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Thanksgiving Soup and Feeling the Burn!

Happy Thanksgiving Eve everyone! I'm pretty excited about tomorrow, although I must admit I feel like a bad American right now. I'm trying to explain about Thanksgiving, traditions and special foods to hubby and all I managed to say was that you eat a lot of turkey. I'll keep trying.

I'm in charge of our little meal (for two) which somehow involves a 15 pound turkey. 8 for him, 7 for me. Hope that's enough. There doesn't seem to be a way to avoid T-day leftovers, so I wanted to think of some creative ways to use them up. And turkey sandwiches don't count - that one's a given. So here is my roasted sweet potato and carrot soup!

Start with with leftover roasted veggies - whatever you have on hand after the meal would probably work, but for this I used 1 large sweet potato, 3 carrots, 1/2 an onion and 5 cloves of garlic. 



They go in a pot of chicken stock, about 1 quart of liquid. I added some salt and pepper to taste, heated it all up for a few minutes and then got busy with my immersion blender. 5 minutes later? Soup that tasted amazing. Gruel redemption. Oh yes. 


I topped mine with greek yogurt and stirred it all up, which really made it creamy. If you have leftover roasted veggies the day after Thanksgiving, whip up this soup - it's too easy!

Aside from the soup success, I'm also on cloud nine because I got to do some cardio today. I don't know when the addiction started, because a couple of years ago cardio ONCE every 10 days would have been a miracle. I still can't run, but I was able to ride the exercise bike and it was amazing! 13 miles in 54 minutes....which means nothing to me. I have no idea what fast/slow or anything else is on a bike. But it felt amazing and now I am super strong and invincible. Or I feel that way, at least. 



But I did get to try out my new Aespaeris Shorts and I'm smitten. Ignore the fact that my whole lower body is in compression gear - socks are for my ankle and shorts because every time I get new clothes I MUST have a fashion show. 


I'll review the shorts properly once I've worn them for more than posing and an hour long bike ride. 

I need your help: what's the difference between cycling and spinning? Is there a difference?
As you all know, I can't ride a bike. And I've used an exercise bike in the gym maybe twice - and never taken a spin class. So what's the deal? Are the bikes different? Is one outside, one inside? Help a biking noob out, please!

What's your favorite way to use up holiday meal leftovers?
I usually add turkey to salads, wraps and sandwiches for weeks, so I'm sure I'll be doing that again this year. But also making this soup with my leftover veggies and potatoes!


Comments

  1. The point of thanksgiving is... to have leftovers. that is all. Hope this helps your hubby out!

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  2. Yes, the spinning class bikes are more Lance Armstrongish. :) I like to have stuffing, potatoes and relish tray leftovers. Happy Thanksgiving. Love the compression socks...you look super hot! Jessica

    runningtobeskinny.com

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  3. Your house is gorgeous and makes me want to cry with jealously. In my humble opinion, cycling is like when you are hanging out reading tips on how not to gain a holiday belly in Self magazine, spinning is hardcore where there is loud music, an instructor screaming, and you are positive you are about to die. I'm so lazy with leftovers. I just put them on a plate and eat them as they were originally served. If I am especially energetic I might microwave them first.

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  4. ahaha yeah I agree with JC -- the idea here is we get a four-day weekend during which we all collectively cook a ton of stuff and have leftovers til, hopefully, Christmas, at which point it's rinse and repeat.

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  5. I love that shirt!!!!

    left overs: pot pie!

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  6. Hahaha I used to teach spin! It's bananas and you should try it sometime. The bikes are a little more hardcore and have a little lever for resistance. The instructor pretty mush has a "ride" planned out -my favourite was rolling hills. There is music blasting and they usually go to the beat that you are supposed to pedal. I used slower and more intense songs for hills, and crazy psycho fast sons for sprints/downhill. You use the lever to adjust your tension on the bike. Increase it for hills (makes it super hard and your quads are on fire), decrease for sprints (you feel like your racing Lance). Your instructor screams at you and tells you what to do the whole time. By the end you should have a huge puddle around the bottom of your bike and you may or may not be able to walk the next day. It gets easier the more you do it though!

    Hope that helps!

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  7. Pardon the lack of link or knowledge bit I'm waiting for my luggage at baggage claim and catching up on blogs. But there's an amazing chipotle turkey chili recipe with pepperjack cheese pancakes to go with somewhere on the food networks website. I think the original recipe calls for ground turkey--but it tastes so much better with real pulled turkey. I made it with leftover turkey last year and it didn't last very long. And don't skimp on the pepper jack cheese pancake things...soooo good!!

