Holiday Resources for Food + Fitness

How is Christmas just one week away!? I sincerely hope you are all enjoying a little (or a lot) of merriness this holiday season. I am so glad that I decided to decorate and make the house festive. I kind of never want to take my lights down. My house is one of the sparkliest on the street. I was like…”where else can I put lights (that doesn’t require me getting on a ladder)?” We are lit over here! 🙂

I have been planning some holiday meals and workouts this week and thought it would be helpful to share these resources with you!

On the celebration and food front, Christmas Eve and Day are going to be a little weird for me this year but I’m rolling with it. Finn is going to be with his dad for the holiday but we take off for Florida bright and early on the 26th and will stay through the New Year so I am really looking forward to that.

So my plans for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day include church, yoga, walks with the pups, cooking and dinner with friends. This will be my second year in a row celebrating Christmas dinner with Dorie. She’s truly my family here in Charlotte so it will be wonderful. I’ve volunteered myself to do a lot of the cooking so I wanted to share ideas from previous Christmas dinners and some recipes that have looked good for this year.

On the fitness front, I’m meeting up with three of my girlfriends that I used to personal train and one of my other former clients for one of my famous “cookie crusher workouts” bright and early on Thursday morning! I will be sharing this year’s workout on my blog later this week but keep reading for past cookie crushers!

HOLIDAY RESOURCES: FOOD

This cider-brined stuffed pork loin is so delicious and festive! I served it for our holiday dinner last year.

I served these Lamb Loin Chops with Cherry Port Sauce for Christmas Eve dinner a few years ago. It was my first time cooking lamb chops and they were excellent. It was a very festive dinner.

The same year that I made the lamb chops on Christmas Eve, I hosted friends for Christmas dinner at my house. I made two lasagnas, an artichoke and mushroom and a spicy turkey sausage lasagna with spinach ricotta.

And here are some recipes that I’ve bookmarked for this year…savory…

• Green bean and orange salad. Love the fresh citrus in this salad to brighten it up and serving green beans in a different way.
• Roasted fennel with parmesan (must make this ASAP)
• This garlic grits casserole looks like a yummy change from mac and cheese or potatoes.
• Pairing brussels sprouts with fresh cranberries sounds like a perfect red and green holiday combo.
• This is a gorgeous winter salad, roast vegetable salad with stilton.
• Or if you just want to add a little pizzazz to your roast vegetables, try these caramelized vegetables with dijon butter.
• A hearty beef bolognese is a great Christmas Eve option, especially since you can prepare it ahead of time and serve it when you’re home from shopping/parties/church.

And sweet…

• I can vouch that this cranberry chocolate tart is to die for.
• Giada’s dried cherry and almond cookies with vanilla icing are on my Christmas cookie baking list.
• As are these peanut butter balls.
• Oatmeal cream cheese butterscotch bars, be still my heart!
• I made these cranberry pistachio blondies a few times last season and they are yum.
• My matcha chai-spiced sugar cookies are green and cute for holiday!
• One can never go wrong with red velvet cake for the holidays. You can make a red and green layer like my dad did in the cake in photo above!
• How about chocolate peppermint cheesecake? Or white chocolate cranberry cheesecake. Or red velvet cheesecake!?
• This Oreo peppermint ice cream dessert from my friend Julie looks great.

I could keep going all day on the sweet stuff. Oh, and I REALLY want to make some homemade cinnamon rolls. I might just make them for me and share with some neighbors! 🙂

HOLIDAY RESOURCES: FITNESS

Here are links to my past cookie crusher workouts. For each year, there is a home and gym version!

• 2014 Cookie Crusher
• 2015 Cookie Crusher
• 2016 Cookie Crusher
• 2017 Cookie Crusher

These are fun and festive workouts that you can do to get a good sweat in during the holiday season.

Hope these resources are helpful to you! Please share links to any holiday recipes that you are excited about making this year in the comments below so others can get ideas!

And if you still need to do some holiday shopping, don’t miss my 2018 Gift Guide. 2017’s version is also full of great ideas!