Tag Archives: thanksgiving

Paleo Butternut Squash Crab Bisque + Start of Holiday Shopping

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Paleo Butternut Squash Crab BisqueI love me some soup in colder weather and finally it feels like autumn has arrived in Austin – so bring on the soups, bisques, broths, stews, chilies, cioppinos and other steaming hot heaven in a bowl. A soup that always catches my attention when I’m out running errands is the Butternut Squash Crab Soup from Whole Foods – I indulge in a to-go carton every once in a while but I’d be so much happier if it was more Paleo-friendly.  So, out with the dairy cream and in with the coconut milk, it’s an easy swap that keeps my recipe for Paleo Butternut Squash Crab Bisque a rich and creamy winner.

Paleo Butternut Squash Crab Bisque

Enjoy a nice, big bowl for dinner – or pour into a thermos for lunch at work or a warming treat in the football fan stands. If you can’t find or afford the crab, small salad-sized shrimp from the frozen aisle make a pretty darn good substitute.

 

Songa Designs Bella & Bling CuffAlso, with the holidays coming up, I want to share with you a fabulous gift idea for the women in your life — like a mom, sister, special aunt or best running friend. Even though it seems waaaay to early to start holiday shopping, it’s really not — the craziness of the season sneaks up so fast and I hate to be scrambling for last-minute gift ideas. So, how about a piece of gorgeous, artisan-made jewelry from Songa Designs?! I’m totally loving this Bella & Bling cuff bracelet, it’s a little tough and a lot pretty — and better yet, it’s made with natural fibers and reclaimed stones by women in Rwanda who built up this business to self-empower and create a better life. Be part of this circle of extraordinary women and check out the lookbook — if you’d like to order,use FITFORK15 at checkout for 15% off through Dec. 16th.

LOVE: Paleo Butternut Squash Crab Bisque & @SongaDesigns Cuff

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Soup or salad — or both? Have you started holiday shopping yet? Please share in the comments below – XOXO, Jennifer

 

Paleo Butternut Squash Crab Bisque
Print
Paleo Butternut Squash Crab Bisque
Prep Time
10 mins
Cook Time
1 hr
Total Time
1 hr 10 mins
 
Warm up with a mug full of this delicious crab bisque brimming with the natural sweetness of apple along with my favorite winter squash.
Course: Appetizer, Main Dish, Soup
Cuisine: American
Servings: 4 servings
Ingredients
  • 1 tbsp coconut oil
  • 1 med sweet onion, chopped
  • 1 large Granny Smith apple, peeled & chopped
  • 2 tsp minced garlic
  • 1 16-oz package (16-oz) package frozen butternut squash cubes, thawed
  • 1 15 to 16 oz can full fat coconut milk
  • 1 cup seafood stock
  • 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 12 oz lump crab meat
  • Garnish: minced Italian parsley
Instructions
  1. Add coconut oil to large stock pot and heat over medium heat.
  2. Saute onion and apple for 5 to 10 minutes, or until softened, stirring constantly.
  3. Add garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 1 to 2 minutes.
  4. Add butternut squash, seafood stock, coconut milk, and cinnamon; bring to a boil.
  5. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 45 minutes.
  6. Blend with immersion blender until smooth, and season with salt, black pepper and cayenne – adding more or less, to taste.
  7. Stir in lump crab meat and continue to simmer soup for approximately 5 minutes or warmed through.
  8. Garnish with chopped Italian parsley and additional sprinkle of cayenne.

10 Reasons to Give Thanks for Sweet Potatoes and 9 Recipes

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10 Reasons to be Thankful for Sweet PotatoesPerhaps the official vegetable of the holiday season, sweet potatoes are a delicious addition to a healthy diet any day of the year.   It’s easy to eat well with sweet potatoes — they are packed with essential vitamins, minerals and other important nutrients that are naturally designed to help your body attain peak performance.  If you don’t like sweet potatoes, keep an open mind (and mouth) and look beyond your grandmother’s icky-sticky, marshmallow sweet potato casserole — there are so many delicious ways to enhance the taste of this sweet, mildly earthy tuber. In a list I originally compiled for Core Power, here are my top 10 reasons to be thankful for the humble sweet potato — my favorite reason may be #5 – a healthy source of complex carbohydrates. Unless logistically impossible, I always include sweet potato with my night-before-a-big-race meal. Also, don’t forget to read down to discover my collection of Family Favorite Sweet Potato Recipes:

