Topic: Thanksgiving ideas

The Hormone Diet: Simple Tricks to Tame Your High-Carb Thanksgiving Habits

There’s no doubt: The time between Thanksgiving and the New Year is the high-risk season for weight gain. High-carb treats and overstuffed plates quickly lead to a bulging waistline. In addition to kicking up your workout frequency, you can do more damage control by using a few of simple tricks to reduce the overall impact it has on your blood sugar … and ultimately the scale More »

Black Friday Fitness: 9 Exercises You Can Do While Standing In Line

Standing in line on Black Friday discounts and sales is an epic post-Thanksgiving tradition for many of us, and it’s also one that hijacks your morning exercise. And if you carbo load like I do on Thanksgiving, you could definitely use the morning workout to help flush some of the extra glucose out of your system and get your blood sugar back to normal. We know there’s not much hope of convincing you to head to the gym instead of the lines at Best Buy and Target, so we dug up a few exercises so that you can complete a few circuits while you’re staking out a spot in line. More »

What to Do With Leftover Turkey: 10 Thanksgiving Surplus Ideas From Around the Web

We don’t usually have a problem polishing off our Thanksgiving leftovers, but if you’re stuck with pounds of turkey and sick of making sandos with cranberry sauce, there’s no shortage of other ways to use up your surplus meat. We scoured our favorite recipe sources for the best Thanksgiving leftover ideas, and discovered more ways to use up our turkey, cranberries, and mashed potatoes than we’d ever thought possible.

Here’s what’s happening to leftover turkey and stuffing around the Web:

1. Epicurious suggests salads, soups, sandwiches, and even a fiesta, plus tips on safe storage and 21 leftover turkey recipes to boot.

2. Chow‘s Thanksgiving Leftovers page includes everything from turkey stock to cranberry sauce-infused cocktails.

3. Food & Wine consulted chef David Chang for recipes using holiday leftovers, and he came up with unusual combinations like mashed potato spring rolls and braised soy-brown sugar barbecue turkey legs. More »

Black Friday Sales: Our Take on Thorougly Depressing Big Box Store Opening Hours

We’re not going to pretend to understand people who camp out in front of big box stores days before Thanksgiving (and completely miss Thanksgiving dinner) in advance of all the Black Friday sales. But we’re very glad Black Friday’s almost here, because we’re really tired of seeing all those commercials telling us to leave our warm, cozy beds in the middle of the night in order to embrace the true meaning of the holidays and buy a bunch of crap no one really needs. The folks over at The Daily Beast were kind enough to put together a handy slideshow of some of the major Black Friday sales and opening hours. And we’re giving you our honest take on them:

Some Sam’s Club stores will open on Friday at 5 a.m. Why so late?

Lowe’s will unlock its doors at 5 a.m. on Friday. Thank God, because you shouldn’t have to wait another second for that drywall.

Staples will open its doors on Friday at 6 a.m. How ever did you get through Thanksgiving without that mouse pad? More »

Happy Thanksgiving (and Holiday Programming Note)

Happy Thanksgiving, Dear Readers.

We hope you enjoy the holiday weekend with family, friends, and good food. (Just try not to check your work BlackBerry too much. However, you may log on to Blisstree as often as you like.)

Speaking of Blisstree, we’ll be carving our own turkey, sampling some stuffing, watching a few classic movies, playing a little touch-football (and not be attending any Black Friday store sales), so we’ll have a reduced posting schedule over this long weekend. More »

Long solitary walks, turkey trot races, iPods, iPads, pretending to have swine flu, baking for hours, saying you have to go upstairs to do some “work,” generous amounts of alcohol, pretending to watch football, anti-anxiety meds: All are perfectly valid ways to get through Thanksgiving weekend when you have a house full of challenging relatives and guests who overstay their welcome. (Or perhaps you’re being held hostage at Aunt Polly’s house for the weekend.) Either way, you can combine one or two of these excuses (I highly recommend alcohol) with my gallery of ten classic movies I watch over Thanksgiving to escape all the family melodrama — albeit temporarily.

Long solitary walks, turkey trot races, iPods, iPads, pretending to have swine flu, baking for hours, saying you have to go upstairs to do some â��work,â�� generous amounts of alcohol, pretending to watch football, anti-anxiety meds: All are perfectly valid ways to get through Thanksgiving weekend when you have a house full of challenging relatives and guests who overstay their welcome. (Or perhaps youâ��re being held hostage at Aunt Pollyâ��s house for the weekend.) Either way, you can combine one or two of these excuses (I highly recommend alcohol) with my gallery of ten classic movies I watch over Thanksgiving to escape all the family melodrama â�� albeit temporarily.

