Thanksgiving Recipes

This last Thanksgiving, Shawn and I spent the evening with our friends, Shawna and DJ, DJ's family and Shawn's parents.  I was in charge of appetizers, what follows are my favorite recipes for appetizers.  I liked these so much that I'll be making them for my coworkers on Monday for December Food Month.

Greek Yogurt Ranch Dip
packet of Hidden Valley Ranch Dip dry mix
packet specified amount of plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream

Directions:  Mix together, chill and serve with potato chips or veggies. (420 calories, 80 calories from fat, 30 mg cholesterol, 3990 mg sodium, 34 g total carbs, 18 g sugar, 46 g protein FOR THE WHOLE RECIPE)

Greek Yogurt Fruit Dip
1 cup plain Greek yogurt (or vanilla flavored)
Honey to taste

Directions:  Mix together, chill and serve with fresh fruit.

Greek Yogurt Pumpkin Dip
1 cup plain Greek yogurt (or vanilla flavored)
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
2 T whipped cream cheese (optional)
Honey to taste (optional)

Directions:  Mix together, chill and serve with apple slices, or maybe graham crackers.  (210 calories, 45 calories from fat, 15 mg of cholesterol, 80 mg sodium, 18 g total carbs, 5 g dietary fiber, 13 g of sugar, 25 g protein FOR THE WHOLE RECIPE)

Cream Cheese with Razzpotle
1 brick of cream cheese
jar of Razzpotle sauce or other fruity chipotle sauce

Directions:  pour razzpotle sauce over cream cheese and serve with wheat thins. (880 calories, 160 mg of cholesterol, 1440 mg sodium, 80 g total carbs,
8 g dietary fiber, 72 g sugar, 16 g of protein FOR THE WHOLE RECIPE)

Day 1

Day 1 of Shopping Local and/or American Made:

I left work at 5 (we actually were allowed to go home at 3, but I had some work that needed to get done and those extra 2 hours were quite the boon).  I immediately drove to a locally owned book store.  They did not have any of the specific books I was looking for.  Oh well, c'est la vie.  I still found books which I think will be appreciated.  The sad part is that as I was leaving, I found another 2 that another on my list would like...guess I'll just have to go back there next week on the way home.

And I'm back (I left for 5 minutes to see where the books were made).  All of them were printed in America, so I'm guessing this is quite a common thing...which means I may be able to find the ACTUAL books requested and still be able to follow through with my "American or Local" mantra.

You know, the tough one to shop for is going to be my husband...always so difficult to find gifts for.  I guess I could always give him a stack of cash and say, "This is the money I was going to donate to charity, but I didn't.  Merry Christmas."

Challenge

This year, for Christmas shopping, I'm going to challenge myself to either buy local, or buy American made.  I have to put in that extra caveat because there are some things that are practically impossible to find American made (e.g. electronic goods, plastics, etc.)

So...Yeah...we'll see how well this goes - I already know that Shawn thinks I'm crazy, and it's not like he likes christmas shopping to begin with.

Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara November 2012

Ivy

Laying in the grass together on a lazy Sunday afternoon

NaNoWriMo

Here we are.  Another November.  As per usual (okay not really 'usual' per se as much as 'i did it last year and it worked out great'), I'm going to posting one thing each day that I'm thankful for on Facebook.  Including pictures (when it makes sense).  Plus, since the stores are already telling us that Christmas is the next holiday we are to prepare for (not Thanksgiving), I'm going to try to slow things down and be in the moment (more or less) and just be thankful.