Losing the Battle AND the War

Unless you have insanely good willpower or you have allergies to everything under the sun, for most of us the holidays are a two- to three-week period absolutely filled to the brim with scrumptious goodies just itching to give us saddlebag hips, a spare tire, or thunder thighs. At this time of year, there aren’t just one or two parties for me to cautiously navigate without exploding — there are more like 5 or 6. I’m not yet at the point where I have work holiday events (can I please stay a student forever?!), but that’s a bridge I’ll be crossing before too long.

I’m honestly convinced that I don’t have the willpower to say “no” to holiday delicacies, so I have a few party “rules” — I use that term loosely — by which I try to abide so I don’t feel like a total elephant (with my pants surreptitiously unbuttoned under the table) after each and every event. It’s not that I want to offend any of my relatives or family friends who have slaved over their treats; it’s that while I’m still on my weight-loss journey (with 36 more pounds to go…) I don’t want to take one step forward and two steps back. This is what I mean when I say I feel like I’m losing the battle and the war.

Here are my party rules:

(1) If you’re not sure there will be anything nutritious and the event is potluck, bring your own goodness! I’m always the first among my friends to volunteer to bring the veggie tray. I load a platter up with celery and carrot sticks, broccoli florets, cucumber slices, grape tomatoes, cauliflower, and hummus. That way, if I start to feel overwhelmed by all the sugar, I can snack on my own provisions.

(2) Drink a glass of water before you arrive at the holiday party, and have another as soon as you’re settled in. If your stomach feels full of water, you won’t be as inclined to stuff your face with calories, carbs, and fatty guilt. Bonus! You can never go wrong with water, and hydrating yourself properly helps keep your digestive organs running smoothly so you don’t feel as sluggish after a big meal.

(3) This one I borrowed from my mom, but I’m claiming it as my own 😉 Don’t sample every single treat just because. If it’s Aunt Hilda’s world-famous fruitcake (gag me! Maybe someone out there somewhere likes fruitcake) or Cousin Marty’s secret eggnog recipe, then by all means. If you’re looking to cut a few corners, don’t eat what I call “everyday dishes” — chips and salsa, sodas, brownies, slice-and-bake sugar cookies, French onion dip, etc. Save your calories for special foods that aren’t available everywhere you go.

(4) If possible, fill a plate with dinner-type items first, and choose a separate, smaller plate for dessert items. If everything is piled together on one vessel, it may not look as if you’re consuming as much. If your salty and sweet items are separated by time and distance, it’s often easier to tell at a glance how much you’re eating and whether you really want four different types of fudge.

(5) When you feel full, stop eating. I know I am guilty at many events of feeling the need to clear my plate so as not to offend anyone, and because I feel compelled to sample everything. You’ve probably experienced that I-hope-I-don’t-barf-I’m-so-full feeling, and you don’t want to feel stuffed and miserable for the remainder of the party.

(6) Don’t stand by the food displays. Once you’ve put items on your plate, find somewhere else to munch and socialize. If you have to walk some distance to get back to the goodies, you’re less likely to pile your plate high again than if you were standing right next to them and could feed yourself practically from serving dish to mouth.

(7) After you eat, do something. Suggest that the group play a brain-teaser game, Apples to Apples, or a card game. If you simply sit for a few hours after eating, don’t be surprised if you feel drowsy or your eyes glaze over. Getting your brain buzzing will likely encourage your bod to move around a bit.

(8) If possible, exercise within a few hours of the event. Don’t fall into the health halo of “I exercised today so I can eat whatever I want,” but a good sweat sesh will raise your metabolism and energize you.

All that said, enjoy yourself this holiday season! Relish time with family and friends, and don’t stress yourself out about a cookie or two 😉

“I Don’t Know What to Do with My Hands…”

I’ve written before — mostly on my previous blog, Girl Emerging — about some of the many traditions my family enjoys each and every year. One such tradition is bundling up, packing into the car, and riding downtown. We spend hours poring over the little toy trains running around the James Center, the merrily lit-up reindeer at the Omni Hotel, the breath-taking Christmas decorations and poinsettia displays at the Jefferson Hotel, and of course, the “Tacky Light Tour” homes Richmond proudly displays. Last night, after an incredibly special dinner to celebrate my 24th birthday and Ian’s and my engagement, we walked around downtown doing exactly that. Rather than detailing every moment of our city adventures, I’ll let these pictures speak for themselves 😉

Have a great evening, blends! 🙂

Recipe Borrowing: Sweet Potato Chili

This year marked the second annual Thanksgiving weekend chili supper among the Lew Crew, the Andersons, and the Jenkinses — three families who have known each other since before their adult children were born. Last year, I brought my own Crock Pot of vegan chili; this year, I provided Brittany’s sweet potato chili I’ve read so much about. [Praise be to the Blog Gods who make so many delicious, healthy recipes available to the masses.]

