Thanksgiving 2010

 Thanksgiving 2010

While this Thanksgiving wasn't necessarily Bean's first, I would be safe in calling it her first "official" Thanksgiving. Many of you may be reading the above statement and thinking that I have lost my mind. Please refrain form closing your browser and follow my wave length for just a moment.

Flashback to Thanksgiving 2009:

This little lady doesn't even look like the same girl. I can't believe how much she has grown and changed in just one year. Imagine my recap of Thanksgiving 2011. So, the delicacies that she enjoyed Thanksgiving 2009 were formula, with a side of formula, and lastly a big helping of formula. My husband would argue that Thanksgiving is more about the people who you are with and less about what you eat, but let's face it, I am a foodie. I focus on the food! I grew-up with food as the center of family which means to me Bean wasn't able to appreciate Thanksgiving to its full extent.

Fast forward......Thanksgiving 2010.

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving day with Mr. Man's family in NJ and my family in NY on Saturday. Now my Bean has had her first "official" Thanksgiving. Turkey, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, and much more. Here are the pictures.

I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving. Can't wait to hear about your Thanksgiving adventures. Please share with us at Health, Happiness, Hamstrings.

And WHAT Am I Supposed To Do With ALL That Turkey......

Hope everyone had a nice Turkey-Day. So....You asked-And WHAT am I supposed to do with ALL-here is the answer. Here are some leftover turkey recipes to tackle the mile high tinfoil wrapped turkey:

John's Thanksgiving Leftover Pizza (The Naptime Chef)
Potato Turkey Balls (weelicious)
Food Network Leftover Recipes
Epicurious Leftover Turkey Recipes
Turkey Hash (thats fit)
Turkey & Yam Hash with Sage (nourished chef)
Nourished Chef has many more leftover recipes visit her website
Baked Turkey Croquettes
Kalyn's Kitchen: Top Ten Ten List of Turkey Leftover Recipes 
Babble.com

Hope this helps.....Good luck with the turkey.

Health, Happiness, Hamstrings 1st Annual Virtual Blogsphere Thanksgiving

Health, Happiness, Hamstrings readers I would like to welcome you to the first annual Health, Happiness, Hamstrings Virtual Thanksgiving. The bloggers who have been invited to this Thanksgiving dinner and have brought dishes include:


Catherine from weelicious



Lauren from Health, Happiness, Hamstrings

Kelsey from The Naptime Chef

Kath from Kath Eats Real Food (KERF)

Ree from The Pioneer Woman



Shauna from gluten-free girl and the chef

Guest submission from Rachel Ray


The Menu

Creamy Curry Butternut Squash Soup (KERF)

Sweet Potato Biscuits (weelicious)
"My mom's" Salad--Take on a Cosi Classic (Health, Happiness, Hamstrings)

Gluten Free Turkey (gluten-free girl and chef)
Roasted Root Vegetables (Health, Happiness, Hamstrings)

Green Bean Casserole (The Pioneer Chef)
Corn Pudding with Parmesan Crust (The Naptime Chef)

Cheesy Twice Baked Potatoes (The Naptime Chef)

Corn Bread Dressing with Sausage and Apples (The Pioneer Chef)
Bourbon Pecan Smashed Sweet Potatoes (Rachel Ray)
Individual Pumpkin Cheesecakes (weelicious)
Chocolate-Almond Crackles submitted by The Naptime Chef

We welcome you to our table and hope you enjoy your "dinner".  If anyone makes one of these recipes please make sure you comment when you make them for your table.

Health, Happiness, Hamstrings wishes you a happy and healthy Thanksgiving. From my family to yours I hope it is a wonderful one.
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Health, Happiness, Hamstrings Recipe Submissions:

"My mom's" Salad--Take on a Cosi Classic:
Baby spring greens, gorgonzola, pears, pistachio nuts, balsamic dressing, red grapes. Cut and toss.

