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Zesty’s 5 Favorite Thanksgiving Foods. Tell Me Yours!

ZestyCook — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:00:40 +0000

Happy Friday! With Thanksgiving fast approaching in the US (I forgot to do this post for the Canadian Thanksgiving), I thought this would be a great time to quickly go through my favorite eats at Thanksgiving.

First off I will start with saying that it was really hard to limit this post to 5 items because I truly love everything about thanksgiving. But here goes:

1. Turkey

This really does have to be one of my favorite meats to eat. I love turkey with all the fixings and even in sandwiches, soups and casseroles.

2. Fig and Maple Brussel Sprouts

Recently introduced to me this year, this dish was a knockout! I mean the combination of flavors and textures were over the moon.

3. Homemade Cranberry Sauce

A classic yet one of my favorite side dishes with turkey. You can find out how to make this easy delicious dish.

4. Turkey Dressing/Stuffing

A true family favorite for sure. You have to be quick to this bowl to ensure you get some. A little turkey, a little dressing and a touch of cranberry. What a bite! This is also great on a turkey sandwich. Not the most healthy of choices but… can you really worry about that around this time of year?

5. Sticky Date Pudding

I great dessert after a big dinner. I love the combination of warm caramel sauce coupled with the cool ice cream sitting a top a super moist cake. I sometimes classify this as heaven! This sticky date pudding is delicious.

Now Tell Me Yours!

This is where I want everyone that reads this post to come out of the wood work and mention at least one of your favorite foods around Thanksgiving. I think it will be fun and I just realized that I left my favorite sweet potato dish out of the top 5. Very shocking but that just goes to show how much I like food! Ok I better run to the flooring store and pick out grout. I will talk to you on Monday. Have a great weekend.

I am doing a big food demonstration tomorrow morning for a large group of people so I will be sure to let you know how it goes. The topic I am focusing on is – Not so traditional Christmas foods and ways to prepare them.

Talk to you Monday.

Take care

zesty

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Zesty’s 5 Favorite Thanksgiving Foods. Tell Me Yours!

Happy Thanksgiving + Giveaway Winners

ZestyCook — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:00:02 +0000

Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian readers out there. This past weekend was action packed to say the least. Saturday included some work at the house site, taking a load to the dump, and a super Thanksgiving Dinner. It didn’t end there, to close out the night Mrs. Zesty and I hit the dance floor during a wedding reception we were invited to.

That was only Saturday which I know is likely hard to imagine…. but Sunday was equally as exciting. We were invited to a family picnic by our house builders. It was really nice of them to do that and we had a great time. The weather was very nice for a change and the kids had a great time running around and playing. The food looked amazing and I did have a sample of the seafood chowder. I didn’t want to pig out too much because we had plans to have another turkey dinner with my Family.

I kind of have a hodge podge post for you today because I was unsure how to structure it (the whole week for that matter). What I thought would be a great idea is to have a “Turkey Feast Week“. This week will include fantastic turkey creations from kicked up vegetable dishes, homemade cranberry, mustard pickles, amazing dressing, melt in your mouth turkey and of course a couple of killer desserts.

With that said, I am going to start the week of with a glimpse at the full meal deal and some random shots throughout the cooking process.

As I mentioned on Friday, we were going to attempt to go apple picking on Saturday if the weather was fine – the weather was not fine! Poured rain all day on Saturday so we are attempting to go today. I will keep you posted and may intervene with an apple post.

Before I start off this fun post I need to announce the three lucky winners of the POM Tea Giveaway.

Winners

Comment 36: Tiffany

I have always want to try these…I told some co-workers about the giveaway.

Comment 16: Melissa
I just told 10 of my co-workers about the giveaway and your site! Will be linking back next…

Comment 30: Low
Hey Zesty! I just gave you a tweet out! Is that proper Twitter lingo? Something tells me it’s not, but you know what I mean.

For all the winners, contact me with your mailing address and I will get your coupon delivered.

Turkey Day

Without giving away some great recipes today, I am going to share with you some shots I took throughout the day on Saturday. I will get into the details and recipe specifics later this week. I am so excited about the line-up I am finding it hard not to post them all at once.

I hope you have a super Monday and if it is a holiday for you – please enjoy it. I am heading out to the house today to hang with the builders and maybe help them if I can.

Take care

zesty

Download ZestyCook.com's Recipe E-book Free for Subscribers only: Simply Zesty

Happy Thanksgiving + Giveaway Winners

5 Tips for Making a Great Salad

ZestyCook — Thu, 21 May 2009 11:00:13 +0000

I am a big fan of salads but I tend not to eat them enough! With that being said, I am here enlisting some of my favorite tips for making a great salad. Some people say that a great salad is all in the dressing – well I am not sure I buy that statement.

I am a big advocate that fresh ingredients will deliver top notch results. Salads are meant to be simple, yet flavorful and can be created without any stress or time constraints.

Salad Tips

1. Add Dark Greens to the Mix.

Romaine, arugula or spinach will add a whole host of vitamins and nutrients to your salad, including vitamin A, vitamin C and folate.

2. Watch the Dressing.

Control exactly how much dressing goes into your salad by referring to the serving suggestion on the label. It’s also a good idea to keep the dressing on the side so you can add a little at a time without overdoing it.

3. Include Fruit in Green Salads.

Fruit like orange sections, cubed mango or dried, unsweetened cranberries will add not only more flavor and color but also vitamins and antioxidants.

4. Pack in the Protein.

When eating a salad as your main meal, make sure it provides at least 10 to 15 grams of protein per serving. To meet this requirement, add 3/4 cup of chickpeas or
lentils, two hard boiled eggs or 1/4 cup of nuts.

5. Dress Simple and Late.

Salad dressings do not have to be anything complex. A simple dash of olive oil, vinegar and some grainy mustard makes for a great dressing. Another tip I noted from Michael Smith is to dress the salad just before serving. He often puts the dressing in the bottom of the bowl and tosses once you are ready to eat.

So next time you make a salad let me know what you think of the salad tips. I listed a few salads I made in the past so be sure to check them out. I like to keep it simple so you will not see anything extravagant.

Other Zesty Salads

Fresh Crisp Salad with Feta

Pesto Salad

Asparagus Bacon Salad

Summer Chicken Salad in the Winter

I hope you have a great Thursday. House plans are moving along quite well and we should have the new plans finalized soon. We are moving forward with lot preparation and than the breaking of the ground. I will keep you posted.

I am heading on the road for a week in the first week in June. With that said – I am making a call out for guest posts! Let me know if you are interested by contacting me.

Take care

zesty

Download ZestyCook.com's Recipe E-book Free for Subscribers only: Simply Zesty

5 Tips for Making a Great Salad