Thursday, November 25, 2010

Frozen Turkey Trot



Happy Thanksgiving!!!!! 

I hope everyone is enjoying their Turkey Day.  We are heading over to my sister's house in a bit to start the festivities but I wanted to take a moment to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving filled with warm memories, delicious eats, and most importantly, tons of happiness and love.  

There are endless things that I am thankful for, but I truly want to tell you all how grateful I am for each of you.  Your support, your friendship, your encouragement has been a blessing in my life and reminds me every day that I am one lucky girl. 

Yesterday, I took the day off from work to get all of my T-Day preparations in order.  I had a long to-do list so I didn't waste much time in getting started. 

Priorities first, breakfast! 

Obviously, you can see where my priorities lie. 


I made myself a treat.  Banana Pumpkin Stuffed French Toast !!!!

2 slices of Ezikel Cinnamon Raisin Bread, 1tsp Maple PB, 1tsp Sweet Potato Butter, 1/2 Sliced Banana dipped in french toast bath and cooked on the stove.  I then topped this with a layer of Pumpkin Yogurt (pumpkin and greek yogurt), diced pear (heated in the microwave), Pumpkin Granola, and Maple Syrup.


This was beyond delicious!!!


 After a glorious breakfast, I hit the gym for one of my favorite classes- "Body Attack."  I never really get a chance to take this class anymore because it's not offered any time that works into my schedule so I definitely wanted to take advantage.

After the gym, I did some shopping and headed home so that I could get started in the kitchen.

As soon as I pulled out all of the ingredients to make the pie, I noticed something on my arm out of the corner of my eye.  I looked down and saw this TARANTULA crawling up my arm.


Yes, this beast almost landed in the pie as I waved my arms like a frantic maniac.  Luckily, he fell on the floor and I was able to coax him into a cup and place him outside.  SOOOOO GROSS!!!

Okay, after that I finally got started.  Everything I made turned out pretty nicely.

I even attempted to bake!!!  We'll see about this one though.  Usually my baking is a major fail, but The Oatmeal Pecan Pie was incredible easy and actually looks pretty fantastic!




I also made Maple Roasted Butternut Squash with Cranberries and Pecans.


And a Cornbread Casserole (not pictured yet because it still has to bake). 

After a few hours of cooking, I worked my way up to quite a little appetite.  I heated up a can of Trader Joe's Black Bean Soup for a lunch break. 



With some Chips and Salsa and Grapes. 

I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning and organizing.  By the time I sat down, I was way to exhausted to think about making dinner, so I texted Toly and asked if we could have a date night. 

We decided to do dinner and a movie and started with dinner. 

Brewhouse is our favorite "go-to" restaurant when we want something relatively quick and relaxed. 

We started with their famous Spinach and Crab Dip. 


This dip is by far the best crab dip I'v ever had.  The warm chewy pita they serve along with it is perfect as well.

For my entree, I chose one of their specials, "Ahi Tuna Tower."

Raw Tuna on top of a mound of rice, avocado, mango and topped with sprouts.  This reminded me of deconstructed sushi and was excellent!  It came with a side salad of cabbage, carrots and ginger.

After dinner, we saw The Next Three Days.  It was pretty good.  Full of action and kept you on the edge of your seat plus Gerard Butler always plays a good role in these kind of movies.

This morning, I set my alarm bright and early to run the annual Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot!

This has been my 4th year doing this 5k.  It was actually the first 5k I've ever done and last year, I recruited my brother in law and his brother to run as well.  Now, we've made it a little tradition.


We even convinced Jason's mom to start the tradition!  Each year we seem to add another person and my goal is to have the ENTIRE family out there one of these years. 


I woke up to the sounds of freezing rain and thought, "Oh this is going to be a fun time."  So I put on  an extra layer of long underwear, grabbed 1/2 a banana with some PB, and tried to put on a smile because I was going to run this thing no matter how cold and uncomfortable it would be. 




So this was probably the most miserable race I've ever run.  Not only was is raining and cold, it was sleeting hard core!  I was completely numb for the first mile and then just in pain from massive shard of ice that were hitting my face.  

After awhile, I just ignored it and tried to have fun.  I stuck with Jason the whole time and encouraged him along the whole way.  

I never run this race for time, it's always just for fun.  I love being with my family and that they run this race.  We all finished and were so proud but happy to be done and out of the rain. 


When I got home, the first thing I did was hop into a hot shower and then continued to find warmth in a hot bowl of Pumpkin Oats. 


It was a perfect start to the Thanksgiving Holiday. This should hold me over quite nicely until later this afternoon.  

I hope everyone enjoys a wonderful day!  

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!! 

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12 comments:

  1. I would definitely not have wanted to run outside today! I wasa planning on it, but then decided for a Shred workout instead!! :) Happy Thanksgiving!

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  2. buurrrrr! Well at least you have some good food to warm you up quickly!! Happy thanksgiving!

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  3. oh my gosh! i have the BIGGESt fear of spiders- i would have freaked out! that pumpkin banana french toast is looking PRETTY dang delicious!

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  4. I so admire your perseverance! I am a fair-weather runner...I would have quit. You are an inspiration, my dear. Your pie looks beautiful, and I'm sure it is going to taste great. Thank you for sharing, my sweet blogging friend. Happy Thanksgiving!

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  5. HAPPY THANKSGIVING LOVE! i hope your day is filled with love, gratefulness and LOTS of food :)

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  6. geeeeeeez you cooked your face off!! schmappy thanksgiving!! ox.

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  7. so proud of you for baking! happy tgiving!!!

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  8. First off, that breakfast looks slamming, definitely something I would love to copy! ; )

    Second, I'm glad you didn't have to have spider pie (eww!). And I'm very proud of your baking skills, I'm sure it tasted awesome.

    And last, congrats on sticking out that miserable race and making the most fun out of it as possible :D Happy Thanksgiving!

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  9. So glad even though it was yucky outside, you had a great time! Sometimes that's all that matters on race day! Your oatmeal pecan pie looks amazing! I'm actually not pick on pecans, but I bet the oatmeal kicks it up a notch!

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  10. Wow. Monster post!! Ha ha.
    Don't celebrate Thanksgiving here in Aus but hope you had a great one all the same :)

    Tinka xo xo

    Ps. I comment Anonymously because I don't know if there is another way to do so without having a blog. Hope you don't think I'm the vicious Anon person out there.

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  11. My dad ran his first 5k with me yesterday and it was freezing but no sleet or rain, thankfully!

    I can't believe that spider was on your arm. I would be traumatized for days if I even saw it near my house!!

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  12. You're brave!! I was going to bail on my turkey trot if it was sleeting, but luckily it was only a slight mist.
    Hope you feel better!

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