Phew! What a weekend. After spending 5 hours cooking on Wednesday evening, I ran my first half marathon on Thanksgiving morning (Suburu Outback Run, thank you 1st Place Sports!!!). I was thrilled to have completed in just under 2 hours (literally... 36 seconds short of 2 hours). I learned a couple of things about myself through training for this run. First, "Carb Loading" really needs to take place more than just a spaghetti dinner the night before (ironically, we had spaghetti for dinner Wednesday night.... mostly because it was easy and it wasn't Turkey). Second, strength training is so important for distance running. And finally, burning approximately 1300 calories on Thanksgiving morning really does make sense when you hear about the massive amount of food we had!
After the run, we came home and I got my oven started. I had nightmares all last week that our oven would give out, but thankfully, we made it. One more thing to be grateful for. First up, quiche for the boys and pumpkin pancakes for me. I know you're thinking that I am an overachiever- but I prep'd these the day before and these pancakes were amazing, I would run another 13 miles for them. I found them on a blog that I follow- skinnytaste.com.
Next up, the Turkey (see recipe from "My First Post"). When the 19-lb turkey was in the oven, the chopping and sauteing continued. Joe worked in the yard until around noon when he came in, clearly frustrated with me because I wasn't cleaning the house and says "so how long is this cooking going to take?" My sarcastic-but-not-really reply, "Uh, all day babe. It's Thankgiving." Joe replys, "Fine then I'll just do all the work". Okay.....
I am so grateful to have spend Thanksgiving with such a great group of people. Joe's brother and parents came over, along with neighbors and friends. Our menu included: delicious appetizers and festive drinks prepared by Jenna, Brians' turkey cooked on the Green Egg, our oven roasted turkey, a ham, Jen's cheesy potatoes, wild mushroom stuffing, sweet potato casserole, creamed corn, roasted brussel sprouts and fruit salad. Dessert was another table (and plate) full: Pumpkin Pie, Pecan Pie, 2 Apple Pies, Birthday Cake (Happy Birthday Cary!) and Watergate Salad.
To prove that we all make mistakes, I woke up early Friday morning and realized that I forgot to put out the cranberry sauce!!! No worries, everyone came back over Friday evening for Thanksgiving Part Duex.
Saturday was a cleaning day, as well as a day of trying to figure out what to do with all of that turkey! Well, in true Southern form, I made a coleslaw and put some BBQ sauce out for the turkey. Viola!
Today we set up the Christmas tree and decorations. Lights on the house are up as well (perhaps suprisingly, Joe loves having the house decorated for Christmas, he has gotten decorating the outside of the house down! I went to the grocery store- reluctantly. Does anyone else feel like they shouldn't have to grocery shop for a month after Thanksgiving, but inevitably have to go that weekend? After shopping, Zeke and I went for a walk and I worked out a bit. Tomorrow will be back to normal workouts!
Dinner consisted of steaks on the grill, roasted broccoli and cauliflower (carmelized and delicious roasted at 400 degrees in just a little olive oil, salt and pepper), sauted leaks and shallots (in just a little olive oil, earth balance, salt and pepper) and a baked potato. True, we could have had enjoyed even more leftovers, but we both needed a break. Besides, there is a week's worth of turkey sandwiches to come!
Happy Holidays!
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