  1. Inexpensive Eats: The cheap price tag on sweet potatoes (less than $1/lb.) chops the “it costs too much to eat healthy” argument to the core.
  2. Year-Round Availability: While peak season for sweet potatoes is in the fall, this produce department staple is easy to load-up on year round thanks to a long shelf life and global economy.
  3. Stockpile Friendly: Don’t rush out and buy a lifetime supply, but do fill your cart when you see a sale — sweet potatoes stay good in the pantry for a season or two. Freshness can be maintained for up to six months when stored in a pantry, cabinet, unheated garage or other dark, cool space ideally in the 50 F degree range.
  4. Versatile Veggie: Sweet potatoes are awesome baked and eaten plain or can be cooked with much for creativity. Try them mashed, grilled in planks, oven-roasted in wedges, or add chunks to salads, stews and sandwich wraps. Sweet potato puree also adds lots of interest to smoothies, soups and baked goods. See my round-up of personal sweet potato recipes below!
  5. Healthy Complex Carbohydrates: Natural sugars in sweet potatoes are the “good” kind of carbs that are slowly released into the blood stream, providing sustained and balanced energy to fuel your body and brain. No blood sugar spikes and subsequent sugar crashes with this tasty tuber!
  6. Amazing Antioxidants: Orange-fleshed sweet potatoes are a super source of beta-carotene (from vitamin A) that can help protect eyes and damage from the sun, among other things. Purple-fleshed sweet potatoes feature powerful anthocyanins which have important antioxidant anti-inflammatory properties.
  7. Vitamin Rich: Sweet potatoes are packed with vitamins, high in vitamin A, vitamin B5, B6, thiamin, niacin and riboflavin. In fact, this veggie offers 100 percent of the daily value for Vitamin A, a powerhouse shown to be beneficial for anti-aging, eyesight and cancer prevention.
  8. Quercetin Factor: Quercetin, a dietary flavonoid, is abundant in sweet potatoes. Studies have shown that quercetin can help lower LDL cholesterol, reduce inflammation and serves as a natural antihistamine to fight seasonal allergies. Additionally, studies on athletes have shown that this phytochemical bolsters health during the 3 to 72 hour window of impaired immunity following heavy training and also may help increase endurance.
  9. Potassium: Potassium is a mineral that helps your body balance fluids and minerals, maintain a health blood pressure, and keep your neuro-muscular system function normally. A medium, baked sweet potato offers about 450 mg of potassium (about12 percent of your daily value) — even more than the famous banana!
  10. Iron: Grown under the soil, sweet potatoes are a great source for iron, a mineral needed for oxygen delivery throughout the blood system. A surprising number of athletes are low in this important mineral (foot strike can actually be a contributor to deficiency) and an iron boost can help restore energy, resistance to stress and optimal immune functioning.

Family Favorite Sweet Potato Recipes for Thanksgiving, Holidays and everyday weeknight dinners.

Cinnamon Chicken Cashew Sweet PotatoI also love this no-recipe “recipe” from the CookingLight.com blog, Simmer & Boil — Cinnamon Chicken and Cashews on Baked Sweet Potato. Just toss a half-teaspoon or of ground cinnamon with warmed shredded chicken, pile on top of a baked and fluffed sweet potato, sprinkle with cashews and dig in!  What an quick and easy solution for busy weeknight dinners during the holiday season!

 

10 Reasons to Give Thanks for Sweet Potatoes + 9 Recipes #CLbogger @Cooking_light

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What is the one Thanksgiving dish you can’t live without? Do you have any big plans for the holiday?  Please share in the comments below – XOXO, Jennifer

 

Bourbon Pumpkin Caramel Sauce – Pour This on Everything!

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Bourbon Pumpkin Caramel SauceI hope you’re wearing floaties — if you’re anything like me, you’ll be jumping headfirst into this Bourbon Pumpkin Caramel Sauce and eating your way out. This super easy recipe is a life-saver for last-minute fall holiday entertaining and any and every day when you just want to pack in a little extra pumpkin (hello antioxidents and fiber), it can literally be made in 5 minutes and served a zillion different ways.

Pin this Bourbon Pumpkin Caramel Sauce, it’s a keeper!

Bourbon Pumpkin Caramel is a fall season treat that is delicious on everything from fruit slices, pound cake, and other desserts and autumn and thanksgiving treats.

