Category — Meal Planning

I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving.  We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, thanks to D.’s sister and our BIL’s hospitality.  Always a lovely time over there.  And my MIL made this luscious pumpkin chiffon pie thingy . . . maybe if we give her some love here, she’ll give up the recipe for next year?  I have to admit, although I love putting on the holiday at our place, it’s incredibly relaxing to have someone else host. 

The only downside to guesting and not hosting is no leftovers (or very few, we drove home packing a large drumstick and some sides!).  That might be an upside in terms of getting back on track with healthy eating . . . but then there’s no turkey sandwich w/stuffing and cranberry sauce, pie for breakfast (my niece is probably happily gobbling up the apple pie I made as you read this), etc. etc.

But maybe you want to mix it up with your leftovers?  Here’s a fantastic article from Food & Wine – David Chang (of Momofuku fame) takes leftover turkey, green beans and mashed potatoes, among others, and whips them into inspired recipes like mashed potato spring rolls, turkey breast with ginger-scallion sauce, and OMG!  Brown Butter Custard Pie with Cranberry Glaze and Cinnamon Toast Crumb Crust.  Be still, my heart.

Or, if that’s a little too fancy-pants for you, here’re some more down-to-earth ideas from Chowhound . . . .

and a whole list of inspired recipes from an old Chow article.

And last, here’s a slide show of 16 different recipes, from the ever-reliable Better Homes & Gardens.  The Tex-Mex things look best to me, but I always have good luck with BH&G recipes . . . even if I have to zing ‘em up a bit.

Let me know what you whip up – and if you’re making any of those Chang things, let me know what time I need to be over . . . .

© 2009, Semi-Sweet. All rights reserved.

You’ve heard it over and over and over again:  Breakfast is “the most important meal of the day.”  Maybe you’re like me, and you make time to eat breakfast every day . . . I can’t imagine getting up and out without putting something in my belly.  But maybe you’re one of “those people” who doesn’t like to eat in the a.m.  If you don’t eat breakfast at all, I urge you to try to eat a little something – you might find these two bits of new research encouraging.  In one, UK researchers found that when they gave thirty-two volunteers breakfast, or made them skip breakfast, the ones who ate did better on a memory test.  In another, a University of Georgia study found that eating breakfast along with 200 mg. of caffeine improves cognitive performance and mood.  Now, who among us doesn’t want to be smarter and happier?   [Read more →]

© 2009 – 2010, Semi-Sweet. All rights reserved.