Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Recent Eats: Thanksgiving

Every Thanksgiving, there is nothing that I am more thankful than my mom's cooking. Coming home from college makes this even more special. My mom always makes whatever I want when I come home, and this year she put in extra work to make sure that my first gluten free thanksgiving was all I wanted it to be. I ate a lot of really good food last weekend, but these were my favorites. 


Thanksgiving dinner of course was great. I don't love turkey, but I am all about the sides. I had sweet-potato apple puree, kale salad with apples and dried cranberries, cranberry sauce and a mix of roasted veggies. It was so nice to have a full, delicious plate of food. I loved how it had so many colors and flavors. 



I ate a lot of kale salad when I am home, but that is because it is one of my favorite foods. I made sure to change it up every time because I had so many options. The first salad had avocado, honey crisp apple, pumpkin seeds and pomegranate seeds. The second salad also had avocado and pomegranate seeds, and I also added leftover roasted veggies and cauliflower rice. If I always had my way in life, I would be eating big fancy salads like this almost everyday. 


I never get pancakes anymore, so my mom made these yummy oatmeal-based pumpkin pancakes. Even though I eat a lot of oatmeal, these really hit the spot and were one of my favorite parts of the weekend. I ate these pancakes with local maple syrup and local pears. Putting maple syrup on fresh fruit is always so good, and is one of my favorite parts of eating pancakes, well and the pancakes of course.
 
 
My mom and I wanted to make a fun but simple appetizer one night, so we made these brie apple bites. We used almond flour based crackers, sliced brie and then topped each cracker with sautéed apple. After the picture, I decided they all needed cracked pepper as well. This made them so good. I love cooking like this where it is't a recipe but instead going by what might taste good. 


 My roommate at school is also gluten free, and she had been telling me about a certain gluten free pizza at Costco that has a cauliflower crust. I decided to try it out last weekend, and let me tell you, it was so good. I have been craving pizza for so long and this hit the spot perfectly.


Now for my favorite thing I ate all weekend, over and over again- pumpkin bread pudding. I have always loved bread pudding and since it is so easy to make gluten free (just substitute the bread), my mom made sure we had it as the gluten free dessert for thanksgiving. This bread pudding has a really good caramel sauce that goes on top, and is actually the best fall dessert. I ate this every night and it was disappointing to not have a yummy dessert being back at school. 

I was not let down this Thanksgiving. I was surrounded by the people I love, eating amazing good food and having a great time. This year really showed me how much I have to be thankful for, even if I did have to spend of a lot of the weekend studying for a chemistry exam. 

xoxo,
Maddie 

1 comment :