Thanksgiving, it's been real

Remember when the Sunday blues would creep up on you at night? Right after The Simpsons (maybe that's just me) that nagging feeling would start to bubble up? Lately, it feels like the Sunday blues pop-up around lunch and I spend the rest of the day shaking them off.

This weekend I started to feel like the Sunday blues strolled in a little too early and reminded me that today it's back to life (back to reality! Come on - you sang it too!).

Maybe they arrived so early because the weekend was so sweet. It was everything it needed to be. By everything I mean, there were some serious high points and low points:

Thanksgiving Dinner - High Points:

• Ingrid shoving cranberry sauce into her mouth while simultaneously barking "More Berries!" 
• Watching Ingrid drift off to sleep on Grandpa's lap (without a pacifier!). 
• Watching her cousins play while shouting and pointing "Kids! Kids!" 
• Paula Dean's Green Bean Casserole (I'm not even considering searching for the recipe - as I'd like to remain ignorant to the calorie and fat content).  

Thanksgiving Dinner - Low Point: 

• Accidentally burning Ingrid's hand with mashed potatoes - as she was reaching for more "berries." 
• Eating three helpings of stuffing. 

Exercise - High Point: 

• Three yoga classes. 
• Holding that weird Side-Crow pose for 2 seconds. 
• Dancing to Christmas music with Ingrid while holding felt squares (think: homemade, rag-tag Ribbon Dancers). 

Exercise - Low Point: 

• Pausing half-way through my Thanksgiving Day run to talk to my mom (that's an exercise low point and a good daughter high point).
• Not being able to run without my iPhone holding arm band. Pathetic. 

Shopping - High Point: 

• Not standing in any crazy lines at 1 in the morning. 
• Online shopping. 
• An unexpected trip to Penzey Spices. Double-Strength Vanilla for the price of Single-Strength? Merry Christmas to me! 

Shopping - Low Point: 

• Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with every hipster within a 10 mile radius of Bay View at Art vs. Craft.
• The cash registers crashing at JoAnn Fabrics. We were dangerously close to a riot - complete with women armed with scrapbooking materials. 

Relaxing - High Points: 

• Watching 15 minutes of Brave with Ingrid. 
• Enjoying a gingerbread latte while Harper the dog received a bath, a nail trimming and blueberry facial (seriously). 
• Finishing the book, Gone Girl. 
• Boardwalk Empire, second to last episode. 

Attempts at Relaxing - Low Points: 

• Watching 15 minutes of Finding Nemo with Ingrid. After her third outburst of "Oh No! Memo! Meeemmmoooooooo!" as Nemo and Marlin attempted to dodge sharks and humans. Clearly, not an appropriate movie for a 19-month-old. 
• Holding Harper while she got her nails clipped. She was so squirmy and only managed to get three nails clipped before she was clipped too far and some poor dog washer hit the quick (and there was a lot of blood). 
• Boardwalk Empire, only one more episode left! 

Seriously though, this weekend was exactly what it needed to be. Plenty of time with family, friends and spending far too many hours in elastic waist pants. Drank too much coffee, reconnected to the mat, snuggled with Ingrid and stayed up late laughing with Dan. Organized things that needed organizing, treated myself to a pair of new boots and had a Bloody Mary at 8 pm for the hell of it.

Thanksgiving, I'm sad to see you go, it's been real! 

Thanksgiving

Out of the hundreds of photos of Ingrid, this recent snapshot consistently makes me laugh. 

To me, it looks like an out-take from an L.L. Bean catalog.

Dan thinks she looks like a mini-Wolverine who should have claws coming out of her knuckles. 

I'm filled with thanks and gratitude today.

Thankful to spend time with my family and especially
to spend time with this little outdoorsy, mini-Wolverine. 

Thankful to eat, laugh and lounge together.

Wishing you and your family a happy Thanksgiving!

Five Cranberry Recipes

Growing up we were a Cranberry From The Can family. You know, the cranberry blog with can ridges? My sister swears that this is the one and only way to eat cranberries on Thanksgiving and will bring her own can, if needed.

Although the cranberry can-shaped blob invokes nostalgic memories - I've graduated to real Cranberry Sauce made with fresh cranberries. Considering Wisconsin is the number one producer of cranberries, I don't view this as snobbish but rather, I'm now better supporting my state.

1. Classic Cranberry Sauce 
from allrecipes.com

Every fall, I attempt to recreate our local coffee roaster's famous Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins. Every fall I get a little closer and I'm confident that if you haven't had Alterra's Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins, you'll love these. If you have, you'll know that I'm an impostor. A good impostor, but still, an impostor.

If for any reason you don't like them, please send your leftovers to Ingrid. She will happily shove them in her mouth two at a time.

2. Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins

Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins 
1 cup all-purpose flour
¾ cup whole grain flour
1 ¼ cups sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¾ - 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 cup canned pumpkin
½ cup milk
½ cup vegetable oil
1 Tbsp molasses
1 cup fresh cranberries
Optional: pepitas seeds and turbanino sugar

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 400. Lightly grease 12 muffin cups or line with muffin papers.
2. Whisk flours, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices in a small bowl.
3. Mix pumpkin, milk, oil, and molasses in a larger bowl.
4. Mix dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture in batches. Fold in cranberries.
5. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full and top with pepitas seeds and turbanino sugar.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes.
7. Enjoy!

In addition to muffins and the traditional cranberry sauce another favorite of mine is Cranberry Bread from Martha herself (of at least, from her website). I love making a double or triple batch of this quick bread to freeze and gift around the holiday season.

3. Cranberry Bread 

from marthastewart.com

Every year my employer gifts us a few boxes of cranberries. If you're like me and find yourself with a few extra pounds of cranberries, the good news is you can refrigerate them for a month or freeze for up to a year. Or, find a local church or community center that is in need of food and donate your extras.

Have you had enough cranberry talk for one day? Good, me either. Finally, I can't wait to try these two new recipes this fall. Cocktails and carbs? What's not to like.

4. Cranberry Ginger Cocktail
from pixelatedcrumb.com

5. Fresh Cranberry Scone

from twopeasandtheirpod.com

Enjoy!