Things I Am Loving This Week

It is December! Can you believe it?! And it's Tuesday which means that it is time for the "Things I Am Loving This Week"--those (mostly) food related things that I am enjoying and want to share.

First up, a good use for Thanksgiving leftovers, I made these Mini Turkey Pot Pies because I love pot pie. Actually they are leftover-leftovers in this case (so would that be leftovers²?), since I used my leftover turkey bones to make stock, and then the stock and leftover turkey meat to make soup and then used some of the soup, mixed with leftover turkey gravy and added potatoes and extra turkey to make the pot pie filling. (Whew!) For the crust I used this simple one from one of my classes and used a whole grain pastry flour. It ended up quite flaky and good.


To control portions I used my small ramekins that hold about 2/3 of a cup of filling, making it a perfect size with to go with a salad for a not too heavy dinner. In this case it was a kale salad with cranberries and toasted pine nuts, and I also added a small cup of leftover cranberry sauce. Yum!

A couple of weeks ago I expressed my love for Lara Bars--a frequent snack and/or meal replacement for me. This week, I tried and am enjoying Dr. Andrew Weil's answer to the Lara Bar "Weil by Nature's Path Pure Fruit and Nut Bars" that I finally found in the health section of one of my local grocery store.

There are five flavors: Goji Moji (Cranberries and Goji Berry), Pistachi-Oh!, Chocolada Walnut, Banana Manna (Banana and Almond), Chia Razz (Chia, Raspberry, Cashew). I have only tried the banana and the raspberry chia ones so far but found them to be very good, perhaps a bit "stickier" in their texture than Lara Bars, but the flavors are excellent. I love that they have just a few natural and organic ingredients, yet make a nice sweet treat.

You may have seen it before but I just love this video from the folks at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland, Oregon. The employees there all got together, wearing pink surgical gloves and dancing to Jay Sean's "Down" for breast cancer awareness. From the nurses to the cleaning crew, to the cafeteria, lab techs, administration, surgical teams, etc., they are obviously having a blast and they make me smile every time I watch so I thought I would share it. The video helps raise breast cancer awareness in a positive way and the glove manufacturer (Medline) is donating a part of the video's proceeds to fund mammograms to women who cannot afford to get them. What's not to love about that?!

Finally, I can't help but love this little face! ;-) We had some stormy, cool, "blanket" weather over the weekend and since they don't come out that often here, Max likes it when the blanket appears on the couch just as much as I do.

He likes to hide under them and burrow and snuggle and will occasionally come up for air. And it has been awhile since I posted a Max picture. ;-)

So what things are you loving this week?