Small Town Healthy Living: Christmas Recap

Does today feel like a Sunday or what?! We spent the last couple days at my parents' farm, in NW Iowa. I think this is the first time in many years that there was no snow. It was so warm we contemplated playing a game of wiffleball outside, but instead just stayed inside and laid around like a bunch of bums. It was awesome.

My mom made some pretty yummy stuff, as usual. For lunch one day she made fish tacos. They were fantastic, and I might have to try to replicate them. It was fish cut up and sauteed with onions, celery and green pepper (I think at least, didn't watch her make them), and then toppings included cabbage, carrots, tomatoes and a sauce for the top, not sure what it was- cross between ranch and tartar maybe??

We did a lot of snacking, thanks to some relish and meat and cheese trays

Spinach Artichoke dip

On Christmas Eve we always go to the candlelight service at church then to my grandparents' house for supper. It was quite the crowd this year as there were 6 little boys under the age of 5 there. We had a feast of course. I took a picture of just the appetizers...

I thought I was doing good filling up on veggies first, but Aunt Pat's spinach dip gets me every time! It's so good. And of course my grandma made those little "cheese and meat on rye bread squares" appetizers (not on the pic) so I had to have a few of those. When it came time to eat the actual meal, I showed a little restraint. Mostly because I saw the dessert options. My aunt and her two daughters made some candy trays and I think I tried almost every single thing on there. Didn't get a pic but my favorite were the red velvet cake balls. Or the golden oreo cake balls. Or the peppermint bark. Yeah....

Christmas Day we were bums, like I said. I did manage to finish Catching Fire AND Mockingjay, the third book in the Hunger Games trilogy. I really liked the second book, but the third one was just ok. Not as much action and it went into the psyche of the character a little more and how she responded to her responsibilities and the war around her. Guess I don't really care so much about character development as I do about action and a fast plot. Still a good series, and I will for sure be going to the movie when it comes out in March.

Since there wasn't much going on, I decided to have a bloody mary to get my day going.

At 11:59 a.m.

I called it my "garden in a glass"

It had some vodka, Hair of the Dog Bloody Mary mix (out of Iowa City in case you're interested), pepper, green olives, celery, spicy pickles, pepperoncini pepper and pickled asparagus. It was good, but it was a bit much, so I only had one. Had to have a Bud Select 55 to cleanse my palate afterwards.

Here are some more goodies that my mom made for us:

Pumpkin Pie Spiced Chex Mix with cinnamon M & M's

Pumpkin cookies with chocolate chips

My immediate family got together on Christmas night for food and presents. My family is growing every year, as we have two new babies and my brother just got engaged at Thanksgiving time. So including babies, there are now 12 of us. We've doubled in size.

We enjoyed a lovely supper of salad, pork loin, roasted veggies and corn casserole. LOVED this meal. Simple, healthy and delicious.

So healthy that I decided to have one of each dessert option. 'Tis the season, right?? I had a piece of pumpkin roll and a piece of strawberry pineapple dessert. With a glass of wine on the side.

We drew names this year and my dad drew mine. I got a wine rack and an ice cream maker!! Look out now... lots of ice cream and sorbet coming our way. I've always wanted one so I could control how much sugar and what kind of ingredients go into the ice cream. If Fareway had been open today, I would have made a pineapple sorbet. Can't wait.

Tyler had a great time, he was such a good little boy. He had a runny nose the entire time we were there, think it was because of the dry air or dust. Still had fun.

Here are some pics of the baby on his first Christmas at the farm: