Beauty in Strength

Hello friends!  For those of you who celebrated yesterday, I hope you had an absolutely wonderful Christmas filled with lots of love and many blessings!  I can not believe the holiday is already over.  There is so much preparation, and the season leading up to the actual day is so long, but then the holiday itself goes by SO quickly!

I hosted Christmas this year at my house, and I am so happy to report it went beautifully!  This was my first Christmas since I transitioned into vegetarianism, and to be honest, I wasn’t sure how it would go, but it could not have gone better.  While I obviously served everything for my guests, I feasted on foods I enjoy, and the night ended with me feeling full, satisfied, and fantastic!

For this week’s What I Ate Wednesday, I did not take pictures of my plate plates.  As much as I love blogging and photographing my eats, I was hosting, and I tried to keep my hands as camera free as possible so I could cherish the day with my family and really savor the meal.  Today’s WIAW will be pictures of (almost) everything that was served along with me sharing what I ate, but before we get started, I want to thank our beautiful host, Jenn at Peas and Crayons,and wish her a very happy holiday season!

“Breakfast”

Christmas morning, Morgan and I woke up and went right over to my big sister and brother-in-law’s house across the street to watch my nephew, Aiden, open his gifts.  My big sister had quite the treat waiting for me while I arrived, and I sipped on the hot, rich, and delicious drink while enjoying my godson.

Organic drinking chocolate (with no refined sugar, dairy, gluten or GMOs) made with unsweetened almond milk and topped with an all natural dark chocolate marshmallow

As soon as I got home, I fit in a killer power yoga session, and had a little something before I started baking to hold me over until Christmas dinner.

Banana sprinkled with cinnamon and topped with natural almond butter

Christmas Dinner

Being 100% Italian, Christmas dinner is more than one course, and our first course, antipasto, was quite the spread, courtesy of my incredible mother!  I completely forgot to take a picture of the platter on the right side of the table, but it was filled with roasted red peppers, marinated artichoke hearts, pepperoni, black and Spanish olives, and prosciutto.

My plate: Lots of carrot sticks, celery sticks, and both types of hummus (both were amazing!), caprese salad, marinated artichoke hearts, black and Spanish olives, and a variety of cheeses (fresh mozzarella, provolone, ricotta salata, mediterranean herb, marbled sharp cheddar, and the Asiago cheese with rosemary and olive oil I love so much)

A glass of Pinot Grigio (I usually have red, but this was perfect with the light cheeses!)

After a break, it was time for our main course, stuffed shells, meatballs, sausage, fresh Italian bread, and salad!

My plate: My mom’s unbelievably amazing stuffed shells sprinkled with parmesan cheese (She made extra trays special for each of us, so we have leftovers!) and salad

Dessert

I am known as, the “baker,” in my family, so I was in charge of dessert.  I’ll share the recipes soon! I again was a bad blogger and totally forgot to take a picture of all the fresh fruit!

My plate: fresh clementines, blueberries, and pineapple along with two dark chocolate truffles and a hot mug of green tea

Hope your day was filled with lots of good eats and treats too!  Happy holidays!

Question of the Day: What was your favorite thing you ate yesterday?

Quote of the Day: “Christmas my child, is love in action.  Every time we love, every time we give, it’s Christmas.” – Dale Evans