Exciting news in the Going household, I’m on for my second year as a NuttZo Ambassador! If you’ve followed the blog or any of my social media pages, you’d know we’re all NuttZo Fanatics over here, and I am looking forward to sharing the #NuttZoLove with everyone in 2016!
Sure, peanut butter is good, but why choose good when you can have out-of-this-world awesome with organic nuts and seeds providing a host of healthy benefits? It’s delicious and something I feel good about giving to my precious little girl, Avery. She definitely has no complaints either.
Actually, I often have trouble getting it back from her.
Since we’re all busy in midst of the holiday season, I wanted to kick off my renewed role as a NuttZo Ambassador by sharing 5 of my favorite quick and healthy recipes I shared this past year. These are perfect for entertaining or making just for yourself.
It’s also good in savory meals like soup. Just stir a little in for that flavor *pow* that’ll have everyone asking for the secret recipe. Or at least saying they like it. 🙂
Yeah yeah, I know, Thanksgiving was last week and Black Friday and Cyber Monday are already in the past. Unless, that is, you count the desperate retailers “extending” Cyber Monday through the week. Ugh……..I love to hate it. Hey, it’s hard to say no to something you want that’s on sale, right?
I’ve enjoyed not worrying so much about getting a blog post out there, but missed it at the same time. Another love to hate thing I guess. Anyway, we hosted a whole two people for Thanksgiving, my mom (G-Ma) and little brother (Uncle Preston).
As you can see, Uncle P was very into the Thanksgiving spirit. He was trying to get tickets to the Cowboy’s game or at least go tailgating at the stadium, but no luck with tickets and the rain stopped any tailgating action. So Plan B (or would it be C?) was our house. Despite being 3rd choice, I’m happy he joined us as I feel we never get enough brother time.
I think it’s best Uncle Preston missed paying to see our Cowboys lose to the Panthers anyway. It was a disappointing game (especially for Romo, ouch!), but that didn’t dampen the spirits of G-Ma and Avery.
These two had a lot of playtime together which, as you can see, made both of them happy. It also wore G-Ma out; it didn’t take long for her to fall asleep that night. So much for watching How I Met Your Mother with us!
I was a little tired too since I wanted to take on making all of the Thanksgiving spread. It’s stressful, but it’s how I like to do things. I looked like this for a lot of the day….
Thankfully, I had these lovely girls to keep me company as they snacked and patiently waited.
Maybe “patiently” is not the best word for Avery. She kept giving me that staredown.
After spending a good hour carving the 14 pound beast of a turkey (hey, it’s a lot for 4 1/2 people) and keeping bones to make slow-cooker bone broth, we were finally ready to eat. If it wasn’t for my awesome wife getting everything heated, set out and setting the table, it would’ve easily been another hour of waiting.
Our Thanksgiving spread, and what I’m hoping will become tradition in our home, included:
A free-range organic turkey roasted in the oven
Goat cheese mashed potatoes
Mashed cinnamon sweet potatoes
Crock Pot cumin black beans
Roasted Brussels sprouts
Sugar-free spiced cranberry sauce (I used a can of Orange Zevia that turned out awesome)
Crustless NuttZo pumpkin pie squares (I used blended steel cut oats and gelatin to thicken)
I was happy with how everything turned out, and judging by how everyone went back for seconds (thirds for Uncle P), I’d say so was everyone else. Can you guess my favorite dish?
Probably a tie between the Brussels and turkey. Although, when paired with the cranberry sauce, I say the turkey was and is my favorite part. Oh, and the NuttZo pumpkin pie squares were up there. So much so that I forgot to take a pic before digging in.
Going Mom had our camera setup with her new tripod and remote shutter release to capture our quaint Thanksgiving gathering.
Oops, that’s one of the 1000 times Avery got a hold of the remote. Here we are actually ready for the shot…..
Avery was a little blurry, but we call it a win just for the fact that she turned around. She kept busy eating turkey and mashed potatoes with her hands on her blue plate.
But she had an important phone call on G-Ma’s phone that she had to take at the table.
Probably already talking to her toddler peers about how to delay going to bed. We’re currently experiencing this part of the toddler phase; I’ll go into more detail later.
It was nothing extravagant, but that’s exactly how we wanted it. Good, healthy food made from scratch being shared with loved ones. I’m forever grateful to be able to spend it with my beautiful wife.
And of course my crazy beautiful daughter, mom, and little (who’s bigger than me) brother.
Thanksgiving 2015
I’m hoping to do the same spread for the fast approaching Christmas meal with the same loved ones too. The only change we’re considering is making a ham instead of turkey. I love turkey, and the bone broth is awesome, but geez, it sure it time consuming for the entire process! I’m not sure yet, but will have to figure it out soon….after getting my gift buying complete. Ahhh!
Do you have large or small gatherings for the holidays?
Happy Hump Day, and therefore, another edition of What I Ate Wednesday! I’ve shared a day of what my toddler eats twice already (first time and second time), and now it’s time for round three.
Feeding Avery isn’t as easy as just a few weeks ago. Apparently, as the get older they get this growing sense of independence and being more self-aware which leads to toddler regression. Our patience levels are being tested on a daily basis, and from what I understand, it’s not going to get better any time soon. Yikes!
Guess now would be a good time to seriously look into meditation. I’ve been interested for a while, but haven’t made the commitment to fully immerse myself in the mindful practice. Any thoughts or advice?
Anyway, lets kick off another round of what my toddler eats in a day. Just as before, we don’t make a lot of substitutions for Avery, so what she eats, is essentially what we eat. Make sure to show some WIAW love and check out the host’s blog as well as everyone’s day of good eats.
Lunch – Coconut curry quinoa and black beans with Wild Planet sardines on top. I’m still amazed that she’ll eat sardines, and even yell “Fishy!” when she sees them.
I didn’t take a picture, but she crunched on a few Go Raw Pizza Flax Snax Crackers after finishing her lunch. I may or may not of had a few the rest of the bag myself.
Since she had quite a bit for lunch, Avery wasn’t too hungry after her nap, so my wife and I spent the non-eating time in a more constructive manner. Selfies with our DSLR camera and a 50 mm lenses.
Obviously, not easy.
Dinner – Slow-cooker local chicken thighs with stewed veggies and a potato.
I crisped the chicken skin in the oven to use as a flavorful topping.
A little goes a long way and it was a hit with both of my lovely ladies!
Thus ends another day of eats in the Going household. I’d say with the non-stop energy Avery has, something in the food is helping…..a lot!
Have a great Wednesday and rest of the week!
Have you ever used chicken skin as a topping?It’s like bacon, but chicken…and skin. 🙂
An at-home dad on a mission to keep it real when it comes to food, fun, and raising a healthy, happy family.
