Post-Thanksgiving Food Recap and Moving Forward to more Holiday Joy while Staying Healthy

Whew! Well. It’s the Sunday after Thanksgiving and if you were one of those people that stood up and cooked all day you might have noticed that this weekend you were a bit tired. Funny thing was that I didn’t really appreciate how long I was standing up until my brand-new Apple Watch gave me a slight jolt on the wrist to tell me I had met my “standing goal” of 12 hours!

Strange thing about having a standing goal of 12 hours; I didn’t know I had a ‘STANDING GOAL” and if I had set one,  it certainly would not have been for that long. But putting all of that energy expenditure aside,  I was/am thankful not only on Thanksgiving day but every day, for my family and especially so because everyone had gathered in one place to share a meal and wonderful conversation. These days if no one touches their phone for an entire meal you know it has been a success!

I wanted to blog all about my Thanksgiving recipes which have been my mother’s legacy (the stuffing and gravy especially because they are PERFECT) but coordinating the cooking, photography and writing while trying to prepare dinner for 22 people was just more than I could manage. So I will take the next year to work on that and by November 2017 I will be ready to “go live” with my Thanksgiving recipes and how I organize that meal for a cast of thousands (not really, but sometimes it feels that way!).

The week has been a bit busy because I actually cooked THREE Thanksgiving dinners. On the Saturday before Thanksgiving some of our family was in town and wanted to have Thanksgiving dinner because they would not be here on the “real” Thanksgiving Day. So we had a beautiful turkey breast, stuffing, the works. And it was fun and a great prelude to the holidays. I am posting some of the photographs just so you can see that I am NOT making this up! Please note that I use a Reynold’s Oven Cooking Bag (large turkey size) whenever I roast a turkey. No basting, and the most tender, juicy turkey you will ever eat.

On Thursday the real Thanksgiving dinner went off without a hitch. After 38 Thanksgiving dinners with the same everything, the process always goes smoothly because everyone always rows the turkey/stuffing/gravy/salad/corn casserole/green beans/cranberry mousse/mashed potatoes etc boat in the same direction. It is like a well-organized, well-coordinated play where everyone just knows where to stand, chop, stir, peel (potatoes) and get out of the way when a heavy pan is moving across the kitchen. All in all, it is a day of working together, talking, laughing and eating and eating and eating. We start with lots of appetizers on a rotating basis all day long (fig and goat cheese pinwheels and other nibbles) and then serve dinner at 6. It is long and leisurely with no one in a hurry to get up and leave. A blissful evening of great, comforting food and the closeness of family.

And then on Friday, because I still did not have my fill of making turkey dinners (!) lo and behold fresh turkeys were on sale at Kroger! So I thought to myself, “why not make another turkey dinner since this turkey is so inexpensive and if I don’t bring it home and take care of it, maybe no one else will”. So I “adopted” this huge turkey and today, Sunday, I stuffed it and now it is in the oven making my kitchen smell like Turkey Day  again.

While my children might all be returning home today to their far-flung homes across the country (which makes me just unbelievably sad), I am saving the memories of a wonderful Thanksgiving feast by keeping the warmth and aromas of a stuffed turkey alive for at least another day.

I hope your holiday was lovely and memorable and I am excited about moving forward in MEtirement to having the time to read cookbooks and recipes and create holiday dishes for all of you to enjoy. Today I am thinking about a red and green healthy dip for a Christmas to stay “on theme” with the food!

Having just written that, I am now wondering how red and green became the colors emblematic of the season. I am fine with them and now I will turn them into a dip! Soon. As soon as I get that turkey out of the oven. And figure out how to disguise it so my family doesn’t realize they are eating turkey dinner for the third time this week!

Back to yoga and running tomorrow morning. I am on a “Campaign to Maintain” my weight this holiday season. Set a realistic goal (this is not a season to DIET!) and stick to it. This will leave you flexible to enjoy reasonable amounts of not-so-healthy foods but still keep you grounded in the reality of staying the course of a healthy lifestyle. Going totally off the rails with food and drink is never a good thing! So be mindful of your goals every day while enjoying nibbles and bits of fabulous, festive food.