Turkey Time

Thanksgiving might be my favorite holiday. It’s less stressful than Christmas, and is a perfect combination family, fun, and relaxation. And of course having the day after off doesn’t hurt either. I know I greatly enjoyed my four day weekend!

I wish I had some photos to post, but to be quite honest, they’re all really unflattering. So I’m going to make the executive decision and never allow them to grace the internet.

Backing up to Wednesday, I started the holiday weekend off with a blown out tire. On 95. Half mile from my exit. A few hundred dollars later, I now have four new tires. Safety first my friends.

I met up with my best friends from high school (we go back all the way to 4th grade) and went to our schools alumni bar night. It was fun to catch up with old classmates and especially old teachers. Especially my fifth grade math teacher who had absolutely no idea who I was for the entire conversation. Fabulous.

Turkey Day is and always about the trot. 5 mile road race to start the day. I hope to do a recap once race photos are available online (that I can steal). Long story short, 5.01 miles, 33:08, 6’39” pace. Felt good to be done – my legs are still sore as of today.

Dinner at Wills was delicious, and as always a glorious time. Especially how I shamelessly fell asleep in his living room at 730PM. Party hard.

In other news, I slept a massive amount on Friday and have been catching up on all the sleep I’ve desperately been needing. I coaxed my mom into treating me to a pedicure which was so, so needed.

To keep this post somewhat short, especially because I have no fun pictures to look at, the rest of the weekend was spent relaxing, cooking, adulting (i.e. errands) and of course movies!

Hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving and a marvelous weekend! xo

Linking up with Erin for Weekend Recap, Tara for Weekend Update, and Katie for Marvelous Monday to start this week off right.

What’s your favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner?

Anyone else run a Thanksgiving morning race?

Adulting

It’s been a long time since I cooked a meal that required preparation, and more than one step. I.E. something other than spaghetti squash. It’s whatever.

Since the cold weather hit, I’ve been totally vibing on warm lunches. And in order to not eat oatmeal for every meal every day, I decided I’d be ambitious and cook one of my most favoritest fall dishes – butternut squash lasagna. I make this recipe vegan (since sometimes cheese is not my friend), but I will give you the original recipe as I just sub out regular cheese for the vegan kind.

And as always, thanks Jenn for hosting!

Photo cred to my coworker because I share and don’t take pictures of my own food. 

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 (1 1/2 to 2 lbs) butternut squash peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch cubes
Salt / Black pepper
1/2 cup water
3 amaretti cookies, crumbled [I omit these]
1/4 cup butter [I use Earth balance, soy free vegan butter]
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups whole milk [I use almond milk]
3/4 cups (lightly packed) fresh basil leaves
12 no-boil lasagna noodles
Pinch nutmeg
2 1/2 cups shredded whole-milk mozzarella cheese [I use vega Diaya cheese]
1/3 grated parmesan [Again, I use vega Diaya cheese… they have everything]

Directions:

Heat the oil in a large skilled over medium-high heat. Add the squash and toss to coat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pour the water into the skillet and cover. Simmer over medium heat until squash is tender – usually takes about 20 minutes.

Cool slightly, then transfer the squash to the food processor – I use my Vitamix (love). Add amaretti cookies and blend until smooth. I omit the cookies and instead add a dash of nutmeg for flavor. Season squash puree with salt and pepper to taste.

Melt butter in medium-sized saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and whisk for 1 minute. Gradually add in the milk. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer until the sauce thickens. About 5 minutes. This is important! I did not do this the first time I made the recipe and the lasagna just kinda slid out of the pan. Still tasted delicious but did not look pretty. Whisk in nutmeg and basil. Season sauce with salt and pepper to taste.

Position rack in center of the over – preheat to 375 degrees.

Lightly butter a 13 by 9 by 2 inch glass baking dish. Spread 3/4 cup of the sauce over the prepared dish. Arrange 3 lasagna noodles on the bottom of the pan. Spread 1/3 of the squash puree over the noodles. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese. Drizzle 1/2 cup of sauce over the noodles. Repeat layering 3 more times.

Tightly cover baking dish with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Sprinkle remaining mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese over lasagna. Continue baking uncovered until the sauce bubbles and top is golden. Roughly about 15 minutes longer.

And there you have it – one of my favorite fall/winter recipes! If you try it out, please let me know what you think! Even my meat loving family loves it : )

What’s your favorite fall recipe?

Do you find that you sub out a lot of ingredients and use recipes more as a framework when cooking? 

 

Holiday Season?

And another Monday is upon us. Usually this would give me the sads, and I’d be lying if I said the Sunday scaries didn’t hit me HARD yesterday, but it’s a short work week, and I have lots to look forward to! So let’s link up with Erin for Weekend Recap, Tara for Weekend Update, and Katie for Marvelous Monday to see what I’ve been doing and what we have to look forward to.

First things first. If you follow me on Instagram you might recognize this sad face. My favorites pup got absolutely dominated by a skunk. It wasn’t a passing spay, more like a full frontal assault.

So ashamed

This past weekend seemed whiz right on by. I’m distraught with the fact that my #TGIT Shonda Rhimes line-up is on winter break… what am I supposed to do for the next MONTH+?!?!?! Ugh.

The Leftovers.. if you watch the show and are up to date, wtf was with last nights episode? Can someone please inform me. I thought it was by far the weirdest, most bizarre episode I’ve ever watched. If you have some brilliant insight, please share!

Speaking of other HBO series… I’m far behind on Homeland, and plan on rectifying this over the next few days. I’m still addicted even though Carries #cryface is so offensive.

If you’re looking for a fabulous Netflix series… watch Master of None. It has my boy Aziz in it and it is a wonderful combination of comedy and real-life satire. Perfect show to binge.

I also watched Selfless… interesting. And went to see The Night Before. Which was exactly what you’d expect from a Seth Rogen film. Mindless entertainment. No complaints fro this girl.

So as you can see, I spent the majority of my weekend sitting. Or laying. Which I’m fine with.

Side note – my step-dad went shark diving in an aquarium in Long Island. It was fabulous. Like a kid in a candy store.

Greetings

 I did make my butternut squash lasagna this weekend – and am currently writing up a post for Wednesday about it. It’s delicious and by far my best one yet : ) It’s vegetarian, but can be made vegan and it’s fabulous and filling. Keep your eyes peeled!

I know this week is going to fly on by with my step-dad’s birthday tomorrow, high school alumni pub night Wednesday, Thanksgiving Thursday, and of course no work Friday.

Now if people could chill with the Christmas music and decorations for the next four days I’d be one happy camper….

And not that I’m complaining but 55 degrees on Thanksgiving Day…. global warming anyone?

Hope you have a fabulous Monday! xo

What was the best part of your weekend??

Any exciting plans for the holiday??