I was really excited about this get-together for many reasons. For starters, I hadn’t seen any of my dear old friends since last New Year’s. There’s Kaitlynn, who is a year older than I; Scott, who is my age; Shannon, who is a sophomore in college; and Bethany, who is a junior in high school. As we’ve gotten older, even as we’ve spread out across the state, we’ve become a much more cohesive — if not albeit less mature — group. It’s nice to see everybody after the hubbub of Thanksgiving has passed but the families are still all together.

For another reason, I love trying new recipes and experimenting with new eats with my fam. Perhaps against my better judgment, I cooked and served a brand-new recipe on the same day. Normally, if I’m not the only one trying a new recipe, I like to taste-test it first to make sure it’s fit to serve people. Ya dig? This year, my family was hosting the chili supper, so my chili had to be extra-incredible!

For another reason, this is the first chili “season” I’ve eaten meat since I was in 8th grade, so it’s been quite awhile since I savored various chilis. And finally, it’s really meaningful to see all of these almost-family members, because our family moved five years ago out of the neighborhood block we all shared for so many years. Scott works in Northern Virginia, Kaitlynn works in Richmond, Caroline and Shannon and I are in school in totally different parts of the state, and Bethany is still too young to rage 😉 I kid. But it’s getting harder and harder for the three families to pull off lengthy gatherings and then drive our separate ways. These days, no one seems as gung-ho to either host or attend a late-night fiesta, so it’s a real treat when we can pull off something like this with everyone in attendance.

And now, for your dining pleasure…

Here’s what you’ll need to make (my edited version of) Brittany’s sweet potato chili:
Prep time: 10 minutes, cook time: 90 minutes
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 1/2 large onion, chopped
1 green pepper — cored, seeded, and chopped
1 red pepper — cored, seeded, and chopped
2 jalapeno peppers — seeded and diced
2 medium sweet potatoes, diced
3 2 large cloves garlic, minced
2-3 1 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp sea salt
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
1/4-1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1-2 1 tsp basil
1 bay leaf
14.5 oz. diced tomatoes
28 oz. vegetable broth
30 oz. black beans — washed, rinsed, and drained
juice of one 1/2 lime
garnish: chopped fresh cilantro, chopped scallions

1. Heat oil in large pot on medium-high.
2. Add onion. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally for 10-15 minutes or until tender.3. Add bell pepper and sweet potatoes. Cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes.

4. Stir in garlic and cook one minute.
5. Add chili powder and next 6 ingredients. Stir and cook one minute.
6. Add tomatoes and broth. Simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.
7. Stir in beans and continue to cook for 30 minutes or until sweet potatoes are tender.
8. Remove bay leaf and stir in lime juice.
9. Add garnish.I’m not super-hype on spiciness, so I toned down some of Brittany’s spice factors. I also try not to add sodium to anything, so I eliminated the sea salt element.

I got rave reviews about this recipe, so my thanks go out to Brittany, as well as all those brave souls who were willing to be guinea pigs to test this incredible vegan chili! I told everyone that it was a new recipe, and that I am no longer a strict vegetarian, but I did not tell everyone that the recipe was vegan. As disappointing as it is, I’ve found that telling people something is vegan automatically turns some people off, when what they don’t know won’t hurt them. A few of our guests simply were not interested in meatless chili, or were more interested in my mom’s seafood chowder. Some of our guests were a bit wary of my chili, but they tried it anyway out of politeness. And most of our guests dove right in without hesitation! Hey, at least our old family friends were willing to try it 😉Question: Do you have a chili recipe you’re willing to share? I’m trying to expand my repertoire, though I always give credit to the original chef!

Oh, Black Friday

…is the bane of my existence.

