Yep, I Finished the Pies Off Yesterday at Breakfast!

So... here I am, the Post Thanksgiving Me, a couple pounds heavier and happier for it.  Throughout the year I spend a lot of time NOT eating what I like.  This usually results in eating too much of stuff that's "ok".  The scale doesn't seem to move very much in response.

The other day, as I pulled a little lump of cold stuffing from a ziplock bag, my husband said, "Can't stay away from it?"

"It's sooo good. I haven't had good food in a long while. I'm so tired of eating crap all the time."  I really need to find a different word to replace "crap" in my vocabulary options.

I've increased my walking, or I'd probably be 10 pounds heavier, because I've finished 1/2 of a Pumpkin/cheesecake pie, and 1/3 of a pumpkin pie by myself over the weekend.  I also finished the homemade noodles, peas, corn and am working my way through the mashed potatoes.

RECIPE IDEA                    Cheesecake/Pumpkin pie

I use the recipe on the back of the Libby's Pumpkin can.  I use all the individual spices, not the easier (cheaper) version where you replace 3 spices with one.  I'm not near my kitchen right now, so I'll just trust that when you see the recipe you'll understand that reference.

THEN, I mix one 6 oz. pkg. of Cream Cheese with 1/3 cup of sugar and an egg.  I pour that into the bottom of my unbaked pie crust before topping off with the pumpkin mixture and bake as directed on the Libby's can. (I love Libby's.) This will result in at least 1/2 of your pie being cheesecake with a pumpkin pie layer on top.  You can split it between 2 pies if you like.  It usually leaves some mixture that won't fit in the pies. I put that into little custard cups and bake along with the pies until it tests "done" with the holiday "knife mark in the middle of the pie" tradition.

Food is such a significant part of tradition.  The last few years my husband has skimped on holiday dinners to lose weight.  This year he had a normal dinner.  I can't tell you the difference it made for ME.  Fixing the Thanksgiving dinner, with my Granny's recipe for stuffing, Libby's pumpkin pie recipe - mixed with the cheesecake recipe from my late mother-in-law, and my husband's recipe for mashed potatoes (saute 1/2 a large onion in a stick of butter and blend into potatoes after you've fnished them with the mixer) is a gift.  When someone chooses to diet, it feels like you've given a very special gift and it was promptly stuffed in the back corner of their attic.

I'm bored with eating meals of "sustenance" as my husband calls those uninspiring foods.  I'm also disgusted that with eating all that "sustenance" the bottom of my stomach still touches my leg when I curl up on the couch. I've decided good food is worth working for - I'm going to enjoy my meals without going into gluttony, and increase my exercise.

For some reason, yoga - which is not at all cardiovascular activity - makes a significant impact on my poundage.  So, I'll add at least 15 minutes of yoga into my day (which makes me feel taller, also) and get a good long aggressive walk in each day. This week I'm listening to The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit on my iPod as I walk.  It's a lovely story, and is free on Librivox.org.

Deer hunting season started on Monday here, so I'm sporting a sexy super-sized orange vest that belonged to my late father-in-law as I walk the trails around our house.

What are the foods that have special traditional meaning for your family?