Thanksgiving: my favorite holiday. All that’s expected is a fully flavorful meal with good friends and family. Great – unless you’re the host and are stressed about how to put that meal together.
Breathe easy – no problem!
To make any of the standard Thanksgiving dishes you see above – and more – as stress-free as possible, just click any picture on this page or this link to the Gotta’ Eat, Can’t Cook Thanksgiving Help page for step-by-step picture directions that will show how how to make any of the standard Thanksgiving dishes you see above – and more – as easily and stress-free as possible.
Thanksgiving’s by far my favorite holiday! All that’s expected, and that’s best part of it, is a good meal and getting together with family and friends. Not much more to be thankful about than that!
Of course, for the host(s), making that meal can feel daunting. That’s what this post and those that follow leading up to Thanksgiving Day are all about.
The two keys to putting together a successful and stress-free Thanksgiving dinner: making sure you have all the ingredients you need in advance (stores are usually – and thankfully – closed on Thanksgiving Day) and coordinating timing in the kitchen.
To help you get the ingredients you need as efficiently as possible, click this link or the picture below for a grocery shopping list to make a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for 6-8 people that includes roast turkey, gravy, bread stuffing, fresh cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and pie dessert. Of course, just adjust those quantities as needed based on how many people you expect to join you for Thanksgiving dinner.
And, though though it’s a little early to start actually preparing any Thanksgiving dishes, click this link or the picture below for a timing guide that lays out clearly just about everything you’ll need to do to put together a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.
More about specific Thanksgiving recipes to follow that we’ll have fun putting together!
Last two posts showed how easy it is to make fully flavorful fresh whipped cream and then how to boost flavor to that same whipped cream by just adding ground cinnamon. This post shows a couple ways to vary whipped cream flavor very quickly and easily – even if you’re lactose intolerant. As always here, imagination is your only limit!
Killer easy to make! As shown in the picture thumbnail sketch below,…
…just add pumpkin butter and pumpkin pie spice to the base fresh whipped cream recipe. And you don’t have to be limited by pumpkin butter. You can use apple butter, your favorite jam, butterscotch spread – anything you like to get the flavor you want.
Then if you or someone you know is lactose intolerant, here’s how you can easily switch out heavy cream with coconut cream and coconut milk to make both a basic coconut based whipped cream and then use the above ideas to vary the flavor any way you like.
The key here – as always – learn the base recipe and then use your imagination to have fully flavorful fun with it!
The other day I mentioned that I keep a vat of fresh whipped cream in the fridge. That vat went dry just after I wrote that. So, what a great opportunity to whip up a new one – and add flavor, all fun and very easily. As shown below, all I did was add a good shake of ground cinnamon (I do that all the time now) and use coconut sugar instead of regular white table sugar.
Whipping then took only 2 minutes as I’d used heavy cream right out of the fridge and a frosted glass measuring cup I’d put in the freezer over night.
You’ll notice in the last shot above that I didn’t whip the cream until it was firm enough to keep the ejected hand mixer blades standing. All fine. That’s the consistency I like, as it dissolves more easily in coffee, works great on anything else I top with it and makes it easy to pour into a “vat” I put in the fridge for easy access anytime I want it.
Click any picture on this page for step-by-step picture book Fresh Whipped Cream directions that you can vary however your personal taste desires.
Fresh whipped cream tastes far better than whipped cream spritzed from a can or scooped from a plastic tub – and it’s both as incredibly easy to make as it is versatile to use. I love it with the “rocket fuel breakfast” you see above: on fruit pancake, with yogurt and fruit, in coffee. But, as always, imagination is your only limit!
Here’s what you need for both for ingredients and equipment – easy.
Before you get started, here’s an easy tip. Make sure the heavy cream is cold and put whatever container you’re going to use to whip the cream in the freezer until it is well chilled as shown below. The reason: cold cream and a cold container make the cream whip faster – I like that!
Please click any picture on this page or this link for step-by-step fresh whipped cream picture book directions – and enjoy!
September 6th, 2023 Blog, Empowerment, MindfulnessComments Off on Character Defines the Soul of Who We Are
There’s nothing more important to who we are than our character. By character, I mean how we behave, how we think, act alone (with no one seeing us – darn important!), interact with others, pay attention 24/7/365. You get the idea. It’s our living soul.
Now let’s amp it up a bit. I have a line: Pressure brings out true character, and it doesn’t take much of a push truly to test character. When I say that, the first finger I point at is me and, boy, there are many times I see my character needs positive work, and I work on it. That work applies both to me personally and to my brands, both Gotta’ Eat right here and Breitz! (bright, bold performance wear) because those brands and I are the same.
To notch it up even further, here’s a very recent personal example. First, the setup. I’m divorced (not a bright spot in my life and at least half my fault), I had a longterm loving relationship that dissolved (same parenthetical comment as the last one), and I’ve had a tough time meeting someone I’d like to share an active love of life with near where I live in Hickory, NC. I never thought of trying online dating sites, but others, including my wise-beyond-her-age daughter, suggested I do just that. So “never”, as incredibly, without exception, always happens to me, became “foot-on-gas, LET’S GO!”.