Serve on apple slices for the ultimate healthy fall treat.

Bourbon Pumpkin Caramel Sauce om apples

Or, serve on pound cake . . . . or on ice cream, yogurt, in a smoothie, on a pie, by the spoon. You get the idea.

Bourbon Pumpkin Caramel Sauce

freshsummitThis is one of the half-dozen recipes I’ll be dishing up on behalf of Litehouse Foods at the Produce Marketing Associations Fresh Summit Convention & Expo in Atlanta, GA this weekend.

Stay tuned for more yumminess!
Sugar Free Pumpkin Protein Donuts with Cinnamon Frosting

 

If you need more pumpkin love, don’t forget about my Sugar Free Pumpkin Spice Donuts . . .

Not So Scary Pumpkin Spice Latte

 

 

 

 

. . .and Not-So-Scary Pumpkin Spice Latte.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, you can always check out all the comfy, goodness in Cooking Light’s collection of pumpkin bread recipes.  Feel free to pour my Bourbon Pumpkin Caramel Sauce over any of these!
Pumpkin Bread and Muffin REcipes

Bourbon Pumpkin Caramel Sauce to Pour on Everything #Recipe #CLblogger #LivingLitehouse

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What would you pour this sauce on? What is your favorite pumpkin treat of the fall? Are you sick of pumpkin yet? Please share in the comments below – XOXO, Jennifer

Bourbon Pumpkin Caramel Sauce
Print
Bourbon Pumpkin Caramel Sauce
Course: Breakfast, Condiment, Dessert, Fruit
Cuisine: American
Ingredients
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/4 cup bourbon
  • 1 16 ounce tub of Old Fashioned Caramel Dip Litehouse Brand
  • 12 ounces pumkin puree from 15 ounce can
Instructions
  1. Add water and bourbon and bring to boil over medium high heat. Boil for one minute to cook off alcohol.
  2. Lower heat and add caramel and stir until dissolved. Stir in pumpkin until combined.
  3. Serve warm. Keep in in fridge for up to a week.

Friday 5: Including Gingerbread, Turkey Trot & Healthy Chocolate

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This is what has been going on in my world this week! Hope your Thanksgiving was as blessed and blissful as mine!   

1) Gingerbread Houses: My kids had a school break for the entire Thanksgiving week and they wanted to make a gingerbread house from scratch. OMG. Middle son used his geometry and algebra skills to design the blue prints while I surfed around for “structural gingerbread” recipes. Despite the all the things that could go wrong with measuring, cutting, baking and assembling a gingerbread house, the masterpiece is still standing and deliciously candy bedazzled. I’m winning Christmas already!

Kid's Gingerbread House - TheFitFork.com

Kid’s Gingerbread House – TheFitFork.com

2) Dark Chocolate: Speaking of candy, did you know dark chocolate is a superfood and that makes me super happy. Check out this spotlight I did for CorePower.com on dark chocolate and recipe ideas:

Dark Chocolate is a Superfood - TheFitFork.com

3) Turkey Trot: Had a bunch of pre-feast family fun at Austin’s Thundercloud Turkey Trot!  The hubby and kids joined me to stampede 5 miles through downtown Austin with 21 thousand fellow runners and walkers. Snagged a 1st place in age group, too!

Thundercloud Turkey Trot - TheFitFork.com

5) Beef & Leaf:  Time to NOT talk turkey — my Wilted Winter Greens and Beef Meatball Stew made its print debut in the winter edition of Moxie Magazine (they also have an online version). In my nutrition-focused article, “Kale and Collards and Chard, Oh My!”, I also talk about why all the dark leafy greens proliferating the farmers’ market this time of year are so good for you.

Winter Greens & Meatball Soup recipe in Moxie Magazine - TheFitFork.com

5) Win a Cookbook: I’m excited to be a new-ish member of the Austin Food Blogger Alliance and brush real-life elbows with the savviest online taste buds in town. You can win a copy of this group’s tome of tasty recipes, Austin Food Blogger Alliance Cookbook, a great resource that serves up the uniqueness of Austin with a side dish of varied heritages the – just leave a comment at the History Press for a chance to win.

Austin Food Blogger Alliance Cookbook

Friday 5: Gingerbread House, Turkey Trotting, Healthy Chocolate + More

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If you Turkey Trotted on Thanksgiving, tell me about it! 

