Hey there! Hope everyone had a great Saturday! I just got back from Christmas #1 with my mom’s side of the family in Nashville. Check out this house I saw on the drive in:
Sorry about the blur. I am the kind of dork that turns the car around and whips out my camera as I pass by again, but it was hard to drive at the same time! I’d have a fun time explaining that one to an officer! Think he’d let me off for my Christmas spirit?
We all met in West Nashville where my grandmother (known to everyone as Mammy) and my little 5 year old cousin Emma live. The eats for the night were quite a mixture of things. Mammy made a gorgeous ham, rolls, chicken salad, and her famous orange cake!
My aunt Audrey came with my two cousins, Nick and Sean. She brought 7 layer salad, cream cheese sausage rolls, and piggies in a blanket.
My little sister baked her first ever pumpkin bread! It seems like I must be rubbing off on her a bit because she took pictures throughout to “document” the process! That made me smile! 🙂 And it turned out great!
Since I’ve been cooking up enough soup this week to feed an army, I took all the leftovers with me to share along with some cookie FAIL crumbles.
And of course, I HAD to try a little bit of everything!
Apparently, Emma likes the piggies more than the blankets!
Haha! I love the pic of Mammy caught off guard on the bottom, second from the left!
I love the holidays. I love how it brings families and friends together. But I don’t believe that it should be the only part of the year where this happens. I am really very fortunate to have my family all living so close to me and I should take more advantage of that.
I’ve decided what my New Year’s resolution will be this year: I plan to make spending time with my family MORE of a priority and stop letting my life be filled with other things that take time away from me.
What about you? Does your family live close? What do you do to stay more connected with them whether they be near or far?
Ok, so they weren’t halls per se…more like a hospital conference room. Every month, the imaging department that I work in puts on a potluck to celebrate the month’s birthdays. To divvy up the responsibilities, each sub-department hosts twice a year (mammography, ultrasound, x-ray, MRI, CT, and the directors/secretaries) and today, my department was in charge! I’ve known we were hosting this month’s celebration for at least a year and couldn’t wait to break out the decorations!
I decided to take on all the responsibilities for decorating so on Wednesday, after I got off work, I drove straight to the cheap Christmas decor plethora…aka Everything’s A Dollar! Heck yeah!
You would not believe the deals! I wanted to buy everything and how hard is it to go absolutely insane in a place where “everything’s a dollar”? I’m such a sucker!
After my shift last night, I skipped joyfully down the hall walked down to the conference room in our department and started setting up.
Ho! Ho! Ho!
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
Looks like it supposed to be a framed picture of a Christmas tree, huh?
I loved the ginormous present I made to cover the bulletin board.
The most time-consuming project: hanging 20 foam snowflakes.
Only six of us December babes! Seven, counting baby Jesus! 😉
All this for only $35!!!
Our theme for this month was: Soups, Salads & Holiday Desserts. Since it seems that everybody’s fallback is dessert, we tried to put a bit more emphasis on the other two! But we still ended up with this
Yep, that would be THIRTEEN dessert plates!
Festive mini cupcakes
Red Velvet & Cheesecake layered cake, Pumpkin Pudding Bread, and Buckeyes
Brownies, Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Carrot-Cake Cupcakes
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake…Holy Yum!!
Chess Bars
To the tune of The Twelve Days of Christmas: FIIIIIIIIIIIIVE Soup-filled Crocks!
White Chicken Chili, Curried Lentil Soup, Chicken Tortilla Soup, Chili with Corn, and my Beef Vegetable Stew with an assortment of crackers and dinner rolls!
The salad line-up!
I made a Greek inspired salad with
fresh spinach, cucumber, red onion, grape tomatoes, olives, and feta cheese
seasoned with fresh ground black pepper
with homemade garlic & herb infused olive oil
The EVERYTHING salad:
Lettuce, cheddar cheese, bacon bits, mini pepperoni, and baby croutons
Mixed greens salad with almonds.
And yes, that would be a skull bowl leftover from Halloween!
The BEST ambrosia I’ve ever spooned into my mouth!
(it wouldn’t fit on the dessert table)
And then, as if the day couldn’t get any better, everyone received a gift from our group of radiologists:
Creamy, vegan mac n’ cheese…overnight oats…and fantastic hospital food??
It all started last night with this first:
I will go ahead and say this is by far the BEST mac n’ cheese I’ve ever had!
I saw the recipe on Ashley’s blog (inspired by Angela’s blog) about a week ago and since she could photograph a stick and make it look tasty, you can imagine the drool fest transpired afterwards!
The recipe I’m about to post is a result similar to playing the game Telephone…the more people that interpret the message, the more it gets translated into something else! So I guess you could call this an adaptation of an adaptation! I also halved the recipe since it’s just little ol’ me here to eat it!
