Back on the wagon

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I woke up the morning after Christmas bright-eyed and ready to listen to my body’s hunger cues, yayyyy! I started with a mug of Celestial Seasonings Nutcracker Sweet tea (mmmm!) with skim.

tea

My dad was planning to pick me up on his way to the gym around 11, so I just had a light snack when my stomach started to get a little rumbly:

grapes!

grapes!

My mom and stepdad decided last minute to come along for the gym excursion. Here I am during the cardio portion of the workout with mom and dad:

gym

Back at the house, my mom heated up some of her special oatmeal for brunch:

with yogurt and cinnamon on the side

with yogurt and cinnamon on the side

She can never remember what’s in her oatmeal since she just throws in whatever she can get her hands on, but we’re pretty sure it contained the following: bananas (obviously), pears, oat groats, quinoa, millet, walnuts, cumin (try it!), pumpkin pie spice, turmeric, allspice, fresh cranberries, and an itty bit of masala curry powder. It was delicious!

There’s always such an abundance of produce when I’m visiting home, so I went back and refilled my bowl with some freshly cut pineapple:

pineapple

We had big plans to go to my dad’s house for a very blended family dinner (dad, stepmom, dad’s sister Mary, mom, stepdad), so I just had a couple of snackies throughout the rest of the afternoon:

apples and cinnamon with a T of almond butter

apples and cinnamon with a T of almond butter

 

fresh veggies with Hannukah well underway in the background

fresh veggies with Hannukah well underway in the background

 Next up: one crazy family dinner!

Spiraling out of control …

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We arrived for Christmas dinner around 3pm, and I managed to forget that I was trying to start a food blog for approximately two hours, during which time I snacked on bagel chips and rice crackers with clam dip, a liverworst ball, and a hawaiian cream cheese spread. And chex mix. And then, dinner! (Sorry for the lighting on this next one. My dad gave me some good advice later that I will try to remember: “Lighting, lighting, lighting!”)

Maple-citrus glazed ham, steamed broccoli (x3), and a crescent roll (I had half).

Maple-citrus glazed ham, steamed broccoli (x3), and a crescent roll (I had half).

Looks like I kept things brilliantly well-balanced, right? Like I left just the perfect amount of space for dessert? Ha!! Someone had the brilliant idea to open presents BETWEEN dinner and dessert. So the next FOUR hours included the following unpictured disasters as I misguidedly tried to save myself from death by boredom: nearly an entire tin of peppermint bark, an unknown quantity of chocolate covered caramel balls, and the last 4th of a good-sized canister of poppycock. And then came dessert! A whopping hunk of gingerbread cake slathered in whipped cream, followed by half an eclair. To stop myself from reaching for more candy (pure habit at this point!) I redirected my sticky fingers to the centerpiece:

cranberries1

That’s right — I resorted to snacking on the raw cranberries surrounding the candle in the middle of the table! Desperate times…. After all this, there was only one thing left to do:

Tomorrow's a new day!

Tomorrow's a new day!

Two new things:

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A digital camera and a blog — neither of which I quite know how to use yet! Please be patient with me during this period of experimental posting :-). Let’s begin with a sampling of treats from Christmas day, mmmmm …

Following family tradition, I stayed at my dad’s house Christmas Eve night, up in the guest room with my Aunt Mary. We woke up bright and early around 8:30am and chatted about the mysterious footsteps we heard in the middle of the night. Ghosts?? Sufficiently spooked, we headed downstairs to start poking around for breakfast.

I started with a steamy and festive mug of Earl Grey tea with skim:

earl-grey3

I found out that my stepmom was planning to heat up a couple of quiches. Not being a quiche girl, I set to work making fruit salad for everyone (using fruit left over from dessert the night before!) and oatmeal for me.

oatmeal plus about 2 cups of fruit salad with nonfat vanilla yogurt

My spread: oatmeal plus about 2 cups of fruit salad with nonfat vanilla yogurt

Obligatory zoom on the oats, made with fresh cranberries, 1/2 banana, more vanilla yogurt, a crumbled gingersnap thin, and a hidden spoonful of pb!

Obligatory zoom on the oats, made with fresh cranberries, 1/2 banana, more vanilla yogurt, a crumbled gingersnap thin, and a hidden spoonful of pb!

We got to opening presents, and somehow this tin appeared on my lap. I had one and quickly removed them from my sight!

cookies

Knowing we were headed for an enormous dinner at my stepmom’s family’s house, I tried to restrain myself for the rest of the morning/afternoon with probably 7 more mugs of tea and these:

Small handful of baby carrots (x5!!)

Small handful of baby carrots (x5!!)