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  8. You look so hardcore in those shorts. Can't wait to hear the review... I'm dying to try a pair. That soup is a great idea... I never think of blending stuff. I need to be more creative in my foodie endeavors.

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  9. I appreciate the fashion show. Never stop. LOL

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  10. fist off, u look so hardcore in ur biking outfit! okay, i'm on bike expert but it looks to me like u have a spin bike. i think the difference is that the one u have had a tension knob instead of gears, and the bike u have isn't one of those old school recumbent style ones. for spin classes, typically it will involve intervals, and u can always jsut do that urself.

    but again, i kno the athletarian would kno much better than me! but so happy u got some cardio back in ur life, i kno i'm not fun to be around when i don't get my fix. ;)

    haha...umm, ur explanation of turkey day is the same as mine. :)
    PS-also have been meaning to say, as a weird tangent, about that body fat post u did awhile back. i have to say i hate those things cuz 1) lots of them are inaccurate and 2) they are really hard to get right for athletes. that said, umm, i can tell right now looking at u that u hardly qualify as having too much bodyfat for an athlete...so really, i just had to say that and to not try to do anything drastic there. with the amount u run and train, those numbers are silly cuz u've got muscle, babe! :)

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  11. I totally don't get biking. I don't know what cadence means and mph only means something in a car...followed by another car with lights on top.

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  12. Soup looks good! Props to you on your cardio and now being invincible. :) Sigh... Thanksgiving...

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  13. I don't know anything about spinning or cycling. My sister Jen would know more than I would.

    My favorite leftover is turkey with stuffing heated up in the micro with gravy. Nothing too exciting but oh so good!

    Happy Thanksgiving!!
    Sarah

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  14. I love your new outfit and the compression shorts....must get my own.

    I don't know the difference btwn biking and spin. I think it's the same but like Christina said the instructor takes you on a ride. They also do MAD interval training where you want to die.

    why can't you ride a bike?? must've missed that post. is in the injury? and also, I usually make CASSEROLES! b/c casseroles create even more meals and Colin is a huge fan of easy lunches :)

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  15. That soup looks so healthy and tasty!

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  16. No idea about spinning and cycling - interesting question though. Happy 1st American Thanksgiving. I saw an interesting way to use leftovers the other day on a morning talk show. It had 2 options. First, they had a "Thanksgiving wrap" - pretty much putting in all the leftovers into a wrap, rolling it up and eating it - turkey, cranberry salad as a condiment, dressing, and some green beans. The other left over option was a "Thanksgiving casserole" - it was a layering of the left overs into a casserole dish - bottom was sweet potatoes, then turkey, then a layer of green beans (or green bean casserole) reheat, serve and add a dollop of cranberry salad before serving.

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  17. I don't think there's any concrete definition for cycling vs spinning. Kind of like running & jogging? I generally use 'spinning' if I'm on an exercise bike and 'cycling' if I'm on a 'real' bike - either indoors or outdoors.

    That soup looks GREAT!

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  18. I am pro-biking. And those shorts look awesome. Rock on with your bad self. Happy Thanksgiving.

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  19. YAY for stationary bike, I love my (read hubbys) turbo trainer ;-)

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  20. Happy Thanksgiving! I can't ride a 'real bike' either but I don't mind a spin class every now and again :)
    I use up leftover vegetables from Christmas dinner in salads! Most of the leftovers we have are sweets and chocolates and my belly is the perfect place to dispose of those :)

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  21. No matter what you call it, riding a bike hurts your lady parts. No thank you. :)

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  22. I love how much garlic you used in your soup!!!! I'm love garlic :) And I'm with you on the bike - whenever I am on the elliptical or a bike, I have no idea what the mileage means! Happy Thanksgiving, hope the hubs enjoyed!!!

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  23. I'm with you - soups allllll the way. I am on such a soup kick lately since the weather cooled off...

    Very happy for you and your bike ride - it's only a matter of time before you're back on that treadmill!

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  24. Love the shorts! I want a pair so much! No onto bigger things, food! I usually make turkey taquitos, soup is always good too. Glad you're enjoying the bike, I want one now that you reminded me of them and brought back all of the good memories of my grandma having one.

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