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Happy What I Ate Wednesday!
Thanksgiving was a reminder of many things especially things I’m grateful for. Being injury and pain-free right now and finally able to enjoy an early morning walk after a long year. Being able to FaceTime with my family and feeling grateful for my Mom’s continued health. Being blessed with a nice home that I can turn into my own winter wonderland and being blessed with the talent to cook and bake delicious and healthy food.
Thanksgiving was also a reminder of why I used to be a vegetarian. This year I made roasted turkey. They’re already pre-made. All you have to do is heat the turkey in the oven for an hour and you have yourself turkey goodness. I usually buy a small turkey breast for myself, but didn’t get one soon enough this year and by the time I got to the market my choices were slim. I didn’t mind the thought of extra turkey either. Leftovers for days equals more time to relax and bake holiday goodies for you guys.
So roasted turkey was what I ended up with and while it was delicioso, carving it was a horrific experience. I was doing ok until I flipped the bird over and saw legs or arms or whatever they are waving at me. Ugh…and the skin…the skin is just so gross. Let’s just say I screamed when I was sawed the arms off the poor thing. It’s really good no small children were around. There’s no way I would’ve ever be able to make a real bird. The thought of reaching inside to pull out the sack of whatever’s inside there would be enough to make me fall to the floor. This is also why I could never be a chef or personal cook. I could never cook a lot of other red meats like liver, ribs, lamb or pork. Even bacon gives me the heebie jeebies. I’m good with fish. As long as it doesn’t have eyes, skin or fins. I’m probably the only person in the world traumatized by turkey carving.
Now let’s see what fun stuff I ate on Thanksgiving besides the turkey.
Breakfast. A slice of out of the oven Butternut Squash Spinach Breakfast Bake.
Breakfast part two was vegan banana chocolate chip pancakes with no sugar added syrup. The chocolate was enough sugar for me. I couldn’t wait to face plant before snapping a pic. I added mint chips to the batter. The holiday ones are out now that are a mix of mint and chocolate. I highly recommend you try pancakes with mint. So darn good!
Snack. A grain free apple cinnamon muffin I made the weekend before. I was going to make Almond Walnut Apple Crisp for Thanksgiving desert, but was torn between that and Peanut Butter Pumpkin Oat Bars. Since I made the apple cinnamon muffins the weekend before and still had leftovers, it made my decision easy. I could have my pumpkin bars and apple muffins too. Perfect!
Snack. Homemade apple cider vinegar while I was trimming the tree and waiting for dinner to finish.
Dinner. After the horrifying experience of turkey carving, I was finally ready to feast. Roasted carrots, brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes, green beans, Roasted Garlic Cauliflower Mash, homemade garlic & herb almond flax biscuit and turkey. The turkey was delicious, but I’m still having nightmares over the carving.
Desert. I wasn’t about to make an entire pie for myself. Too much work and I would eat all of it. It’s good to know your limits. So I made Peanut Butter Pumpkin Oat Bars instead and they were perfect. I made them this time without the oats and with almond butter. I rarely eat peanut butter anymore. Almond butter is all I buy and occasionally cashew butter. I should start making my own almond butter for as much as I buy it.
Have you ever carved a turkey? Does it freak you out? What is one food that really grosses you out? What was the best thing you ate on Thanksgiving?
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Dang girl, you put together quite the feast for yourself. I give you major credit for all the work you put into the day. Everything looks like it turned out delicious!
Sauerkraut freaks me out. My husband is a huge fan, but sadly I won’t cook anything with it because it’s just nasty to me. Hah!
Thanks! I like to cook everything at once & have leftovers forever. I’m still eating my way through them.
I was a cook for 6 months and went to culinary school and let’s just say I am satisfied with bulk cooking for a veryyyyy long time! I feel for the people who carve the meat and fish at grocery stores too! Sometimes raw eggs gross me out…especially the egg white! 🙂
I definitely could not do the grocery store thing!
You are not alone! I was a vegetarian for a very long long and went back to eating meat a few years ago. Making any meat took some getting used to. Especially chicken if it involved skin or a whole chicken. Yikes – at least no one heard you scream. 🙂 Happy WIAW!
Just came across your blog and absolutely love it!! 🙂
That’s awesome, thank you!
Hahah your turkey carving story had me giggling! For me, it’s never been all that hard, but I’ve never been a vegetarian before. Also, those pancakes look AMAZING! I’m not a big fan of sugar free syrup (kinda freaks me out haha!), but those chocolate chips inside of it are making me hungry!
The mint chocolate in the pancakes was pure heaven.
That butternut squash spinach bake looks amazing! I could totally use some of it for breaky 🙂
Almost too good to be healthy 🙂
Holy cow… I want your breakfast. Those pancakes and the breakfast bake look amazing!
I’m a big fan of breakfast…obviously 🙂
I need to make that apple cider drink. Is that froth on top? You’re so creative and yes, you are so blessed. What a wonderful Thanksgiving
I feel for you, girl! I get totally grossed out with meat carving. I made chicken stock the other day from the whole bird and ended up roasting it and throwing the bird in the pot whole so I didn’t have to look at it. Luckily for me it turned out well, but yikes! Thanks for sharing your Thanksgiving treats 🙂
There’s no way I could have done that. Good to hear it turned out well.
All your meals look delicious! Do you have a recipe for that spinach breakfast bake? It looks awesome.
Yep…https://skinnyfitalicious.com/butternut-squash-spinach-breakfast-bake/
pb pumpkin oat bars looks so good!
Thank you!
I was totally agreeing with you in the section about preparing meat! I don’t eat meat and therefore don’t cook with it very often, so when I had to prep the turkey for thanksgiving this year it definitely grossed me out a bit:)
I don’t think I could do a real turkey. Good for you!