The holiday season is upon us! Officially, Thanksgiving was yesterday, but around here holidays stretch on for days sometimes weeks! I woke up early yesterday to try a new bread recipe to make to take to Kevin’s Aunts dinner. It was the Walnut Bread from Cooking Light. Here is how it started:
You start out with a oatmeal base mixed with buttermilk, oil, and honey
Then:
You mix the oat mixture with your yeast water and start to add the flour mixture
Then:
You let it rise for an hour and pray that all turns out ok! After the sign of the cross you punch it, divide it, braid it, and then bake it!
And then:
You get these amazingly dense loaves of bread! I could have seriously finished one of these myself!
I am not quite sure what made the bread so dense, I expected it to raise a lot more than it did. I suspect the temperature in the house had something to do with it and the fact that it calls for rolled oats to be ground into flour, but I used my oat mixture. Either way this was the highlight of my on Thanksgiving family dinner.
I also made this salad to take:
Field greens, red pear, craisins, pomegranate arils, and a balsamic vinegar to round it out!
Dinner was good, sorry no photos of the whole gathering. Not sure why, we took our camera. Here is how I tackled the big meal:
-No food could touch on my plate
-The emphasis was on the experience and not on the food itself
-Pass on things I knew that I was not going to love
-Eat the turkey, I love great turkey!
-Wear something form fitting so that I did not overeat and feel uncomfortable
-Have fun and talk to the people who are there and make the day special
-No hold barred on the veggie platter!
Today after going to a few stores for Black Friday I came home to make some oats.
I found the super elusive Stonyfield Pumpkin Pie Yogurt!
I have been on the hunt for this stuff ever since I saw it making its appearances on blogs. Well, I finally found it at Whole Foods, a bit pricey, but I wanted to try it so bad. I have to say, I thought it was good! It is almost like a thick custard. To me I could have put some Cool Whip on it and called it dessert! I also thought it had a bit of a coffee flavor, but to be honest I think my taste buds are just whacked out.
My cranberry pumpkin oats simmering away on the stove-top
Cranberry-Pumpkin Oats
2/3 c of oat blend
1 1/4 c water
handful of cranberries
lots of cinnamon
container of pumpkin yogurt
1/2 c pumpkin
The finished product- thick and creamy!
Oh, and just in case you were wondering I did go weigh in this week! I went on Wednesday morning and was down 1.2lb. So I am back to where I was when we came home from our vacation. Yeah!
Hope you all had a very blessed Thanksgiving and try not to eat too many leftovers! We have Thanksgiving round 2 tomorrow afternoon at my mom’s. If it seems like a lot it is, but we usually have 6 Christmas celebrations so Thanksgiving just gets us primed!