…is the most anticipated and yet most dreaded, belabored day of my shopping life.

…is the reason my bank account is weeping.

…is one of the least efficient days to be bustling around busy malls.

…is the first day I find it acceptable to listen to Christmas carols.

…causes my blood pressure to rise higher with each store I visit (especially Target).

…does not excite me quite enough to wake up before the sun.

…makes me feel humbled by and grateful for all of the blessings in my life.

…causes me inexplicable stress, even though I have a meticulous Excel spreadsheet logging every item purchased and every penny spent.

…somehow excuses me from proper driving etiquette, granting me permission to lay on the horn for any reason.

…makes me wish Christmas were tomorrow — I absolutely love gift-giving!

…prepares me adequately for the next 30 days of frenzied holiday madness.

…is the day before my family and I pick out the most perfect Christmas tree (from a lot). When Ian and I first started dating, I told him that we go out into the wilderness every year and cut down a tree ourselves with a lumberjack saw. Oops 😉

…is one of my favorite days of the year!

What did you spend your Black Friday doing?

Why Did I Eat That Much?!

For the first year in about a decade, I actually ate turkey. I’m 98% sure we’re all sick to death of hearing about Thanksgiving and looking at other people’s Instagrammed turkeys, but I’m going to be cliché and blog about my Thanksgiving anyway, if for no other reason than that most families — with the possible exception of the Obamas — would be hard-put to have as ridiculously large a spread. I’d like to pretend that I’m not bragging, but I totally am. The Gradys and the Smiths put on one hell of a Thanksgiving celebration.

Let me back up to Thursday morning; we were to be out the door by 8:30 sharp, and somehow we met our goal. As I mentioned previously, we celebrate Thanksgiving at my mom’s oldest sister’s house, which is 3 hours from our house. With (miraculously) just one bathroom stop, we arrived around 11:45. I’m pretty sure Caroline and I were supposed to make ourselves useful, but we pretty much explored photo albums and socialized with our cousins. Finally, when all 16 of us were present and accounted for, we feasted. I tried to snap a few photos before my 20-year-old, 6-foot cousins devoured everything, but this is just a sampling:

A new addition by Gina, pizza dip (I will definitely be modifying and trying this recipe!)

Sylvia’s famous carrot cake, as well as pumpkin pie

Pecan pie, and my mom’s “magic cookie bars,” which I successfully recreated

Corn pudding, Gina’s deviled eggs, Sylvia’s sweet potato casserole, homemade cranberry sauce

Requisite mashed potatoes and gravy — literally, the best I’ve ever had!

There was whipped cream for the pies…

…but we were not lacking for anything, even so.

There were also collard greens, turnips, pickle and olive selections, cream cheese dip, creamy garlic dip, port wine cheese dip, country ham, frosted pumpkin bread, mini cranberry muffins, hot spiced apple cider, homemade dinner rolls… and probably more that I’m forgetting, as I’m still recovering from yesterday’s gluttony.

Yesterday, for the first time in many moons, I ate until I could not eat anymore. I was terrified that as in Thanksgivings past, I wouldn’t have room for dessert, so I sampled almost all of them. Indulgence is both a blessing and a wicked curse. Thankfully, after our belly-bustin’ meal, everyone wanted to go see my cousin Bethany’s new house, so we (literally) piled 10 people into two cars and set off. If I had not walked up and down sets of stairs, climbed over piles of plywood and siding, and mozied around the yard, I would have lapsed into a food-induced coma. I am absolutely not ashamed that after my meager “exercise,” I returned to the food. After all, part of being grateful for all that I have is not insulting the cooks 😉

We finally decided to pack it up around 7:30, which put us home just after 11:00 last night. If I hadn’t still been so full, I would have been just the tiniest bit sorry to miss the last quarter of the ‘Skins-Cowboys game, which was in full swing when we departed:

Today, my sister and I are planning to venture out to do some Black Friday shopping. We are not those midnight-to-6 a.m. crazies, or the loonies who’ve been camped out for three days in front of Best Buy. Any deals I was hoping to catch will still be available around lunchtime or on Cyber Monday. For me, Christmas shopping on Black Friday is a rush, though the parking situation is a different kind of rush…

Needless to say — as evidenced by the above — I am thankful.

I hope your Thanksgiving was excellent! What is your favorite Thanksgiving food?