My son came home Saturday afternoon- he goes to college in Texas, so we haven’t seen him since early August. As always, it was a jubilant homecoming, and when he went to bed that night he said “I’ll be up around 9:00 tomorrow to start the MOST EPIC THANKSGIVING WEEK EVER!”
Can you see why I love having him home so much? Everything is so much fun when he’s here! We’ve started this epic week with lots of epic food.
For Saturday night’s dinner, I made the Pumpkin Baked Ziti from Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s Veganomicon cookbook. I love this meal so much- you make a cashew ricotta, which is mixed with pumpkin puree, spices, caramelized onions and the cooked ziti. Then you bake it with breadcrumbs on top. SO. GOOD.
For dessert I made these Salted Caramel Apple Bars from Nora Cooks. I didn’t actually eat these but they looked and smelled delicious.
Sunday morning- I was up and out early for a 10 mile run, and when I came home I had the last pumpkin waffles of the season.
A couple people asked about my “recipe.” I put 2 cups of rolled oats, two scoops of protein powder, two cups of water, a banana, salt and spices in the blender and blend it all up. That’s the recipe! I should really call these “pumpkin spice” waffles, because while I used pumpkin pie spices, there’s no actual pumpkin in them. I tried making them with pumpkin puree instead of the banana but they weren’t as good, so now I just stick to the banana.
For the rest of the family, I made “normal” waffles- again, a recipe from Nora Cooks for “Best Ever Vegan Waffles.” Here’s my son’s plate:
As he was eating breakfast he said “I can see why I always gain weight when I come home.” Luckily, that’s a good thing! He’s always trying to gain weight.
For lunch, I had planned to make a charcuterie board with fancy-schmancy vegan cheese I ordered from SriMu, but my husband also had gotten really good bagels. So we ended up just spreading the cheese on bagels. So delicious.
THEN, my daughter had a friend come over and I ended up making chocolate chip cookies. I wouldn’t have made them on this day, but the girls wanted to bake something and I also didn’t want them digging into the caramel apple bars. ONCE AGAIN, I used a recipe from Nora Cooks (where would we be without Nora?) Perfect Vegan Chocolate Chip cookies, and I think this is my new go-to recipe. They were easy, straightforward, didn’t require chilling the dough, and they came out great.
Dinner was leftover baked ziti, and I have to say not having to cook dinner completely changed up my Sunday vibe. I was much more relaxed all afternoon, and I think this may be a new thing. Cook Saturday night instead of Sunday! I’m going to try it from now on.
Now I feel like we’ve all carb-loaded and should be ready to run a marathon. I’ll be getting up tomorrow and heading to the gym and then work, but since my daughter doesn’t have school I can sleep an hour later. Yet another way this week is going to be epic!
(If you think that’s a lot of food, just wait till you see what we have for Thanksgiving…)
Whether you’re celebrating Thanksgiving or not, I hope everyone has an epic week!
Header photo by Kerstin Wrba on Unsplash
32 Responses
that’s a lot of yummy food! can I invite myself over for breakfast/lunch/dinner? 🙂
Ha ha, sure, come over anytime!
An epic week indeed! Enjoy! All your food sounds delicious!
Thanks Nicole!
Wow – this food all looks AMAZING. And I love that your son is a dipper. How original! I’m definitely a “pourer” but it takes all kinds.
I’m also a “dipper”- he probably gets it from me.
Those cookies do look perfect. And no chilling?! What an amazing recipe!
Yes, I couldn’t believe it. NO chilling!
Yay for having Paul home for a week! Your excitement leaps off the page! I am excited for the week ahead as Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I like that you just show up, eat, and watch football. There are no gifts which is a huge plus for me since I am not a gift person.
Yes, Thanksgiving is very festive with none of the gift stress!
Yay for your son being home! I hope you all have a great visit!
Thank you Noemi!!!
Wow! What a feast! I love that you are really leaning into the delicious foods of the season — it makes me feel so happy to read about it. And yay, your son is home!!! So wonderful! I hope you have a great week together!
Thank you Suzanne! Yes, we’re big eaters. I think our week will be super fun.
I WANT THOSE CARAMEL APPLES BARS AND I WILL HAVE THEM!!!
I’ve used the “cook on Saturday chill on Sunday” approach and it is magical. It only works when my stepsons are with their mom on Saturday though. Otherwise there are no leftovers for Sunday;-)
Yes, I can see how that wouldn’t work. Since my son usually isn’t home, I’ll have a fighting chance of having leftovers for Sunday dinner.
I’m coming to your house!! Everything sounds delicious. And it sounds like your son appreciates our cooking.
Come on over, Darlene! My son not only appreciates my cooking, but he likes to cook himself. He’ll be helping with the Thanksgiving dinner.
I can’t wait to see what you have for Thanksgiving! All that food looks so good 🙂
Thanks Lindsay! Thanksgiving will be huge meal- you’ll hear all about it.
Mini came home late this afternoon. Tank comes home tomorrow night. I love having them home. So many lively conversations and maybe a few movies to watch. We are all looking forward to hanging out with some of their favorite cousins on Thanksgiving.
Awwww, I love how excited your son is to be home!!! I can only hope and pray my boys will be that excited to be home when they go off to school. Love love this.
Your son hasn’t been home since August? Damn, it didn’t feel that long ago that you talked about him being home… time flies. I hope you have the best time this week with your family… sounds like it was off to a very tasty start 🙂
Yes, the time goes by SO FAST. It does feel like I just took him to school.
I like cooking, but I also like the evenings when I don’t have to cook. So relaxing! Have a great time with both kids there. <3
So far it’s been a really nice week! Lot’s of cooking, which in this case I don’t mind.
Yay epic weeks. Waving!
If you want to join our collage with a trot pic – walk, run, pose etc. Text it to Darlene or I
Yay an epic week. Waving south. Knew it would be long shot.
If you want to join our turkey trot collage – run, walk, pose. Just text the pic to Darlene or I.
Cari I’m going to text you!
Hooray for your son being home! I know how much you love having him back.
Those apple bars look AMAZING. I may need to give them a try!
Oh, how lovely for you to have everyone home again. I hope you enjoyed a wonderful day today with both kids home and your heart full. <3
Wow… truely epic. Amazing food.