Blisstree Editor-in-Chief Christine Egan on ten classic Hollywood flicks you really should check out this holiday weekend (even if you end up having to watch them with relatives), from her post: Gallery: 10 Classic Movies I Watch Over Thanksgiving to (Temporarily) Escape Family Melodrama

Something juicy to talk about at the Thanksgiving dinner table as you’re feasting on the bird: 10 things you didn’t know about turkey (via GOOD)

You already know the “good” items on the Thanksgiving table: White-meat turkey, cranberry sauce (ideally not the gelatinous kind), sweet potatoes (bad marshmallows!), and non-bastardized vegetables (and not drowned in melted cheese). The killers – and yes, in large volumes they are killers – include stuffing (so good, yet soooo bad), dark meat, turkey skin, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, and any creamed vegetables or those given the casserole treatment. What you may not know is that the difference between a good plate and a bad plate can be enormous. A good meal will hover around 400 to 600 calories – including wine and extras. The killer? Multiply that number by three or four.

You already know the â��goodâ�� items on the Thanksgiving table: White-meat turkey, cranberry sauce (ideally not the gelatinous kind), sweet potatoes (bad marshmallows!), and non-bastardized vegetables (and not drowned in melted cheese). The killers â�� and yes, in large volumes they are killers â�� include stuffing (so good, yet soooo bad), dark meat, turkey skin, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, and any creamed vegetables or those given the casserole treatment. What you may not know is that the difference between a good plate and a bad plate can be enormous. A good meal will hover around 400 to 600 calories â�� including wine and extras. The killer? Multiply that number by three or four.

Lauren Slayton on the unhealthy perils (and healthy pleasures) of eating on turkey day, from her post: Thanksgiving Food Coma: Are Smart Eating Choices Possible on Turkey Day? Foodtrainers Nutritionist Lauren Slayton Weighs In

Now, all of a sudden, it’s late November again, and despite my desire for a new pair of boots and a coffee table for my living room, I’m struck by the urge to scrounge up a charitable donation that’s become so well-timed to the holiday season. Am I a bad person for having such inconsistent motivation to help others? Am I the only one who’s so lazy during the other ten months of the year? I’d like to think that everyone else is a better Good Samaritan than I am, but something tells me I’m not unique in my start/stop pattern of giving/non-giving.

Now, all of a sudden, itâ��s late November again, and despite my desire for a new pair of boots and a coffee table for my living room, Iâ��m struck by the urge to scrounge up a charitable donation thatâ��s become so well-timed to the holiday season. Am I a bad person for having such inconsistent motivation to help others? Am I the only one whoâ��s so lazy during the other ten months of the year? Iâ��d like to think that everyone else is a better Good Samaritan than I am, but something tells me Iâ��m not unique in my start/stop pattern of giving/non-giving.

– Blisstree Deputy Editor Briana Rognlin on the emotional complexities of wanting to give to the less fortunate around Thanksgiving and Christmas, from her post: Charitable Giving: Are We Holiday Do-Gooders Just Selfishly Easing Our Guilty Consciences?

What We're Reading:

Our Thanksgiving Recipe Contest Ends Today: Email Us Your Best and Win 1 of 3 Great New Cookbooks

It’s not too late to enter our Thanksgiving recipe contest for your shot at winning one of three cookbooks – just email us your favorite Thanksgiving recipe(s) by 5 p.m. ET today for a chance to win a copy of one of three terrific new cookbooks.* Okay, so it’s not exactly like winning Oprah’s Ultimate Favorite Things (but then, we don’t aim to terrify our readers quite like Oprah does), but for every recipe and photo you submit, we’ll enter you for a chance to win one of the following cookbooks: More »

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Oprah’s Better Than Santa, So Here’s What We’d Ask For If We Sat on Her Lap

Part one of OprahPalooza 2010 Oprah’s Ultimate Favorite Things aired this afternoon, and although we’ve been periodically checking under our seats for gift certificates and cashmere, alas: We weren’t invited to the big sha-bang. Guests who have given back to their communities were specially chosen, but rumor has it that they howled and cheered just like anyone else would when Oprah gave away a 52-inch flat-screen TV and a watch worth more than $2K. It’s Oprah’s last season, and she only has one thing left to prove: She’s better than Santa Claus. More »

Charitable Giving: Are We Holiday Do-Gooders Just Selfishly Easing Our Guilty Consciences?

Last year on the day before Thanksgiving, I spent about 20 minutes researching food banks in New York where my small donation could be put to good use. I settled on one that seemed particularly effective, submitted my Mastercard details, then grabbed my suitcase full of wine and sweaters and caught a cab to the airport. I boarded a flight to Detroit, where one of my best friends picked me up and drove me to Ann Arbor, after which a weekend full of friends, turkey, pies, great wine (and gin and port), and driving tours of Michigan ensued.

Since then, I’ve donated something like $20 in the form of coins and occasional dollar bills to agreeable buskers on subway platforms. (I’m especially partial to accordion players.) I used to find plenty of time to volunteer in my spare time, but haven’t managed even an hour of community service within the last 12 months. More »

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