Thanksgiving! (do all of my titles have exclamation points?)

We all got together for Thanksgiving at my Mom's this year. I wanted to host(ess), I even used it as an excuse to get some more dishes (any excuse seems to do), but my brother drove in from Reno with his three little girls, so bummer to make him drive an extra hour. I was a little apprehensive for Thanksgiving this year, because we were doing a family party the next day too, and I usually completely break down in self control after a day. And there's pie. And there's Lion house rolls.

The table looked beautiful. I had a picture of the other half, but my camera has been acting up lately, and that picture (along with a lot of other ones) turned out all blurry. I figured out last night my camera had been set to slow shutter speed. Little too late.


Yeah. These are the rolls. We were still setting the table at this point --but I gave up resisting and snitched the smallest one. Yuuuuum! (Yes Deja --way better than last year even).




Gotta take pie pictures. This was the black cherry. Kai saw it and said: "that looks just like a pie!" ummm...yeah. Made me feel good though because it must look like the "iconic pie" if he recognizes it. My brother in law liked it --and his mom is the best cook in the world.

Pecan-Cranberry. I got this idea out of this month's Better Homes and Gardens. Then of course the recipe went out the window and did my own piecrust that I trust, and changed amounts.....blah blah blah.


OK, stupidly this year I asked for votes via email on which pies to do. Eight different pies got one vote. Right. I'm not doing no eight pies. But the one that got two votes was Chocolate Mousse. I use this mousse for catering and I love it --it's so rich. Whipped cream, melted chocolate, cream cheese.... I finished this pie with a cookie crust, real whipped cream, and chocolate leaves.

No one wanted this pie but Ari. I don't know why, but about a month ago she got obsessed with the idea of "Key lime pie! It's my favorite!" So we had to do it for Ari. Then on Thanksgiving --she got a piece of chocolate instead! It turned out pretty good though --Jeff said it was his favorite. I do a graham cracker crust, no merengue --whipped cream instead. I may do all merengue pies next year. I can't do a stinkin' merengue pie to save my life. I think I overthink it --I always wonder if the whites need to be cooked all the way through, or if they need to be beaten longer. I'll master it by next year.


Growing up, especially as teenagers, our favorite place to congregate and talk was always my Mom's bed. We'd lay there all Sunday afternoon all at different angles, and talk and sometimes kick each other in the head. It was fun to see the next generation all in my Mom's bed after dinner watching a movie. They were ALL packed in here at one point.

So you're probably wondering about the vegan thing for Thanksgiving. Nope. It's not a religion for me and Jeff, it's something we try to do day to day for health. I'm not skipping those rolls or pie because of the butter. I've been looking forward to them for weeks. Turkey? meh. Not that big a deal. Jeff didn't have any. I had a little bit of dark meat, honestly just to say I did. Stupid reason wasn't it? The stuffing on the other hand is my favorite. You know, if I HAD stayed vegan yesterday and Thanksgiving day, it would sure have helped me eat a lot better. Man. Avoiding butter alone (which has got to be the worst dairy there is --well, maybe heavy cream) would probably saved me 1000 calories or more. I think though, knowing myself, I would have regretted missing those rolls, and the pie for a long time. So, good decision for me.

In other news, I started getting serious about training for the Wasatch Back I'm doing next June. I know it's a long ways away, but I did a long run Thanksgiving day (long for me anyway -7 miles), and do you know what my average time was? 11 minute miles. I basically suck. I just get out on the streets with my book on mp3, and go into a doze or something. Just autopilot. I was thinking lately that the treadmill at 10 minuter miles seemed tough lately, and when I put the Garmin on for the run outside I found out why. I guess I need to start pushing it again. I push a lot harder in spin and Tae Bo classes. My heart rate on this run stayed at about 125 or so. Pretty pathetic workout. I still remember running with my mom in High School and we got down to 8 minute miles. In my brain? I still run that fast.

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