The best way to start Thanksgiving day is with some sort of exercise. I feel strongly about getting a good workout in before the "big" meal and it's usually a Turkey Trot. I remember my first TT, which was in 2003 and I convinced my dad and brother to do it with me. I had just started running and it was raining that morning. Since i was in Lexington, Ky at the time, the weather was cold and it was a chilly morning. My family that was in town thought we were crazy and I guess since that run, I've always been considered "crazy" with my choice of activies (specifically the distance). I planned on doing the group ride with some of the gearlink guys but I jumped on bike before the ride in order to check out the scene at the St.pete times turkey trot. Seriously, you'd think people were walking to the stadium of the superbowl because there were SO many people! Since i was on my bike riding on the road, there was no way I'd be able to spot anyone but I did hear a shout from a familiar voice "NICE BLUE!" It was my friend Hunter yelling at me from his car. Always nice to see (or hear) familiar voices. I headed to the CVS on tampa rd. to meet the guys and there ended up being around 12 guys (and me) for the ride. Karel was there and it was nice to actually ride in a group w/ him. Since i had already ridden 15 miles I was hoping that the rest of the ride would be easy. Well, it was easy for the guys but my drafting and riding in a group skills need to be remembered. I felt really powerless on my bike and because it was super windy I was working extremely hard during the ride. Karel said he would ride home with me if I wanted to cut the ride short but I wanted to hang out in the back and just keep going. I was thankful that I was riding with nice guys because they all understand that I'm always trying to work my hardest to stay on someone's wheel. I took a couple pulls but they didn't last long. Karel jumped in the back with me and gave me lots of helpful pointers. I really appreciate when he takes the time to help me with my cycling. I know it is no fun for him seeing his power drop to nothing to draft in the back with me but I learn so much from him. I finally made it back home w/ Karel and i ended up with 63 miles for my easy ride. You better believe that I was making my smoothie as soon as I returned home and right after a shower we started cooking for thanksgiving.
On my menu was fruit pizza and croissant rolls w/ jelly. Karel did the rolls and I did my famous fruit pizza. My pizza is always a hit and I make it all the time for family functions. The pizza is SO easy to make and this year I made 2 alternatives to my traditional fruit pizza. All you do is take sugar cookie dough and press it on a non-stick cooking sheet. 1 roll is usually good for 8-10 people. You then get 1 packaged of fat-free soft cream cheese (not in the container) for each roll of dough. I add powdered sugar to the cream chese and I meausre by taste but it is usually no more than 1/4 cup. I take a mixer to combine the cream cheese and powdered sugar. You first bake the sugar cookie for around 12-14 minutes at 350 degrees. Once the cookie cools (be sure to wait at least 15 min. for it to cool to prevent the cream cheese from making holes in the dough) you can spread the cream cheese/powdered sugar mixture on the cookie and that is the hard part of the pizza. Next comes the fruit and you can pick any kind you want. I made 3 different pizzas this year. My traditional fruit pizza had FF cream cheese w/ splenda brown sugar (2 tbsp) and a dash cinnamon. Depending on the season I try to use apples, bananas, cherries, kiwis, pinnaple, pears, strawberry's and peaches. This year I got a mango to go with the other fruit for a tropical pizza (I used strawberry fat-free cream cheese instead of the regular) and I also made a chocolate lovers pizza w/ chocolate instant powder jello pudding to the cream cheese. I'm sure you can use different spreads but I try to make this pizza as "healthy" as possible. It is soooo good!
Well, now that I'm super hungry for some leftover fruit pizza I'm going to grab me a bit of my pizza and I'll give my thanksgiving dinner recap in a bit.