yes, I know I’m a nerd. 
After I finish P3P, I have Persona 2: Innocent Sin to play and Final Fantasy XIII-2 comes out the end of January. Nerdy gaming, FTW!
Hope you all had a happy and safe Thanksgiving. For those of you not in the US, I hope you had a happy and safe Thursday.
What a fun Thanksgiving! Glad you had such a great time!
We did! It’s so much easier when we don’t have to travel on the holiday.