Category Archives: Chanukah

A Weekend Full of Treats

Posted on December 27, 2010 | 2 Comments

It’s hard to believe that another holiday weekend has come and gone. While we don’t celebrate Christmas, this weekend was full of celebrations, family, food, laughter, and of course, treats for all.

It was cold and rainy all day on Friday so we spent the majority of our day around the house. Closets were cleaned out, movies were watched by the fire, and we relaxed.

My dad and I had blueberry hot cereal with grilled pear and peanut butter on top which was delicious.

I made treats to have on hand for the weekend: Puppy Chow and 2 kinds of chocolate bark – butter toffee and caramel pecan.

A light lunch featuring leftover veggies and a Tex-Mex treat of a vegan tamale filled with black beans.

Friday night dinner was at a local Mexican restaurant where we treated my grandmother for her birthday. My aunt, uncle, and cousins from Houston drove in for the occasion and it was a treat to have everyone together.

On Christmas morning, my mom whipped up some waffles for breakfast. I love when she makes them for me; they were a great treat to start the day.(she also made a regular batch for her and my brother)

We watched a movie by the fire and Cody begged for a treat of his own from my dad.

Yesterday afternoon we headed to my grandparents’ house to continue the celebrations. We were celebrating Chanukah together as well as my grandmother’s 78th birthday! She was born on the 25th so we’ve always had something fun to do on Christmas day.

My grandmother is quite the cook and I’m lucky in that she’s always cooked special foods for me that I could eat with my allergies. In addition to making a gluten free version of her latkes, she also picked up a gluten free rosemary foccacia bread for my dad and I to try and made us a gluten free peach cobbler for dessert!

Our late lunch / early dinner consisted of brisket, turkey, sweet potatoes, latkes, homemade cinnamon applesauce, broccoli, and purple cabbage.

We opened gifts as a family and one thing everyone received this year was a Snuggie! Here’s the obligatory grandchildren shot.

We treated my grandmother to another rendition of Happy Birthday, enjoyed dessert, and called it a night 6 hours later.

With 2 of my cousins off at college, me in DC, and some family in Houston, it was such a wonderful treat that we were able to come together to celebrate my grandmother and Chanukah for a weekend!

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Posted in baking, breakfast, Chanukah, dessert, dinner, milestones, weekend, winter

Tagged family, gluten free, holidays, vacation

White Christmas… in Dallas of all places!

Posted on December 25, 2009 | Leave a comment

Merry Christmas and Happy Chinese Food and a Movie Day! It’s a white Christmas here which brings my snow storm count to two storms in a week. Brrrr. The good news is that the sun is shining and the snow is beginning to melt!

It’s been a great vacation so far! I’ve seen family, friends, and had plenty of time to relax (and exercise too!). Yesterday was the start of the snow, so after the gym, we spent the afternoon at home. In keeping with tradition, my mom and I set to work in the kitchen, baking and relaxing. My 2 creations of the day were dark chocolate drizzled gluten-free pretzels and chocolate dipped strawberries.

We went for Chinese food (I had steamed chicken and veggies with brown rice) and came home on icy roads to watch Julie and Julia with a fire going in the fire place.

Today will be nice and relaxing. So far, another movie in pjs and maybe out for one this afternoon. Tonight, we are heading to a neighbor’s holiday party. Tomorrow morning we will head to Houston for our family’s Chanukah celebration, and then it’s almost time to head back to the tundr, I mean DC!

The amazing gluten free aisle at Central Market:And amazing salad from their prepared foods bar:
Happy birthday Stenz!!Some yummy eats!
A few bowls of hot cereal w/ 1 tbsp sweet potato, 1/2 tbsp PB, and 1 tsp fig jam have been consumed this week:
Erev Christmas:

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Posted in baking, Chanukah, cooking, family, friends, gluten-free, holidays, snow, vacation, weekend

Almost at the finish line!

Posted on December 18, 2009 | Leave a comment

I’m a bit behind in my blogging so will do my best to recap. There’s been a lot of excitement over the past few days, some healthy eats, and some special treats for the holiday season. I have been trying out my newly learned tips for healthy eats and have sometimes been successful and at other times, I’ve enjoyed whatever I’ve had!

Wednesday’s festivities began nice and light with a pear, PB toast, and an egg white. I headed into work and was productive up until a holiday potluck. I actually ate lunch before hand because I didn’t think that there would be much for me to eat at the party and it ended up being a good decision! I had a stir fry which consisted of tofu, corn, asparagus, edamame, and bell peppers. It was yummy and a bit spicy! At the part I had one of my peanut butter cookies with the frosting from a cupcake and the toppings of a slice of Mediterranean pizza.

