Oh my goodness have the past few days felt rushed. If you can’t tell(though I know you can 
), I’m a complete homebody and since I haven’t been home for very much for the past 3 days, I’ll definitely be enjoying the couch all day long. But I think the last time I left you was Christmas Eve with brownies in the oven. After those came out, I started thinking about the day and realized I might not get another chance for a 2nd source of probiotics.
Xocai Xobiotic Square
Thankfully, Xocai sent me some of their healthy chocolate(yes, isn’t that music to your ears?) to review and one of them happens to be the Xobiotic Square, fortified with 300 million viable bacteria cells and your DV of flavonoids. Once I got over those factoids I could not get over the taste; this was such a scrumptious piece of dark chocolate, you’d never think twice because you’d be too busy enjoying it.
At 3:30 we left the house for Christmas Mass. It was packed. We were stuck standing in the back. There were even 2 masses going on at the same church and both were filled with Christeasterers like us. There was a little Latin that people sung but didn’t understand which amused me(I’m clearly such a nerd). Afterwards, we hit the road to go to my mom’s cousins family party. On the way I had a festive snack.
Luna Chocolate Peppermint Stick
‘Tis the season, after all. Of course, it was nice to see family I see only a few times a year. And of course, since they’re Italian, they cooked enough food for 30 even though there was only about 12-15 of us.
Entree Spread
Unfortunately, my options were limited. Very limited. Everything had meat in it or was meat, or had something else artificial. There were 7 things through the night that I could eat, and then some of that wasn’t very appealing anyway. I stuck with what we brought to the table.
Lemon Thyme Salmon, Roasted Broccoli
My mom liked the lemon-thyme combination I made for her on her birthday enough to make it again here. I took a moderate amount of that(though I ended up being the only one) and a lot of broccoli. That was definitely my “nibbler” item of the night; I think I ate at least 2/3rds of the whole batch for the crowd! After our present exchange, we had dessert.
Dessert Spread
Same situation, mostly: A lot of what I couldn’t or wouldn’t have(even the coffee was regular–not decaf–so I stayed clear of that) and I stuck with what we brought.
Peanut Butter And Chocolate Biscotti
These biscotti were definitely a hit with my family. Really? How could they not be. We ended up staying, waiting for another relative to show up but eventually we just had to leave; I think we were all still exhausted from our NYC trip. When I got home I was starving because I hadn’t really eaten much other than broccoli.
Milk Chocolate Advent Candies
Not like this filled me up but an obligatory treat. It’s so sad the advent is over; these were tasty! I might have to make chocolate after dinner an everyday tradition anyway.
Oatmeal With NuttZo
That was much much better. I think the valencia peanuts must make NuttZo so sweet because it has no added sugar though you might think it’s almost a flavored nut butter it’s so delicious. I was watching the last bit of It’s A Wonderful Life to make it a very merry Christmas Eve… until I found Grey’s Anatomy. Somethings are just merrier than that movie
That is a TON of food! I love it!
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Luna Chocolate Peppermint Stick-ive heard great things about those. I need to look into them.
And the saving grace being brock. Well, hey, at least it was healthy. Ive been to parties where I eat 2/3rd of a particular dish that was meant to feed a whole party: veggies or veggie trays.
Enjoy the couch!
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so. much. food. yummy!
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hey evan! hope you and your family had a nice christmas!! haha thats EXACTLY what my italian family does- alwaysss wayyy too much food. when willt hey learn? I guess never haha… have a nice day!
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Well at least you got to enjoy your own food? Although I think you should loosen up alittle around food!! But I respect your decisions. Glad you got to spend it with family and get back safe and sound
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Hope you had an awesome Christmas!!! That spread looks fabulous! Enjoy the rest of your vaca
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happy holidays
hope you enjoy your time on the couch! at least what you ate looks delicious !
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We’re Christeasterers too
. I agree, chocolate after dinner could very well be an every day tradition!
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Wow, with all that food, none of it fit your diet?
I hope Christmas day was good, and a little more filling
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It looked like a fun day…hope Christmas Day was good too!!
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What a spread! I’m glad you were able to make do with what was there. I was in a similar situation as well and at times like that, you just gotta roll with the punches right? Happy holidays!
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luna peppermint is a PERFECT holiday snack.
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haha Evan, we are one in the same. If I sleep at a friends house overnight I get homesick — oh god, we must have some amazing families, right?
m’mmm sounds like a yummy holiday!!
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