If you’re crazy enough to build a gingerbread house from scratch, let me know. I have a great “structural gingerbread” recipe I can share with you — no caved in walls!

Wine, Olive Oil, Endive . . . Tastes Like a #HolidayMeal + #Giveaway

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All the good things are happening at my house this week! Good (make that great) food and drink to share with family, all with a home-warming, heart-healthy spin. I love spending time with family when there is no “this and that” to be done, the only thing on the agenda this Thanksgiving week is enjoying each other and digging into fine food – some of the intriguing edible details for the week include endive, olive oil and wine!  Oh, and I’m giving away gourmet olive oil, so read on! Platter of Red and White California Endive

California Endive Farms sent me a huge box of red and white endives, oh how this makes me swoon with salad dreams. But, time to think outside the box, so I decided to GRILL my first endive recipe even though it’s a pretty complicated and coddled veggie. Apparently, endive (a member of the chicory family) is one of the most difficult vegetables to grow – it undergoes a two-step process. The first step, takes about 150 days to grow green leaves from a deep tap root. The plant is then harvested and the tops are cut off and the roots are salvaged. Secondly, the roots are put into cold storage to go dormant and then are forced into a second growth – whew, there’s so much effort that goes into endive farming ; it makes me love it even more!  And, if you haven’t noticed, it’s beautiful enough to be used as a centerpiece. Grilled Endive with Blue Cheese, Walnuts & Balsamic Drizzle - thefitfork.com

My recipes for Grilled Endive with Blue Cheese, Walnuts and Balsamic Drizzle would make a sophisticated addition to your Thanksgiving or holiday table. It’s super easy to grill either indoors or outdoors and can be finished in less than 10 minutes from produce bin to plate. I have some other recipes that I will be sharing soon (think healthy alternative to chips), but in the meantime please check out this mouth-watering collection of endive recipes.

 Grilled Endive with Blue Cheese, Walnuts and Balsamic Drizzle Recipe

  • 4 red or white endives, cut in half lengthwise
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil (I used Nudo Italia Garlic!)
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • 1/4 blue cheese crumbles
  • 1/4 cup walnut pieces
  • 2 tablespoons balsamic syrup
  1. Brush cut sides of endive liberally with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
  2. Place endive, cut sides down, on indoor grill pan or grates of outdoor pan. Cook over approximate 375 F degree heat for 4 – 5 minutes, or until grill marks are made and endive is beginning to soften (without getting overcooked – should be crisp tender).
  3. Remove endive from grill and place cut side up on serving platter. Sprinkle with blue cheese and walnuts; drizzle with balsamic syrup.
  4. Serves 4.

Rios de Chile Wine = thefitfork.com

Rios de Chile wine makes a delightful pairing for my grilled endive recipe.  I’ve heard that there are some great wines from Chile, and this one is definitely a winner – it’s light and lively and the perfect choice for seafood, poultry or a grilled salad!  The tasting notes on this one are “intense aroma of tropical fruits, fine mineral notes and citrus accents.” You’ll be the first guest on everyone’s party list if you show up with a bottle of this vino from an award-wining winery in the Cachapoal Valley.

Nudo Italia Olive Oil - thefitfork.com

Now, onto more goodness Nudo Italia Olive Oil – wow, is it wonderful.  Imagine kicking back with a glass of that Rios de Chile wine and dipping some crusty bread into a saucer of artisanal olive oil.  Now that’s what the holidays are all about, especially if you have your loved ones dipping and drinking by your side!  I am a new fan of Nudo Olive Oil, although it’s been around since 2005. Made by a pair who left careers as television producers to move to the Italian countryside, this line of olive oils makes a point of keeping traditional farming methods alive to produce some of the best olive oil in the world. Nudo even has an olive tree adoption program which allows anyone to adopt a tree in Italy and receive its olive oil – now that’s the gift for the foodie or fine living aficionado who has everything!

Not only have I been enjoying the olive oil with my bread and drizzled on my salad, it also makes a statement in recipes – they have amazing infused flavors, too many to name (but check out their online shop). But, I’m giving away three 8.4 oz. tins of the infused flavors-  the Olive Oil Stone Ground with Real Lemons,  the Olive Oil Stone Ground with Garlic and the Olive Oil Stone Ground with Basil. Enter below via the Rafflecopter App!

a Rafflecopter giveaway