Happy Thanksgiving to all my blog friends!
Today I’m thankful for:
- Having a family and house to come home to
- Having all my siblings together again π
- The opportunities I’ve been given in life
- My beautiful, strong self – because we’re all beautiful!
- Cranberry sauce & pumpkin π
Sorry I have been MIA the past few days – it gets tricky at home, especially with no camera! I also meant to post this earlier today, but got sidetracked halfway through writing!
This morning I woke up with an awful stomach ache, and really wasn’t hungry hungry all day long – what a perfect day to feel that way! I fit in a 4.25 mile run at the track, hoping it would make me feel better and rev my appetite.
Pre-run was a WW enlglish muffin – half with pumpkin cream cheese & bananas, half with sunbutter, Tayberry jam & bananas.
Post-run and pre-Thanksgiving meal, I snacked on a bit of carrots, pita chips & hummus.
We had a little alteration to our Thanksgiving day. My grandpa has been extremely sick lately, so he can’t make it over, and my grandma doesn’t want to drive at night without him. So our dinner time was changed to 2:00, and sans Papa :-(. But I knew it would all work out, and what’s important is the fact that we’re all spending time together, whether we’re eating at 2:00 or 4:00.
While I didn’t get a picture of everything, here were some highlights!
My mom got to work on her mashed potatoes. (note my dad in the back carving the delicious juicy turkey)
The marshmallows on my sweet potatoes started to explode/overflow in the oven. Whoops!
My sister jokingly requested my other sister to carve a turkey out of the butter. Here is what she got:
Very artistic turkey carving π
The table was beautifully set.
The spread included above mashed potatoes & sweet potatoes (made my moi) plus turkey, my homemade cranberry sauce, canned cranberry sauce (my dad refuses to eat anything else), William Sonoma homemade stuffing (delicious), Costco dinner rolls (my family loves them), green beans, & of course gravy.
I had a little bit of everything (minus the green beans & dinner roll) plus seconds of turkey and sweet potatoes. I know most people’s healthy eating philosophy is to fill up on vegetables first, but I honestly wanted to save as much room as possible for the good stuff. I could have plain green beans any old day! π
For dessert, we celebrated the “November birthdays” (my brother, dad, and grandma). My grandma requested an ice cream cake, so my sister made a GINORMOUS one!
3 gallons of ice cream, 2 cake mix boxes, and a box of Oreos later…
Seriously.
I was served the biggest piece imaginable.
But since mint ice cream or cake really isn’t my thing (and I knew there were pies ahead), I shared half with my sister.
Later in the evening I popped my dessert contribution into the oven. Angela’s vegan pumpkin pie !
I think something wrong happened while making it, because my filling was much more liquid looking than her pictures, and it turned out massively undercooked. But the crust was sooooo good. And I still devoured almost a quarter of it π I even got my brother (the pumpkin pie obsessed) to try it, and he didn’t think it was bad! Β He still prefers his Costco pie though π
I also had a slice of this amazing apple streudel from Safeway.
My siblings and I spent the rest of the night playing board games (Monopoly and Clue) and watching Love Actually on TV. And I went back for more ice cream cake later in the night π
How did I feel at the end of the day? Β I actually really liked eating at 2:45ish because it kept me full for the rest of the day, and I didn’t end up stuffed late at night. Β I ended the meal overly full, but not uncomfortably stuffed to the brim (like in past Thanksgivings). Β I did overdo it on desserts, but that’s okay! Β What’s important is that today was a day of delicious food, family and fun, and I’m very happy how it turned out π
I may or may not be going out shopping tomorrow – we’ll see!
I know you were asked this on other blogs already, but what were you thankful for today?
How was your Thanksgiving? Any highlights? Special or funny moments?
Who’s shopping tomorrow?!
Maybe it’s terrible, but I would have completely demolished that piece of cake no problem. I LOVE mint chocolate chip ice cream and cake! Could there be a more perfect combination?
I’m thankful for my family, my health, and my life.