My Roasted Root Vegetables1 package Brussels sprouts (adjust to amount of people)

1 package parsnips (adjust to amount of people)

6 turnips (adjust to amount of people)

Olive oil (to coat)

Garlic cloves (adjust to taste and amount of veggies)

Fresh rosemary sprig

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line baking sheet with tinfoil (my favorite is Reynolds Wrap heavy duty non * stick). Chop all veggies, as indicated in ingredients adjust amounts based on the amount of people. Pound garlic cloves and adjust amount based on taste and amount of veggies. Put veggies into a bowl and coat with olive oil then add pounded garlic and fresh rosemary sprigs. Transfer mixture to baking sheet. Make sure the veggies have surface area to allow for roasting. If necessary, use more than one baking sheet. Baking time depends on amount of veggies therefore continue to watch the veggies and stir until veggies are ready. When veggies are ready remove rosemary stem. Transfer veggies to serving bowel. Garnish suggestion is feta or toasted pumpkin seeds.

With Black Friday on the Way

With Black Friday on the way here at Health, Happiness, Hamstrings we would like to give you a couple links to gift guides. Here you go:

1) Babble.com Holiday Guide 2010

2) Esty gift guide

3) coolmompicks Holiday Guide 2010

4) Toy r us shop by age (once you click on the link please scoll down to view)

Hope this starts you holiday shopping on the right note.

Enjoy your Turkey-Day!

10% Night at Chili's to benefit Community Cares

Who wants to cook before Thanksgiving! I know I don't......Why not make it a Chili's night tomorrow and benefit a fabulous local charity (Community Cares) at the same time. Please use the coupon below

77kids Wish-4-Snow and Thanksgiving Event on Health, Happiness, Hamstrings

Good evening Health, Happiness, Hamstrings readers. I hope you had a nice weekend and are looking forward to Thanksgiving. With that in mind, I wanted to make an announcement that Health, Happiness, Hamstrings will be having a Thanksgiving event on Thanksgiving day. Stay tuned on Thanksgiving to see what is coming.

Also, don't forget to enter the 77kids Wish-4-Snow $50 Gift Card giveaway. This is a wonderful cause and will help to support a hospital in my backyard: Children's Health and Wellness Center at Danbury Hospital. I was so proud to be part of this initiative and ask your support to reach the 100,000 digital snowflake goal.

I will now leave you with my version of Cavatelli and Broccoli. I hope you enjoy it as much as my family does. Even Bean is a fan.

"Protein" Punched Cavatelli and Broccoli

Ingredients:
1 box frozen chopped broccoli
1 pound sausage ( I used sweet chicken breast sausage)
1 onion chopped
2 TBS olive oil
Garlic powder to taste
Red pepper flakes to taste
8 oz chicken broth (I used organic low sodium)
Dried or frozen cavatelli (I used 1 bag frozen ricotta cavatelli)
Parmesan cheese (Use as much as you like)


Put frozen broccoli in microwave safe container and microwave until thawed. Using a dish towel or paper towel soak up water. In skillet warm up olive oil. Add onion and cook until soft then add sausage and cook until no longer pink. Then add broccoli, garlic powder, red pepper flakes and combine. At this point add the chicken broth. Bring to a boil then reduce heat. Cover slightly and cook until the sauce combines and thickens.

While the sauce is cooking prepare cavatelli according to directions.

When the sauce combines and thickens add the cooked cavatelli. Mix together. Add Parmesan cheese and stir. Garnish with more parm.

77kids Wish-4-Snow-$50 Gift Card Giveaway

Good morning blog friends! Can't believe that Thanksgiving is around the corner. In certain ways it is more believable since we aren't experiencing the 60 degree weather in Putnam County we have been lately.



