Hot Yoga, Turkey Day Wrap-Up and Recipes

Wow, turkey day is over. The fun times always seem to go the fastest. It was two days full of cooking, eating with some relaxing mixed in for me.

First I have to tell you about my yoga experience. Last week I was driving by the yoga studio in town and saw that they had a sign outside about a free Hot Yoga class on Thanksgiving Day. Apparently, it is a tradition used to get people in to workout on the holiday and to give newcomers a chance to try it for free.

I’d never done hot yoga before. I’m not a huge yoga fan because it is a little slow moving for me. I love mind/body fusion classes, though. I take Body Balance in Brazil which is a combo of tai chi, Pilates and yoga. I enjoy the techniques and principals of yoga, but tend to like it mixed with other things.

Anyway, I was just too intrigued by an opportunity to try it for free. I couldn’t pass it up. It ended up being amazing! If you have the chance to try it definitely take advantage.

The room was packed with over 50 people. It was an intermediate level class and the temp in the room ranged from 96 F to 102 F. It is amazing what the heat does for you regarding concentration and focus. Hopefully, I can incorporate it into my regular workouts when we move back to the States. I haven’t seen it where I’m at in Brazil and even if they did have it, surprisingly that type of thing is more expensive there than in the States.

So after sweating my buns off I was ready for some cooking and eating too. I promised some pictures so here is my Thanksgiving recap. I altered the recipes to my liking so below I’ll tell you what I did.

Spinach Stuffed Mushrooms

This is kind of a combination of a couple different types I’ve made over the years. It is easy and they always turn out great.

15 white mushrooms, stems removed
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T butter or olive oil
¼ c grated parmesan
½ block cream cheese
1 (10 oz) package frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

Place mushrooms in baking dish and brush with a little olive oil or melted butter. Finely chop mushroom stems. Add butter or oil to skillet and cook stems and garlic until tender. Add parmesan and cream cheese, mixing well. Finally stir in spinach. Allow mixture to cool enough to touch. Fill each mushroom and bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees F. Serve hot.

Rum and Sweet Potato Casserole

This is probably my favorite Thanksgiving dish. I made quite a few changes to this one because I thought some of the ingredients were adding unnecessary fat and calories. I’m not too worried about this on Turkey day, but why add what isn’t needed. I left out the ½ c melted butter in the potatoes, I used only 2/3 cup sugar and a little less milk. It turned out great. I had bourbon instead of rum and this was a great change to make. The sweet flavor from the bourbon really stood out. I’m glad there are some leftovers.

Cranberry-Pecan Stuffing

This recipe is pretty basic, but the nutty pecans and tart cranberries give is such incredible flavor. I doubled up on the chicken stock to keep it from getting to dry. Yum!

This stuff is the perfect combination sweet, spicy and sour. I love it spread all over my turkey and the leftovers are great on sandwiches. My brother even mentioned the idea of eating it with chips as a salsa. I used less sugar than what the recipe called for and I also chopped up all my oranges in the blender instead of leaving large segments as the recipe calls for.

I’d love to hear about your Thanksgiving. How did it go? I’m really looking forward to moving into the Christmas season and all the baking that goes with it.