Creamy Vegan Mac’ n Cheese: (makes 2-3 servings)
1/2 an onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups broccoli florets
1 Tbsp nutritional yeast (aka nooch)
3/4 cup raw, unsalted cashews
1/8 cup lemon juice
1/2 tsp mustard
2/3 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/2 Tbsp Earth Balance (vegan butter substitute)
1 large + 1 small garlic clove
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp Italian seasoning (salt free)
1/4 tsp dried rosemary
fresh ground black pepper
12 ounces macaroni
1/4 cup plain bread crumbs
paprika to garnish (optional), I used smoked paprika
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Cook macaroni according to package instructions to al-dente (do not overcook). Rinse pasta in cold water to stop cooking process.
3. Combine onion and broccoli in a medium sized pot and add just enough water to come up about an inch. Cover and steam until tender and broccoli is bright green (and purdy!)
4. While the veggies are steaming, combine nutritional yeast, cashews, lemon juice, mustard, milk, butter, garlic, and spices in a food processor (or blender) and blend until smooth.
5. Drain veggies and add to creamy “cheese” sauce and process until smooth.
6. Combine sauce and pasta in a medium sized bowl and stir until pasta is coated thoroughly.
7. Pour into a casserole dish, sprinkle with paprika (if using) and bread crumbs and bake for 30 minutes.
Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before devouring serving!
This obviously isn’t your typical gooey cheesy macaroni. Ashley described it as a noodle casserole with a sauce similar to alfredo. I would describe it as that, but also with the earthy flavorings of your favorite cornbread dressing! It was absolutely amazing…and super filling thanks to all the good-for-you fats and protein!
I just warmed up a bowl of the leftovers for dinner (easy reheat: combine with 1-2 Tbsp of almond milk in a pot and cook on medium until heated through) and I think I changed my mind, this is definitely THREE servings! I made two out of it and I am so STUFFED! I will be making this again in the near future, no doubt about that!
Note: I did NOT finish this!
My second first: Overnight Oats
I have seen these all over the place in the blog world with all types of toppings and they’ve always looked tasty, but I would never remember to put it together until I woke up the next morning…yeah, a little late on that one!
Last night, I finally remembered BEFORE bed!
In the mix:
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup almond milk
a splash of vanilla extract
5.3 oz. container of Voskos blueberry Greek yogurt <–Awesome stuff!
1/4 cup of frozen blueberries.
This morning when I fell out of bed woke up to greet a new day, I added a handful of these:
WARNING: HIGHLY ADDICTIVE! 😉
I saw Allie with some of these and I just HAD to get them for myself! They’re incredible!
I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about cold oats for breakfast, especially with the freezing temps outside, but I totally forgot about the December weather with my first bite. Two of my favorite breakfasts, oats and yogurt parfaits, mixed into one amazing bowl! Way better than cold cereal! I am so making another one tomorrow!
What do you think of my tablecloth? I got these to match! Love ’em!
And the third and final first of the day: amazing hospital food! I know, it’s sounds like an oxymoron, but let me explain.
First of all, unless I am desperate…and I mean DESPERATE, I never eat in the cafeteria at work. It’s full of overcooked veggies, dry, tasteless meat, and deep-fried garbage (don’t get me started on my feelings toward the menu options at a facility that is supposed to promote health and wellness).
Today was the ONLY exception. Once a year, the hospital serves the Holiday Meal. I’m not sure who actually cooks the food – if I ever find out those cafeteria workers can truly cook and they’re holding out, there will be some explaining to do – but it is never disappointing. There is always so much to choose from that I HAVE to have a sample of everything. Let my tray serve as evidence:
Clockwise from top left: Poppy seed bread, chocolate marble pound cake, and a barely seen sliver of fruit cake, D’anjou pear, cream puffs and cookies, ambrosia salad and cranberry gelatin dessert, dinner plate: herb-roasted new potatoes, green beans, carrots, chicken cordon bleu on top of wild rice, roast beef, and a cheddar broccoli rice casserole.
Not a single complaint about ANYTHING and you better believe I polished off that entire tray (except the pear that I saved for later).
I’ve had a pretty good day of foodie firsts, but I better head to bed soon. We’re having a Christmas potluck at work tomorrow that my department is hosting. I put myself in charge of decorations and went a little crazy at the Everything’s a Dollar store (that place is INSANE when it comes to Christmas stuff!). Can’t wait to share the pics with you guys tomorrow!
My name is Heather! I'm a southern gal with a passion for food, fitness, and photography...and alliteration if you didn't notice! Here you'll find a mix of random musings, delicious recipes, and hopefully a chuckle or two! Check out my "About' tab to learn more!
My aunt Audrey came with my two cousins, Nick and Sean. She brought 7 layer salad, cream cheese sausage rolls, and piggies in a blanket.
My little sister baked her first ever pumpkin bread! It seems like I must be rubbing off on her a bit because she took pictures throughout to “document” the process! That made me smile! 🙂 And it turned out great!
Since I’ve been cooking up enough soup this week to feed an army, I took all the leftovers with me to share along with some cookie FAIL crumbles.
Spicy African Peanut Soup, Beef Vegetable Soup from yesterday’s potluck, and Creamy Pumpkin soup. The beef vegetable soup was the biggest hit…my family is so plain and normal! My mom brought the eggnog, boiled custard, and crackers with spinach dip!
Haha! I love the pic of Mammy caught off guard on the bottom, second from the left!