I worked right up until the end of the day and then headed to dinner at a new restaurant. My friend S and I tried BGR which just opened in our neighborhood. I had a burger (no bun) and actually used lettuce as my bun instead which worked quite well. We tried their Yukon fries (yum) and grilled asparagus (double yum) which were great compliments to our burgers. We then headed to a Chanukah party for more festivities!

I came home to the tail-end of my building’s party and brought up a little treat to enjoy for my evening snack.

Thursday started bright and early with 1/4c yogurt with a bit of Gorilla Munch and AB before a morning Cardio Sculpt class. I was still sore from class on Tuesday but wanted to make sure to get a workout in after some of the junk foods I ate the day before. I definitely wasn’t feeling as pumped up throughout it, but I felt really good after the workout.

I came home and had another breakfast of sweet potato hot cereal (see Monday’s post), then headed off to work a bit later. I had a lunch date which was great (repeat of lunch Tuesday except with a plain garden salad) and then had another late evening of work.

I came home and snacked on an apple with AB, contemplated doing workout #2 and instead decided to catch up on sleep, life, and have a quiet night in. Dinner was baked beans, acorn squash, 3oz red potatoes and some salad. It was the perfect night for how I was feeling and I finally got some good sleep!

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Posted in apples, breakfast, Chanukah, dinner, friends, holidays, lunch, winter, work, workouts

Ready, Set, Go!!

Posted on December 15, 2009 | Leave a comment

Wow, the past couple of days have flown by, and what fun it’s been!!

Sunday night was my first Chanukah party of the week and it was a blast! The latkes and meatballs were yummy, the company fantastic, and I was so sad that I had to leave early to go babysit (and miss the fondue). There was a station for making your own snowman which was cute and clever. Kudos to our hostess, JS, for a great time!

Yesterday began with a delicious new twist on a regular breakfast. A lot of people recommend mixing pumpkin puree into their oatmeal for added thickness and fiber. Sadly, I’m allergic to pumpkin but decided to try something similar – smashed sweet potato! I had baked a sweet potato on Sunday to try at some point in the week. I must say, this is a great addition to my BRM hot cereal!

1/4c BRM GF hot cereal
1 c water
drizzle of sugar-free syrup
a few raisins
1 tbsp baked sweet potato (stirred in after cereal is cooked)
1/2 tbsp PB
lots of cinnamon

This bowl was quite fantastic. It tasted warm and cozy, just like Thanksgiving! There was a touch of sweetness from the sweet potato and the spice of the cinnamon really completed this combo!

I had a productive afternoon at work. Lunch was the rest of last week’s adobo beef atop a salad for extra veggies.

After a quick stop at the store, I got ready for another holiday happy celebration. I met up with L and friend and we headed to the big party. The entire bar was rented out and all 3 floors were packed. I had a great time – I got to catch up with so many friends that I haven’t gotten to see in a while which was great! It was late when I got home and I snacked on a bit of stir fry I had cooked up earlier, a couple of clementines, and some cereal.

I headed to bed early because today was another full day.

I had the same breakfast as yesterday, complete with egg white and pear, but couldn’t finish all of my fruit and cereal so I packed it to bring with me. I headed out to meet a former colleague for coffee but we unfortunately mixed up our days so I ran a quick errand and headed into work early! I’m not sure if it was the coffee I had or the early start, but I was extremely productive all day long, which felt great!!

I left mid-afternoon and stopped home for a quick change into gym clothes, a snack, and then it was off to see a good friend, N, who was in town for a whirlwind visit. I really enjoyed hearing about his adventures in graduate school and catching up on our lives. Great conversations with friends always make me appreciate the quality people I have in my life. I’m grateful for the many friendships I have and the fact that I still get to see people from all parts of my life! It’s especially nice getting to see a lot of these people over the holiday season!

My snack was the same on both Monday and Tuesday – an apple with cinnamon and a slice of GF toast with cheese melted on top. I was hoping for the same boost I had last week before my gym class.

Class tonight kicked my butt and I meandered home, in colder and windier weather than when I set out this morning, and have spent the night cooking up all sorts of veggies. Dinner was 1/2c Bush’s vegetarian baked beans with some roasted red potatoes (and BBQ sauce, aka best condiment ever, yeehaw!) and broccoli. Dessert was 1/4c Greek yogurt with a small bit of a PB cookie crumbled up and chocolate Chex.

My cooking included sweet potato, some sweet potato chips, and an acorn squash, yum!