Now, the pressure. I started communicating with a much younger, hammer-gorgeous, smart, warm-voiced woman 3 hours away from me, who immediately influenced positive change in some of my closely held daily personal and work habits. In talking with her, I barely breathed as I recognized how well we matched up. My dear God, there really is something to those non-human, highly mechanized algorithms. Every cell in my body buzzed thrillingly harmoniously that something explosively terrific could develop. Then she said, “Can I ask you a personal question? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”
Of course, I’d answer! She couldn’t get to know me without me directly answering any question she asked.
“Would you consider coming with me to Turkey to get a hair transplant?”
Faster than a sharp finger snap, wildly electric ecstasy turned to switch-on, electric chair horror. I didn’t sweat. I didn’t get mad. Thank goodness for daily mindfulness training and practice. I told her calmly and firmly I couldn’t do that.
“Why not – even for a woman who would love to love you?”
“Because I’m perfectly comfortable with how my head looks. I’ve been this way for 40 years, and it would completely change who I am.” Yes, it would change my character – and not for the positive – and that is non-negotiable.
To take that one step further – and not that I needed outside validation, but I’m visiting my stepmom now and she was near me and heard most of our conversation. Soon as I got off the phone, she asked with familiar directness, “Well, Bruce. What was that all about?” As soon as I cut to the “hair transplant” punchline, her jaw-dropped, wide-eyed, stunned silent, limp shouldered stare and barely audible “noooo” said it all.
I spoke with that same younger woman last night. It turns out there are quite a few expectation differences between the two of us, and we’ll probably never speak again. Ha! Did I really just write “never” so easily after what I said above what “never” ends up meaning to me? I won’t erase it. That, too, is part of my character. And I’m perfectly big-smile comfortable that both you and I know it!
Fruit, yogurt and more? Sure, always more! With full-on flavor – that’s half the fun of it. What you see above is what I put together to rocket-fuel up or an excellent hop on the bike with good buds this morning (below) – and with no need to refuel on the way.
You can get the base recipe I used, Summer Multi-Fruit Salad, by clicking either this link or any picture on this page.
To mix it up a bit, here’s what I used for ingredients and…
…how I put it all together – fruit first; then nut butter, cookie butter spread, jam; Greek yogurt & ground flaxseed with nutritional yeast…
The key word to an energy sustaining rocket fuel breakfast: opposition. Opposition here means counterbalancing complex instant “get up and go” energy carbohydrates with longer burning proteins and fats that provide “keep the drive alive” sustained energy.
One of my favorites that wraps that combination all in one – with full-on flavor – is fresh fruit pancake like the cherry peach pancake shown here.
The best part about this pancake is that it’s nothing like traditional spongy, syrup-sucking flapjacks. No sir/ma’am! These pancakes are rich in protein, have just enough flour to keep them together as they cook in the pan and are packed with fresh fruit. Now, you won’t picture book directions for this specific cherry peach pancake because the only difference between it and the cherry pancake picture book recipe you can get here is the added fresh peach slices on top of the pancake as shown below – and, of course, you can substitute those peaches – or cherries – with any fresh fruit you like.
Click this link or any picture on this page to get the full cherry pancake step-by-step picture book recipe, and either have that pancake exactly as shown in the recipe (though cherries might be tough to find right now) or improvise with any fresh fruit you like.
Last post, Rocket Fuel to Power Your Body in Motion, showed very much the same breakfast I had this morning before popping out for a bike ride with good Hickory buds shown below.
Most importantly, this cold drink tastes great! At the same time, it’s moderately caffeinated and provides a good shot of potassium, through coconut water, which boosts metabolism and pays off big time for any endurance physical activity: cycling, running, hiking, walking, full-on yard work – and more. (I usually drink 2 tumblers (about 20 ounces X 2) full of that drink before a ride and then supplement with water on the fly – and never come home dehydrated.)
For optimal results, I highly recommend brewing the coffee and making the chocolate mix in the evening so that it can cool in the fridge overnight for an ice cold drink in the morning.
Rockets, power, motion! Please tell me you find that “let’s go!” motivating! When it comes to fuel to power endurance exercise/any physical activity to keep your body in motion, the key is making sure to take in fats, protein, some carbohydrates and fluids – and having them all with full-on flavor.
Here’s what I had recently for the hop on the bike shown above with terrific good friends.
The fats, from whole milk Greek yogurt, whole milk kefir, almond-peanut butter and freshly made whipped cream, combined with protein from egg and whole grain flour in the fruit pancake, Greek yogurt and kefir gave me slow-burning sustained energy. The carbohydrates: a little sugar in my iced coffee/chocolate/coconut water drink, cookie spread on my pancake slice and fruit, dried fruit and jam in my fruit and yogurt mix, gave me instant energy to start my ride. And front-loading fluids with 30-40 ounces of iced coffee/chocolate/coconut water got me going well hydrated so that I just needed to top off with water while I rode, and the potassium in coconut water helped both prevent cramps and improve energy metabolism.
Of course, everybody’s body and fuel requirements are different, and only YOU know YOU. That means it’s most important to pay attention to what YOU eat and drink and how that affects YOUR physical performance, no matter what kind of physical activity YOU do. Still, though the fine details differ person to person, the base components are the same: carbohydrates for quick burning energy, a good shot of fat and protein for long-burning, sustained energy and plenty of fluids to start off well hydrated.
The next few posts, starting with iced coffee/chocolate/coconut water (killer good!), will show how to make each of the 3 pieces shown above that I have regularly – and always with a little improvised variety for flavor fun, before hopping out on the bike.
November 20th, 2023 
