Today, we’re going to play a game. I mean that in the least creepy Jigsaw/Saw movie way. 
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ideas
SkinnyPop Walking Tacos
I don’t know if I’ve ever told you, but I graduated from the Home of the Walking Taco. Yeah. You should be pretttyyy jealous. 
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Chocolate PB Bars and Superbowl Snacks
While I don’t take a HUGE interest in football, kind of hard when your team is the Bears…. but I do enjoy watching games and I really like watching the big game. Ok, ok, I’m mostly watching for the commercials and the halftime performance, BUT I still like to watch.
I’m also in it for the food. Come on, does that one shock you? Chips and dip, pizza, wings, snacks of all shapes and size, the Superbowl isn’t just super because of the football players. The Superbowl comes right at a time when you have been working hard to make eating healthy a habit. It feels like it’s there to test your willpower and you’re a horrible human being if you slip up and eat a chicken wing…. or fifty.
You should never feel guilty for eating food, even if it isn’t the healthiest. You made a choice and that’s fine. Eat the food and move on. To help yourself feel a little better of eating a super bowl during the Superbowl (see what I did there?), try making real food snacks and appetizers for your party. Instead of buying your chips and dip, make your own. Create a build your own pizza bar and provide plenty of fresh vegetables for toppings. Or do a taco bar! Mmmmmm tacos….. There are plenty of ways that you can make your party food taste indulgent and healthy.
Which is why I made this treat for you guys! I love my salted caramel chocolate swirl bars from Christmas and I wanted to see if I could make something with my favorite combo: chocolate and peanut butter. I mean really, is there anything better than chocolate and peanut butter? No. The answer is no. 
These are gluten, dairy, and egg free so they can cover a variety of diets, allergies, and intolerances. If you can’t or don’t do peanut butter just sub in your favorite nut or seed butter, crunchy almond butter works really well! You can also make these a few days in advance and that is one less thing you have to prepare.
So make these and be the hit of the party and enjoy the comm… I mean the game!
Chocolate PB Bars
Chocolate Cookie Crust
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 1/4 cup almond flour
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 2 1/2 tbsp coconut sugar
- 6 tbsp solid coconut oil
- Preheat oven to 350. If your coconut oil isn’t solid, measure it out and then stick it in the freezer for a few minutes. Meanwhile, combine the rest of the ingredients in a blender and pulse until fully combined.
- Add in the coconut oil and pulse until the mixture is all crumbly. Lightly oil an 8 x 8 pan with some coconut oil and line with parchment paper with a little hanging over the sides. Press the cookie crust into the bottom of the pan and bake for 10 minutes. It will look like it isn’t set, but don’t freak out. It will all be ok!
- Once it’s done let it cool for a few minutes and then place it in the freezer to harden while you get the filling together.
Peanut Butter Filling
- 1 flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax seed and 3 tbsp water mixed together)
- 1 tsp baking soda combined with 1 tbsp white vinegar
- 2 tbsp chunky peanut butter or almond butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp coconut sugar
- 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut shreds
- 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips/chunks
- In a medium bowl, mix flax egg, baking soda mixture, peanut butter, vanilla, and coconut sugar together. Make sure it is really well combined.
- Stir in the coconut shreds and spread the filling on the cookie crust. Bake for about 8 minutes.
- Pull it out and sprinkle the chocolate chips on top and then bake for another 2 to 3 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let it cool completely before you cut them into bars. The bars may seem a little gooey, but they will firm up as they cool. Keep them stored in the fridge or the freezer until you’re ready to eat them.
Leftover Fatigue
The
struggle is real you guys. Thanksgiving is the beginning of the major leftover season. And by the time you finally get rid of all of the Thanksgiving leftovers, Christmas comes and you have even more. For some reason, when it comes to holiday meals we think that we have to feed 5,000 people even if there are only 7 or 8. And if there are more than that? Might as well feed a stadium full of people.
Now don’t get me wrong, I love leftovers. I am the queen of leftovers. Leftovers are the only way that my husband gets lunch during the week. Leftovers are the only thing that feeds the both of us when I’m lazy and just want to pull something out of the freezer instead of make an entirely new meal. Leftovers are amazing.
But you can get tired of them after awhile. Especially if you’re having a turkey sandwich for the 20th day in a row.
So I thought that I would give you a few ideas of how to use up your leftovers in new and inventive ways. You don’t have to have the same meal over and over again. With these ideas, you can use up all that extra food, save money, cut down on food waste, and never get bored.
I don’t have exact recipes for these meals, but I will give you a basic outline so you can be as creative as you want with these. I’m also going to share one of my absolute favorite leftover meals, my mom’s Thanksgiving casserole. I’ve made a few changes to make it slightly healthier, but it is an awesome way to use up a lot of leftovers. The great thing about casseroles is that they are really hard to mess up, and you can pretty much add whatever you have on hand to your meal.
Turkey
Turkey is the main dish, but people usually focus on all the side dishes. Which means you’re left with like 20 lbs of bird and you can only eat so many turkey sandwiches, even if you do love them like Ross Gellar.
Here are a few more ideas for your turkey:
- Dice it up into cubes or shred it and make turkey noodle soup.
- Season turkey shreds with your favorite taco seasoning and make turkey tacos or burritos.
- Cut it into long strips and put it on top of your salad.
- Make turkey salad following this recipe.
- Use cubes or shreds in your breakfast hash. Bonus points if you use leftover sweet potatoes or regular potatoes!
- Make the casserole at the end of this post!
Cranberry Sauce
Many people aren’t huge fans of cranberry sauce, it’s just something that has to get made for Thanksgiving. Those people haven’t tried my sauce or my mom’s cranberry relish. Either way, you probably have a good amount leftover. Try some of these ideas out:
- This might not be a super novel idea, but use a little cranberry sauce in your turkey sandwich. The nice tart bite really adds another layer to a boring turkey sandwich.
