Happiest of Fridays to you! We are fully in the holiday spirit over here and it’s a year of firsts when it comes to the Christmas tree.
This was my first time ever getting a tree from a Christmas tree farm! I had real trees for 34 years of my life but they always came from local tree lots or places like Home Depot. And for the last six years since Finn was born I’ve had an artificial tree because it was just easier to manage on my own.
I was in Highlands, NC over Thanksgiving weekend and passed by some tree farms on the way to a hike. It got me feeling nostalgic for a real tree so we decided to stop by a tree farm on the way back to Charlotte on Sunday. The whole experience was 10/10 and I want to bring Finn with me next year for a mountain tree cutting adventure.
I had the tree set up with lights on it but waited for Finn to get home from his dad’s to decorate. He got such a kick out of having a big real tree in the house and wanted to decorate it immediately. Speaking of big…this tree was over two feet two tall to fit in the house so some major sawing and trimming was done on Sunday haha.
Here it is in all of its decorated glory. I love the smell and how fresh the tree is. Of course I went colored lights because Finn loves anything that’s a rainbow and this is such a sweet and short time of life. My artificial tree was nice because you could switch from colored to white. I’m sure they make that feature in normal strand lights but it wasn’t available at 7p on a Sunday night at Walmart when I was light shopping and wanting to get the tree up.
Is there anything better than a cup of coffee by the tree before anyone else is up?
Now, let’s eat!
BREAKFAST
Cold weather always gets me craving a bowl of oatmeal. Then I have one and don’t want another bowl for quite a while. I can’t believe I used to eat it every morning. Definitely not in that phase of life at the moment. Banana egg white oatmeal topped with cranberry sauce and peanut butter. Very similar to this recipe but I whisked in an egg white at the end of cooking and a spoonful of cottage cheese.
Definitely eat more yogurt bowls than oatmeal bowls. Vanilla greek yogurt, granola, blueberries, raspberries, bananas, cranberry sauce and peanut butter.
Homemade waffles. I use this recipe and freeze the leftovers. Don’t skip whisking the egg white separately!
LUNCH
Turkey sandwich with avocado, mayo, brie cheese and fig preserves. Served warm/melty with red pepper and tomato soup and grapes.
Same soup but with a grilled cheese.
Salad with mixed greens, turkey, avocado, apples, carrots, 7-grain blend, dried cranberries, glazed pecans, feta and Trader Joe’s goddess dressing.
Trader Joe’s ready-to-eat kitchari with naan and grapes.
Amy’s French lentil and vegetable soup and homemade banana bread. You can tell the weather has changed based on all the soup with my meals! I need to make some homemade soups over the weekend!
Rotisserie chicken tossed in barbecue sauce, avocado, mayo, Monterey Jack cheese, sweet pickles and spicy mustard on honey wheat with a pickle, grapes and chips.
Mixed greens with air fried chicken nuggets, tomatoes, carrots, avocado, glazed pecans, dried cranberries, apples, olive oil, balsamic and Trader Joe’s goddess dressing.
DINNER
I love this dinner and you should add it to your dinner menu asap! Honey balsamic glazed chicken breasts, braised red cabbage and roasted winter squash.
Roasted salmon and broccoli with Trader Joe’s gorgonzola gnocchi.
Slow cooker Mississippi pot roast with roasted brussel sprouts and potatoes and a crescent roll.
Trader Joe’s vegetable fried rice add scrambled egg and ground turkey. 15 minute meal!
Trader Joe’s pollo asado marinated chicken breast over rice with black beans, sautéed peppers and onions, avocado, cilantro, salsa and corn chips.
This is such a simple dinner but I really love chicken and rice. It’s a top comfort food for me. This is a rotisserie chicken thigh/leg. I cooked the rice in chicken stock. Salad and some leftover roasted brussels on the side.
Goat cheese, pesto and sun-dried tomato stuffed chicken breasts from The Fresh Market with roasted potatoes and steamed green beans.
Sautéed chicken apple sausages from Trader Joe’s with roasted acorn squash and cauliflower. I like to dip the sausages in dijon mustard.
Same dinner set up, different protein. Baked salmon with Trader Joe’s soyaki sauce.
Seared tuna (also marinated in Trader Joe’s soyaki) over steamed sushi rice with a frozen Asian veggie mix from Trader Joe’s. I made a wasabi aioli to top it all off. So delicious!
Crispy buffalo chicken salad with avocado, tomatoes, shredded cheddar, carrots and ranch. I air fried chicken nuggets for this.
Pizza Friday night! Half pepperoni and sausage and half barbecue chicken. Greek salad on the side.
Another pizza night but this one at Indaco in Southend. Shared a Margherita pizza, bolognese and brussels. This was such a great meal. My first time at Indaco and won’t be my last.
Cava bowl. I used to really like Cava but have been underwhelmed my last few visits. Anyone else?
My favorite spiced chicken recipe (will update and share in coming weeks) with roasted acorn squash and brussels. I am having a moment with acorn squash right now. I roast it upside down and once it’s soft I flip it over and add salted butter and brown sugar and let it cook for a few more minutes.
Finally, I served a Thanksgiving Eve dinner of pork tenderloin with a maple mustard sauce, sweet potato casserole, homemade cranberry sauce, rolls and salad with mixed greens, pears, pecans, dried cranberries and feta. Finn was with me Thanksgiving eve but went to his dad Thanksgiving morning and I went to the mountains so I made a little mini dinner the night before. Since we’d already had turkey with my dad, I decided to do pork tenderloin instead. I mostly couldn’t let the holiday pass without some sweet potato casserole. It was all yummy!
ETC
Pie season for the win.
QUESTIONS
Team real tree or artificial? Team white lights or colored?
What’s your favorite type of winter squash?
What’s your favorite type of pie?