Happy belated Thanksgiving!
mmmm everything looks sooo good π my favorite moment was watching charlie brown with some of my close friends
What a fantastic spread – I’m drooling over those browned marshmallows!! No shopping for me! I hate the crowds!
Happy Thanksgiving!!
Lol, great butter art!
I was thankful for my family who came over, and my dog who was the only one with me not running around like a nut. That cake is… ridiculous. We just copped out and bought my grandfather a Carvel cake for his birthday haha
Those desserts look so delicious.. especially that huge cake! I’ve never made an ice cream cake before- it looks difficult!
I love your philosophy that you “can have green beans any day” yay! haha
THOSE desserts look AWEEEEESOME! especially that ice cream cake! dang.
omg that cake looks incredible!! & i’m glad that you enjoyed your thanksgiving meal.. no, iwill not be shopping
xoxo
shelley
http://findinghappinessandhealth.wordpress.com
i watched love actually too!
yay for thanksgiving – glad you had a fabulous day, and holy ice cream cake. could i get a tutorial for that? AMAZING!
enjoy your weekend!
That cake is HUGE!!! My friend made homemade ice cream cake for Christmas last year. And I know it’s just melted ice cream re-frozen in cake form, but I swear it tasted a million times better π
What a great post Tay! Sounds like you had a fabulous Thanksgiving. It’s so nice to spend time with your family and really appreciate everything we’ve been given in life. π
xxoo
Heather
How in the hell did your sister make that cake?! it’s insane!!
who knew you had a knack for butter art π one of your many talents, obviously.
desserts always get me too .. I’m pretty sure if I could’ve I would’ve just nixed the turkey, stuffing, and ‘tatoes and hoped right on over to the pies!
dude that ice cream cake is LEGIT. way to go!
i would have for sure been all about the desserts in your house! vegan pumpkin pie AND mint choc chip ugh im droooling π glad you had such a nice holiday!
Aw, you have an amazing family, Tay! The view is amazing from your house, too!
I made a variation of Angela’s pie too, and at the very end of her recipe, she notes that she would have used cornstarch next time, to firm up the filling. Thankfully, I had already added it, but that may have been the problem if you didn’t add any π
Have a great day!
WHAHAA! That is an AMAZING and INCREDIBLE ice-cream cake! I love it! And I loved all this pictures of you and your loved ones. More please! π
I’m thankful for SO many things…but most of all, for God, because without Him, I would be nothing.
LOL at the butter turkey carving. Very creative.
HOLY ice cream cake! You guys don’t mess around, that’s my kind of family! π
I’ve never had marshmellow sweet potatoes and I’ve been seeing them everywhere lately. I must investigate this dish.
We had dinner at 2 as well and for many of the same reasons, I like eating that early. I didn’t need to eat again for the rest of the day!
Ice cream cake–yum yum! Love the positivity coming from you lately girl–so refreshing! Looks like you had a wonderful holiday and I’m so glad! xoxo
Looks like such a lovely day, Tay! You and your sisters are adorable together π Crazy cake! Lol. The pie looks delish- vegan baked goods never turn out great when I make them (actually, none of my baked goods do, lol= baking is NOT my forte!)
You look a lot like your mom : )
Happy Holidays!
We ate around 2:00 too! Perfect time! Sweets are always worthy of a little over-doing every now and then! π
Your day looked perfect! Your family is adorable!!
girrll your family is so gorgeous!!
and your sweet potoatos look. amazing….<3 YUM
I am thankful for everything in my life, we are all such lucky blogging girls π glad you had such a scrumptious Thanksgiving!
wow! looks awesome! That is one amazing looking cake!
That cake……….OMG YUM!
Everything looks great! π
beautiful family, Tay! Your vegan dessert looks like it came out perfectly! But I have to say that ice cream/oreo pie is INSANEEEEE I would have taken that slice you had right on your plate and eaten it right up!
I am so sorry your grandpa is not doing well π¦ but at least you got to spend thanksgiving with those you love
we ate around 6-baddd idea, i was still full in the AM!