- Try adding some cranberry sauce to your morning smoothie or oatmeal.
- Use it as a topping for meatloaf or my lentil loaf. You can also add in leftover stuffing and carrots or green beans to make it a Thanksgiving loaf.
Sweet Potatoes/Mashed Potatoes
Many families have multiple potatoes at their feast, so there is usually a few containers full of leftovers. Luckily, you can try these to get a little variety out of your potatoes:
- Try making a soup out of your potatoes. For sweet potatoes, puree them with coconut milk and add in onions and garlic for a creamy soup. Or make a chowder with leftover mashed potatoes, corn, carrots, coconut milk, and any other vegetables you have on hand.
- If you have sweet potato casserole leftovers and they are on the sweeter side, add them to your smoothie or oatmeal. It adds a nice fall/creamy flavor
- Make a Thanksgiving shepherd’s pie. Combine turkey, carrots, celery, onions, some stuffing, and any seasonings you like. Put them into a pie dish and then top with mashed potatoes or sweet potatoes. Bake uncovered at 425 for 20 to 30 minutes or until the potatoes start to brown a little.
Bread/Rolls/Stuffing
You probably have a good amount of bread left over and instead of just using them as the base of your turkey sandwich, plan ahead with a few of these ideas:
- Let rolls or other bread dry out a little and then pulse them in a blender or food processor to make breadcrumbs.
- Cut the bread into cubes and let them dry out and have homemade croutons on hand for salads.
- If your bread or rolls are just a little stale, make a french toast casserole. Cut the bread up into cubes. Mix together milk (almond, coconut, or regular), a few eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg, maple syrup, and vanilla extract. Put the bread and some leftover cranberries into a casserole dish and pour the milk/egg mixture over everything. Bake at 350 for 20 to 30 minutes until the top is slightly brown. Top with whipped cream and maple syrup.
Leftover Turkey Casserole
- 2 to 3 cups leftover stuffing or 2 packages cornbread stuffing mix
- 1/2 cup diced onions
- 1 or 2 cup turkey pieces
- 1 can cream of chicken soup or try my homemade cream of celery soup
- 1/2 cup broth or water
- optional: cranberries, potatoes (we add my mom’s shredded cheesy potato casserole)
- Preheat oven to 350. If you are using packaged stuffing, moisten it with a little oil, broth, and hot water until it is smooth but not overly soupy)
- Oil a 9 x 13 casserole dish and line the bottom with the stuffing. Mix together the cream soup and turkey pieces and layer this over the stuffing. Top with potatoes, cranberries, and if you want it a little crispy on top, some bread crumbs.
- Bake uncovered for about 45 minutes until top is nicely browned. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes before serving.
So there you have it. A plethora of leftover ideas to keep you sane and well-fed all holiday season, plus a casserole to use up the rest of your Thanksgiving meal.
Oh and as for leftover dessert? Just eat that for breakfast 🙂
What is your favorite way to use up your leftovers?
Change When You Don’t Want To
Have
you ever faced a situation where you KNOW that you have to change something in order to get where you want to be, but you just can’t muster up the willpower to make the change?
Sure you do.
I would say that most of the time when you are faced with a problem or something that you need to overcome, you have a fairly good idea what needs to be done to address those issues. But there is a factor of fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of being uncomfortable, fear of a different routine, fear of a million different things.
Or maybe there is a factor of laziness. Knowing that the change you need to make takes a lot of work and you just don’t want to put in the hours or manpower.
Perhaps there is a factor of the impossible. There is no way you can make the change because to you it is utterly impossible. You can’t see a way around it, so why even try?
I’ve been there plenty of times. I’ve been afraid of making a change, don’t want to make a change, and felt like change is absolutely impossible. I’ve been stubborn and stuck to my trusty routine and done nothing. And you know what that got me?
Nowhere.
Sure, change is painful, difficult, and scary. But change also is wonderful, enlivening, and moves you forward. If you want to be or do something different, if you want to reach your goals, you’re going to have to change. My high school band director used to tell us all the time, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” That has always stuck with me.
So how do you change when you don’t want to? Here are a few things that I do when I know that I need to change but it isn’t coming easy.
Figure out why
Why don’t I want to change? Once I know the motive for staying where I am, then I can come up with a plan to counteract that motive. Most often for me, it’s the fact that I’ve become comfortable with where I am.
Make a list of ideas
I love lists. They keep me organized, help to see what I still have to do and what I’ve already finished. Once you’ve figured out your why, make a list of a few things that you can do to change your habits or routine to start moving in a different direction.
Choose one
Pick one thing to work on, just one. You don’t have to take on the whole list. That can be a little daunting. Choose a small change that you can make and work on that until it becomes your new habit, then move on to the next thing on your list.
Don’t beat yourself up
You’re going to fail at some point. That sounds harsh, but it’s completely realistic and totally alright. We all fail and if we were perfect, life wouldn’t be any fun at all. The important thing to remember when you do fail is to not beat yourself up. You are trying and that is the most you can ask of yourself. Trying and failing is better than never doing anything at all. Pick yourself up and get right back at it.
Taking that first step and admitting that you have to change is a difficult one. It can take you awhile to get to that point, but the important thing is that you get to that point. Writing this post is just as much for me as it is for you. Sometimes I need a little push in the right direction to start making the changes in my life that I know will lead me to my goals.
Yup, change is scary and trust me I resist it as much as the next person. But when it comes to my health and happiness as well as yours, isn’t being a little scared yet still taking that leap of faith worth it in the end?
I think so.
Life Healthfully Lived 