Raise your hand if you might still be full from Thanksgiving! As much as I love Thanksgiving food, after eating it for a couple of meals, I’m over it until Christmas time and then I’ll be over it again until next holiday season. Not to mention all of the other parties and heavier eating we tend to do this time of year.
This Vegetable Lentil Soup is the perfect meal to enjoy when you feel like you need to detox from all of the holiday goodies! It’s light, but also hearty and filling thanks to the lentils and potatoes.
And best of all, this soup is SO simple to prepare. After sautéing the shallots and celery, you just need to pour everything into the pot and let it all simmer until the lentils and vegetables are tender. Then stir in some kale and seasoning. I also like to serve mine with some grated Parmesan cheese on top!
I like to use smaller yellow/gold potatoes for this soup, but russet also is fine. You can also use sweet potatoes or squash if desired! Spinach is also a good sub for the kale if you prefer it over kale.
This vegan-friendly soup is comforting, ready in a snap, and just makes you feel good! I plan to enjoy it all winter long and into the new year!
Happy December! Who is ready for Christmas recipes?! We are kicking off the month with a festive savory recipe! So many festive recipes are often sweet, but these little Pesto Christmas Trees are savory and actually very simple to make!
All you need is frozen puff pastry sheets, pesto sauce, some wooden skewers, and a yellow bell pepper. A mini star-shape food cutter is also helpful, but not necessary!
After cutting each sheet into thin strips, I simply brushed some pesto sauce on and folded the strips into a tree-like shape, stuck a wooden skewer and baked until puffed and golden! After they come out of the oven, I like to brush a bit more pesto sauce on top to add more green to the trees. Then I use a small star food cutter to cut out some yellow bell pepper stars and voila!
We are stepping back in time today for one more recipe in time for Thanksgiving (or the upcoming Christmas season)! Fluff. Let’s talk about fluff.
Fruity jello or fluff salads were never a family tradition for me. I do remember seeing fluff salads at some big family parties and I have no clue who brought them, but I remember thinking how strange they were. Is it dessert? Is it a “salad”? I’m still not sure, but I know as strange as it is, fluff is good!
And something about cranberry fluff seems kind of perfect for the holiday season. First, we eat cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving and we eat marshmallows on top of sweet potato casserole! So, this cranberry fluff is one of those recipes you can serve alongside your turkey spread or it could also be part of your dessert spread! I don’t know about you guys, but I always have a lot of cranberry sauce leftover to use up too.
You can make this cranberry fluff a couple of different ways. The quickest way is to buy whole cranberry sauce in a can and the whipped topping from the freezer section. But, if those aren’t your style, you can certainly make this more homemade by whipping up your own whipped cream and/or homemade cranberry sauce. It’s delicious either way so the choice is yours!
Add in some crushed pineapple, chopped walnuts for crunch, and of course, mini marshmallows and mix it all up and chill! I also recommend mixing this up the night before you plan to serve it as it tastes better once the marshmallows have time to sort of soak up all the cranberry and pineapple flavor!
There’s one more week until Thanksgiving which means I still have time to squeeze in one last pumpkin recipe, right?!
Do you make salad for Thanksgiving? I feel like a lot of people skip the salad for Thanksgiving given all the many more traditional and carb-heavy side dishes. But, this autumn salad! This salad was made for fall and made for Thanksgiving. Sometimes it’s nice to have some crunch and green in your Thanksgiving spread!
Let’s break this salad down. First, you are going to roast some acorn squash. It’s delicious and adds a perfect golden color to the salad. I like to use arugula for this salad, but you can use whatever greens you prefer. Spring mixes would also work well.
Then you need a couple of honey crisp apples sliced nice and thin as pictured. Of course, any apples will do, but honey crisp are my absolute favorite and truly scream fall to me. I also mix in some pepitas (pumpkin seeds). I find them in the bulk section in my grocery store. I also bought pomegranate seeds to toss in and then proceeded to forget about them when I took these photos. Oops! So pomegranate seeds or dried cranberries are also a great addition!
Finally, we also have to talk about the creamy pumpkin dressing! The creaminess comes from just plain Greek yogurt! Then I whisked in some pumpkin puree, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, and a touch of maple syrup (or honey).
It’s a simple salad to prepare, but looks pretty and festive. You can also roast the squash and make the dressing in advance for faster prep the day you plan to serve the salad!
Somehow November is already halfway through and I cannot believe Thanksgiving is almost here! Today we celebrate Madeline’s 5th birthday. Time is just flying by!
As always, stuffing is my favorite side dish for Thanksgiving. Give me ALL of the stuffing. Just put the baking dish right in front of me and hand me a fork. Yeah, I like turkey and sweet potato casserole and all that good stuff, but stuffing is where it’s at!
I mixed up a lightened up whole wheat stuffing recipe for this year. Apples and walnuts are two of my favorite additions for stuffing. Browned ground sausage would also be really good in this stuffing, but I was trying to keep it meat free.
Like most stuffing recipes, day old bread works best to soak up that broth. I bought my whole wheat bread from the bakery and when I got home. I diced it up and let it sit out overnight on a baking sheet for me to use the next day.
I love everything about this stuffing! It’s slightly sweet taste from the apples and the crunch from the walnuts just make it so scrumptious! I also love the more rustic look the whole wheat bread adds.
Let’s talk about sweet potatoes! I love and adore them and eat them fairly often, but always as a savory side with dinner. After making my Sweet Potato Burgers last month, I wanted to try another new way to use sweet potatoes – enter sweet potato waffles!
You know, to be honest, I’m not sure I’ve ever had sweet potato pie. I know, I know, I am seriously missing out! I wasn’t really in the mood to make a whole pie though so waffles seemed like a better idea! I have to say, sweet potato waffles were a great decision!
I made my own sweet potato puree by just boiling some cubed sweet potato, but you can also roast it for even better flavor. Or, you can buy it canned if you want a shortcut. I prepped my puree the night before so I could just get started on making the waffles right away in the morning.
Maddie loved these waffles! I got 6 waffles out of this recipe so I also ended up freezing some and we enjoyed these over the next few weeks. I heated them up by popping them right in the toaster and they crisped up perfectly!
I love these waffles for a nice fall breakfast. They are a great alternative for those who don’t love pumpkin or if you just want to change things up for breakfast! Serve them with toasted pecans or walnuts.
Welcome to Eat. Drink. Love.! My name is Stephanie. Here you will find healthy and easy recipes with a few indulgences thrown in for good measure! Why the name Eat. Drink. Love.? Well, I think this is what life is all about!