Now onto an amazing charity initiative had the pleasure to participate in this week through 77kids. This wonderful cause directly benefits the Children's Health and Wellness Center at Danbury Hospital. With Bean, Naptime Chef, and her daughter we decorated snowflakes, viewed the Holiday Magical Window (which you can see part of it above), and hung out with other bloggers--all in order to raise awareness for the Wish-4-Snow charity program. By visiting the Wish-4-Snow website site you can play the "catch the snowflake" game and most importantly, make your very own digital snowflake. By making a snowflake, and encouraging your friends and family to make one of their own, we will help 77kids reach their goal of 100,000 snowflakes. Once this goal is reached, $25,000 will be donated to the Children's Health and Wellness Center. Other hospitals that will benefit from this include:

• Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota
• Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh
• Children's Regional Hospital at Cooper
• University Hospital (Cherry Hill/Philadelphia)
• Upstate Golisano Children's Hospital (Syracuse)
• WakeMed Children's Hospital (Raleigh)
• Connecticut Children's Medical Center (Hartford)
• Children' Memorial Hospital (Chicago)

Also, since I am so fortunate to have a 77kids in my backyard, at the Danbury Fair Mall, donations of 77 cents (or more!) can be made to the Wellness Center when making holiday purchases. Jenna and my own snowflake is hanging in the store.

As a way of thanking you for your commitment in helping them with their mission 77kids has donated a $50 gift certificate to one lucky Health, Happiness, Hamstrings reader. Since this is a new blog I have decided to do the giveaway over at Mahopac News. Kelsey, the Naptime Chef, is also giving a 77kids gift card away on her blog so if you haven't visited her yet, now is a great time.

To be entered please follow these steps:

1) Visit Wishes-4-Snow and design a digital snowflake

2) Follow 77kids on Facebook

3) For an extra entry follow 77kids on Twitter and tweet why you love their store using the hashtag #77kids

4) Since we have a 77kids in our background we have given you one more opportunity to win the gift card. You can go to the store and take a picture of Jenna and my snowflake and post it on the Mahopac News Facebook page.

5) Contest runs November 20th at 12am ET through Saturday November 27th at 11:59 pm.

Disclaimer: I was compensated to attend this program by 77kids and The Motherhood

In the spirit of Thanksgiving

In the spirit of Thanksgiving and the cans of pumpkin in my pantry, look at what I found this morning when I did a brief Internet search for "savory pumpkin wontons:" Pumpkin Recipes on Kitchen Daily. After reading about Tina's, of Carrots 'n' Cake, take on pumpkin dumplings I bought the skins and they have been sitting in my fridge ever since. Therefore, I was on a search for something that would work for our family. I wasn't crazy about giving Bean Gorgonzola cheese, which Tina uses in her version, since, let's face it, the base of this type of cheese is, mold.

The recipe that interested me most in this article by Sandy Gluck, especially because of the wonton wrappers sitting in my fridge, is Pumpkin Ravioli. Which recipe caught your eye?

Dusting Off Those Cobwebs

Wow! This blog has suffered a major case of cobweb fever and is in need of a reality check. Truth is.....life took the best of me and the cobwebs grew and grew and then grew some more. After having a wonderful heart to heart with someone I am proud to call a friend, Kelsey, of Naptime Chef, if you haven't visited her blog you are missing out of something amazing, I realized the importance of staying focused and making realistic goals.

I have truly missed my blog family, even if I am the only reader, I apologize for the severe leave of absence. Can you believe the last time I left you we were thinking about summer nights and bbq's, although these days I wonder if Thanksgiving is really next week.

That being said, Health, Happiness, Hamstrings is back and hopefully stronger than ever :) Since I so much has happened since I last posted I have decided to do a re-cap on milestones. Please visit the links provided and see the events through pictures.

August: Bean Turns One

September: Community Cares Gala

October: Bean's First Halloween

November (so far): Mahopac is Officially Put on the Map (The Rockefeller Tree is from MaHOpac)


Before I leave you, I wanted to highlight a twist on a Mr. Man's favorite.....Cavatelli and Broccoli I made tonight. I adore my Mother-in-law, but cooking has only recently become an interest of hers. Something she used to make for the boys was Cavatelli and Broccoli. Mr. Man has such memories of this simple dish. That being said, something I never liked about this dish was lack of a protein. I fixed this by adding chicken sausage. A link to this family favorite is coming shorty. I promise it will make your hungry crowd very happy.

I didn't want to forget to mention an initiative that Mr. Man and I are involved in. The 2010 Putnam County Women of Excellence Awards. To nominate someone please use the following link. This link will allow you to access a nomination form.